Our people

Across our staff team and our pool of Associate Trainers, Bernadette leads our team in the design and delivery of RedR’s programmes.

 

Bernadette’s career spans development, good governance, institution building, tech for good, and human rights. She has advised development agencies, governments and NGOs across social and economic development topics. She has a deep interest in development aid effectiveness, poverty alleviation, inclusion of marginalised groups, and partnering with private sector champions to enable the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. She has worked across five continents, with a particular focus on Africa and Asia.  

 

Bernadette has held leadership roles including Chairwoman at Concern Worldwide UK, CEO at Oxford Policy Management, in tech start-ups Moonshot CVE and Apolitical, and as international development programme lead at McKinsey.  

 

She holds an MBA, MSc in Public Service Policy & Management, and a BA in History and Politics. She has further specialisms in Coaching, Sustainable Finance, and Gender Equity. 

Her role includes developing an effective team, and implementing learning and development initiatives to time, budget and scope.   

 

Mari Paz believes in the importance of people being empowered with the right skills and knowledge to roll out high quality interventions in humanitarian crisis.  

 

She joins RedR from a programmes and operations management background, working in complex contexts such as Liberia, Iraq, the Sahrawi Refugee camps, Somalia, Sudan, Haiti or the DRC. 

Will strongly believes that holistic engineering skills and solutions have a vital role to play in reducing the impact of disasters around the world. In particular, he is interested in the way in which we must consider adaptive measures to respond to the rapidly changing climate in every programme which is implemented. As a learning and development organisation, RedR enables those facing the world’s most challenging contexts to respond effectively with the skills and support that they need.

 

Will is a Chartered Structural Engineering (CEng MIStructE) with a post graduate Masters in Sustainability Leadership (Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment). He has previously worked with organisation such as Engineers Without Borders, Bridges to Prosperity, and Global Water Brigades. Within his role at RedR, he acts as the Head of Secretariat for the WaSH Roadmap .

Sophie brings oversight and governance experience from her background in financial services to enable the delivery of RedR’s mission: to optimise capacity-building to drive effective humanitarian action. She says, “it is very exciting to be part of shaping a revived, dynamic and forward-looking charity which can give so much where the needs are”.

 

Sophie has worked in various top-ten financial institutions in the City in multiple areas – from financial management to project management and, in the last few years, driving operational performance within banking operations. Sophie holds an MSc. in Finance from Strathclyde University and became a chartered accountant while starting her career with CitiGroup. She recently managed large transformation programmes at HSBC and now leads the Consumer Duty programme at NatWest.

After privately supporting various humanitarian relief causes over the years, she draws upon her experience in the insurance industry to help RedR fulfil its ambitious mandate to deliver local training and resilience building to ensure effective, timely responses to humanitarian and other crises.  Heather brings 20+ years of experience to this role,  supporting and refining the organisation’s financial operations to ensure it maximises its resources in order to deliver on its mission.

 

Heather has a degree in business from Wilfrid Laurier University in her native Canada and holds the Chartered Professional Accountant (Chartered Accountant) designation in Canada.  She has spent most of her career in the non-life insurance industry, spanning Canada, Switzerland and the UK, where she has held several senior finance roles, including CFO.

Sally is a chartered engineer and chartered environmentalist, is a fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Institution of Asset Management (IAM) and the Women’s Engineering Society (WES).  As a keen champion for sustainability and climate change, Sally promotes a proactive response through a number of industry bodies. She founded and chairs the climate emergency group at WES, co-chairs the climate emergency programme at the IAM and also sits on the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction Carbon Code advisory group. A regular speaker at conferences and events, Sally organised and chaired a joint panel session at COP26 in Glasgow on sustainability and the climate emergency, co-ordinating representation from the IAM, WES and the World Federation of Engineering Organisations. She was awarded the IAM President’s special award and the Isabel Hardwich medal in recognition of this work. She also delivered the ICE Prestige lecture in Feb 2022 on water and sustainability.

 

Prior to working at Mott MacDonald as the global head of sustainability and climate change, Sally led the net zero carbon strategy for infrastructure at the UK Environment Agency and was flood exec for the Northwest, and before that was director for the low zero carbon hub in Wales.

