About Us

Tackling disadvantage; changing lives

Starting as a small charity in Salford in 1989, we’ve grown and diversified, helping tens of thousands of people over the past 35 years. As society and our communities have changed, we’ve also learnt, innovated and adapted to meet evolving needs and respond to new opportunities.

Unfortunately, our work is not finished. Injustice, inequality and disadvantage still prevent many from overcoming challenges and reaching their full potential. So, we’re determined to help more people and make an even bigger impact across Greater Manchester by 2030. We’re ambitious, passionate and determined to play our part in tackling disadvantage and changing lives.

Key Staff Contacts

Senior Management
Mel Goddard

Chief Executive Officer (2026-present)

Mel has over eleven years’ experience in senior leadership roles within the charity sector, including two years as Chief Executive Officer of the Roberts Centre in Portsmouth from 2024 to 2026.

Her background includes extensive operational and strategic leadership, with a strong focus on services supporting homeless families, children and young people. Her current position includes close partnership working with statutory services, voluntary organisations and community partners.

Mairi Palmer

Business Manager (2018-present)

Mairi is our Central lead for Business Support functions including Finance, IT and HR and nominated DPO for the charity. She provides governance support to Trustees  for CEO, Board, Audit and HR Sub Committee.

Professional qualifications and training

  • Msc in Voluntary Sector Management (Distinction)
  • Diploma in Charity Accounting
  • BA Hons French & Management Studies
  • Chartered management accountant (CIMA)
  • ACMA qualified finance professional with 30 years’ experience in accountancy, management accountancy and transfer pricing gained working in private (17 years) and voluntary sectors (13 years) including Trafford Carers Centre, Association of University Administrators, eSave Accountancy, KPMG UK and SSL International PLC.   
Maggie Langhorn

Senior Operations Manager (2017-present)

With a career spanning over four decades, Maggie brings deep operational expertise and a values-led approach to service development and delivery. She leads the delivery of inclusive, high-quality support in our Women’s & Survivor’s centre, which supports women who have experienced domestic abuse, have been involved with the criminal justice system, or face disadvantage due to mental health challenges.

Beginning her career at just 21 years old managing a 10-bedded children’s home, Maggie has since held a series of senior management roles across the housing, mental health, criminal justice, and social inclusion sectors. Her professional journey reflects a consistent commitment to supporting people facing adversity and promoting positive, lasting change in their lives.

Maggie studied at Dunfermline College (part of the University of Edinburgh) and later gained a management qualification through the University of Derby. She is particularly passionate about co-producing services with those who use them, ensuring that lived experience informs and shapes practice. She is equally committed to supporting and developing her teams—empowering staff to grow, lead, and deliver the best outcomes possible.

Outside of work, Maggie is a keen gardener, gym member and enjoys walking and DIY. Her work is underpinned by a strong belief in equity, dignity, and the potential for everyone to thrive when given the right support.

Helen Garry

Business Development Manager

Helen is our lead on Income Generation and Communications, as well as the charity’s EDI champion. She has 30 years Fundraising and Bid Writing experience gained within the charity, education, social care and housing sectors in London and North West.

She is a passionate advocate for collaboration, partnership working and capacity building to sustain the VCSE sector. A Steering Group Member of the Salford Social Value Alliance, her key skills include Business Development, Digital Marketing, Procurement, Project Management and Contract Management. 

Professional qualifications and training

  • Level 7 Leadership for Women in Management (CMI)
  • BA Economics 2.1 & Post Graduate CIM Diploma in Marketing
  • Professional training completed in Mental Capacity Act
  • Neurodiversity Awareness
  • Menopause Awareness
  • Mental Health First Aider
  • First Aid at Work
  • Fire Safety at Work & Hate Crime Ambassador.
John Damen

Senior Operations Manager

John is our lead for Universal Youth Services, Targeted Adult Services, Health and Safety, Facilities Management and Deputy Safeguarding Lead for the organisation.

A competent programme manager of complex funding contracts with experience of designing, mobilising and delivering high impact, innovative community and youth work programmes across Greater Manchester.  Youth work experience gained working at Valley Youth Club, Rathbone, Trafford Council and Nacro. Over 15  years strategic stakeholder engagement, operational experience and performance management of payment by-results for grants and contracts to achieve KPIs and performance targets.  

Steering Group Member of Salford’s Strategic Transitions Group. Extensive partnership working with VCSE sector and commissioning partners including BNY, Careers & Enterprise Company, GMCA, JD Foundation, National Citizens Trust and OFCOM.

