Photography by Agata Noweta
Our team
Our team of experts brings together the analytical capabilities of the private sector with significant experience supporting some of the world’s most successful charities, NGOs and foundations. Your consulting engagement will benefit from our multi-disciplinary, open approach.
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Founder and Executive Chair
Andy founded Firetail and is now its Executive Chair.
He has spent more than twenty-five years advising senior leaders in charities, NGOs, foundations and social enterprises on strategy, futures and impact.Over the course of his career, he has worked with organisations including the United Nations, the Royal Society, UNICEF UK, Comic Relief and the RSPCA.
As Executive Chair, he shapes Firetail’s long-term direction and governance, and leads selected major client engagements, particularly large-scale futures and strategy projects.
Alongside his role at Firetail, he also supports early-stage ventures across science, technology and social change.
Prior to founding Firetail, Andy was Head of Strategy for Cancer Research UK, where he ran the Strategy Unit and Consumer Insight teams.
Before that, he was a founding member of a commercial strategy consulting firm, and worked for the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit.
MA (Oxon), Politics, Philosophy and Economics, University of Oxford
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Chief Executive
He is an experienced strategy, strategic foresight, and operating model design consultant, with 15 years of experience advising UK Government and social progress clients.
Ben joined Firetail in 2022 and stepped into the position of Chief Executive in March 2026. He leads Firetail’s work with clients across strategy, strategic foresight, transformation, and operating model design.
At Firetail, Ben has worked with the Royal Society to review the effectiveness of their governance; led the organisational strategy and business planning process for one of the UK’s largest drug, alcohol and mental health support charities; led the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Constitution and Governance review; undertaken a range of science and technology strategic foresight projects for Northern Ireland's Matrix panel; and supported a range of other clients with questions of strategy, transformation, and governance.
Before joining Firetail, Ben’s work across the UK Government included leading the organisational design, development, and implementation of a new national horizon scanning unit. He also led multiple organisational maturity and operating model reviews for civil service units, including developing a new national innovation, science & technology function and helping them to redefine and refocus their innovation strategy.
Outside of work, Ben is a trustee for a youth mental health charity in London; an outreach volunteer at St Mungos; and a listening volunteer with the Samaritans, where he has previously held branch leader and deputy director roles.
BA (Hons), Philosophy & Mathematics, University of Southampton
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Senior Consultant
Henry has a background in research and strategy. At Firetail, he conducted the market research that underpinned the newly formed Queen's Commonwealth Trust. He has advised the General Medical Council on how to make best use of its large datasets and potential business models to underpin its data products.
He has evaluated Privacy International's Detecting the Controllers programme, and the National Housing Federation-led Homes for Britain campaign, which ran during the 2015 General Election. At an organisational level, he has evaluated the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats, an academic institute shared across five UK universities. He has helped several organisations develop their fundraising strategies, including the British Heart Foundation, King's College London and Anthony Nolan.
Before joining Firetail, Henry spent five years as a research consultant, working across a range of projects in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Most recently, he worked for Nesta’s research and policy team, conducting comparative analysis of UK and US venture capital and researching innovation in the public sector. He has also worked as an analyst for the Cabinet Office and the Scottish Government. Henry is a member of the Social Research Association and proficient in the use of a range of data tools and techniques including, among others, Excel, SPSS, Tableau and R.
MA (Hons), Politics, University of Edinburgh, First
MA, Jurisprudence and Political Theory, University College London
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Associate Consultant
Maya joined the team in June 2026 as an Associate Consultant, bringing with her expertise across programme evaluation, strategic operations, and mixed-methods research.
Prior to joining Firetail, she worked as a Public Health Development Officer at Breast Cancer Now, where she supported the rollout of a Train the Trainer programme across the UK, building organisational capacity among healthcare professionals and community stakeholders to drive behaviour change, improve early detection outcomes, and advance health equity.
Maya also brings operations experience from the Income Protection Task Force, a financial not-for-profit, where she leads on IT, systems optimisation and cross-functional project delivery.
BSc, Biological Sciences, University of Leeds
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Consultant
Josh is a Consultant at Firetail with experience across strategy, evaluations, and futures projects. He has led several projects at Firetail including a multi-year impact evaluation for a major climate change campaign, and a foresight study of demand drivers for advanced connectivity for the Department for the Economy. Josh has also supported numerous other projects including a scenario planning study into the future of animal wellbeing for the RSPCA, and the development of a new strategy for the Meningitis Research Foundation.
Prior to joining Firetail, Josh worked as an analyst at a financial investigations company, where his role centred around research and data analysis. He has also worked in the finance sector in Hong Kong and spent time at a non-governmental organisation in Hanoi.
Josh is proficient in the use of Excel, SPSS and Stata.
