Trustees

John is UK Chairman of Rothschild & Co where he has been a corporate financier for over 35 years. He has been a Governor of Bow Boys School in Tower Hamlets and was the Founding Chairman of the Rothschild & Co Bursary which provides financial support to academically gifted students from challenging backgrounds to enable them to attend university outside London. John has a BA (Hons) in Business Law from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Lucía is a consultant to business and charity executives. For 15 years, she Chaired the Friends of The Courtauld Institute and served as a member of The Courtauld's investment committee. She is a Trustee of the literacy charity Worldreader, Governor of a central London primary school, and previously was a member of the International Advisory Board of the University of North Carolina. Earlier in her career, as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, she advised telecom, media and utility companies in Europe and Latin America. Lucía was a Morehead Scholar at UNC and has an MBA from Harvard University.

John served 33 years with the Foreign Office where his overseas postings included Syria, Baghdad and Islamabad. He worked extensively with UK Armed Forces on deployed operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was a senior member of the national security community in the UK, contributing to the design and implementation of UK defence and security strategy. John retired from Government service in 2017 and set up international risk advisory company Palmer & Paling Ltd, which advises clients including the International Institute for Strategic Studies and HSBC on geo-political due diligence. He has a number of charitable interests; from supporting former service personnel, to education. His interests include the Scottish Highlands, classical literature and the outdoor life.

Rexon has nearly two decades of experience working in global diplomacy and national policymaking. He has worked at the highest levels of the U.S. government, including as chief of staff to secretary of defense Chuck Hagel, the deputy to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, a director on the president’s National Security Council staff, and extensive experience at the U.S. State Department. Rexon is a currently partner at The Asia Group, a strategy and capital advisory group that works companies in markets across the trans-Pacific region, as well as a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Emma Sky is the founding Director of Yale’s International Leadership Centre. She is an acclaimed author, consultant, and member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council. Emma has served as political advisor in key roles including; to the Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq, to the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and to the US Security Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Prior to that, Emma worked in the Palestinian territories for a decade, managing projects to develop Palestinian institutions; and to promote co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Barney is a former British soldier whose career culminated in 2012 as Commander of the Field Army. He has widespread experience of both military and humanitarian operations in Africa, the Middle East, South and South East Asia, including running the British contribution to the Tsunami Relief effort in 2004. Since leaving the army he has been Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and chaired CAFOD’s Development Board. He is now a director of Burstock, the international consultancy he established in 2015 and Chairman of UK Fisheries Advisory Board. He also writes history, his most recent book (Berlin: The Story of a City) being published in 2020. Knighted in 2010, he also holds awards from France, the United States and Hungary.

Pippa has spent 40 years focussing on large scale transformations and turnarounds across a wide range of industries and with a particular focus on retail and consumer goods businesses. She was a founding Partner of AlixPartners in Europe in 2003 and remains a Senior Advisor. Pippa has led significant transformations and turnarounds including Courtaulds Textiles plc as Chief Financial Officer, MFI plc as Chief Restructuring Officer, Co-op Group as Deputy CEO and most recently Executive Director of John Lewis, part of the John Lewis Partnership. Pippa is also currently a non-executive Director of the Metropolitan Police. Previous roles include Arcadia plc, Hilton International, Ladbrokes plc, Hays plc and the Foreign Office. Pippa has a Zoology MA from Oxford University.

Since 2022, Faeth Birch has been the UKMEA CEO of FGS Global – a leading stakeholder strategy firm – and a member of the Global Board and Executive Committee. Based in London, Faeth advises business leaders on integrated communication strategies encompassing political and regulatory audiences, investor relations, employee engagement, and campaigns and reputation management.

Farzana Baduel is President-elect of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and CEO of Curzon PR, a London-based strategic communications firm working with governments, corporations, and development organisations. She is the Resident PR Expert at the University of Oxford's Said Business School, advising executives on global communications and reputation management. A Chartered PR Practitioner and Honorary Fellow of the CIPR, Farzana also serves as a trustee of the Soho Theatre.

She believes in the power of storytelling as a force for good and a bridge for connection across cultures, sectors, and communities.

Andrew worked for HALO from 2003 to 2012. He was Program Finance Officer in Angola, Senior Operations Officer in Afghanistan, and Vice President of HALO USA, and he performed the initial fieldwork to establish HALO's program in Colombia. Andrew now lives in Washington, DC and works at the Department of Justice as a finance director. He has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and an MS in finance from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School.

Susan Lylis is co-founder and EVP of the International Conservation Caucus Group (ICCF) which fosters political will for conservation governance across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Previously Susan was Executive Director of the ICCF Conservation Council—comprising of over 40 NGO, corporate and multilateral organisations providing expertise to ICCF Group-supported caucuses around the globe. She also serves on the steering group of the Global Initiative To End Wildlife Crime.