Professional Qualifications

  • BA Hons Sociology & Criminology
  • Level 3 Diploma in Youth Work
  • Safeguarding Level 3
  • Health & Safety in the Workplace Level 3. 
Jack Ward

Targeted Youth Services Manger

Jack is our Operational Lead for targeted youth mentoring programmes including STEER, Blocks, Engage Trafford, and College Community Connector, as well as Deputy Safeguarding Lead for the organisation. He is also our Strategic lead for school attendance, YP NEET, youth violence and stakeholder engagement including, Community Safety Partnerships, Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit, and Prevention, Prosecution, Intervention, Education & Diversion (PPIED). 

He has over 8 years’ experience of designing, delivering and managing early intervention and prevention youth services within Greater Manchester, in addition to 3 years volunteering youth work experience within criminal justice and community settings. 

Professional Qualifications

  • BA Hons Sociology with Criminology 1st Class.
  • Level 3 Designated Safeguarding Lead Training
  • Trauma Informed Practice
  • Vicarious Trauma
  • Hate Crime Reporting Ambassador
  • PREVENT
  • Child Criminal Exploitation
  • Neurodiversity
  • Unconscious Bias
  • Self-Harm. 
Jordan Cooper

Youth Services Project Manager

Jordan is the Operational & Evaluation Lead for our Manchester Blocks Mentoring Programme supporting young people at risk to have positive transitions and support into high school.

He has over 6 years’ experience of designing and delivering youth programmes including developing therapeutic and trauma-informed programmes to improve young people’s emotional resilience. Voluntary experience includes providing pastoral care and support to Year 7 students and supporting children with Autism/ADHD and SEND.

Professional Qualifications

  • BCS in Counselling and Psychotherapy. 
Board of Trustees
Our trustees are skilled volunteers who monitor Salford Foundation’s activities and set our strategic direction.

Our Trustees bring skills, experiences, and expertise from beyond our organisation and use them to ensure that help the people of Salford and Greater Manchester effectively tackle disadvantage and change their lives. The Board of Trustees gather frequently to evaluate Salford Foundation’s activities, to navigate the complex challenges we face, and to collectively set our future goals.

Outside of the Board, Trustees sit on one of two committees which take deeper dives into specific topics: the Finance, Audit, Risk, and Governance Committee and the People, Performance, and Resources Committee.
Michala Marfleet

Chair

Michala works for the BBC as an Operations Executive for BBC England. Within this role she is responsible for running of 39 sites, which includes business continuity, building management, broadcast operation, sustainability and major projects. She worked at the BBC for 12 years and looks after the BBC Beehive on the roof of Quay House. Before joining the BBC, she worked for Shell UK starting on an Apprenticeship scheme at 18 and progressing to do a degree in Business Management as a Regional Operations Manager. Michala joined the board of trustees in 2019.

David Eames

Vice Chair

David is a solicitor and Legal Director at TalkTalk, where he has worked since 2014.  Before this, David was a Legal Adviser at Kellogg’s, and prior to that spent over 8 years in private practice advising businesses on a wide variety of commercial and corporate issues, giving him a wide range of experience to draw on as a Trustee of the Salford Foundation. Before becoming a solicitor, David worked with young people, providing various childcare services and activities outside of school hours and during school holidays. David is a dad of 2 girls. When not playing with Barbies, he likes to read, run, and keep fit.

Caroline Aikman

Caroline is Director of Marketing and Place for MediaCity in Salford. Leading on MediaCity’s placemaking strategy she oversees events and activations across the site from cultural festivals to summer waterfront pop-ups. As the UK home of content creation, future media and immersive technologies Caroline is also responsible for the delivery of MediaCity’s new strategic vision and what this means for current and potential occupiers. Caroline joined the Board of Trustees in September 2024.

Kevin McDermott

Kevin is an ACA qualified finance professional with experience in working across a number of different sectors and types of companies, including listed, private equity, and privately owned. He has always loved being part of a team that makes an impact. He is a great believer that we should help each other to achieve our full potential, which is why he volunteered to be one of our trustees.

Nouman Bhattey

Nouman is a solicitor, specialising in real estate development. He deals with a range of different clients from large housebuilders to small developers.  With a career dedicated to navigating the complexities of property law, his experience allows him to review issues from a practical perspective. Nouman has always been interested in being part of an organisation that provides essential benefits to individuals that need them the most. As a result, he describes himself as “proud to be a board member of Salford Foundation.”

Grace Nkeshimana

Grace is a management accountant, currently working at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. She started her career in the Civil Service at the Home Office in 2019 working in various finance roles. Prior to this, she completed a degree in Psychology and worked in retail management before going to teach English abroad in Indonesia. As a previous beneficiary of Salford Foundation programmes, she describes herself as “excited to support current beneficiaries as a trustee.” She is the board champion for beneficiary voice and influence.

Melissa Caslake

Director of Children’s Services for Salford City Council, with over 16 years’ experience in Senior Leadership roles at local, regional and national level leading including London, Devon and Salford in Safeguarding, Children’s and Family Services. BA Hons, English and Master’s degree in social work.

