Our team - Ethex

Our Board Directors

Ethex is a not-for-profit organisation which has spent years creating a vibrant marketplace for positive investment. We are managed by a dedicated board of directors who are passionate about what we do. Learn more about our Board of Directors here.

Lisa Ashford

Director and CEO

Lisa is a leader in the impact investment space and has over 20 years of experience in energy and environmental markets. Lisa is highly motivated, a strategic thinker and has a strong commercial and business development background.

Lisa is Director and CEO at Ethex and Founder/Director of Energise Africa, our sister platform raising investment for solar businesses expanding their PAYGO schemes in Sub Saharan Africa. Combined they have raised £100 million from retail investors to do good.

In 2019 accompanied the PM on a trade mission to Africa representing best in class UK businesses in Fintech and renewables. Lisa is also active in the working groups initiated by the government to build a culture of social impact investing in the UK.

Before Ethex, Lisa worked as a freelance consultant for a number of start-ups and international sustainable businesses. Lisa was recently awarded the PWC scholarship as an outstanding female candidate to study for an executive-level Diploma in Financial Strategy at the Said Business School, Oxford University. Lisa also holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College.

Lisa is a regular media commentator and writer on ethical investment, featuring on Ian King Sky News, BBC World, CityAm amongst others.
View Lisa's LinkedIn Profile here

Caroline Bault

Non-executive Director

Caroline Bault is Managing Partner at CounselRock Partners, a specialist hedge fund research and alternative investment consultancy. Between 2013 and 2011, Caroline was Managing Director for Global Business Development at the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association. Prior to joining the CAIA Association, she was a consultant to fund of hedge funds and family offices advising on manager selection, due diligence, and strategic and governance issues. Caroline has 30 years’ experience in financial services and capital markets ranging from equity research to investment banking and hedge fund allocation. She has worked in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and New York and her prior assignments include Director European Research at Commerzbank in London and Frankfurt and Executive Director at Goldman Sachs International. She received an MBA from the University of San Diego, California, in 1987 and a BSBA from the University of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1986. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and a member of the CFA Institute. She served as Chair of the Education Committee of 100 Women in Hedge Funds in London between 2009 and 2011 and currently co-chairs 100WHFs’ Women on Boards Initiative in Europe. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Aspirations Academies Trust and crowd funder and social impact investment platform Ethex as well as and a trustee of the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity and Further Education Trust for Leadership (FETL).

Hugh Davies

Non-executive Director

Hugh joined the Board of Ethex in 2015, bringing his experience of working in consumer marketing and the IT/mobile internet sectors. Before joining the Ethex Board, Hugh was Director of Corporate Affairs for Three, the mobile company from 2006. Before that, he was Head of PR at Microsoft in the UK. He also has experience working in PR and advertising for some of the largest agencies in the world, including Leo Burnett, Cohn & Wolfe and Hill & Knowlton, where he worked for 3 Group parent company Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong. Hugh left Three in Autumn 2015 and set up his own communications consultancy, Warmer Communications.

After studying Geography at Durham University Hugh trained as a journalist and worked business publications in the UK and Hong Kong. He also has qualifications in Marketing Management from the Kellogg School, Northwestern University in Chicago and a Non-Executive Diploma awarded by the Financial Times executive programme.

Stephen Lovell

Non-executive Director

Stephen Lovell is the Chief Product and Technology Officer for Pageant Media, a market-leading a global business information business serving the asset management industry, from hedge funds and mutual funds to private equity, real estate and credit/debt. He has worked in Product management for the past 20 years the last 10 of which at C-Suite level across industries including Gaming, Insuretec, Fintec and CPG. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for helping organisations transform into more digital first companies.

Stephen’s experience in digital technology has brought successful products to markets, built robust and secure technology solutions to support them and is an expert in building global teams across marketing, product and engineering.

Edward Milford

Non-executive Director

Edward has been a member of the Ethex board since 2016. He has over 35 years’ experience in independent publishing, much of it working with the international, environmental academic, professional and policy communities. He owned and ran the company Earthscan prior to its sale to Routledge in 2011. He is currently Development Director for the Independent Publishers Guild, a trade body of 600 SMEs in the publishing sector, as well as a non-executive director for several small publishers, and mentor to a number of others.

He has a long-standing interest in renewable energy of all sorts, the small and independent business sector more generally, as well as alternative business models. He has also supported a wide range of community energy projects over a number of years. He is also Treasurer at the long-established Bleddfa Centre for Arts and the Creative Spirit not far from his home in rural Herefordshire.

Debbie Pippard

Non-executive Director

Debbie is Head of Programmes at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, where she oversees its work on migration, criminal justice and financial exclusion as well as leading a number of strategic projects.

Immediately prior to joining the Trust Debbie was Head of London Region at the Big Lottery Fund and her prior work experience included 10 years of front-line and management roles in the NHS.

Debbie is Chair of The Foundry, the award-winning human rights and social justice centre in Vauxhall and is a Trustee of Global Dialogue, an international human rights charity. She has a long-standing interest in gender equality, chairing the Corston Independent Funders’ Collaborative on women in the criminal justice system, and playing a lead role in the establishment of AGENDA – the Alliance for Women and Girls.

