trustees
We are fortunate to have a fantastic board of trustees from a range of backgrounds. They bring a wealth of knowledge about education, childhood development and strategy. All our trustees are volunteers and meet regularly with our Director to set strategy and ensure funds are effectively and appropriately spent.
Alison Hart – Chair
Alison is a qualified lawyer and former group company director of Harman International, a multi-billion dollar organisation specialising in professional and OEM audio products. She has 13 years experience in marketing and strategic planning in an international business environment and is an active supporter of several charities operating in Africa and South America. Alison firmly believes in our philosophy of community-based programmes of early learning through play designed to release a child’s potential and build the confidence and abilities of the community volunteers who deliver them.
She brings to the Board commercial awareness and in-depth knowledge of financial planning and business development to help Lively Minds take the next step to reach even more children in the rural communities of Uganda and Ghana.
Matthew Morrison
Matthew became a trustee after having been inspired by Alison as she described the educational challenges in rural communities and hearing about the simple and much-needed solutions she proposed. Having visited Lively Minds’ Play Centres in Uganda he has seen first-hand how projects run by members of the community with the guidance of Lively Minds’ country managers have empowered and enhanced the skills not only of children, but also of the teenage and adult volunteers. Matthew is committed to ensuring Lively Minds continues to develop sustainable programmes which are run by, and for communities, who want to embrace these opportunities for change and development.
Matthew studied law at Oxford University and qualified as a solicitor before becoming a barrister. He now practises commercial chancery law at Serle Court chambers in London.
Susanna Payne
Susanna trained as a Clinical Psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London and now works with children and young people in a national and specialist Anxiety Team. She specialises in Developmental Psychology and Mental Health. For the past three years she has worked on a programme of research developing and evaluating therapies for children based on successful adult treatments.
An advocate of learning through play, she was drawn to Lively Minds as a charity aiming to provide this for children at minimum cost and with maximum creativity. She visited Uganda in 2009 and was greatly inspired seeing and hearing first-hand the difference Lively Minds had made to the lives of the many villagers there.
Susanna studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, and has also worked as an English Language Teacher in England and Germany, and provided tuition for children of all ages.
Jos Shepherd
Jos is an IT consultant specialising in fast growing companies. He believes that focused charities like Lively Minds can really make a difference by using sustainable principles to ensure the most value from donations.
Jos studied Engineering Science at Oxford University. He worked as the head of IT for translation company Lingo24 and luxury retailer CoutureLab . He is now in the process of founding a mobile marketing company – HipSnip.
Mike Smith
Mike has worked in the UK financial services industry for over ten years in a range of communication and commercial roles. Prior, Mike had an academic background both studying and teaching at a number of universities in the UK. Mike plays an active role in driving the corporate and social responsibility agenda in the workplace and strongly believes that businesses of all sizes have a social as well as an economic role to play in society.
Having gained a love of Africa as a teenager while completing his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award on an exchange programme to Kenya in 1990, Mike is thrilled to join the Lively Minds family and work with the rest of team to develop sustainable educational opportunities in Ghana and Uganda.
Outside of work Mike loves skiing, trekking and running half marathons and marathons for fun! He’s raised thousands of pounds for Lively Minds through running events.
Jonathan Seres
Jonathan is a solicitor with a long experience of trusts. He joined Lively Minds in 2010 in response to our review of governance in preparation for expansion. He is strongly attracted by the direct and measurable effect of the Lively Minds programme, its involvement of local staff and volunteers, and its low cost operation.
Jonathan has just retired from practice but been elected chairman of an international professional association. He has just re-written the constitution of an ancient charity, and is heavily involved in his local conservation area.
Could this be you?
We are currently looking for a new trustee who shares our vision and can help us achieve our aims in 2012 and beyond.
It’s exciting times for Lively Minds as over the next three years we are planing on scaling up our operations so that we can change more lives and reach thousands more children.
If you would like to be a part of our future success and can bring a range of skills to our trustee board, pease contact Alison at alison@livelyminds.org.