The importance of our Trustees
Trustees play a vital role in charities like National Energy Action, providing strategic leadership, oversight and accountability
National Energy Action’s mission – that everyone can afford to keep their homes warm and healthy – requires strong stewardship, informed decision-making and an understanding of complex social, economic and energy challenges.
By combining cross-sector expertise with a shared commitment to tackling fuel poverty, National Energy Action’s Trustees provide the insight, challenge and leadership needed to drive meaningful, lasting change for people living in cold homes.
Iain Deboys
Iain has worked alongside National Energy Action since 2010, first as Chair of Healthy Ageing Partnership Belfast and then in setting up Warm and Well Belfast supporting local communities to tackle fuel poverty. He's been a trustee of National Energy Action since 2022, becoming chair in May 2025. His professional career was in strategic planning in housing and health. In the 1980s he worked in the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, moving to Health and Social Care in 1990 where he was Commissioning Lead for Belfast from 2009 until he retired in 2022. Retirement has been busy as he is also a trustee of the Agewell Partnership in Northern Ireland and trustee of Humanists UK as well as a pastoral support volunteer and a Humanist celebrant for weddings and funerals. He's married with two sons and enjoys travelling, reading and looking after his wellbeing.
Don Haszczyn
Don has over 30 years’ experience in leadership roles in both the private and nonprofit sector in the UK and Europe. Don moved to the non-profit sector in 2001 as Habitat for Humanity’s first regional director for Europe and Central Asia, and was responsible for developing affordable housing and shelter programmes. Don then spent almost 10 years as the global fundraising director at both VisionFund International and then SOS Children’s Villages International. In the private sector, Don held various senior finance and administration roles in sectors spanning consulting, audit, textiles, consumer goods, and healthcare systems. Don holds a Masters’ degree in Development Management, a Bachelors’ degree in Engineering, and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant. He is married with four children and now lives in Hampshire.
Helen Walker
Helen is a senior charity leader with over 20 years’ experience directing and delivering ambitious income generation strategies for national and international NGOs. Shje is currently Director of Income Generation at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Previously, she was International Head of Development at The Climate Group, building global income across multiple regions. She began her career at National Energy Action in 2004 and worked here for almost eight years, where she established the income generation team. Helen is now Trustee and member of the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee. She also served as a Trustee of The ScottishPower Energy People Trust and as a judge of The People’s Postcode Lottery Green Challenge Scholarship. Helen is kept busy with her busy with three-year-old twins and 14-year-old rescue cockapoo, Darcy.
Judith Damerell
Judith is a Solicitor (currently non-practising). Her specialism is the town and country planning aspects of land and property redevelopment, and she has worked in both the public and private sectors for over 25 years. She advised on some of London’s most significant redevelopment schemes of recent years, including King’s Cross, Battersea Power Station and London 2012 (the Olympics). This blend of private and public work means she has a unique insight into the relationships between policy and law, including on matters of governance and propriety, leading to her appointment to a number of non-executive Boards. In the case of National Energy Action, she takes particular interest in the inclusion of energy efficient measures in new residential housing schemes, and retrofitting exisiting housing stock.
Rob Howard
Rob Howard is Leicester City Council’s Director of Public Health, a post he began in September 2023. Rob has a career long commitment to tackling inequalities within the context of the wider determinants of health. He has worked in the voluntary sector (welfare rights, housing and health), the NHS (Regional Associate Director for NICE, Public Health Registrar), and the Civil Service (Food Standards Agency) and for Local Authorities (Leicestershire County and now Leicester City Council). He is an Honorary Assistant Professor (Consultant) at the University of Nottingham. When not working he might be found riding his bike, playing a guitar, or forlornly following Nottingham Forest Football club.
Frazer Scott
Frazer is Chief Executive Officer of Energy Action Scotland. He has worked for over 25 years at a senior level with large multi-nationals, public bodies, local business, charities, social enterprise and community bodies. He has developed and secured investments of from public and private sector investors to make a positive impact on communities across Scotland and overseas. He has managed cutting edge policy and research management across a range of social, economic and environmental topics. He has authored and edited innovative work on employability in a greener economy and wellbeing as a measure of social progress. He is a board member of Aberdeen Heat and Power, a trustee of Utilita Giving and a steering group member of Strathclyde University’s Centre for Energy Policy. In his spare time, he can often be found out on the roads, cycling; or poolside, helping out at swimming competitions.
Sarah Hopkins
Sarah is an experienced human resources professional with more than 27 years’ experience in the field, incorporating HR, learning and development, engagement, culture change and colleague/customer communications. She uses that experience to Chair National Energy Action's People and Culture Committee. She is passionate about bringing out the best in people and so in 2022, set up Pathways People Solutions to support clients with people, change and culture development programmes. She works with a range of clients in the charity sector, and in utilities, education, sport and manufacturing. Sarah volunteers as a Board member and mentor of the Womens Utilities Network, and she was previously a Trustee at the Cardiff Rugby Community Foundation,
Nusheen Hussain
Nusheen is currently the Executive Director of Customer and Communities at Home Group, a role she has held since 2019. In this position, she leads Home Group’s operational delivery and works closely with regional directors, overseeing customer insight and experience, supported housing services, consumer standards, and leasehold functions. Over the past 30 years, she has held a range of senior marketing roles across a variety of industry sectors, including publishing, broadcasting, energy, financial services, and construction. This breadth of experience has shaped her approach to leadership and customer-focused services. Outside of work, she enjoys reading and keeping up to date with economics and business news. She also loves drawing and painting, and makes time to keep fit and active.
Maria Wardrobe OBE
Maria was Director of Communications and External Relations with National Energy Action and left in November 2019 to spend more time with her elderly parents. She was delighted to be given the opportunity to serve on the Board, enabling National Energy Action to continue benefiting from her extensive experience in strategically directing the charity and campaigning at a national level. She was incredibly humbled and honoured to be awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020 for her 26 years of service in tackling fuel poverty, an honour she feels reflects the efforts of the amazing staff team she worked with. She is now in her second three-year term as a Trustee. She has specific responsibility for overseeing safeguarding and health and wellbeing, and sits on the People and Culture Committee. She is incredibly proud to be part of National Energy Action's continuing development and success.
Karen Cherrett
Based in Wales, Karen is a proud child of the valleys, growing up lighting coal fires and scraping ice from inside the kitchen windows. Her first home, a stone terrace, gave her firsthand experience of the challenges of retrofitting older properties—shaping her passion for affordable, independent living and her work with National Energy Action and other charities. Karen brings over 30 years’ experience across public, private and third sectors, beginning in operational policing and expanding into government partnerships, local politics and management consulting. She specialises in helping organisations redefine vision and outcomes through insight, intelligence and strong relationships, guided by her belief in polite but direct communication. As an National Energy Action trustee, she has contributed to national initiatives spanning offshore wind, ports investment and innovation funding. Outside work, she enjoys learning Welsh, swimming, cycling, dog walking and fostering, alongside travelling and good food.
Janet Wood
Janet Wood is editor of New Power (www.newpower.info), a monthly report and database on UK power sector development and the UK’s evolving energy industry. She has been a journalist covering the power and energy sector for 25 years, covering technology, policy and politics as editor of magazines including Power Engineering, Asian Electricity, Middle East Electricity and Utility Week. Janet is interested in utility supply to consumers and the inter-relation between heat, gas, electricity and water supplies. She has a BSc in Physics and Chemistry and is the author of two books for the IET, on nuclear power and on local heat and power projects in the UK.