Peter Openshaw

Pete is a Chartered Surveyor by profession and worked for Salford City Council for 35 years prior to his retirement. His areas of responsibilities at the Council included all things Property, Environmental Regulatory Services, Community Safety, Strategic Housing and a range of project-based work linked to various Citywide initiatives and projects. Pete has a real passion for delivering the best possible outcomes for the City and its citizens. He describes himself as “a passionate Salfordian” and has been a Trustee of the Foundation for over 15 years.

Anthony Hassall

Anthony joined Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Executive in April 2022. He was previously Regional Chief People Officer at NHS England and Improvement North West, and before that was Chief Accountable Officer at Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for six years. Anthony previously worked at Board/Senior level in NHS organisations in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside. Anthony is Chair of the North West mental health, learning disability and autism collaborative, which ensures the voice of NHS trusts specialising in these areas across the region are represented and heard at a national level. He is also on the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board as the acute mental health representative and on the board of Health Innovation Manchester. Anthony lives in Salford and is proud to ‘give back’ to his city as one of our trustees.

Dr Katherine Potier

Katherine is an NHS hospital consultant in Emergency Medicine, having worked at Manchester Royal and Royal Manchester Children’s hospitals for over 15 years. She is now Director of Urgent Care at North Manchester Hospital, part of Manchester Foundation Trust. She has been a board member for a number of years, as health is a big determinant of many of the issues facing the people we help through the work of the charity. She has a particular interest in our work around young people and women.

Katharine Francis

Katharine has been a board member since January 2017 and is currently Chair of the Audit Committee and as a qualified chartered accountant provides accounting knowledge to the board. Katharine has a range of experience across external and internal audit through her day job as an associate director in a large accountancy firm. More recently she has worked alongside companies from large FTSE companies to smaller start-ups to support their various finance needs including financial reporting technical advisory. Outside of her day job, Katharine also runs a Girl Guiding Rainbows unit for 20 girls aged 4-7.

Rob McClenaghan-Harrop

Rob is Director of Corporate Trust Billing and Pricing Oversight at Bank of New York (BNY). He has worked at BNY for a total of 17 years in a variety of roles including setting up a new financial reporting team as part of a secondment to India in 2012 and more recently as Head of Global Liquidity Operations. Rob graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a bachelor’s degree in law and previously worked in the hospitality sector in Dublin. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion and has completed a number of running events in aid of charities such as MIND, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, Albert Kennedy Trust and Mermaids, the transgender youth charity. Rob joined the board of trustees in 2024

Will King

Will is a Director at the global accountancy firm BDO. He specialises in providing consultancy services to organisations by working with the Senior Leadership Team to drive sustainable growth. His experience has ranged from helping relatively small local firms, to some of the fastest growing tech firms in the world. Previously, Will spent 20 years as a Director of a number of businesses within the financial services sector. He believes passionately in the power of community in helping the more vulnerable in society. Outside of work Will is a Director of a trauma-informed community wellness centre.

Michala Marfleet

Chair

Michala works for the BBC as an Operations Executive for BBC England. Within this role she is responsible for running of 39 sites, which includes business continuity, building management, broadcast operation, sustainability and major projects. She worked at the BBC for 12 years and looks after the BBC Beehive on the roof of Quay House. Before joining the BBC, she worked for Shell UK starting on an Apprenticeship scheme at 18 and progressing to do a degree in Business Management as a Regional Operations Manager. Michala joined the board of trustees in 2019.

David Eames

Vice Chair

David is a solicitor and Legal Director at TalkTalk, where he has worked since 2014.  Before this, David was a Legal Adviser at Kellogg’s, and prior to that spent over 8 years in private practice advising businesses on a wide variety of commercial and corporate issues, giving him a wide range of experience to draw on as a Trustee of the Salford Foundation. Before becoming a solicitor, David worked with young people, providing various childcare services and activities outside of school hours and during school holidays. David is a dad of 2 girls. When not playing with Barbies, he likes to read, run, and keep fit.

Caroline Aikman

Caroline is Director of Marketing and Place for MediaCity in Salford. Leading on MediaCity’s placemaking strategy she oversees events and activations across the site from cultural festivals to summer waterfront pop-ups. As the UK home of content creation, future media and immersive technologies Caroline is also responsible for the delivery of MediaCity’s new strategic vision and what this means for current and potential occupiers. Caroline joined the Board of Trustees in September 2024.

Kevin McDermott

Kevin is an ACA qualified finance professional with experience in working across a number of different sectors and types of companies, including listed, private equity, and privately owned. He has always loved being part of a team that makes an impact. He is a great believer that we should help each other to achieve our full potential, which is why he volunteered to be one of our trustees.

