Who we are
Peace Direct is an award-winning, international NGO supporting local people in some of the most challenging conflict environments worldwide.
We are based in London, UK, and have offices in Washington, DC and New York.
If you’d like to work for Peace Direct, visit our jobs page to see current vacancies for interns or staff.
Bridget Moix, US Senior Representative and Head of Advocacy
Bridget serves as Peace Direct’s US Senior Representative and Head of Advocacy, sharing our work and the work of our partners with the US peacebuilding community, funders, and policymakers. She has worked for 20 years on international peace and conflict issues, with a focus on US foreign policy. Prior to joining Peace Direct as Senior US Representative and Head of Advocacy, she was part of its founding US board for four years. From 2013-2015, Bridget served as Atrocity Prevention Fellow with USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. She spent nine years lobbying on US foreign policy and peace issues with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, where she developed and led the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program. She has also worked with the Quaker United Nations Office, Oxfam America, American Friends Service Committee, and the World Policy Institute. Bridget directed the Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City, a Quaker center of hospitality and international understanding, from 2006-2008. She also worked in Capetown, South Africa, with the Quaker Peace Centre during her graduate studies internship. Bridget holds a PhD with George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, where she focused her dissertation on understanding the motivations of local peacebuilders and how the international community can better support them. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and Quaker studies at a variety of institutions, including Haverford College, Columbia University, George Washington University, and Eastern Mennonite University. Bridget lives in Washington, DC, and has two sons who challenge her peacebuilding skills every day.
Contact: [email protected]
Contact: [email protected]
Christine Trillana, Administrative and Development Assistant
Christine handles the office development and nurtures Peace Direct’s continued growth in the U.S. She is responsible for ensuring both UK and US offices act unilaterally and have a unified voice in public outreach. She is also in charge of the US databases and general office management; adapting these systems to Peace Direct’s continued growth and exposure in the US. She received a BS in International Studies from Fordham University and is happy to put this and her experience as an ambulette dispatcher into good use. Contact: [email protected]
John Guinan, Director of US Philanthropy
John Guinan serves as Peace Direct’s Director of US Philanthropy overseeing charitable giving and partnerships. John has a breadth of experience managing fundraising efforts for leading non-profit organizations. His background also includes working in peacebuilding and youth development both internationally and domestically in Northern Ireland, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Chile, as well as Washington DC and New York City. He resides in Washington DC and is an accomplished visual artist. Contact: [email protected]
Gay Rosenblum-Kumar, UN Representative
Gay is Peace Direct’s New York Representative where she interacts at the UN with Member States, UN staff and NGOs on efforts to support Peace Direct’s local peacebuilding partners in conflict affected countries. She worked at the United Nations for 25 years on conflict transformation and peacebuilding issues primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. She has been involved in: conflict analysis, capacity-building for mediation and dialogue, electoral violence prevention, and conflict-sensitive policy and practice. Gay has designed numerous peacebuilding programmes and co-founded the UN’s first cadre of peace and development advisors. Prior to that, she administered anti-apartheid capacity-building projects for refugees in southern Africa. In addition to representing Peace Direct at the UN, Gay is a senior advisor to Nonviolent Peaceforce and undertakes project formulation, analyses and evaluations of peacebuilding projects around the world. Contact: [email protected]
Vahe Mirkian, Peacebuilding Fellow
Vahe is Peace Direct’s Peacebuilding Fellow. He is assisting Peace Direct’s US Office with policy and advocacy. Prior to joining Peace Direct, Vahe interned with Search for Common Ground as a Policy and Advocacy Assistant with the Global Affairs and Partnerships department, and interned with Representative Adam Schiff on Capitol Hill. Vahe has an M.A. in International Affairs from the American University of Paris and a B.A. in Politics from Saint Mary’s College of California. Contact: [email protected]
Michael Robinson, Communications and Outreach Intern
Michael is our remote intern, responsible for supporting social media outreach efforts in the US and compiling content for our Practicing Peace Newsletter. He has also been involved in the expansion of Peace Insight’s peacebuilding mapping efforts in the United States. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in International Policy and Development, specializing in Conflict Resolution, at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA. Contact: [email protected]
