Smalls-minded people

Every charity starts with people’s passion to change something for the better. Smalls for All® is no exception and we have some exceptional ‘smalls-minded people’ on our team.

Maria Macnamara MBE, DUniv (Open) – Founder

Maria launched Smalls for All® in 2010. She had worked in financial services for almost 20 years when, in 2004, she decided to try a different kind of holiday and spent three weeks working with children in an orphanage in Brazil. This encouraged her to volunteer in Thailand in 2006 and Ethiopia in 2009.

It was following her experience in Ethiopia that she decided to set up Smalls.

In 2016, Maria gave up full-time employment to spend more time running the charity, and her work has attracted some high-profile recognition. In 2015, former Prime Minister David Cameron named her as a ‘point of light’ for her work as a volunteer. In 2016, she was awarded an MBE for services to charity and women’s health in Africa. And, more recently, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of the University by the Open University.

Alan McCormick – Chairman

Alan spent the majority of his career in the Aerospace and Defence industry.  At the age of 50 he moved into the third sector and took on responsibility for Mission Direct, a Christian charity that builds schools, medical facilities, safe houses and homes for some of our world’s poorest in 11 countries round the world.  He is passionate about supporting the vulnerable and those living on the edge.

Smalls for All® captured his heart after he witnessed the amazing impact that giving someone their own underwear can have.  Underwear not only restores dignity it allows the street kids to go swimming in public places, play football etc, etc.

Kristina Mutch – Trustee and Secretary

Kristina is an intellectual property and technology solicitor with a particular interest in advising charities.

Living in Edinburgh, Kristina enjoys cycling, hiking and travel.

Kristina joined Smalls as a Trustee and Secretary in December 2017 having previously volunteered for a family contact centre in Aberdeen before moving to Edinburgh.

Sarah Jordan – Trustee

Sarah is the founder and CEO of Y.O.U underwear, a sustainable underwear business recently certified as the top-scoring B Corp in the UK and the world’s highest-scoring fashion brand.

Sarah’s previous experience includes more than 25 years in senior leadership roles across the not-for-profit, commercial and publishing sectors, as well as leading her own strategic digital consultancy business. Sarah was volunteering in Uganda in 2016 when she learned of the challenges women and girls face in not having access to underwear. From that, she set up Y.O.U underwear as a social enterprise with the mission of changing lives one pair of pants at a time. Sarah has been a huge supporter of Smalls since meeting Maria and setting up their initial partnership in 2017. 

Outside of underwear, Sarah is a qualified NLP practitioner and coach, and a Trustee of The Beam Foundation, a start-up tackling homelessness by crowdfunding support for education and training. She has also run BOLD, a positive change agency helping women achieve their personal and professional goals since 2013. She is a keen traveller, skier, coffee-lover and enjoys wild swimming whenever she gets the chance.