Twins Trust welcomes two new trustees

Twins Trust is delighted to announce the appointment of Andy French and Sarah McMullen to our Board of Trustees. Both bring exceptional professional expertise, lived experience and a deep personal commitment to improving outcomes for multiple birth families. Their appointments strengthen the charity’s governance and our ability to influence policy, shape practice and support families across the UK.

Andy French: A powerful voice for policy, campaigning and lived experience

Andy joins the Board with more than two decades of experience in public policy, advocacy and parliamentary engagement. His career spans UK Government departments, the House of Commons and national charities, giving him a deep understanding of how decisions are made - and how charities can influence them.

He has worked across a wide range of health and environmental policy areas, providing advice and briefings to Ministers, supporting parliamentary debates and Select Committee hearings, and working closely with officials in the Devolved Administrations, local government and the voluntary sector. In Parliament, Andy worked with a cross‑party group of MPs to hold Government to account, running committee inquiries and developing policy recommendations for reports.

Andy now works at Sarcoma UK, the bone and soft tissue cancer charity. He’s strengthened the charity’s evidence base and restarted its campaigning activity with major events at the House of Commons, the Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly - attended by senior political leaders including the Secretary of State for Health and the NI Health Minister.

Under his leadership, there’s been a significant rise in parliamentary questions about sarcoma; engagement with government and NHS bodies has strengthened around the charity’s priorities; and working with other charities, helped ensure that the Rare Cancers Act (2026) (a Private Members’ Bill) was passed. He has presented evidence to the NI Assembly Health Committee, led successful local campaigning to protect specialist cancer services in Cornwall, helped shape national awareness campaigns and overseen clinical pathway development work for NHS England. He’s also ensured that patient voices have shaped policy at RNIB, Sarcoma UK, in Parliament and Government, leading inquiries, gathering evidence and embedding peoples lived experience into policy.

Andy is dad to identical twins who are now teenagers. He and his partner became members in 2008 when they were expecting twins and navigating a difficult pregnancy and premature births. Andy used Twins Trust resources to advocate for his own children, successfully persuading Croydon LEA to update its education policy, ensuring his twins attended the same primary school. His experience as a twin parent influenced workplace policy at Defra and informed his work on maternity and children’s health policy at the Department of Health & Social Care.

“Being a parent of twins has been both wonderful and at times challenging,” Andy says. “Government policy and public services need to properly recognise the diverse needs of multiple birth families. I’m passionate about supporting Twins Trust’s work and helping ensure our community’s voices are heard.”

Sarah McMullen: A values-led charity leader dedicated to improving outcomes for families

Sarah joins the Board with more than 20 years’ experience improving outcomes for babies, children and families. Her career has spanned pregnancy and early child development research, senior charity leadership and national influencing roles, with a consistent focus on turning evidence and lived experience into practical change.

As Director of Network Impact at Home‑Start UK, Sarah leads work to strengthen the quality, sustainability and impact of a UK-wide federation of local charities providing life‑changing family support. Her role spans quality assurance and safeguarding, family practice, learning and engagement, strategic partnership development, and creating ways for local insight to shape national priorities.

Before joining Home‑Start UK, Sarah held senior roles at The Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood and NCT. At the Royal Foundation, she worked with scientific experts, charities and businesses to translate evidence about early childhood into public awareness, partnerships and influence through initiatives such as the Shaping Us campaign and the Business Taskforce for Early Childhood. At NCT, Sarah worked with the Board and delivery teams on a strategic review of services, and to develop campaigns and communication frameworks, helping to lead the charity through change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Across her charity leadership roles, Sarah has helped ensure children’s and families’ voices influence wider systems change. She has worked with Government officials, built coalitions across the pregnancy, baby and family charity sector, and developed evidence frameworks that have strengthened national campaigns, service improvement and sector influence.

Sarah’s earlier academic career gives her a strong grounding in research, evidence and public health education. As a principal investigator at the University of Nottingham, she led research programmes on pregnancy and infant development, working with clinical units, charities and funders before moving into the charity sector to help translate evidence into practice and policy.

Sarah is mum to 16‑year‑old twin girls and has been a Twins Trust member since before their birth.

“Twins Trust gave me community, connection and confidence when I needed it most,” Sarah says. “I’m passionate about the charity’s work to improve experiences and outcomes for families of multiples.”

Sarah is motivated by the need to address inequalities, strengthen services and build communities of support - particularly for families of multiples, where risks are higher and challenges often magnified.

“For families of twins and multiples, everything is intensified - the highs and the lows,” she says. “This is why Twins Trust matters so much.”

Strengthening the Board for the future

Chair of Trustees Simon Berney‑Edwards welcomed the appointments:

“Andy and Sarah bring exceptional expertise, lived experience and a powerful commitment to our mission. Their insight will be invaluable as Twins Trust continues to champion multiple birth families across the UK”.

We are thrilled to welcome them both to the Board and look forward to the impact they will bring.