Staff in the UK
Dylan Mathews, Chief Executive
Dylan Mathews comes to Peace Direct from Y Care International a youth focused international development agency working in 20 countries around the world, where he was Director of International Programmes. His commitment to supporting local organisations in the global south spans over a decade. He has worked for a range of UK based international development and humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, Landmine Action, the British Red Cross and Oxford Research Group. Whilst at Oxford Research Group he authored ‘War Prevention Works’ which profiled the role of non-state actors in conflict prevention and resolution – a publication that helped launch Peace Direct in 2004. Dylan has been a trustee of Peace Direct for six years. He holds an MBA from the Open University and an MSc in Development Studies from London South Bank University. Contact: [email protected]
Charlotte Melly, Head of International Programmes
Charlotte oversees Peace Direct’s International Programmes, providing guidance and strategic direction to the work, team and partners. She has worked in peacebuilding and human rights throughout her career, including as a human rights accompanier in Colombia and at Conciliation Resources, where she worked on programmes in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Charlotte has an MPhil in International Relations and a BA in Modern and Medieval Languages. Contact: [email protected]
David Jones, Head of Finance and Administration
David has extensive experience in both the charity and commercial sectors. His experience also includes developing the strategic direction and financial policies of organisations. David lived and worked in Sub-Saharan Africa for many years spending six years as Group Finance Director of an international NGO focusing on the advancement of education in developing countries. David is a qualified Chartered Accountant (FCA) and also holds an Advanced Management Programme diploma from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town and has lectured at the University of Zimbabwe. Contact: [email protected]
Claire May, Head of Programme Development
Claire is responsible for helping our partners to develop their programmes and to liaise with government and other institutions to secure the necessary funding. She is an English Literature graduate who has worked in a fundraising capacity for Orchid Project (working to end FGM through grassroots initiatives) and NAT (National AIDS Trust). Contact: [email protected]
Gemma Britton, Head of Fundraising and Communications
Gemma leads the Fundraising and Communications team at Peace Direct, helping to grow the funds we need to bring about real change in areas of violent conflict and to raise the profile of Peace Direct and peacebuilding in general. She has 13 years’ experience in the UK charity sector and holds a BSc in Economics from Loughborough University. Contact: [email protected]
Adrienne Monteath-Van Dok, Interim Head of Policy and Research
As interim Head of Policy and Research Adrienne oversees Peace Direct’s Advocacy work and Research projects, as well as Peace Insight. Before joining Peace Direct, she was a Director of Consulting with the Social Innovation Partnership in London, and previously to that she worked for Plan International, where she helped set up the Global Research and Knowledge Management Team and was the lead researcher on Plan’s sponsorship database of 1.4 million children. Adrienne has founded and grown several social ventures, including Atma Mumbai (an accelerator for education in India, helping numerous NGOs through successful change processes) and the Muktangan Educational Trust (supporting seven schools in India with an innovative education methodology). She holds a MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s in public administration from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She also holds a diploma in Spanish and International Communications from Tec de Monterrey in Mexico. Contact: [email protected]
Scarlett Kassimatis, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Adviser
Scarlett is the lead on Monitoring and Evaluation for all projects, helping build the capacities of local partners and ensuring projects have a strong M&E focus. Scarlett also oversees organisational learning and has come from a programme management background, mainly focused on the Middle East but in particular on Iraq and Palestine. She has an MA in Human Rights Law from SOAS and has written for Open Democracy, Middle East Monitor and the International State Crime Initiative. Contact: [email protected]
Laura Vermeer, International Programmes Officer
Laura supports the International Programmes team which manages all Peace Direct’s relationships and projects. She manages narrative and financial reports, logistics and event organisation and supports communication internally with partners. With experience working and studying in the Netherlands, Belgium, China, South Korea and the DRC, she joined Peace Direct after completing a BA in European Studies, a MA in Political Sciences and a MA in International Conflict and Security from the University of Kent, where she focused on armed groups and the role of local actors in Eastern DRC. Her other areas of interest include security in the Asia-Pacific region and Sino-Africa relationships. Contact: [email protected]
