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New skills and experience arrive to freshen up the team. But who are they? And why did they choose to join Catalyst?
“Catalyst is at the forefront of a really exciting movement of people and organisations striving to do things differently, ethically and well. There's a lot of really great practice and skills within the Catalyst team” - Kate Swade, Co-executive Director (interim)
Catalyst’s been welcoming some new and old faces deeper into its tech justice work this Autumn. We’re introducing them to you as a heads up before you meet them on our journey ahead.
We also think you might be curious about the type of people being attracted to work with the new Catalyst.
Why new staff?
Jo, one of our co-executive directors, left her role in August.
Ellie, our other co-executive director will be taking a 4 month sabbatical in December.
And we’ve been setting up a new participatory project focused on tech justice - so we recruited an engagement lead.
Freshness is important
While stability is important for helping us remain coherent and focused, we equally favour change and its challenges. Staff changes bring more views and experiences into the centre of our work. New people challenge us to be curious and live our value of interdependence.
Sheeza Shah - Co-executive Director
Like the other directors Sheeza is responsible for Catalyst’s long-term success and impact.
Focus areas: fundraising, technology and data, driving growth and support for our projects.
Equity is Sheeza’s favourite Catalyst value
“True equity is about creating pathways and opportunities for communities that have been historically marginalised, allowing everyone to participate fully and fairly. Dismantling extractive systems, promoting community-owned models, and resourcing communities of resistance is the path towards equity.” - Sheeza
Founder, lecturer and writer
Before joining Catalyst, Sheeza:
- Founded UpEffect, a tech for good crowdfunding platform with a 95% success rate
- Is a Founding Member of Zebras Unite where she operationalised and launched the Zebra Solidarity Fund. This was inspired by the Islamic Zakat framework, a 2.5% wealth tax.
- Is a Post Growth Institute Fellow and has lectured at Warwick Business School and University College London.
Sheeza is mum to a 5 year old and a 1 year old. Her writing has appeared in The Analyst, The Guardian, and Thomson Reuters. She also contributed a chapter on Islamic Finance to Beautiful Solutions, a toolkit for liberation.
Why Sheeza joined Catalyst
“I joined Catalyst because I am passionate about regenerative, community-owned models. I believe that true economic equity requires a shift away from extractive and individualistic practices. I want to help advance our network’s vision of leveraging liberatory technology to tackle systemic global injustices.”
What they are enjoying about Catalyst’s work
“I love that we’re always experimenting, learning, and iterating. I’m also inspired by how we are trying to:
- balance sociocracy with visionary decision-making
- making deliberate efforts to unlearn harmful practices
- advancing equitable power-sharing while supporting communities of resistance.”
Kate Swade - Co-executive Director (interim)
Kate has been working in a non-executive role for Catalyst since 2022. Usually she helps the executive directors think about strategy, governance and keeping the organisation solvent and compliant. But while Ellie’s on sabbatical she’ll be taking on a co-executive director role.
Bravery is Kate’s favourite Catalyst value
“I want to refine my ability to be brave and lean into conflict, challenge, and difficult conversations as I know that we're never going to build a liberated world by just being really nice.” - Kate
Making liberatory tech and leading land justice work
Kate has:
- Co-founded the Digital Commons Cooperative where she grapples with the realities of making liberatory tech
- Been a co-director of Shared Assets, a justice-focussed CIC reimagining the land system and land justice movement
- Written about the rewards and challenges of building a coalition of land activists.
Kate is also:
- Mum to a ”fantastic seven year old”
- Helps organise the friends group for her local park and spends “quite a lot of time thinking about local community, and litter”.
Why Kate joined Catalyst
“I am very inspired by the world Catalyst is trying to bring into being. I love working with people at the edge of the dominant system. People who are pushing the boundaries of what's possible. I like the messiness, complexity and ambiguity it entails. I was also attracted by how seriously the team takes its values.”
What they are enjoying about Catalyst’s work
“I've loved the meeting culture. And the rigour and joy that the team bring to sticky conversations and difficult strategic issues. I've really loved meeting the wonderful people in the Catalyst network. I'm looking forward to working more closely with them as I cover Ellie's sabbatical”.
Hannah Turner-Uaandja - Participatory Engagement Lead
Hannah leads our tech justice work. This is a new community focused project that’s about to kick off.
Love is Hannah’s favourite Catalyst value
“I really vibe with Catalysts values and especially, Love, a lot of our systems were not built with love at their core. Imagine how that might change things if they were!” - Hannah
Public involvement expert and
Hannah brings expertise in involving people with lived experience. She:
- Built models of public involvement and engagement in publicly funded health research between 2017-24
- Led the Young Dads Collective in London for 7 years, working with “some incredibly inspiring young people”
Hannah is also a mum of two, a Vocal and Involve associate and a member of the decolonial booktok community. She has led:
- strategic involvement projects
- priority-setting and co-production initiatives
- citizens' juries
- peer research
- service design work
- community engagement initiatives.
Why Hannah joined Catalyst
“I believe in systems that are built, run and owned by the people and for the people. I got inspired by Catalyst’s vision of a different way of doing tech adoption. It's so important that we work towards a new collectively owned way of doing things.”
What they are enjoying about working with Catalyst
“Meeting new people and organisations and learning about all the brilliant work, thinking about how we can support those ideas in a way that supports a network of people.”
Find out more
Read about the rest of the team on our about page.
Look out for new content about our tech justice project. In the meantime you can read a summary of its inspiration: the tech justice report.
