Our Team and Governance

Melanie Neale has previously worked in Luton for some 15 years and has been a Trustee since 2014, later serving as Vice Chair before becoming Chair of Trustees in 2019. She works for a law firm in London, specialising in Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence, but remains a regular visitor to Luton.

Melanie takes a keen interest in the work of Citizens Advice and is committed to supporting its mission. She is married with three grown-up children and two granddaughters, and enjoys nothing better than long walks in the countryside. She is deeply dedicated to the people and community of Luton.

David has lived in the Luton area for more than 30 years, and has been a trustee of Citizens Advice Luton since 2012, currently in the role of Vice-Chair of the Board.

David’s career falls into three parts: a stint in local government in the Midlands, then two decades in the IT industry followed by 10+ years in the cultural sector. He is now retired.

He gets great satisfaction from helping the team at CA Luton deliver excellent service to the people of Luton.

In his spare time David enjoys good food and wine, walking, photography, and has a lifelong interest in transport.

Sue joined the board in January 2024 and is currently serving as Treasurer.

Sue grew up in Luton, and is passionate about the town’s success. She brings a good network of key contacts to the CAL board as well as her experience as a senior finance professional in commercial and charitable organisations, particularly in the health and wellbeing sector. She is the Deputy Chief Executive for Active Luton.

She is committed to adding value in the role and supporting the wider organisation, finding it an interesting organisation, key to helping and supporting the Luton community.

Working in the world of IT in various capacities including as a Network Support Engineer and more recently a Service Desk Supervisor, Ehsan brings IT specialism to the board to oversee our security compliance and ensure our systems and processes are efficient. Ehsan’s work focuses on ensuring that network uptime is at its absolute most whilst working at interesting places such as RAF bases and construction sites.

Ehsan was motivated to volunteer for CAL and give his time and expertise having had a positive experience of CAL helping his family in the past. He appreciates the way CAL stepped up to help and resolve the issues they were experiencing at that time and now wants to give back. He is keen to be a voice for the people and bring ideas to the table.

Ehsan has grown up in Luton and still lives in the town with his family. Outside of work, Ehsan enjoys watching and partaking in football as he is a huge Liverpool fan. Other hobbies include working on cars, if he’s not driving them, he’s always fixing them.

Fatima is one of the Local Authority appointed trustees on the CAL board. She is councillor for Central ward, where our office is situated and is passionate about investing in and serving the people of Luton. Her resume is impressive, detailing the amount of community engagement work she does. In the media, she has shared her own journey of receiving organ donations and the life changing impact of this. Fatima brings passion, connections and community inspiration to the board and we are thankful for her involvement and support.

Kathryn juggles the role of CAL trustee while also chasing around her three young children and working as a litigation solicitor with a specialism in dispute resolution and social housing. She likes experimental cooking when time allows.

Kathryn joined the board to give something back to the community and bring her skills to the team. These skills include planning and managing projects and problem-solving as well as expertise in law – a very valuable asset in trustee discussions and strategic operations.

Geeta is a solicitor with a specialisation in non-contentious commercial and corporate law. Having run her practice for 7 years, and currently working as a legal consultant she loves helping her clients grow and flourish in their business by ensuring that they have a solid legal framework in place. She typically works on a broad range of matters such as commercial contracts, transactional matters including acquisitions, joint ventures and franchising, providing start-up support, advising on data protection and Intellectual Property.

Geeta lives in London and is passionate about making an impact. She has been a trustee at Citizens Advice Luton since 2022, and enjoys working with the rest of the trustees who she finds very inspiring.

Outside of work you will find her at the gym, catching up with friends over endless cups of tea, or being her dog’s playmate.

Born in Aberdeen but raised in Central Bedfordshire, Alistair is now enjoying retirement. Keeping active, he walks 5-6 Kilometers with a friend every week and is a founder member of a local community garden.

Most of his career was spent in Vauxhall, followed by a move to Electrolux where he was a buyer, then eventually to Central Beds Council as a Contract Manager before retirement beckoned.

He is passionate about football and for most of his adult life has been involved in coaching boys’, girls’ and adult football teams in organised leagues.

He joined CAL as a trustee at the start of 2022 and is the trustee link for the R&C focus group.

Haidar Rashid is a local Luton boy and an experienced cyber security and risk management professional with over 10 years in the field. He has worked across government and national infrastructure, helping to strengthen resilience, governance, and trust in critical services. Haidar’s work focuses on ensuring that security supports innovation and empowers people, not just protecting systems.

Passionate about giving back to his community, Haidar joined Citizens Advice Luton as a Trustee in 2022 and also serves as an Associate Governor at Luton Sixth Form College, where he supports education and opportunity for young people.

Outside of work, Haidar is a proud dad of two and a lifelong Chelsea supporter. He enjoys spending weekends exploring new adventures with his kids (often the weekends waste away with trying to decided what to do or where to go). Also, he enjoys discovering the latest tech, and keeping up with the evolving world of wearable technology and its security challenges.