Income and External Affairs

The Income and External Affairs team is responsible for fundraising, communications and policy work

Richard Sved photo

Richard Sved

Director of Income and External Affairs

Richard joined Leap in 2011, and manages the organisation’s income generation, policy and communications work. He has previously held a variety of fundraising roles in charities, including running the income generation at National Literacy Trust. Most recently, he has partnered with national, regional and local Government in working with London’s museums, libraries and archives.

Outside work, Richard is a Trustee of the London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy, loves going to the theatre and going on holiday by train. He would argue that the Finsbury Park office’s proximity to his favourite football team is a happy coincidence.

Amit Dixit photo

Amit Dixit

Head of Business Development

Amit joined Leap in 2008, bringing 10 years of business development and sales expertise to drive the growth of Leap’s social enterprise arm, building innovative new partnerships and providing training and consultancy across local and central government, educational institutions, community groups and criminal justice agencies.

Amit’s enthusiasm for new challenges is pretty obvious outside of Leap, too – he regularly travels to different corners of the globe in search of new adventures on two wheels, two feet and sometimes two fins. In 2010, he led a team of Leap supporters to raise over £3000 in the Royal Parks half-marathon.

Lara Stanley photo

Lara Stanley

Policy and Communications Officer

Lara joined Leap in August 2011 in the newly created Policy and Communications Officer role. She has an active role in developing Leap’s social media strategy, maintaining stakeholder relationships and fielding media enquiries. Lara has a background in the disabled children’s sector, with 2 years working in campaigns.

Lara is a keen traveller, but when she’s in the UK she enjoys socialising with friends and going to Zumba.

Lydia Marriott photo

Lydia Marriott

Partnerships and Income

Since Lydia joined Leap in July 2009 she has had a variety of different roles covering income generation, training coordination, accreditation and marketing giving her a well rounded knowledge of all things Leap. Her current role focuses on trust fundraising, donor & funder relationship management and income generation support.

In her spare time she enjoys exploring the country on two feet and attempting (but failing) to imitate Jamie Oliver with a variety of impressive cooking disasters.

Peter Olawaye photo

Peter Olawaye

Social Media Researcher

Peter joined Leap in November 2011 in the newly created Social Media Researcher role. He is particularly interested in finding solutions for young people at risk of falling into a life of crime. Peter has a wide range of experiences working with young people. He worked for an academic year as a mentor with ‘Hackney Citizen’ for young children aged 11-12 who were going through the transition from primary school to secondary school. Peter also worked on the Dalston Youth Project sponsored by Barclays Bank and ‘Kikass’, which involved, amongst other things, a special pitch to Dianne Abott and Ed Milliband of innovative ways to tackle financial issues within Hackney. In recent times he has worked with the British Youth Council researching youth unemployment. Peter is also a core team member of youth charity Elevation Networks. The organisation helps to make young people more competitive within the labour market.

In his spare time Peter often takes part in various activities at his local leisure centre, swimming, basketball and aerobic training in the gym.




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