--
Image credit: Pixabay
“Catalyst is at the forefront of a really exciting movement of people and organisations striving to do things differently, ethically and well. There's a lot of really great practice and skills within the Catalyst team” - Kate Swade, Co-executive Director (interim)
Catalyst’s been welcoming some new and old faces deeper into its tech justice work this Autumn. We’re introducing them to you as a heads up before you meet them on our journey ahead.
We also think you might be curious about the type of people being attracted to work with the new Catalyst.
Why new staff?
Jo, one of our co-executive directors, left her role in August.
Ellie, our other co-executive director will be taking a 4 month sabbatical in December.
And we’ve been setting up a new participatory project focused on tech justice - so we recruited an engagement lead.
Freshness is important
While stability is important for helping us remain coherent and focused, we equally favour change and its challenges. Staff changes bring more views and experiences into the centre of our work. New people challenge us to be curious and live our value of interdependence.
Sheeza Shah - Co-executive Director
Like the other directors Sheeza is responsible for Catalyst’s long-term success and impact.
Focus areas: fundraising, technology and data, driving growth and support for our projects.
Equity is Sheeza’s favourite Catalyst value
“True equity is about creating pathways and opportunities for communities that have been historically marginalised, allowing everyone to participate fully and fairly. Dismantling extractive systems, promoting community-owned models, and resourcing communities of resistance is the path towards equity.” - Sheeza
Founder, lecturer and writer
Before joining Catalyst, Sheeza:
- Founded UpEffect, a tech for good crowdfunding platform with a 95% success rate
- Is a Founding Member of Zebras Unite where she operationalised and launched the Zebra Solidarity Fund. This was inspired by the Islamic Zakat framework, a 2.5% wealth tax.
- Is a Post Growth Institute Fellow and has lectured at Warwick Business School and University College London.
Sheeza is mum to a 5 year old and a 1 year old. Her writing has appeared in The Analyst, The Guardian, and Thomson Reuters. She also contributed a chapter on Islamic Finance to Beautiful Solutions, a toolkit for liberation.
Why Sheeza joined Catalyst
“I joined Catalyst because I am passionate about regenerative, community-owned models. I believe that true economic equity requires a shift away from extractive and individualistic practices. I want to help advance our network’s vision of leveraging liberatory technology to tackle systemic global injustices.”
What they are enjoying about Catalyst’s work
“I love that we’re always experimenting, learning, and iterating. I’m also inspired by how we are trying to:
- balance sociocracy with visionary decision-making
- making deliberate efforts to unlearn harmful practices
- advancing equitable power-sharing while supporting communities of resistance.”
Kate Swade - Co-executive Director (interim)
Kate has been working in a non-executive role for Catalyst since 2022. Usually she helps the executive directors think about strategy, governance and keeping the organisation solvent and compliant. But while Ellie’s on sabbatical she’ll be taking on a co-executive director role.
Bravery is Kate’s favourite Catalyst value
“I want to refine my ability to be brave and lean into conflict, challenge, and difficult conversations as I know that we're never going to build a liberated world by just being really nice.” - Kate
Making liberatory tech and leading land justice work
Kate has:
- Co-founded the Digital Commons Cooperative where she grapples with the realities of making liberatory tech
- Been a co-director of Shared Assets, a justice-focussed CIC reimagining the land system and land justice movement
- Written about the rewards and challenges of building a coalition of land activists.
Kate is also:
- Mum to a ”fantastic seven year old”
- Helps organise the friends group for her local park and spends “quite a lot of time thinking about local community, and litter”.
Why Kate joined Catalyst
“I am very inspired by the world Catalyst is trying to bring into being. I love working with people at the edge of the dominant system. People who are pushing the boundaries of what's possible. I like the messiness, complexity and ambiguity it entails. I was also attracted by how seriously the team takes its values.”
What they are enjoying about Catalyst’s work
“I've loved the meeting culture. And the rigour and joy that the team bring to sticky conversations and difficult strategic issues. I've really loved meeting the wonderful people in the Catalyst network. I'm looking forward to working more closely with them as I cover Ellie's sabbatical”.
Hannah Turner-Uaandja - Participatory Engagement Lead
Hannah leads our tech justice work. This is a new community focused project that’s about to kick off.
Love is Hannah’s favourite Catalyst value
“I really vibe with Catalysts values and especially, Love, a lot of our systems were not built with love at their core. Imagine how that might change things if they were!” - Hannah
Public involvement expert and
Hannah brings expertise in involving people with lived experience. She:
- Built models of public involvement and engagement in publicly funded health research between 2017-24
- Led the Young Dads Collective in London for 7 years, working with “some incredibly inspiring young people”
Hannah is also a mum of two, a Vocal and Involve associate and a member of the decolonial booktok community. She has led:
- strategic involvement projects
- priority-setting and co-production initiatives
- citizens' juries
- peer research
- service design work
- community engagement initiatives.
Why Hannah joined Catalyst
“I believe in systems that are built, run and owned by the people and for the people. I got inspired by Catalyst’s vision of a different way of doing tech adoption. It's so important that we work towards a new collectively owned way of doing things.”
What they are enjoying about working with Catalyst
“Meeting new people and organisations and learning about all the brilliant work, thinking about how we can support those ideas in a way that supports a network of people.”
Find out more
Read about the rest of the team on our about page.
Look out for new content about our tech justice project. In the meantime you can read a summary of its inspiration: the tech justice report.
--
Image credit: Pixabay
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