Victoria Griffin (Treasurer) Expand Victoria is a qualified Chartered Accountant and currently works as a financial reporting analyst for The Ambassador Theatre Group. She is a keen rugby fan and has been supporter of SOHK for number of years.
Deborah Griffin OBE (Life President) Expand Deborah is one of the great influencers behind the amazing growth in women’s rugby in England, a founding member of the WRFU and Chair of the first Women’s World Cup. She became RFU’s first female President at a historic time for women's rugby with England hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2025. She also sits on the World Rugby Council, is a chartered accountant, and the Bursar at Homerton College, Cambridge University. Deborah has supported SOHK since the start, as a friend of the charity, a valued Chair and is now our Life President.
James Cameron (Chair) Expand SOHK Chair, James Cameron is a senior partner at Gibson Dunn with 30 years’ experience of banking and corporate law. A former player at Havant, Rosslyn Park, Harlequins and Stade Toulousain, he brings an excellent rugby and business network. His firm, Gibson Dunn, provides SOHK with pro bono legal advice and is also heavily involved with SOHK in a variety of ways, including hosting various SOHK events.
Mike Francis Expand Mike runs a consultancy practice and also invests in, chairs and mentors start-up companies. Mike retired from full-time employment in 2020. Prior to this he was Co-Head of Investment Banking at Investec, having previously worked at Ernst and Young as a Chartered Accountant as well as Barclays and ANZ Investment Bank. He was one of the driving forces behind what has now become our main annual fundraiser. Out of work, Mike is an avid sports fan – especially of Liverpool FC.
Yasmine Hafiz Expand Yasmine Hafiz has been involved with School of Hard Knocks since 2017 – originally as a secondee from the civil service Fast Stream in a finance and marketing role, and now as a trustee. She is passionate about creating positive social change through public service, which has informed her decade-long civil service career. She currently leads North America communications for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Prior to that, she consulted on recruitment for the Met Police, managed events for No10 and led major government campaigns for the Cabinet Office including COVID-19 communications. She draws on this experience in communications, policy and strategy to help SOHK tell its story, navigate the public sector and establish lasting partnerships.
Neel Sood Expand Neel Sood was the key account manager for SOHK when he was at Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and knows our programmes as well as anyone external to SOHK. He now manages the sport for development investments at Comic Relief. Neel has also been a Sports Development Officer with Get Berkshire Active, supporting the delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic legacy across his home county of Berkshire. Neel’s experience and knowledge in management as a major grant maker will be an advantage to SOHK, where he chairs the Fundraising Committee.
Dr Mikel Mellick SFHEA CPsychol AFBPsS Expand Mikel is an academic at Cardiff Metropolitan University and a Practitioner Psychologist with over 25 years of experience providing psychological and mental health support within professional, elite and talented high-performance environments. His expertise in mental health and sports psychology is a valuable addition to the SOHK team, alongside his incredible support for our work. Mikel is a former Elite Rugby Union Football Referee and spent 10 years with England Rugby as a performance manager for Match Officials.
Shaunagh Brown Expand Growing up, Shaunagh was surrounded by love, but financial hardship was a constant challenge. When she picked up rugby at 25, she found herself navigating a new and culturally different environment, facing many challenges. Those early experiences shaped her perspective and strengthened her commitment to advocate for social issues and support lesser privileged communities. She is passionate about paying forward the support, encouragement and sense of belonging she received from her family and early athletics coaches. She believes that sport is a powerful way to create safe spaces where young people can develop self-belief, ambition and resilience, which is what drew her to SOHK. As Shaunagh always says - you should never let your starting line define your finish line.