About Us
Our team brings experience from many different sectors
The Connection Project is about working together.
We can’t create a truly connected digital society by working in separate silos.
We need shared direction and a coordinated plan.
The project is funded by our commercial partners, and we draw on the knowledge and insight of all our founding members.
Our Team
Natalie Ceeney CEO
Chair
Natalie led the 2019 Independent Access to Cash Review, and subsequently established and now chairs Cash Access UK, which sets up and runs the UK’s banking hubs.
She works with a number of companies as a non executive director, and her prior roles include CEO of the Financial Ombudsman Service, and as a civil service Director General.
Cat Farrow
Communications Director
Cat was one of the founding executives of Cash Access UK, where she went on to become its Customer and Strategy Director.
She brings a broad range of comms and policy experience from financial services, central government, GOV.UK, and the regulatory and heritage sectors.
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Ed Leighton
Strategy Director
Ed joins from Ofcom, where he has been Acting Group Director for Strategy and Research, following four years as Strategy Director.
Ed has led Ofcom’s policy work on TV distribution, media literacy, digital transitions, and previously their fibre broadband strategy.
Jemma Waters
Engagement Director
Jemma leads digital and financial inclusion at Lloyds Banking Group, founding the UK’s largest digital participation study and launching support services for over 1.5 million customers.
She is part of DSIT Digital Skills Council and supports HMT’s Financial Inclusion Committee, bringing broader experience from consulting, retail, FMCG and tech sectors.
Nic Littlejohn
Project Director
Nic is an experienced project director who has led large, complex projects in financial services for more than 15 years.
At Lloyds Banking Group, she was the SW Ambassador for the Group, supporting public affairs and later life customer propositions director. She supports the DIAC sub-committee.
Vicki Ling
Seconded from Accenture
Vicki is a sustainability strategy consultant with a track record of designing and delivering sustainability strategies that drive environmental and social impact across the Products, Resources and Professional Services industries.
She combines expertise in sustainability strategy development with strong project management and stakeholder engagement skills, guiding complex, multi-partner initiatives from concept to activation.
Her work spans digital inclusion, community development, decarbonisation and nature, helping organisations address interconnected challenges in a holistic way.
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Tara Mikhael
Seconded from Accenture
Tara is part of Accenture’s Sustainability Strategy practice, where she leads programmes that embed sustainability, technology and data into global value chains.
She has worked across the private and third sectors, with experience spanning social impact and inclusion, ESG due diligence and value chain decarbonisation.
She has previously worked on building ecosystem partnerships to strengthen local economies. Tara brings a passion for collaborative action and driving equitable, long-term impact.
Nadia Vinokur
Seconded from the BBC
Nadia leads strategic planning for the BBC’s long-term transition from broadcast to all-internet TV and radio, working with industry and policymakers to safeguard universal access and improve audience experiences.
She is currently on part-time secondment to The Connection Project and brings over 15 years’ experience developing strategy for BBC services across TV, digital, and news, alongside earlier work in the media industry in the US.
We also benefit from the guidance and input from our advisers:
Faith Reynolds
Faith works in an advisory capacity across various retail finance initiatives. She is a member of the Payments Vision Engagement Group for the UK and a former non-executive director at the Payment Systems Regulator and Current Account Switch Service.
She is also a member of the HMG Smart Data Council and previously the Independent Consumer Representative for Open Banking Limited. She holds non-executive positions at the Nest Corporation and Fair4All Finance and is an adviser to the board at TISA and Electralink.
Faith is the Chair of the Advisory Board for the University of Nottingham's Inclusive Financial Technology Hub and the University of Birmingham's UKFin+ network, which funds academic/industry research collaborations for wicked problems in financial services.
David Mahoney, MBE
David is a Partner at Manchester Square Partners. He acts as a sounding board and adviser for senior leaders, helping them to make critical leadership decisions and proactively manage their careers, particularly at inflection points and during periods of change.
Directly before joining MSP, David was Chief Operating Officer at the England Wales Cricket Board and was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to sport. David also spent over a decade working across media and technology as a lawyer and then in Government and at Ofcom, spanning roles across strategy, policy, communications and as Chief of Staff.
He worked on a number of high-profile issues including digital switchover, the future of internet regulation, the Leveson Inquiry and BBC regulation. In 2009, David was seconded into Government to write Digital Britain, one of the first reports to examine the digital economy and the responses required from Government. He was previously a lawyer and is an accredited coach.
Charlie Sim
Charlie is a customer strategy, insight and CX expert who is very experienced in connecting customer motivations and behaviours to organisations’ choices and actions. He has spent his career joining the worlds of customer, commercial and operational together across sectors.
He is currently a Partner at The Foundation, a consultancy that specialises in helping organisations to grow by becoming more customer led. Their clients span sectors and include HSBC, JLR, Tui, PepsiCo, LNER, Bupa and Three.
Since joining the business in 2011 he has helped clients such as Sky to make their CX as good as their products and helped Asda rediscover how to make customers feel good about great value. Before the Foundation Charlie worked in various marketing roles before joining the UK Government where he specialised in behaviour change. He then added broader commercial and delivery expertise in Capgemini Consulting.