Our staff

The Road Safety Trust has a small but dedicated team of highly experienced staff who all work from home to keep overheads to a minimum. This helps us to ensure that the maximum amount from the funding we receive can be directed towards innovative road safety research and practical interventions, to reduce deaths and injuries on UK roads.

Ruth Purdie

Ruth Purdie OBE
Chief Executive

As General Secretary of TISPOL, the European Roads Policing Network, Ruth worked with European governments, senior police officers and road safety experts to deliver a co-ordinated approach to road safety across Europe.

Her policing career spanned 33 years to the rank of Assistant Chief Constable. Working for the College of Policing, Ruth was the lead facilitator in developing the Strategic Command Course – Operational Delivery Module and assessment process 2015–2019.

Ruth is skilled in crisis management, coaching, assessment, government, emergency management and law enforcement. She holds a first class honours degree in Management and was awarded an OBE in 2021 for services to Policing and Road Safety.

  • Hugh Sutherland

    Hugh Sutherland

    Head of Finance

    Hugh has been Head of Finance at the Trust since 2015. He is a chartered accountant with experience of running companies in the commercial property and management consulting industries. He also has expertise in the governance of a large international Not-for-profit organisation, where he was both Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary.

  • Louise Palomino

    Louise Palomino

    Grants and Impact Director

    Louise joined the Road Safety Trust in 2015 and manages the grants programmes and monitoring and reporting of impact. She has a background in grant-making in education, health and the arts, including roles with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund. Previously, Louise worked for the Charity Commission managing advice and regulation casework and for Children’s Services and Youth Offending as a Data and Performance Analyst.

  • Tanya Qadir Dodgson

    Tanya Qadir Dodgson

    Grants Officer

    Tanya works on the grants team as a Grants Officer. Previously, she worked for The Pharo Foundation as a grants and operations officer, managing the health and education grants portfolio. She worked with international organisations such as AMREF and Action Aid along with small local organisations delivering interventions across Ethiopia and Somaliland. She also helped institute a bespoke grant management solution for The Pharo Foundation.

  • Lindsay Eckley PhD

    Lindsay Eckley PhD

    Grants Officer

    Lindsay joined the Road Safety Trust in June 2022, supporting the grant-making programmes. Previously, she was Research Officer at a large zoo, where she coordinated project and ethics processes and facilitated research projects. Prior to this Lindsay held roles in academic institutions as a researcher, facilitating and conducting research and evaluations of public health initiatives.

  • Angharad Williams

    Angharad Williams

    Grants Officer

    Angharad joined The Road Safety Trust in September 2023. She has worked for a range of causes in the not-for-profit sector for over 10 years, in both grant writing and grant-making roles. Her experience includes coordinating project funding bids and reporting, assessing and interviewing grant applicants for a large national funder and managing successful grant relationships. Angharad holds an MSc in Sociological Research from the University of Manchester.

  • Victoria Sinclair

    Victoria Sinclair

    Governance and Compliance Officer

    Victoria joined the Trust in October 2019 with a background of working in a range of charities in fields such as mental health, women’s services and with refugees. Her experience includes service delivery, charity management and governance roles, supporting and servicing organisations to ensure they run smoothly and effectively.

The Road Safety Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees