Who is behind FRANK?

Our Founder Katie Alcott

Award winning social entrepreneur, Katie Alcott, 29, created FRANK in 2005 after suffering dysentery from drinking dirty water in India.  Witnessing the rise of bottled water sales in the UK, she dreamt of the Water-for-Water concept - creating an ethical bottled water brand that would benefit worldwide clean water projects. 

To contact Katie you can email her here.

Our Board of Trustees

Paul Crossley - Trustee and Chairman

Paul has volunteered for Frank for several years and has known Katie since they were at school. In 2006 he visited India with the Frank team to see the projects for himself, and after seeing first hand what Frank is doing, his passion grew and he became Trustee and then Chairman of Frank Water Projects. Paul is interested in combining his interest in sustainability with the provision of clean water and would love to see Frank’s clean water facilities covered in solar panels. He is also keen to develop partnerships with other small charities to increase Frank’s impact in countries further afield than India.

Working in London as a Sustainability Consultant, Paul helps spread the Frank word at charity and work events in the capital.

To contact Paul you can email him here.

Victoria Samuel - Trustee

With a long standing interest in social inequalities and a nagging discomfort with over-consumption and a throw-away society, Vic was inspired to contact Frank having read an article about them in the Bristol Magazine. Vic first volunteered with Frank at a water-logged, blustery Organic Food Festival, where she enthusiastically sold Frank to soggy festival goers.

A year later Vic took on the role of trustee which she fits in alongside her day job as a Clinical Psychologist. Vic has a particular interest in how beliefs, attitudes and knowledge influence the choices people make about ethical products and services. Vic is passionate about Frank's frankness and keen to develop new ways to ensure Frank's fans feel fully involved and up-to-date with the charity's work.

To contact Vic you can email her here.

Peter Gibbons - Trustee

Pete is a graphic designer specialising in visual identity for brands. His creative direction and design experience encompasses the evolution of established consumer brands, re-designs for growing brands, and identity creation for new ventures. Inspired by the idea of FRANK and the chance to establish an ethical brand, Pete created our powerful identity which has proven to be a strong and long-lasting asset. A founding member of FRANK, a volunteer and trustee, Pete also advises on FRANK's visual communication.

To contact Pete you can email him here.

John David - Trustee

John joined the team as trustee in 2008. His interest in FRANK lies in his own experience of travel in the developing world, where the impact of the lack of clean water was only too obvious. He particularly supports the self-help aspect to the projects, strongly believing that whilst pure charity can have a critical role to play in providing essential products or services, sustainable and long-term development is best achieved where a sense of ownership can be instilled.

John works as an Investment Director with one of the UK’s leading ethical investment organisations, and his financial acumen and advice are invaluable to FRANK's work.

To contact John you can email him here.

Matthew Fortnam - Trustee

Matt is the founder and director of Ecojam, an environmental social network. He has a passion for the environment and has a background in the application of water technologies in developing countries. He has worked in Kenya with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) looking at the vulnerability of freshwater, and has also carried out water assessments on the Lake Chad Basin in Central Africa, another region with extreme freshwater shortages.

Matt joined FRANK as a trustee in 2008 and brings with him a sound knowledge of water development issues and emerging technologies.

To contact Matt you can email him here.

Our Project Managers

Sreenivas Sreeramula - India

Sreenivas is based in Hyderabad and oversees all our projects in India. He has worked in the NGO sector for the past 10 years, specialising in soil and water conservation, health and education. His responsiblities for FRANK include:

• Identifying villages that are suitable for FRANK funding
• Coordinating the various stakeholders in each project which include the district administration, government departments and technical partners
• Monitoring and coordinating team members and developing a strong community based approach (in order to involve the beneficiaries and guarantee long term sustainability)
• Accompanying FRANK trustees and funders on their trips to the projects
• Reporting back to the FRANK team in the UK with updates on all the projects along with case studies and photos

Peter Gibbons is FRANK's voluntary graphic design and branding department. With us from day one and now a FRANK Water Projects trustee, Pete created our visual identity and brand positioning and continues to design stuff for us whenever he can. See more of his work at www.petergibbons.net

Jason Mathias, Director of Mathias. Jason and his company Mathias have been great supporters of FRANK. Having provided most of FRANK's branded t-shirts, Jason champions FRANK water both in the boardroom and at festivals.