Welcoming Fiona Lin to the Foyer Federation Board of Trustees

The Foyer Federation is delighted to welcome Fiona Lin to our Board of Trustees. Fiona, originally from Australia, has worked as a lawyer in the UK and spent time in the United States, and brings a wealth of legal knowledge and a passion for working with young people to our governance team. She joined the Board in September 2021 and was our first Trustee under 30.

As well as her experience as a corporate lawyer (and now insurance underwriter) in mergers and acquisitions, Fiona has dedicated a great deal of time to volunteering. She has written academic papers on the subject of education and youth policy, and spent time working in schools to help young people with their homework and reading, as well as running a debate club.
She is passionate about social mobility and diversity – particularly increasing access to work for people who might find certain careers inaccessible due to social or economic constraints. This desire to expand access has inspired her to mentor young people during their time at school and university.

Fiona reached out to the Foyer Federation after seeing a post about another role and learning more about our work. She said, “I was really keen to get involved on the youth policy side. It’s important to support those who work directly with young people, and to help to realise Advantaged Thinking and aspirational thinking.”

In terms of her goals and ambitions for the Foyer Federation, Fiona said, “One thing I’m keen on – and I know the Foyer Federation is as well – is making sure youth voice and young people are represented directly. I’m conscious that I can bring some of that myself, but it’s important that we bring young people who live in Foyers into leadership programmes and hopefully onto the Board.” Her interests also lie in policy and how this can be tied into developing best practice in a way that’s useful, realistic and informed by people living and working in Foyers. “As a Trustee, I don’t want to impose without getting thoughts from those working on the ground,” she said.

So far, Fiona has enjoyed her time on the Board: “Lots of it is me getting to grips with reading board papers and meetings and things. I’m familiar with some of it, but there is lots to learn! Everyone has been really helpful.”