Our Team Members

Meet the Ethex team! We're proud of our dedicated and talented team who work hard to bring you impactful investment opportunities as well as brilliant customer service. Here are short bios of the people behind Ethex.

Lisa Ashford

CEO

With over 20 years of experience in energy and environmental markets, Lisa is a leading voice in the positive investing and social enterprise sectors in the UK. A regular media commentator and writer on her passion for ethical investment, Lisa has led the team at Ethex and our sister platform, Energise Africa to jointly raise over £100 million from investors to support projects that are making a positive difference.

“Making money do good and helping to create real impact for communities is a passion. Scaling and developing Ethex and Energise Africa to deliver even greater positive impact is a job I relish on a daily basis!”

View Lisa's LinkedIn profile here

Chris Butler

Finance Director

As FD, Chris looks after financial reporting and helps the team to plan for further growth and impact. Chris brings over 30 years of experience to the role, as a former Director and Head of Research at the global equity firm Martin Currie, CFO of Casemate Publishers and advisor to Christian Aid.

“I count myself so fortunate to have a job that brings together what I have learned and enjoy about investment and finance, working alongside multi-talented colleagues to enable many more people to make their money do good.”

Ben Sharpe

Investment Manager

Ben joined the Ethex team from Energise Sussex Coast, where he served as a Business Development Consultant/Project Developer focusing on solar and wind initiatives. His experience in the renewable energy sector is extensive, including nearly four years at Joju Solar as an Account Manager and Senior Account Manager. During his time at Joju Solar, Ben managed key community energy and commercial clients such as Energy4All, EDF, and Ameresco. Earlier in his career, Ben worked as a Renewable Energy Consultant for a Community Energy Group, where he developed and delivered solar and wind projects, and prior to that, he was with Salix Finance, financing public sector energy efficiency projects.

Jeroen Huysinga

Senior Development Manager

Jeroen has 35 years of global equities investment management experience. He spent 20 years as managing director at JPMorgan Asset Management. After completing a master's degree in charity accounting and financial management at Bayes Business School, he found inspiration in the social investment module and joined the Ethex team.

“Ethex, with its open and progressive culture, is uniquely positioned to create better access for retail investors to carefully researched and curated impact investment opportunities.”

Julie Dunn

Marketing Manager & Content Creator

Julie has more than 20 years of marketing experience and forms part of the Ethex marketing team responsible for creating compelling content to help more people learn about the fantastic organisations that raise finance through Ethex.

“It’s brilliant to have the opportunity to tell the stories of the inspiring projects that people can invest in through Ethex, it’s great to know you’re helping people make the decision to use their money to support organisations that are part of the solution.”

Melissa Gilmour

Group Head of Marketing

Melissa is a seasoned business strategist and marketing leader with a strong focus on impact investing fintech and decentralised technology such as web3. She has held executive roles in both startups and established firms, driving launches and successful marketing campaigns in regulated B2B and B2C markets.

Her notable achievements include being on the founding team of a private markets liquidity platform She also played a key role in the go to market launch of The Big Exchange and supported the growth of Paragon Impact, a sustainable tech platform.

Outside of work, Melissa enjoys learning about phytomedicine, yoga and nature as a detox from digital life.

Rob Fielding

Digital Growth Manager

Rob works in the Marketing team. He monitors statistics for the Ethex website to ensure that existing users find it simple and easy to use. He also produces digital campaigns to make the public aware of Ethex’s positive investment platform and to encourage them to invest in it.

“Ethex helps fund some extraordinary organisations. It’s great that my work makes more people aware of some remarkable projects which benefit communities and the environment.”

Kritika Khemka

Senior Operations Manager

Kritika has worked in financial services for 10+ years, in areas across Risk Management, Operations and Finance. At Ehex, she oversees day to day management of the Operations team.

I feel excited and privileged to work for an organisation that creates a positive impact by supporting communities and social entrepreneurs.

Prashant Shende

Investment Operations Associate

Working in financial services since 2019 and after spending over two years in Portfolio Management Operations at a major investment management firm, Prashant pursued an MSc in Financial Analysis and Fund Management with a focus on Sustainable Finance at the University of Exeter. In the Ethex team, he oversees and manages several key operational aspects, ensuring that our investors and organisations have an exceptional experience contributing to the impactful work we do in ethical and sustainable investing.

At Ethex, I work with an incredible team of professionals from diverse professional backgrounds, all united by a common goal. Despite being a small organisation, our collective efforts create a significant impact, and I am proud to be part of such a dedicated and positively influential group.

June Harewood

Investment Operations Associate.

Having worked in the finance industry and public and private healthcare, June started searching for roles in the charitable/social enterprise fields for a role that makes a difference. June works in our small operations team, providing operational and customer support in various ways, such as responding to queries and performing operational activities to make the investment process as smooth as possible.

“Working at Ethex, is a unique opportunity to be involved with community initiatives that really do benefit communities, from helping the homeless by creating affordable housing schemes, providing affordable finance, and community energy schemes to outreach aimed at sports and fitness for young people. These are fantastic charitable and social enterprise schemes that I am proud to be involved with.”

Investments offered on the Ethex platform are not readily realisable, which means that they may be difficult to sell and you may get back less than you originally invested. Investments are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and returns are not guaranteed. If you are in any doubt, you should contact an Independent Financial Adviser.