Graham joined LEAD International in September 2011 and was appointed Managing Director in January 2012.
Graham is using his 20+ years of business management experience to drive the design and implementation of LEAD’s new learning platform and business model. He is also the Project Director for the LEAD 2.0 process and is coordinating all of the LEAD 2.0 work streams to help ensure our clarity of purpose and continuing progress towards the end goal. He has provided direct input to the Market Research work stream on a pro-bono basis through the charity Carbon Leapfrog.
Graham has worked as an independent business consultant for a number of years, mainly helping businesses develop or re-design their management systems. He has helped clients with their environmental, quality and health and safety management systems in business varying between architecture, agriculture, education, plastics recycling and helicopter leasing. Prior to this he was Operations Director of a management systems certifier and spent over 10 years as a global business manager in one of the world’s largest environmental consultancies.
Originally qualifying professionally as a civil engineer, Graham has a PhD in the design of foundations for offshore platforms.
Mike Ellingham joined LEAD International as Chief Operating and Financial Officer in January 2001. He had spent the previous nine years as Finance Director of the Management Charter Initiative. He has also served as Secretary to the National Forum for Management Education and Development and to the Management and Enterprise National Training Organisation
His earlier career included senior financial posts in the Balfour Beatty construction group and has lived and worked extensively overseas principally in South Africa and the Middle East.
As well as holding chartered qualifications as an accountant and company secretary he has a Masters degree in strategic financial management.
Gillian Martin Mehers is the Director of Learning at LEAD International. She has been a learning and capacity development practitioner working within the global sustainability community for some 19 years. She is also Managing Director of her own social enterprise Bright Green Learning (Atadore SARL). Gillian's expertise is in creating dynamic experiential learning environments, interactive learning design, social media applications for communication and learning, and innovative curriculum and training materials development. She was formerly the Head of Learning and Leadership at IUCN. Gillian was also the lead Process Facilitator in IUCN's organizational development and change process.
Prior to IUCN, Gillian was the Director of Capacity Development at LEAD International. There she developed LEAD’s signature capacity development methodology and portfolio of leadership skills. She also designed and implemented LEAD’s International Training curriculum for seven years.
Before LEAD she was a capacity development Programme Manager at the International Academy of the Environment (IAE).
Gillian is a Certified Professional Facilitator, a leadership skills trainer, and has developed and implemented training-of-trainers activities internationally. She is the co-author of Training Across Cultures: A Handbook for Trainers and Facilitators Working Around the World, and has worked in this capacity in over 45 countries, from Armenia to Zambia. Her blog, You Learn Something New Every Day focuses on tips and tools for institutional learning and personal effectiveness, particularly focused on the sustainable development community.
Edward has over ten years experience of managing learning and development programmes and activities in Africa, Asia Europe, and Latin America.
A qualified trainer and facilitator Edward specialises in designing and delivering creative and innovative workshops and conferences around leadership and sustainable development. Topics Edward has worked on recently include leadership and climate change, stakeholder and community engagement, partnership working, greener museums, youth climate change leadership and water. Edward speaks good French and Russian and has delivered training programmes in Francophone Africa and Russia.
Recently Edward has run a number of workshops for young climate leaders for the British Council in Asia, the UK and (soon) Latin America. He has a particular interest in climate change communication and using social media to promote leadership for sustainable development.
Prior to joining LEAD, Edward was Head of Training at The Environment Council, which pioneered multi-stakeholder dialogue in the UK. Edward studied French and Russian at St Andrews University and he is a graduate member of the CIPD.
Caroline Spencer is Head of Global Partnerships for the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). Caroline works for the CDKN Partnerships and for the LEAD Climate Change Team.
Caroline was previously Programme Manager of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA), a non-profit organisation which promotes best practice and self-regulation in the voluntary carbon market. Caroline managed the ICROA Secretariat. Prior to this role, Caroline was Coordinator of the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group, one of the largest and most active parliamentary groups in the UK.