Nouman Bhattey

Nouman is a solicitor, specialising in real estate development. He deals with a range of different clients from large housebuilders to small developers.  With a career dedicated to navigating the complexities of property law, his experience allows him to review issues from a practical perspective. Nouman has always been interested in being part of an organisation that provides essential benefits to individuals that need them the most. As a result, he describes himself as “proud to be a board member of Salford Foundation.”

Grace Nkeshimana

Grace is a management accountant, currently working at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. She started her career in the Civil Service at the Home Office in 2019 working in various finance roles. Prior to this, she completed a degree in Psychology and worked in retail management before going to teach English abroad in Indonesia. As a previous beneficiary of Salford Foundation programmes, she describes herself as “excited to support current beneficiaries as a trustee.” She is the board champion for beneficiary voice and influence.

Melissa Caslake

Director of Children’s Services for Salford City Council, with over 16 years’ experience in Senior Leadership roles at local, regional and national level leading including London, Devon and Salford in Safeguarding, Children’s and Family Services. BA Hons, English and Master’s degree in social work.

Peter Openshaw

Pete is a Chartered Surveyor by profession and worked for Salford City Council for 35 years prior to his retirement. His areas of responsibilities at the Council included all things Property, Environmental Regulatory Services, Community Safety, Strategic Housing and a range of project-based work linked to various Citywide initiatives and projects. Pete has a real passion for delivering the best possible outcomes for the City and its citizens. He describes himself as “a passionate Salfordian” and has been a Trustee of the Foundation for over 15 years.

Anthony Hassall

Anthony joined Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Executive in April 2022. He was previously Regional Chief People Officer at NHS England and Improvement North West, and before that was Chief Accountable Officer at Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for six years. Anthony previously worked at Board/Senior level in NHS organisations in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside. Anthony is Chair of the North West mental health, learning disability and autism collaborative, which ensures the voice of NHS trusts specialising in these areas across the region are represented and heard at a national level. He is also on the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board as the acute mental health representative and on the board of Health Innovation Manchester. Anthony lives in Salford and is proud to ‘give back’ to his city as one of our trustees.

Dr Katherine Potier

Katherine is an NHS hospital consultant in Emergency Medicine, having worked at Manchester Royal and Royal Manchester Children’s hospitals for over 15 years. She is now Director of Urgent Care at North Manchester Hospital, part of Manchester Foundation Trust. She has been a board member for a number of years, as health is a big determinant of many of the issues facing the people we help through the work of the charity. She has a particular interest in our work around young people and women.

Katharine Francis

Katharine has been a board member since January 2017 and is currently Chair of the Audit Committee and as a qualified chartered accountant provides accounting knowledge to the board. Katharine has a range of experience across external and internal audit through her day job as an associate director in a large accountancy firm. More recently she has worked alongside companies from large FTSE companies to smaller start-ups to support their various finance needs including financial reporting technical advisory. Outside of her day job, Katharine also runs a Girl Guiding Rainbows unit for 20 girls aged 4-7.

Rob McClenaghan-Harrop

Rob is Director of Corporate Trust Billing and Pricing Oversight at Bank of New York (BNY). He has worked at BNY for a total of 17 years in a variety of roles including setting up a new financial reporting team as part of a secondment to India in 2012 and more recently as Head of Global Liquidity Operations. Rob graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a bachelor’s degree in law and previously worked in the hospitality sector in Dublin. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion and has completed a number of running events in aid of charities such as MIND, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, Albert Kennedy Trust and Mermaids, the transgender youth charity. Rob joined the board of trustees in 2024

Will King

Will is a Director at the global accountancy firm BDO. He specialises in providing consultancy services to organisations by working with the Senior Leadership Team to drive sustainable growth. His experience has ranged from helping relatively small local firms, to some of the fastest growing tech firms in the world. Previously, Will spent 20 years as a Director of a number of businesses within the financial services sector. He believes passionately in the power of community in helping the more vulnerable in society. Outside of work Will is a Director of a trauma-informed community wellness centre.

Our Mission

To provide opportunities, support and training to children, young people and adults in Salford, Greater Manchester and the North West – helping them overcome disadvantage, change their lives and reach their full potential.

Our vision

Communities free of disadvantage, in which everyone has the opportunities and resources to change their lives and reach their full potential.

Our values

Welcoming

Our doors are open to anyone who wishes to contribute to or use the service. Whatever your issue or situation, we welcome you and want you to feel at home.

Leading by Example

We aim to change the lives of young people and adults by inspiring and empowering them to succeed with confidence, through good leadership.

Working Together

We believe that real results come from people working collaboratively and creating solutions together… and by having some fun while we do it.

Professional & Responsible

We aspire to be the very best we can be. We provide a consistent experience, operating quality systems and standards.

Proud & Passionate

We are hugely passionate about our Foundation, and want to do great work that we all feel immensely proud of.

Proactive & Dynamic

We are solution-focused and use creativity and proactivity to constantly find better ways of working.

Safety Exit