 

Sally spent 10 years as a company director for Engineers for Overseas Development, an engineering charity that provides development opportunities for graduates to become professionally qualified. Their community led projects are based in sub-Sahara Africa and help to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of people’s lives. She was also a trustee and board director at WES, as well as being selected as ICE Wales Cymru Chair in 2010.

Rob has been a member of RedR since 1999, where he worked with us to build community water supplies in Papua New Guinea. Robert enjoys working with RedR, its members and stakeholders to better support affected communities in this role.

Rob is a Chartered Civil Engineer and MBA with 30 years of experience in management, design, construction and management consultancy on transportation, buildings and multidisciplinary developments. He has successfully delivered in the roles of consultant, contractor and client in the private, public and charity sectors.

Rob also brings experience of being an active member on an employee advisory board. He presently considers membership standards as a reviewer for the Institution of Civil Engineers. He has a keen global interest and has visited more than 100 countries.

Libby supports RedR in fundraising, monitoring, evaluation and research. She is a freelance consultant based between Ethiopia, Jordan and the UK. Libby has led large-scale development and humanitarian program evaluations for clients including Catholic Relief Services, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme and G.I.Z, as well as various other NGOs and UN agencies.

Libby began her career in business development, funding and communications functions for the non-profit organizations FoodCycle and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor. After completing a Masters in International Development Studies from the University of Amsterdam, focussed on research methodology and data analysis, she began working on research projects in the Netherlands and abroad – cementing her passion for monitoring and evaluation in the development sector.

Libby has previously lived in Uganda, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and the Netherlands, and has worked on projects across East Africa and South Asia.

In her spare time, Libby is a mentor for secondary-school leavers, runs a swimming school for children and fosters stray animals from the street. Her dream is to combine her passions of helping disadvantaged people – especially children, older people and those with disabilities – and rescuing abused or at-risk animals, by setting up an animal shelter that would provide opportunities for mutual learning and healing in a safe space.

Richard brings experience of successfully developing and delivering strategies for both large and small organisations, a broad expertise in how infrastructure is delivered and a long-standing association with RedR and its goals. He is excited by the breadth of RedR’s current operations and is particularly interested in how technology can be leveraged to make its work more accessible and sustainable.

 

Richard became a member of RedR in 1996 having spent four years attending training courses at the weekend.  In 1997 he became a Chartered Civil Engineer working at Knight Piésold Consulting.  In the same year he was seconded to Oxfam GB and with their emergencies team in Congo Brazzaville and later with the development team in Rwanda, and supported by RedR through both these assignments.

 

Richard’s career then took him to the financing of engineering and infrastructure, and he worked for 18 years for Barclays and NatWest (then RBS) initially building a business focused on the financing of infrastructure and latterly taking responsibility for part of NatWest’s large scale financing business.

 

From 2016 to mid 2022 he spent six years building a technology company focused on supporting individuals in the UK who struggle with their finances. He is currently working on a number of projects in the technology and financial sectors.

Charlotte is a humanitarian leader with more than 30 years’ experience operating at the intersection of crisis response, policy, communications and digital transformation. During her career with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), she served as Director of Digital Transformation and Data and Director of Communication and Information Management, shaping strategy and governance across operations in over 90 countries.

 

Charlotte led global communications, public advocacy and crisis response in complex and high-risk environments, including managing disinformation campaigns and safeguarding the organisation’s reputation and licence to operate. She oversaw the development and implementation of communication policy and strategy, and led major global campaigns on humanitarian law, protection and attacks on healthcare. She has worked extensively with governments, UN bodies and global partners, and is a leading voice on humanitarian data protection, trust and the responsible use of technology.

 

Following the ICRC, Charlotte served as Chief Communication Officer and Chief Public Policy Officer at the CyberPeace Institute, leading international advocacy, policy engagement and digital strategy.

 

Charlotte brings board-level governance experience and a deep commitment to ensuring humanitarian action remains trusted, accountable and firmly centred on people.

