The Board of Trustees
Steve Grycuk is the Chair of The Board of Trustees. He works across the charity to ultimately direct, shape and lead the work that we do. Steve is a Transformation Director, working with media clients across the world and he currently splits his time between New York, Hong Kong and London (and East Africa!). Outside of work Steve is a PADI-certified open water diver, and enjoys skiing very badly.
Anna Spinks is Co-Director of Program for East Africa. Anna currently works as a grants manager for Rocket Science, managing a portfolio of grants focused on education, young people and sport. Previously she has worked for Engineers Without Borders UK as Africa Development Officer and was a Digital and Technology Civil Service Fast Streamer at the Department for Work and Pensions. In her spare time, Anna likes to make things; something she is pretty bad at but enjoys none the less.
Jenny Jones is Director of Research and Insight. Jenny has joined the Board to focus on EPAfrica’s research, monitoring and evaluation activities, both in the UK and East Africa. Her role is to ensure these steer the charity’s present activities and future direction; putting evidence-based development at the heart of what we do. Jenny is currently a diplomat at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working on staff safety and security in the UK’s Middle East and North African Embassies. She is due to be posted to Afghanistan in 2016, and will spend next year learning to speak Dari in preparation for her Posting.
Luke Picknett is Director of Programme (UK). Luke is responsible for ensuring high standards of professionalism in the UK programme, across Project Workers, Summer Team, UK volunteers and EPAfrica’s alumni network. Luke has particular focus on ensuring that the recruitment and professional development of our volunteers is fit for purpose, to ensure risks involving volunteer capability, skills and knowledge are managed. Outside of volunteering for EPAfrica, Luke is a Manager at Deloitte Consulting. Luke specialises in managing large scale transformation programmes, particularly within central government.
Rebecca Mahoney is co-Director of Programmes (East Africa). Working with Anna, Rebecca is focused on overseeing our activities in East Africa and ensuring that we incorporate best practice to our risk management, volunteer deployment, programme delivery and development initiatives. She draws upon 10 years of experience as a volunteer within EPAfrica, including multiple trips to East Africa to manage the summer programme. Rebecca is a Project Manager at ThoughtWorks – a global IT Consultancy which strives to revolutionise software design & delivery, while advocating for positive social change – and is currently based in Johannesburg.
Samuel Jones is Director of Business Operations and Governance, which involves ensuring that the charity fulfils its legal and financial obligations. Samuel began his career in the not-for-profit sector working briefly in branding and at a not-for-profit think tank and research consultancy. He then moved to Amnesty International UK, where he ran their Media Awards, which recognise excellence in human rights journalism. From there he moved into the media and spent several years working in documentary making and factual television. He now works as a question writer for television quiz shows. In his spare time he enjoys climbing and abseiling, reading and writing, cycling and walking.
The Management Committee
Kate Summers is the East Africa Operations Manager. Kate manages the sections of the charity that contribute to our operations in East Africa, namely school selection and progression, summer operations, and monitoring and evaluation. At the core of her role is ensuring that the summer project runs successfully. Kate is currently a doctoral researcher in social policy at the LSE, researching how social security recipients in the UK allocate and use their money. Previously Kate worked as a researcher for the think tank, The Work Foundation, and for the Social Issues Research Centre. In her spare time Kate enjoys cycling and netball, and sometimes enjoys running.
Lucien Georgeson is University Committees Manager. Lucien oversees the work of our three university committees in Cambridge, London and Oxford. The University Committees are the heart of what EPAfrica does, recruiting and preparing Project Workers for their summer in East Africa. Lucien is currently a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Geography at University College London, researching methods of defining and measuring the global green economy. Prior to this, he was a sustainability specialist in the Future Planet team at Grayling, advising clients on sustainability strategy, stakeholder engagement and media relations.
Leila Jameel is the Learning and Development Manager. Leila is responsible for overseeing the training of all our volunteers, from project workers to researchers and managers, to ensure that we have a safe and successful summer. She also manages the monitoring and evaluation of our impact from a UK perspective, seeking to address questions such as: What do volunteers personally get out of their involvement with EPAfrica? How does it help them to achieve their career and life goals? What more can we do to support our volunteers? Leila also leads the EPAfrica professional development programme. Leila is currently a final year PhD student in the Department of Experimental Psychology at UCL. She has worked both clinically and academically within the field of Clinical Neuropsychology and is interested in the relationship between cognitive abilities, emotional processing and social behaviour.
Jan Freyberg is the Marketing and Communications Manager. Jan is responsible for our communications – internally, as well as to our alumni, possible future volunteers, and of course our East African stakeholders. Outside of EPAfrica, Jan is currently a final year PhD student hoping to find out more about vision in autism spectrum disorders. Jan enjoys producing, netball (more often reffing than playing..), and writing science news.
Jessica Martin is Shared Services Manager. She is responsible for overseeing the financial planning, IT and knowledge management services for the charity. Her role is to ensure that data protection, knowledge management, smart IT, risk management and legal compliance are embedded in the behaviours and processes across the charity. Jessica recently graduated from Cambridge University where she studied Geography. Whilst at university, Jessica also interned for the Humanitarian Centre and was the Publicity Officer for the Cambridge University International Development Society.
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