Léo Vuillermoz, International Programmes Officer
Leo works within the International Programmes team to manage relationships with partners abroad and helps prepare narrative and financial reports and proposals. Prior to Peace Direct, Leo worked as Finance Officer for Renatura, a Congolese NGO. From 2014 to 2016, he was the Coordinator of the Moroccan branch of Le Partenariat, working mainly on WASH and environmental projects. He has a BA in Political Science from the Jean Moulin University and an MA in Humanitarian Affairs from the IRIS research centre on international relations. Contact: [email protected]
Alice Coulibaly, International Programmes Officer
Alice works within the International Programmes team, focusing primarily on projects in countries such as Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia and DRC. She holds a Masters from SOAS University in Politics of Conflicts, Rights and Justice and a Masters in International Expertise from Sciences Po Aix en-Provence. She previously worked at Concordis International as a Project Intern, assisting the implementation of peacebuilding programs in Cote d’Ivoire and, CAR and Nigeria. Before arriving at Peace Direct, Alice was interning at the UN Department of peacekeeping Operations. Contact: [email protected]
Henry Costello, International Programmes Finance Officer
Henry manages all of the finances for the International Programmes team. He provides support to partners in their financial systems and processes including monitoring spend on projects, reporting to donors and applying for new grants. He also works closely with the Peace Direct Programme Development team helping to put new proposals together and reporting to donors, and the Finance team monitoring Peace Direct’s internal finances. Henry graduated from University College London with an MSci Theoretical Physics degree in 2015 and spent several months volunteering with the human rights organisation Liberty before spending two years working within the Finance team at Conciliation Resources. Contact: [email protected]
Rosemary Forest, Senior Advocacy Officer
Rosemary leads Peace Direct’s advocacy in the UK and EU, engaging with policy makers and building collaborations with other organisations. She has a diverse background in international development and peacebuilding, including recent work on on climate and disaster risk financing, as well as global disaster risk reduction policy. Rosemary holds an MA in Conflict Resolution from University of Bradford and a BA in Development Studies from University of Sussex. Contact: [email protected]
Farzana Ahmed, Senior Research Officer
Farzana works on the USAID-funded “Stopping As Success” research project, which looks at exit strategies of international development actors. She has a BA in Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies and an MA in International Conflict Studies from King’s College London. Previously she worked for the Africa Directorate at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, an international NGO based in Yemen and a research consultancy in South Sudan. Contact: [email protected]
Megan Renoir, Senior Research Officer
Megan works on the USAID-funded “Facilitating Financial Sustainability” research project, which aims to identify how local organisations can move towards financial sustainability and away from foreign aid dependency. Megan has previous research experience in Cambodia and Ethiopia as a researcher with Plan International. She holds a BA in Philosophy and International Relations from Boston University and an MSc in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics, where she focussed on identity, land politics and root causes of conflict in the DRC. Contact: [email protected]
Salem Osseiran, Research Officer
Salem works on the USAID-funded “Stopping As Success” research project, which looks at exit strategies of international development actors. Salem holds a PhD in Strategy & Security from the University of Exeter, a MA in War Studies from Kings College London, a MSc in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA in Philosophy from the American University of Beirut. Previously he worked in the charity sector in South Lebanon as a community engagement officer, and in Beirut as a communication strategist for private and public sector clients. He has also worked as a consultant on various projects, including the Morocco case study for “Stopping As Success”. Contact: [email protected]
Dimitri Kotsiras, Research and Advocacy Officer
Dimitri is responsible for supporting Peace Direct’s research projects, including Peace Insight and Local Voices for Peace, and runs Peace Direct’s advocacy activities in the UK. He has previously supported programme research and design at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), acted as a researcher and campaigner with Crisis Action and Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), and spent a year at the United Nations reporting on the agenda of the UN Security Council. He holds a BA in Political Science from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London, where his dissertation focused on the nexus between peacebuilding and natural resource governance in South Sudan. Contact: [email protected]
Joel Gabri, Peace Technology Programme Officer