BSc, Economics, University of Birmingham
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Consultant
Anttoni is a Consultant at Firetail with diverse experience across strategy, evaluation and futures work. He led the strategy development process for Leeds United Foundation and has delivered various research and impact evaluation projects for clients working in climate, development and education. Anttoni has also supported on projects with Northern Ireland’s Matrix panel, Global Public Investment Network, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Before joining Firetail, he worked as a Research Assistant at the National Defence University in Helsinki, where he contributed to foreign policy and strategy research, and authored a paper on the medium-term implications of EU and NATO strategy in the 2020s. Anttoni also worked on projects to monitor global responses to the war in Ukraine and conduct a long-term strategic review of China’s military build-up.
With an academic background in European Politics as well as Business Administration, Anttoni is well versed in qualitative and quantitative research methods. He is proficient in the use of Excel and R.
Anttoni is a native Finnish speaker, and also speaks English and German.
MSc, European Politics and Policy, University College London
BSc, International Business Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam
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Associate Consultant
A recent addition to the Firetail team, Phebe brings a background in socio-economic research, impact evaluation, and international intelligence analysis.
She joins from Forever Consulting, where she specialised in research for local authorities, charities, and housing associations. In this role, she was responsible for conducting impact evaluations and developing Theories of Change to help clients translate complex data into actionable strategic insights.
Phebe’s previous experience includes working as a Research Consultant at the Global Disinformation Index, using OSINT research and media monitoring tools to produce intelligence briefs and public-facing reports. She also served as a Research Assistant at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, where she authored work on the Belt and Road Initiative and coordinated foreign policy discussions.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Law from the University of Warwick.
Phebe is particularly interested in cross-disciplinary research methods that provide the full context necessary to address complex, real-world problems.
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Finance Manager
Jaspreet is the Finance Manager at Firetail, looking after financial reporting, invoicing, budgeting, cashflow and day-to-day finance, and HR operations.
She has over 10 years’ experience working with SMEs and growing businesses across consulting, media and care, with a hands-on approach to finance and operations, supporting leadership teams with financial reporting, process improvements and business operations.
Before joining Firetail, Jaspreet worked across a range of finance roles supporting leadership teams with financial reporting, process improvements and wider business operations. She has experience building and improving finance processes, introducing reporting structures and helping businesses gain better visibility over performance and cashflow.
Jaspreet particularly enjoys supporting growing businesses through practical, operational finance and working closely with teams across the wider business.
Our partners
We work with a network of partners that support Firetail on a project basis. These established professionals provide additional background, expertise and insight. Our partners are valued for their in-depth topic knowledge, unique skillset and extensive experience in their field.
Interested in being part of our network?
If you or your organisation have experience in a particular sector, industry or skill and see opportunities to work together, get in touch.
Please send an email to recruit@firetail.co.uk
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Strategy, research, and evaluation
John is an independent strategy, research, and evaluation consultant with 20+ years of experience in exploring questions of evidence, efficacy, value and impact in the social sector. John is a co-founder of Stories of Change, a new partnership exploring the relationship between vision, evidence and narrative in the social sector.
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AI and data science
Fran is a leading expert and advisor to government and health actors on issues relating to data and AI. She is a data science and data strategy specialist with broad experience in cutting-edge analysis, and AI and data science technologies.
Fran is a board member at the Ada Lovelace Institute, an independent research and deliberative body with a mission to ensure data and AI work for people and society, and at Action against Age-Related Macular Degeneration. She is the VP of Data at Healx, which focuses on the potential of AI for rare diseases.
Until recently, she was a board member at Bethnal Green Ventures, a leading tech for good funder, and a founding trustee at DataKind UK, a nonprofit harnessing the power of data science and AI in the service of humanity.
Through these experiences, she has a hands-on knowledge of the dynamics of the AI startup and scale-up world, as well as a practical understanding of the relevant AI technologies and most recent innovations.
BA, Maths & Philosophy, University of Oxford
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Health care, Education, and Life Sciences
Kate is the Founder and Director of Sanna Consulting. With over two decades of experience spanning healthcare, academia, and large-scale transformation, she has led complex change programmes and operated at Board level across multiple organisations. Most recently, Kate served as Director of Transformation and Director of Portfolio at King’s College London, where she oversaw enterprise-wide initiatives valued at more than £350m and built empowered, high-performing teams that delivered lasting impact.
Kate’s earlier career was rooted in the NHS, where she held senior leadership roles at the Royal Marsden, Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s Health Partners, and King’s College Hospital. Her work has consistently bridged the worlds of healthcare, academia, and the private sector—driving transformative change across some of the UK’s most respected institutions.
Her expertise spans digital programme delivery, strategic partnership development, and operational excellence, with a proven ability to translate strategy into execution. A values-driven and collaborative leader, Kate creates the conditions for innovation, accountability, and people to thrive. Through Sanna Consulting, she helps clients turn strategic ambition into tangible outcomes—mobilising major programmes, leading cultural change, and delivering sustainable value across health, life sciences, and higher education.
BSc (Hons) Pharmacology (1st class), University of Leeds
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Technological, political, and social change
Michael Harris is an experienced researcher and writer who has worked across numerous sectors including education, technology, innovation, government, public services, and urban planning. He has produced more than a hundred leading reports for organizations, both his own writing and working with some of the most important scholars across many fields. His work has been featured in national media including BBC News, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, and Prospect magazine, as well as numerous leading academic journals. He has also used his experience to build up effective policy and research teams for a succession of organisations, increasing their impact on government policy and practitioners in many sectors.
