ASCEL Trustees

Chair

Annabel Gittins

Library Support Manager, Shropshire Libraries

Sue Ball

Interim Libraries & Arts Manager, Staffordshire Council

Christine Myhill 

Libraries & Heritage Manager, Gateshead Council

Hon Treasurer

Anna Simmons

Head of Service, Luton Libraries

Nina Simon

SLS Manager, Schools Library Service, Redbridge 

Krystal Vittles

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Suffolk Libraries

Mark Freeman

Retired Head of Service, Stockton-on-Tees, previous President of Libraries Connected

Nick Fuller

Bi-borough Libraries Manager Children’s and Outreach, Westminster City Council working with Kensington and Chelsea Council

Sherilyn Pereira

Public Engagement Manager, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre

Benedict Shaw

Head of Euro Bilateral Team - Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

Kirsty Ellis

Kirsty is a Chartered Governance Professional and Chartered Librarian, who is passionate about the role of libraries in people’s lives.  She is Assistant CEO of Culture, Learning & Libraries (Midlands), trading as Inspire, where she leads the delivery of the public library service as well as some support services and governance.  “Becoming a trustee of ASCEL gives me the opportunity to combine my two professional interests: supporting the role that libraries can play in people’s lives and making sure that organisations are well run.  I look forward to being part of the next phase of ASCEL’s journey.”

Mark Freeman MBE

Mark Freeman has worked in the public library sector for over forty years, starting his career as a part time library assistant in Kettering in 1976.  He has worked in four different public library services and his career has taken him across the world on working holidays and conferences. 

Working in such diverse services has allowed him to gain experience of a wide variety of public library offers from Children’s and School Library Services to Prisons and from rural communities to metropolitan areas.  From 2002 he was Chief Librarian in South Tyneside and more recently managed the public library service in Stockton on Tees.  He retired in 2022 and now works on the frontline on a casual basis as a Library Assistant in County Durham.

He has been actively involved in a number of professional support groups and organisations including the Youth Libraries Group, Share the Vision and the Society of Chief Librarians.  In 2018 he became the first President of Libraries Connected as it transformed from SCL.  He was also a Corresponding Member of the IFLA Public Libraries Section from 2018 to 2021

.  Mark was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list 2021.

Nick Fuller

Nick has been involved in delivering library services to children and young people since he took up his first professional post in Hounslow way back in the last century. He has worked as a Schools Library Service Librarian in Hillingdon and as a manager in Westminster, where he now coordinates the public library services to children and young people, not only in Westminster, but also in Kensington and Chelsea and for a while in Hammersmith and Fulham too. 

When not at work he loves spending time with his wife and teenage son as well as playing the classical and electric guitar.

Sherilyn Pereira

Sherilyn Pereira is the public engagement manager for the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre (SLRC) at De Montfort University, Leicester. Her experience spans three decades in developing and implementing communications and public relations strategies in multiple sectors across Europe and New York. Her role at the SLRC involves connecting national and global audiences to its research agendas that are centred around themes of race, racism and social justice.  Sherilyn is also Co-Chair of DMU’s Race Equality Network. 

Benedict Shaw

Ben is a civil servant currently working across the digital and tech policy agenda. Prior to this, he has had experience across a number of Government Departments, international development and tech-enabled start-up companies. Ben is passionate about the role that reading and libraries can play in building individuals and communities.

 Fabienne Tannoh
After graduating from Queen Mary University of London with a degree in History and Comparative Literature, Fabienne moved into the area of central government. She has in the past volunteered as a children's Library Assistant as well as teaching English to primary school children in a charitable organisation. She enjoys reading and travelling in her spare time.