Joel supports the web infrastructure and development of the Peace Insight and Peace Direct websites. He also leads on our work looking at how technology can support local peacebuilders, including advanced approaches to mapping and incident reporting and monitoring. Joel has a degree in Peace & Conflict Studies and Politics, with his final year dissertation focusing on how the Internet can be used to promote and assist conflict resolution. Contact: [email protected]
Nathan Louise, Database Officer
Nathan is responsible for processing all the donations we receive, data analysis and office logistics . Previously he was a Warehouse Manager for Foodbank and has research experience in the connection between public ill health and violent conflict. He holds a Mathematics degree from the University of Warwick. Contact: [email protected]
Oscar Lester, Fundraising and Engagement Officer
Oscar is responsible for raising the charitable profile of Peace Direct and building strong relationships with our supporter base. He holds a BSc in Politics, Governance and History from Canterbury Christ Church University, and an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manchester, where his thesis examined the contemporary limits of Euro-American Statebuilding in both theory and praxis. Contact: [email protected]
Sarah Phillips, Senior Communications Officer
Sarah is jointly responsible for Peace Direct’s digital marketing and communications. She manages the running of the Peace Direct website and all social media channels, and produces all print publications. She is jointly responsible for the blog content on the Peace Insight website. Sarah previously worked in Mexico with the British Council, and before joining Peace Direct was working for an international social justice charity as Communications and Projects Assistant. She has over three years experience writing and editing for online communications. Sarah holds a BA in French and Spanish from Newcastle University and an MA in International Relations from the Central European University. Contact: [email protected]
Jo Dodd, Communications Officer
Jo is jointly responsible for Peace Direct’s communications and digital marketing, including acting as the main contact for media enquiries, managing Peace Direct social media channels and helping to produce print publications. She has a background in communications with non-profits working to empower local voices; last year she spent three months in Guatemala as digital marketing intern at Mercado Global, a female empowerment NGO, and in 2017 helped to set up and acted as Marketing Manager for ‘COLOURS of Edinburgh’, a non-profit that amplifies the voices of refugees in Scotland by connecting them to local artists. She holds an MA (Hons) in Politics and History from the University of Edinburgh. Contact: [email protected]
Holly Spencer, Executive Assistant to the CEO
Holly is the part-time executive assistant to the CEO. She helps him to manage his schedule, as well as undertaking various support roles for him and the team. She holds a joint BA in International Relations and Development from Sussex University, as well as an MA from the same, in Conflict, Security and Development. She has campaigned for arms control since university and currently also works part time for Stop Fuelling War, a small France based NGO working on arms control and military spending. Contact: [email protected]
Sophie Gainsley, Office Administrator
Sophie performs a trio-role of Administrator, IT and HR Officer to keep the London office running optimally and smoothly on a daily basis. She comes from an Architecture/Design background, holding a BA in Spatial Design from University Arts London. She is a Climate Artist and Illustrator after hours and has previous experience of working within charities, environmental campaigns and cultural heritage intuitions. Contact: [email protected]
Crystal Forrester, International Programmes Intern
Crystal’s research is grounded in refining Peace Direct’s approach to sub-granting, sustainability and collective impact. She also does work supporting Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning database and analysis. Crystal is currently an MA student studying International Relations at Goldsmiths, University of London, also holding a BA in Asia Pacific Studies and History from the University of Leeds. Previously she has worked for Leeds Amnesty International and undertaken various roles within the Civil Service, such as Research Officer for the International Risk and Resilience Team in the Government Office for Science. Contact: [email protected]
US Board
Stacey Haefele, Chair
Stacey is a Global Agency Lead at Facebook, where her work focuses on building out alliances with management consultancies. Privately, she is active in promoting non-dualism, civil discourse, sustainable development and the advancement of women’s, human and non-human rights. From 2008-2016 Stacey served as CEO of HNW, Inc., a marketing services and software firm focused on the high net worth segment. Previously, she was VP, Director of Digital Strategy at Digitas and a Consultant with CSC Index where her focus was corporate strategy and strategic marketing. She began her career in 1991 with Treuhandanstalt, the German privatization agency, where she aided East German companies in their efforts to be acquired by American businesses. Stacey holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she was a Fellow at the Institute for War and Peace Studies and a BA in International Relations from Wellesley College. Stacey lives in New York City and Kent, Connecticut.
Keith Johnson, Treasurer
Keith is retired from Deutsche Bank where he served as Vice-President for data processing Deutsche Bank. He serves as Trustee and Treasurer of Chatham Summit Quaker Meeting in New Jersey, as well as a member of the Personnel Committee and Supervisory Committee for the General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Keith serves as President of the 31-41 Church St. Condominium Association. He is an Emergency Medical Technician and Member of South Orange, NJ, Volunteer Rescue Squad. Keith holds degrees from Colgate University (B.A.) and Union Theological Seminary (M.Div.).
Michael Ryder
Michael began his career in diplomatic service with the British Foreign Office in the 1980s, when he focused on East-West relations during the Cold War, and then was the UK’s Special Representative on International Drugs Issues. More recently, he was the UK’s Special Representative to Sudan and South Sudan during the period of South Sudan’s independence; the UK’s Senior Civilian Representative in Helmand, Afghanistan; and Deputy Ambassador in Kabul. In 2010, he ran the London Conference on Afghanistan. Michael has also worked as head of the Foreign Office’s Security Policy department, dealing with international defence and security, and as the UK’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, where he was responsible for the EU’s common foreign and security policy.
Carolyn Makinson
Carolyn Makinson was Executive Director of International Rescue Committee UK 2010-2014; executive director of the Women’s Refugee Commission 2004-2010; and executive director of MIT’s Center for International Studies 2002-2004. Before joining MIT, Carolyn spent 15 years as a program officer for population and forced migration at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In these roles, she advocated for reproductive health services for displaced populations, for education in emergencies, for programs to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in conflict zones, and for greater attention to the needs of displaced populations in urban settings. Carolyn has lived and worked in Belgium, Burundi, Egypt, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique and Rwanda. She studied Arabic for several years, spent a year living with an Egyptian family in Cairo, and retains a strong interest in the Middle East. Carolyn has a PhD in Sociology and demography from Princeton University.
Jen Rubio
Jen is Co-founder of Away, a direct-to-consumer luggage company that is reshaping travel retail. Jen’s passions lie in the intersection of commerce and emerging technology and creating meaningful, integrated experiences between people and brands. Previously, Jen led innovation, marketing, social media, and strategy for a range of corporations in the UK and US. Jen’s speaking engagements have included TEDx, Women’s Wear Daily Summit, Google Atmosphere, the Inc. 500 conference, Social Media Week, SXSW, Decoded Fashion, Social Retail Summit, iMedia Brand Summit, and Brand Innovators. Teaching experience includes Miami Ad School and guest lectures at Hyper Island, NYU, UPenn, Northwestern, and Harvard. Jen is also an angel investor and startup advisor, serving in the inaugural class of Levo League mentors and as a mentor/judge during multiple Startup Weekend and Decoded Fashion hackathons. In 2015, Jen was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Marketing & Advertising. She lives in New York.
UK Trustees
Michael Ryder, CMG, Chair
Michael began his career in diplomatic service with the British Foreign Office in the 1980s, when he focused on East-West relations during the Cold War, and then was the UK’s Special Representative on International Drugs Issues. More recently, he was the UK’s Special Representative to Sudan and South Sudan during the period of South Sudan’s independence; the UK’s Senior Civilian Representative in Helmand, Afghanistan; and Deputy Ambassador in Kabul. In 2010 he ran the London Conference on Afghanistan. Michael has also worked as head of the Foreign Office’s Security Policy department, dealing with international defence and security, and as the UK’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, where he was responsible for the EU’s common foreign and security policy.
David Cutler, Trustee
David Cutler has been the Director of the Baring Foundation since 2003. The Foundation is one of the UK’s best known independent funders, giving grants on social justice issues in the UK and in Africa. Before that David has worked for a number voluntary sector organisations both at the local and national level. He is a trustee of the Equally Ours, a civil society collation on equalities and human rights and has been a board member of a number of charities including Amnesty International UK and THET (the Tropical Health Education Trust which links NHS organisations to health centres in the developing world).
Eleanor Harrison, Trustee
Eleanor Harrison is Chief Executive of GlobalGiving UK, a digital charity working with 487 grassroots charities in 89 countries. Previously she was Executive Director of Action for Children in Conflict, a grassroots charity working with street children in Kenya. Prior to this, Eleanor worked for the Refugee Council developing and implementing office and community projects for refugees and asylum seekers (West Midlands, UK). Other experience includes working with young people in Uganda (HIV/AIDS), peace and conflict work in Kenya, Bosnia and Australia.
Daniel Jones, Trustee
Daniel is a qualified accountant. After training at the world’s largest consumer goods company, he is now following his passion for food and drink as a finance manager for Innocent Drinks. His interest in working with the charity sector began at university, where he wrote his Masters dissertation on how private and public sector organisations can work together to share skills and knowledge and further each other’s ability to meet their financial and social objectives. Since then he worked with the charitable arms of both his current and previous companies.
Niamh Neville, Trustee
Niamh has 15 years marketing and fundraising experience and has worked with over 100 charities. She is experienced in a diverse range of fundraising disciplines and channels gained at creative agencies, directly for charities, consultancy and in the field as a volunteer fundraiser in Zambia. Most recently she’s acted as a senior level fundraising consultant but has previously held roles at The Scout Association and WaterAid.
Karen Triggs, Trustee
Karen is a senior communications and engagement advisor, who works with public servants, from the centre of government to the public services frontline, helping them show that their organisations are accountable to the people they serve. She adopts an appreciative, solution-focused approach, looking to build on the best work organisations are currently delivering. Notable assignments include Director of Communications at the Legal Services Commission and provision of strategic communications advice to the Government of Somaliland.
Patrons
Scilla Elworthy
Dr Scilla Elworthy is a distinguished activist for peace and has worked on peace related issues for over 30 years. In 1982 Dr Elworthy founded the Oxford Research Group, dedicated to researching defence-decision making and developing effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers and their critics. For this work she was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize and awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003. From 2005 to 2007 Dr Elworthy helped to set up The Elders Initiative and acted as an advisor to Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson. In 2002 she co-founded Peace Direct alongside Carolyn Hayman OBE.
Sir Mark Rylance
Sir Mark Rylance, Oscar winner, actor and former Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre, is a supporter of Conscience, Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), The Peace Pledge Union and World Development Movement (WDM). He was born in England in 1960 and raised in America until 1978. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he was given his first job by the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow in 1981. Mark is also an Associate Artist of the RSC, a Friend of the Francis Bacon Research Trust and Chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust. He is also a trustee of the Murray Cox Foundation, and an honorary bencher of the Middle Temple. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.
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