HFVC : Our Team

Marion Schumann - Chief Executive Officer - Email

Marion Schumann has been the CEO of Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Centre for the last 12 years. The Centre has been working across three sectors in the recruitment, placement of volunteers and providing support to Volunteers. The Centre is the key organisation for volunteers in the borough and has been successful in bringing new funding for innovative projects in H&F and LB Brent. In the last 12 yrs HFVC have secured approx £8 millions of funding for volunteering.

Marion has been successful in wining ESF funds for Hammersmith & Fulham and also for the borough of Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon.

HFVC was also successful in winning funds for 2012 Olympics/Paralympics through the LDA/ESF Personal Best programme for H&F, Harrow and Hillingdon.

The Centre has a good track record working with unemployed people in deprived areas of H&F and Brent, and has managed to obtain paid employment for these clients. The Centre provides free (or subsidised) training for volunteers and unemployed people, and offers limited childcare provision, freely. It also works with local business employees who give their time freely (and sometimes some financial contributions and gifts) to local voluntary and community organisations.

Marion is a keen volunteer and is eager to spread the message of volunteering across West London. She is committed to engaging 'hard to reach' people into volunteering.

Marion is a Borough Rep in H&F and a panel member of the Prince's Trust.

Marion has been a Lambeth Councillor (1990-94) and the Mayor of Lambeth ('93-94). She has a degree in Russian and Czech and is now developing volunteering and working relationships with East European countries and Member States of the E.U.
Dominic Pinkney - Chief Operating Officer - Email

Dominic joined the Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Centre in February 2013 having formerly been the Vice-Chair of HFVC’s Board of Trustees and takes responsibility for driving HFVC’s strategy, marketing as well as its business-facing social enterprise Works 4U. He utilizes his mix of public and private sector experience (strategy development, business planning, research, evaluations, social media intelligence) to help deliver the objectives of the organisation’s three entities: HFVC, Brent Active Citizens and Works 4U. As a proven relationship-builder, he is working on developing the organization’s wide-ranging work with the corporate sector and helping them to engage with communities for mutual benefit. Having founded and managed Pedantic Consulting, Dominic brings great knowledge and expertise of best practice and innovative working in the charity sector.
Hitesh Shah - Finance and Administration - Email

Hitesh joined the H&FVC in September 2004 in the role of Finance & Administration Manager. He is responsible for the leadership of the finance function working closely with the board of trustees, auditors, external governing bodies as well as providing financial support to the wider organisation with particular emphasis on supporting project managers and budget holders. He worked previously as an accountant in the audit firm. He held senior financial roles in companies ranging from manufacturing to hotel industry. More recently he spent 14 years in the charity sector.
Dragos Tudor – Business Development Manager - Email

After obtaining his Degree in Business Management and a Masters in Advertising, Dragos pursued a sales and marketing career in Philips, Central and Eastern Europe. He developed his marketing and communications, training, and business skills. He built the marketing function in his department and set the procedures and processes that ensured a 15% growth of the business.

Dragos has been volunteering since 2001 and has participated in several Employer Supported Volunteering Programmes. Dragos’s experience in skills based volunteering began in 2010 when he travelled to Cambodia and helped a voluntary organisation, “Le Refuge”, improve the quality of the services offered by developing multimedia materials for visibility; performing a marketing analysis of the economic activities; cost/benefit analysis of the Weaving workshop; Fair Trade readiness analysis and operational analysis.

Dragos is also studying for a MSc. in Services and Retail Marketing at Birkbeck, University of London and is expected to complete his degree in 2013.
Luisa Messina – Head of Youth - Email

With a background in Law and International Relations, Luisa has worked and volunteered for a number of national, European and international human rights organisations and UK leading social enterprises.
Mary Pierce – Disability Volunteer Coordinator - Email

Mary is the Disability Volunteer Coordinator for the All In Motion Project run by HFVC in partnership with HAFAD. She interviews and recruits young disabled people (16-25) for the project, networks with local organisations to provide opportunities for the AIM volunteers and helps to plan and deliver training sessions to help the young people develop their skills and knowledge. She has a background in teaching ESOL to migrants and refugees from all over the world, and also has experience of working in design and illustration.
Peter Rodriguez - Youth Volunteer Development Coordinator - Creative Minds- Email

Peter is the Youth Volunteer Development Coordinator for the Creative Minds project responsible for the recruitment and support of volunteer mentors and recruitment of young facilitators for creative group activities. Peter has 10 years experience of working with young people and he has previously worked for a number of organisations including the Connexions service in Leicestershire as a Sessional Worker, The Challenge as a Mentor and has worked for three years in a MLD Special Needs School in H&F.
Sara Benjamin - Events 4 Youth - Email

SSara is the coordinator for the Events 4 Youth project, she is responsible for recruiting and training young people aged 16-25 in planning and running events, whilst developing their enterprise skills.

Sara has over 5 years experience of working with young people aged 16-25, she has previously worked on various youth projects in both Hammersmith &Fulham and Brent, placing them into voluntary work, training and employment and engaging them with youth-led activities.
Tsige Dejene Gimariam - BIVEP Project Manager - Email

Tsige Dejene Gimariam is the manager of Harrow Personal Best Programme. She has 9 years of extensive experience in Project Management; including previous experience working in many different kinds of projects. This has nurtured her people skills and taught her how to get along with people of all ages and backgrounds. She is always keen to get involved with many different projects, and recently went to Turkey to teach in a local school.
Charmaine Goodridge - BIVEP Project Manager - Email

Charmaine Goodridge is the Personal Best Manger for Hillingdon. She joined the Volunteer Centre in 2003 and has worked on projects aimed at involving local residents in volunteering activities. Charmaine has worked on a number of projects across the boroughs of Brent, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow and now Hillingdon. In her current role, she recruits local residents to undertake and achieve a level 1 qualification in Events Stewardship, which on completion will guarantee them an interview to volunteer for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralymic games.
Mohamed Salem - Finance Assistant - Email

Mohamed works within the finance department as the assistant to the Finance Director. He is AAT qualified and enjoys reading as well as watching and playing football.
Sandra Brown – Receptionist / Administrator

Sandra’s welcoming face is the very first thing you see when visiting HFVC! She is very passionate about her job and enjoys working with volunteers and local community organisations. She has worked as the Volunteer Centre receptionist since 2007 and also performs a wide range of administrative tasks, including helping volunteers to get registered. She is an integral member of the HFVC team.