Michael's research interests have included reforming education so it harnesses the latest technologies, how leading businesses and organisations innovate in radical new ways, rethinking how public services can be organised to better serve people's needs and save money, and challenging the closed way in which much government policy is developed. Most recently he has focused on planning for the most challenging future trends, such as climate change, population growth, economic and technological disruption, and the worldwide erosion of trust in political institutions.
Michael has also published four books about planning for the future, encompassing challenges such as environmental destruction, technological disruption, political instability, and generational change. He is currently working on his fifth book, about the metaverse. He is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and teaches and researches digital technologies at the International College of Digital Innovation at Chiang Mai University.
BA and PhD, University of Sheffield
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Smart, resilient and sustainable cities
Stephen is Founder and Director of City Global Futures, a leading Smart and Sustainable Cities consultancy. He draws on 20+ years of senior level experience and works with cities, government bodies, communities, universities and businesses across the West of England, the UK and around the world.
Stephen was formerly Director of Futures at Bristol City Council. At the Bristol City Council, he took a strategic lead on Smart Cities, environmental sustainability, urban resilience and international strategy. His department achieved many successes for Bristol such as securing the title of European Green Capital 2015. Stephen took strategic responsibility for ensuring effective delivery of these programmes, working closely with the Mayor and city leaders, engaging the community as well as academic and commercial partners in projects ranging from smart meters to open data and autonomous vehicles to city operations and securing inward investment.
Stephen also set up “Bristol is Open”, a joint venture Smart City Company owned by the City Council and the University of Bristol. He took the role of Director of City Experimentation, developing the pipeline of Internet of Things projects. Previously Stephen set up and ran Connecting Bristol, a city digital partnership that connected the city to a national network of 10 leading digital cities and to Government. Stephen was named Local Government Innovator of the Year for this work on technology and democracy.
Stephen is a Fellow of the University of Bristol Digital Futures Institute and a Trustee of the Architecture Centre. He is actively involved in research on Digital Placemaking. Stephen has a severe, genetic eyesight condition. In 2019 he joined the board of the Bristol Sight Loss Council where he works on employment and transport opportunities for blind and visually impaired people.
MSc, Social Research Methods, University of Surrey
BA, Fine Art, Leeds Beckett University
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Open Web, Data, Digital Rights, Technology & Society
Josema is a seasoned manager, strategist, and executive with over 25 years of experience in open Web and digital rights. He was the Interim CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, the organisation founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Web’s inventor to promote the open Web as a public good and a fundamental right.
During his 12-year tenure, he played a crucial role in strategy and development and established and managed partnerships and multi-stakeholder networks that united hundreds of organisations. Josema was also the eGovernment Lead at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organisation developing open standards and guidelines that make the Web work.
He has served on expert groups at the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the European Commission and ICANN. Educated as a software engineer, he worked as an IT analyst, consultant, and trainer early in his career. He founded a web start-up in 1997.
BSc, Computer Science, Universidad de Oviedo
Our clients
Our clients work around the world on the greatest challenges facing society, from global health to climate change, from science and innovation to human rights, to democracy and beyond. They are united by the scale of their ambition and their desire for positive social progress.
Our values
Our culture is important to us. Our values are the foundation of that culture. Our values were developed by the team, and represent who we are, what we stand for and how we behave.
They describe who we aspire to be, with our clients and with each other.
We are positive
We believe in people
We focus on answers
We are optimists
We are collaborative
We solve problems together
We build long-term relationships
We know diversity is a strength
We succeed and fail together
We support and care for each other
We trust each other
We are one team
We respect ourselves and our clients
We take responsibility
We tell the truth and do what is right
We work with integrity
We are curious
We are interested in the world around us
We listen and seek to understand
We never stop learning
We care about the impact of our work
We commit to high standards
We hold ourselves accountable
We do work that matters
Firetail is proud to be officially certified as a B-Corp, which demonstrates our commitment to social impact, as well as high environmental and social standards. We are also proud members of the 1% for the Planet coalition. Learn more about our how these certifications help us to live our values here.
Work and careers
People at Firetail come from different backgrounds, but we all share common traits. We’re practical optimists, working openly and with purpose towards social progress. We believe in the power of ideas, grounded in evidence and insights, to help transform the world around us.
Consulting at Firetail gives you the opportunity to make a positive impact while using your strong analytical and strategic consulting skills.
At Firetail you will advise leading organisations that work at the cutting edge of social progress. We look for skilled individuals that are committed to positive social change.
To learn more about our people and their experience of working at Firetail, read some of our alumni stories.
Firetail is an equal opportunity employer. We value the difference inclusivity and diversity make.
May 2026 Vacancies:
Senior Consultant
Click here for more information about the role and how to apply.
Rolling deadline
FAQs
Click here to see the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions