Meet the Charities and Lending Team 


Based all over the UK, our team members are committed to helping clients achieve their goals. Meet the faces and backgrounds behind the names.

Charities Team 

Neil Poynton

Neil Poynton

Director of Charities, Product & Development, CAF Bank and Chief Operating Officer, CFSL

Neil joined CAF in 2013 to lead our Business Development team, helping charitable organisations understand how our services could support their future goals. His role has evolved to incorporate oversight of the deposit and investment offerings within CAF Financial Solutions Ltd (CFSL) as COO and to head the development of CFSL’s and CAF Bank’s propositions for charities.


Find out more about Neil

Stuart Niven

Stuart Niven

Regional Director – North

After graduating with a Geography degree and working in the private sector, Stuart joined the charitable sector in 2003. He enjoys building relationships with charities across Scotland and the north of England. And he’s especially interested in social housing, becoming a Trustee of his local Housing Association in 2017.

Find out more about Stuart
Scott Newman

Scott Newman

Regional Director – South

Scott joined CAF Bank in 2014, bringing 14 years of private banking experience and a sound knowledge of development finance. He has a detailed knowledge of our entire lending offering, from charity loans to social purpose projects.


Find out more about Scott 

Ben Harris

Ben Harris

Senior Relationship Director
Ben has worked in the charity sector for over 12 years. Before joining CAF, he worked with a small national health charity. The strong growth he helped them achieve gave him a crucial insight to the challenges of maintaining sustainable funding streams

Find out more about Ben
Ben Jowitt

Ben Jowitt

Relationship Director
Ben has been providing support to a wide range of charities and not-for-profit organisations with CAF Bank since 2015. He has over 10 years’ experience working exclusively with charities, and previously worked in retail and commercial banking for 25 years. 

Find out more about Ben
Faye Hennessy

Faye Hennessy

Relationship Director

Faye is passionate about her role at CAF, which is all about building relationships with charities, intermediaries and other third sector stakeholders across the Midlands and South Wales. Faye's aim is to support people in achieving their goals, with a view to enabling UK charities to achieve more. She will be more than happy to chat with you about any enterprise, big or small.

Find out more about Faye

Iain Smith

Iain Smith

Relationship Director

Iain has over 30 years’ experience in the banking sector, managing varied corporate and commercial clients for the last 15 years. By building credible relationships with charities, intermediaries, and stakeholders, Iain ensures a collaborative approach delivering the best possible outcome for charities.

Find out more about Iain

Danny Dickson

Danny Dickson

Relationship Director

Danny joined CAF Bank in 2017. He has over 40 years of banking experience across various sectors, including corporate, commercial, charities and social housing.


Find out more about Danny

Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith

Relationship Director

Andy joined CAF Bank in 2017, bringing extensive experience from his 30 years in lending roles within the banking industry. He has detailed knowledge of commercial and property transactions, which he has used to support all types of residential development and refurbishment projects. Now, he is focusing on wider charity and social purpose lending.


Find out more about Andrew
Melissa Butler

Melissa Butler

Relationship Manager

Melissa joined CAF Bank's Customer Service team in 2019, and was impressed by how different CAF Bank is to other banks where she previously worked. In her current role of Relationship Manager, Melissa works with our team of Relationship Directors to support the Bank's charity loan clients. She graduated from the University of Northampton with a Banking and Financial Planning Degree.

Charlotte Jago

Charlotte Jago

Relationship Manager
Charlotte joined CAF in 2005. As a Relationship Manager, she supports our team of Relationship Directors. Customer service is at the heart of everything Charlotte does. She feels proud to help charities achieve their purpose.