Trustees

Diane joined Concern Worldwide (UK) board as Trustee in February 2017. A qualified Social Researcher, Diane completed a PhD in Gender at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a MSC in Gender, Culture and Politics from Birkbeck University of London. She also has an MSc in NGO Management from Cass Business School.

Diane is a Founding Partner of PDC: Professional Diversity Consultants. PDC provides research based advisory services relating to organisational approaches to diversity in employment through both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.

Previously Diane worked as Journalist in Jordan for the Jordan Times and Jerusalem Star Newspapers. She also worked for Young and Rubicam (Zambia) Ltd as Head of Public Relations, and The Financial Times Newspaper and FT Conferences as their Business Representative for Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Diane is also author of a book titled, Black Women in Management: Paid Work and Family Formations, Palgrave MacMillan.

Nikki Stones is VP Marketing at CleanHub, a company tackling the world's plastic waste problem. After graduating, Nikki spent 11 years at KPMG before taking marketing leadership roles at software companies Simudyne and Privitar. Nikki joined the Concern UK fundraising committee in 2018 and is a committee member for Women of Concern. She has a deep interest in poverty alleviation and reducing inequality.

Linda has a background in education but has spent most of her working career in international development and humanitarian work.  She is the Senior Partnerships Manager for See Beyond Borders UK.  Her previous roles include interim CEO of Kids Club Kampala, where she oversaw the strategic director and overall management of the organisation, and Executive Director for SOS Sahel UK, where she successfully led the closure of the UK charity as its African partners were thriving without the support of the UK office, which is something to celebrate. Before joining SOS Sahel, Linda worked for a short while with Oxfam GB in the Humanitarian Department.

Linda started working for Concern Worldwide as a volunteer in Mozambique in 1996.  She then became a staff member in 1999 and continued to work for Concern in Rwanda, Eritrea and Sierra Leone in different management and implementation roles and as Country Director in Nepal and Ethiopia, with two years working in the policy unit in Concern Worldwide in Dublin as Education Adviser.

She holds an MA in Development and Emergency Practice from Brookes University, Oxford.

George is the Founding Partner of Audience, a Fundraising and Communications Agency for the Not-for Profit sector, working for charities across the Republic of Ireland and in the UK. Prior to setting up her own agency, George was Managing Director for TW CAT, a Fundraising Agency, and from 2000 to 2006, George was the lead in supporting Concern Worldwide with their Individual Giving Fundraising programme.

George studied Marketing and Social Anthropology at Keele University. Most recently George was an Associate Lecturer on the Post-Graduate degree in Fundraising and Development at Chichester University.

Bernadette is the Vice-Chair of Concern UK and a member of its Audit and Finance Committee. She sits on the Board of Directors of Concern Worldwide

Bernadette has supported development agencies and governments on a wide range of economic and social development topics. For this, she has been recognised by DevEx as one of London's top 40 international development leaders under 40 years of age, recognised for shaping and impacting on aid and development. She has a deep interest in development aid effectiveness, poverty alleviation and inclusion of marginalised groups.

Mark is an experienced Board-level leader, who has held CEO, COO, Chair and Trustee responsibilities in a range of public and charity sector organisations, with causes reflecting his interests in health, education, social advocacy, international development and humanitarian action.

He is CEO of Young Epilepsy, the UK charity working to improve support for children and young adults living with the condition. Prior to this he was COO with UNICEF UK, the leading international development/child rights charity and national committee of UNICEF, the UN children’s agency.

His current trustee roles include being the Chair of St Martin-In-The-Fields Charity, which funds frontline homelessness work across the UK. He sits on the Council of the University of Sussex and is a former Trustee of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Previous leadership positions have included NHS Trust Chief Executive roles.

Mark is originally from Northern Ireland and is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast.

Victoria trained with Arthur Young & Co and started her career in the commercial sector but has spent most of her working life in the not-for-profit sector. She has many years’ leadership experience from a number of organisations.

Victoria’s experience spans audit, financial planning, resource allocation, reporting, compliance, treasury and risk management.  She has contributed to the development and implementation of organisational strategy, performance management, including establishing and restructuring of Finance functions, business process change, strengthening and overseeing the implementation of internal controls, process and policy development and review.

She is currently Director of Resources at the RAF Benevolent Fund.

David Ritchie is Chief Officer of the Representative Church Body (‘RCB’) and Secretary General of the Church of Ireland. The RCB is a charity and trustee body, providing governance, communications, payroll, pension, safeguarding, property, and fund management services for the Church of Ireland. David is a former Director of the financial services company De Lage Landen, part of the Rabobank Group, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, holds an MBA from University College Dublin and is a qualified Civil Engineer. David worked for Concern in Cambodia and Rwanda, and has previously chaired the Concern Worldwide Finance Committee.

Dr. Hassan Roba is the Director of Kenya Strategy at the Christensen Fund overseeing grant-making to Indigenous peoples and ally organisations across the countries in East Africa.  Previously he served on the Board of Directors of the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis. He was also a member of the Task Force on Indigenous and Local Knowledge of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). He has over 15 years of experience in Research and Development and has widely published in his field. Hassan holds PhD in Development Studies and MSc in Dryland Biodiversity.

Details to follow

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