Resonance has welcomed two new high-profile leaders to help shape the future of its community investments.

Erika Brodnock MBE and Verena Hefti MBE have joined the investment committee of Resonance Community Developers Fund. The fund – which recently received a £20m government boost - is designed to help communities meet local needs by creating and owning income-generating assets, such as affordable homes, sports and leisure facilities and renewable energy generation.

Erika is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, and angel investor. She is also an MBA, a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at King’s College London, a Leadership Fellow at the University of Exeter, and a PhD candidate in the Inclusion Initiative at the LSE.

She authored Diversity Beyond Gender and co-authored the TRANSPARENT Framework and Better Venture - Improving Diversity, Innovation, and Profitability in Venture Capital and Startups.

Erika is co-founder at Kinhub, providing an agentic AI coaching and personalised support platform for enterprise teams. She is also a non-executive director at Diversity VC and The Good Play Guide, a trustee for the Black Funding Network and serves on the advisory boards for the APPG for Entrepreneurship and Oxford Brookes Business School.

Erika said: “I’m thrilled to be able to contribute to Resonance’s mission to provide life-changing homes and support for people facing crisis. I am excited to be a part of Resonance’s future.”

Verena Hefti MBE, CEO & Founder Leaders Plus, is a multi-award-winning social entrepreneur and thought leader. 

After a senior leadership career in the charity sector, she set up the social enterprise Leaders Plus to support working parents to get to senior leadership against the odds, addressing a root cause of the gender pay gap in partnership with organisations such as HSBC, Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Salvation Army. 

Verena leads Leaders Plus’s research area, most recently launching the Big Parent Career Progression report in the House of Commons.  

Verena is a sought-after speaker and expert on topics such as equitable career progression, working parents and the gender pay gap and the host of the top charting Big Careers, Small Children podcast. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE by the late queen for services to equality.

Verena said: “I’m excited to add this role to my wider mission of making a difference in society, and I hope my journey—securing a competitive investment committee role while pregnant and holding a CEO position—will inspire others in the Leaders Plus community to go for opportunities, no matter their circumstances.”

Resonance CEO Daniel Brewer said: “I’m delighted to welcome Erika and Verena to the Resonance Community Developers Investment Committee. They both bring a wealth of experience in leadership and impact, which will be invaluable as Resonance Community Developers helps more and more communities across England.”

About Resonance Community Developers

Resonance Community Developers (RCD) is a social investment fund, designed to support communities to create and own assets that meet local needs and help to build community cohesion, by investing in community-led affordable homes and facilities that benefit the whole community.

RCD supports new and established community enterprises structured as Community Benefit Societies or similar legal entities. The fund invests in pre-development projects as well as land acquisition and construction. The fund mainly invests in projects that

• Affordable homes
• Sports & Leisure Facilities
• Low-carbon & Renewable Energy Generation
• Other Community Assets, such as community pubs