Nigel spent his early career as an officer in the British Army and has since gone to lead a variety of ventures around the world. He joined HALO in 2002 as chief fundraiser based in New York and spent many months each year working on programmes in Afghanistan, Cambodia, South Sudan and Angola. He went on to work at the United Nations in a variety of roles including business development advisor for Africa at UNOPS and is now a management consultant. Nigel is a chartered engineer, has an MBA in strategic planning and lives with his family near Toronto, spending any spare time outdoors enjoying the Canadian countryside.

Greta Lundeberg is the Vice President and Head of Government and Policy Advocacy for the Americas at Ericsson. Previously, she served as Vice President of International Operations and Policy at The Boeing Company. Prior to joining Boeing, Lundeberg served under two National Security Advisors as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Legislative Affairs on the White House National Security Council. Prior to her role at the White House, Lundeberg held various positions at the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, and in the U.S. Senate.

Basak is a partner in Fundamental Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, serving as co-head of Emerging Markets Equities. She is also a portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Equity Fund. Prior to assuming her current role, she was head of Latin America and EMEA Equities based in London. Basak joined Goldman Sachs as an executive director in 2011. She was named managing director in 2017 and partner in 2022. Before joining the firm, Basak worked at HSBC Asset Management in London as a portfolio manager for frontier markets, covering Asia and Eastern Europe. Earlier in her career, she was an emerging market equities research analyst at Alliance Bernstein for eight years working in various capacities.

Zaid A Zaid is the Head of US public policy at Cloudflare, and was previously the head of North America for strategic response policy at Meta. Zaid has broad and diverse government service experience. Most recently, he served on the Biden/Harris transition team for the State Department and international development agencies. In the Barack Obama administration, he served as special assistant to President Obama and associate White House counsel. He also served as the senior attorney advisor to the general counsel at USAID. As a career foreign service officer, Zaid served in Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, and at the US Mission to the United Nations. In addition to his legal experience in the government, Zaid worked in private practice at Wilmer Hale after three federal clerkships.

Brad Tirpak is a managing director of Palm Active Partners in charge of managing various investment partnerships. He has been a professional investor since 1996 with roles at Credit Suisse First Boston, Caxton Corporation and Sigma Capital Management. Prior to his investing career, he founded a telecommunications company based in Mexico City. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Full House Resorts and sits on the board of Liberated Syndication Inc. Brad has supported HALO’s mission since he first encountered the organization while travelling through Cambodia in 2001.

Jessica Lewis is a leader in foreign policy and defense. Her senior level experience in the State Department and nearly 20 years in the Senate and House built her extensive knowledge of the policy, political and legislative levers that determine national security policy, as well as government interactions with the defense industrial base. She employs wide-ranging strategies to help clients understand complicated foreign relations in recent conflict areas such as Ukraine and Israel, as well as US policy in the Indo-Pacific and Taiwan. With her extensive experience connecting executive agencies and the private sector, Jessica is uniquely equipped to navigate the complexities of today’s national security challenges and to build partnerships.

As the Senate-confirmed assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, Jessica led the U.S. State Department political-military response to unprecedented international crises and oversaw foreign military and commercial sales of defense articles. She also was the staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Foreign Policy and National Security Advisor to the late Senate Majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), advising Senators on Russia and Iran, sanctions issues, COVID-19, response, as well as oversaw the national defense and intelligence authorizations bills on the Senate Floor. She was also a senior staffer on the House International Relations Committee.

Spencer P Boyer is a Partner at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, a founding member of DGA Group, and is based in Washington, D.C. He leads the firm's National Security, Defense and Aerospace practice, informed by more than 25 years of experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors in the United States and Europe.

Prior to joining DGA-ASG, Mr Boyer served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy, where he was responsible for managing the day-to-day defense relationship between the United States and NATO, the EU and more than 40 European countries. He also served in both terms of the Obama administration. He was the National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Europe in the National Intelligence Council, the center for long-range strategic thinking within the U.S. Intelligence Community. As NIO, he served as the senior analyst and subject matter expert on Europe for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and as the primary bridge between the intelligence and policy communities on European affairs. Before this, he served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

As a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, Nina Maria Fite served as U.S. Ambassador to Angola, Consul General in Montreal, Canada, and Consul General in Lahore, Pakistan. With a focus on post-war economic development, environmental issues and trade negotiations Nina developed stronger economic conditions for U.S. companies abroad. As the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Talent Management, she guided all facets of workforce policy in 279 locations worldwide and domestically. Prior to joining the State Department, Nina lived and worked in Brazil and counseled small businesses in her native Pennsylvania on international business opportunities. She speaks Portuguese, French, Spanish and Hungarian.

Greg Swenson is Chairman of Republicans Overseas UK and Co-Founder of The Hamilton Society, an organisation that provides Anglo-Americans with a platform for free speech, discourse and debate. He regularly appears on BBC, Sky, Fox, CNBC, GB News, Talk TV, TRT and Al Jazeera, where he discusses economics and geopolitics.

Greg is a Founding Partner of Brigg Macadam Ltd, an emerging market investment banking firm in London. He has over 20 years of experience in international banking and alternative investments.

Greg graduated from Boston College and has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.