Colum brings over 25 years’ experience in humanitarian leadership, combining frontline operational delivery with senior strategic and policy oversight. He has worked across complex emergencies in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and most recently served as Head of the Humanitarian Department at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

 

Trained as a civil engineer, Colum moved into humanitarian operations with MSF and GOAL, leading country programmes and emergency responses before joining DFID/FCDO. His work has included leadership roles in responses to Syria, Ebola and COVID-19, as well as resilience and climate adaptation programming.

 

He has served on advisory bodies including the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Humanitarian Policy Group. Awarded an OBE for services to global humanitarian work, Colum brings deep sector networks, governance experience and a strong commitment to locally led humanitarian action.

Gerard Gallagher is the Global Clients and Industries Leader for Sustainability at EY, where he works with governments, investors and major global organisations on decarbonisation, climate risk, and the delivery of large-scale infrastructure and energy transitions. With more than 25 years of experience, he advises organisations navigating complex capital programmes and the transformation required to address both climate mitigation and climate adaptation challenges.

 

Originally trained as a civil engineer, Gerard brings deep technical and infrastructure expertise alongside board-level strategic leadership. Throughout his career he has supported organisations responsible for multi-billion-dollar programmes, strengthening governance, managing risk and helping leaders scale major infrastructure, energy and resilience initiatives.

 

Gerard is a regular speaker at international forums, including COP, and is recognised for connecting industry, policy and innovation to accelerate practical progress on climate transition and resilient infrastructure.

As a trustee of RedR, Gerard brings global networks, infrastructure expertise and governance experience, alongside a strong belief that engineering capability, collaboration and responsible leadership are critical to supporting communities facing humanitarian crises and the growing impacts of climate change.

Maria is a leader in sustainable finance and climate transition, with more than 30 years’ experience spanning global investment banking, ESG strategy and capital markets innovation. She is the Founder and CEO of RO-SE Global, a sustainability advisory firm working across Africa, Asia and the Middle East to help financial institutions and corporates embed climate resilience into strategy, governance and investment decisions.

 

Maria previously served as Managing Director and Global Head of ESG Advisory at Standard Chartered Bank, where she built and led the bank’s global ESG advisory platform, guiding sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions and major corporates on net zero transition, climate risk and sustainable finance mobilisation.

 

Throughout her career from UBS and Lazard to Invesco and CDP, Maria has built a reputation for transforming complex climate and transition risks into strategic opportunity. She brings deep expertise in governance and capital markets, international networks, and a strong commitment to aligning finance with resilient, locally grounded systems.

Born in Malta in 1965, Tyrone was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and spent his early Army career supporting the Armed Forces in Germany, Northern Ireland, Nepal, Bosnia, Belize, Hong Kong and Iraq; he also qualified as BEng (Civil Engineering), MA (King’s College), CEng and FICE.

 

In June 2018, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as the Commander Home Command and the Standing Joint Commander (United Kingdom).  This three year period saw him:

 

1. Appointed as SRO for the Army’s £1.5B recruiting programme which delivered consecutive years of 100% recruitment following very poor performance.
2. Led Defence’s contribution to the Government’s COVID-19 response for which he was Knighted and presented the APM’s Outstanding Achievement Award.
3. Was responsible for delivering all aspects of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

 

Tyrone serves as His Majesty’s Chief Royal Engineer / Chairman of the Sapper Trust which manages six separate charities valued at circa £35M and has been an Honorary Vice President at RedR UK since February 2017.

 

Tyrone is married and has two grown up children; his limited spare time is filled with family, working on their new small-holding, playing squash, and standing in ‘The Shed’ supporting
Gloucester Rugby.

During this period he reported on many momentous events in Africa and Asia, including conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Lebanon, Sudan, Angola and Mozambique and major humanitarian operations in Ethiopia, Somalia, Niger, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Haiti and elsewhere. He has reported widely on the challenges of tackling poverty from Central America to China.

 

Mike reported first-hand the release of Nelson Mandela. He was also BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent for six
years.

 

He is now a trustee of the BBCs international development charity, BBC Media Action, and continues to make long-form radio programmes.