Our Team

Working together to tackle hunger and hardship.

Edinburgh Food Project is made up of a volunteer trustee board, a small staff team and a team of volunteers.

Below you’ll find out more about our leadership team and board of trustees.

Our Board of Trustees

Emma Galloway

Emma has been involved with Edinburgh Food project from the beginning.

First getting involved after hearing that people in an affluent city in Edinburgh were going hungry, which to her was totally unacceptable.

“Whilst we have grown over the years, our ambition has always been to provide food for the people who are hungry.”

Emma has worked for over 20 years in the third sector, most recently she has been running her own consultancy business and provides change management, project management and business development consultancy to charities and social enterprises throughout Scotland.

In addition to her role at Edinburgh Food project, Emma is also Chair of Edinburgh Social Enterprise.

Emma

Chair of the Board

Nino Allenza

Nino was delighted to be appointed Trustee Treasurer in March 2022.

A chartered accountant (retired) by discipline but Nino has spent the last 45 years running his own businesses which range from Electronic Enclosures to Last Mile Deliveries.

Nino is semi-retired now and was looking for a local worthwhile organisation to be involved with when the treasurers position became available.

“It is an honour to be involved in Edinburgh Food Project both for the tremendous good it does locally and the truly wonderful people who work there.”

Nino

Treasurer

Diana Noel-Paton

Diana had been a volunteer at one of the Edinburgh Food Project foodbanks for a few months when they saw the Trustee role advertised in the newsletter and thought of applying. Diana had previously headed up a Health and Social Care (Third Sector) organisation and as part of that had been invited to be one of Edinburgh’s Poverty Commissioners between 2018 and 2020 so had learnt a lot about poverty in Edinburgh, and the whole range of work Edinburgh based organisations do, to support people struggling to cope.

When Diana retired they were keen to stay involved in this area of work.

Diana

Amanda Livingstone

Amanda joined as a Trustee in 2019.

She brings many years of experience in retail, transport and change leadership. Passionate about helping people in crisis and advocating for those in need, Amanda aims to provide a mixture of hands on support and governance to the Edinburgh Food Project.

She also previously volunteered as an independent expert on the Corporate Programme Board for Historic Environment Scotland and is presently employed as a Senior Programme Manager in the financial sector.

Amanda

David

David’s a ‘Foodie’ with a career spent in catering, foodservice and food marketing together with third sector experience as a trustee and volunteer with The Food Train.

He joined Edinburgh Food Project as a Trustee in September 2022 and looks forward to the Charity’s further development in testing times.

David

Sonja Vermeulen

For the past 30 years, Sonja has been active in public-sector research on food and agriculture, investigating policy options and technical solutions for healthier, fairer and more sustainable food systems. She has lived and worked in Africa, Europe and Asia.

Now resident in Edinburgh, she is keen to support local actions towards better food and a higher standard of living for the people in our city.

Sonja

Ian Clark

Ian joined EFP’s board in January 2026.

He has worked in social research for over 25 years and led Edinburgh-based Iconic Consulting since 2012.

Ian works with charities and public sector clients across Scotland to address a range of social issues and he has extensive experience of hunger & hardship, poverty, health & wellbeing, mental ill-health, substance use, homelessness, and community justice. He has worked with emergency food providers on improving the referral pathway, effectively supporting people with experience of substance use, and cash-first approaches to tackling hunger & hardship.

He has an excellent understanding of third sector governance including previous experience as a trustee and Chair.

Ian

David Reilly

David joined the board in 2026 from a belief that we should all be treated with dignity and respect from being equally protected from the injustice of poverty and food insecurity.

David works at the Poverty Alliance, supporting people experiencing poverty in Edinburgh and beyond to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

He brings knowledge of working in the voluntary sector and government in Scotland, of being a charity trustee locally and member of participatory democracy movements globally.

David

Our Leadership Team

Laura van der Hoeven

Passionate about social justice, Laura has over a decade of experience working in Scotland to tackle poverty and social exclusion.

Before joining the Edinburgh Food Project she worked for the charity Cyrenians, which tackles the causes and consequences of homelessness, Families Outside which supports families affected by imprisonment and the Scottish Government.

She is a trustee of Homeless Network Scotland and has served on the boards of the Scottish Book Trust and Prison Advice Care Trust.

In her spare time she enjoys cooking, reading and spending time with her children. She loves good food and social justice (especially if the two can be combined).

Laura van der Hoeven

CEO

Colin Campbell

Colin is the Strategic Partnership and Development Lead for Edinburgh Food Project.

He has over 13 years’ experience using community organising and community education models to support change in communities facing challenges across Edinburgh.

He is a qualified and accredited Community Development Worker with a PG Masters in Community Development from University of Glasgow. His previous work has included leading a rights-based campaign to support residents to claim their housing rights in Leith.

Colin Campbell

Strategic Partnership
and Development Lead

Rhona Thompsell

Rhona is the Operations Lead for Edinburgh Food Project.

She joined Edinburgh Food Project in 2022 after relocating to Scotland, having previously been a Head of Service for two London local authorities, with responsibility for delivering statutory services.

Having life-long ties to Scotland, she is delighted to have made it her home and made the move into the third sector, allowing her to make a positive impact in contributing to the work of Edinburgh Food Project.

She has overall responsibility for the Food Provision and Money Advice services, together with areas of compliance, policy, governance and HR.

When she is not working, she can usually be found at a pottery wheel or out walking with her dog.

Rhona Thompsell

Operations Lead

Anna Browne

Anna is the Finance Lead for Edinburgh Food Project.

She has over a decade of experience as an accountant and charity finance manager, with several years before that spent fundraising for a range of different charities and causes.

She joined Edinburgh Food Project in August 2022 after coming back from maternity leave. Her previous roles have included being responsible for the finances of Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, and Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust.

In her spare time she mostly spends time (running around) with her preschool-age son, and enjoys playing the piano, gaming and doing arts and crafts.

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