Caroline has a BA Hons in English Literature and German from the University of Leeds and an MA (Distinction) in International Peace and Security from King's College, London.
Nina works in the programmes team and is responsible for co-ordinating the annual international session bringing together the graduating LEAD Fellows from around the world. Nina is also a LEAD Fellow, graduating from the programme in 2008.
Nina first became interested in the issues surrounding sustainable development during her time as a participant in a Canada World Youth Programme where she spent three months working in a museum and on various community projects in rural British Columbia. During this time she learned about the need for sustainable fishing, recycling and was first exposed to the effects of clear cut forestry. The following three months were spent in a rural transmigratory village in Indonesia where she worked on various community projects including the implementation of sanitation infrastructure, education in hygiene and taking part in cultural exchange.
Educated in Canada Nina has spent the last 16 years in various administrative and support posts at a number of Colleges at Oxford University while continuing her studies. She has completed two Diplomas in Computing Science and has recently been awarded a BSc Open Degree by the Open University.
Juliane works on the LEAD Europe Fellowship programme. She supports the development of the module content for LEAD Europe’s London and Brussels modules and coordinates the logistics of the European Cohort training.
Prior to LEAD Juliane lived in Berlin, Germany and came to the UK to study European Studies with Politics at the University of Essex. She also studied in Paris at Pantheon Assas for one year and is a fluent French speaker. She studied European Politics, International Relations and Sociology. Understanding Europe's ability to be an international leader on climate change has been of particular interest to Juliane since she started working at LEAD.
Juliane has always had a strong interest in volunteering and led a project on English Language Teaching for refugees and ethnic minorities in Colchester.
Janet Southern joined LEAD International in 2010 and has been working primarily on the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), through which she has completed a secondment to the LEAD Pakistan office in Islamabad. She has worked on various CDKN activities including the Roster of Experts and COMPASS (an online database), partnership development, management of a regional capacity building project for African climate scientists, design and delivery of the ground-breaking Action Lab, and general monitoring and evaluation. Janet currently project manages the CDKN Innovation Fund, worth approximately £1.1 million and also contributes to the CDKN Learning activities. In addition, she has recently taken on the role of account manager for HSBC's Next Generation Development Programme, which focuses on leadership and sustainability within the corporate context.
Janet has previously worked with various local and international NGOs; in Tajikistan on a disaster-preparedness project, in South Africa on various HIV/AIDS community-based initiatives and also remotely for an organisation in Pakistan focusing on the health care sector.
Janet has a Masters degree in Globalisation and Development from SOAS, University of London, and a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Middle East Studies from Fordham University.
Amit is responsible for project managing LEAD's Community based Climate Change projects in India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mali, Senegal and Pakistan. He also has responsibility for monitoring and evaluation as well as designing and developing proposals for new projects.
Prior to LEAD, Amit worked in India with international development organisations including World Vision, The Leprosy Mission and Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA). He was involved in the design, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of projects addressing issues of: Leprosy, TB, HIV, disability, social exclusion, sustainable livelihoods, women's empowerment, natural resource management and local governance. He also built excellent relationships with government officials, partners and international donors. His work in the UK has involved event fundraising with Christian Aid.
Amit has a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development and a B.Com (Hons) in Accounts. He has a keen interest in community participation in sustainable development and is motivated by a desire to build the capacity of local communities to facilitate their own development.
Sam Gillick is the Network and Knowledge Coordinator at LEAD International. He works on supporting network and communications as well as implementing a knowledge management system to enable the exchange of training knowledge and resources between LEAD network programmes and members.
Sam co-managed the online community for the UK DFID funded Climate and Development Knowledge Network’s (CDKN) Action Lab event on the 2degrees platform. Sam also has experience in online communications and social media from working with the UK Youth Climate Coalition as their Social Media Officer.
He has a MA (Hons) Classics from the University of Edinburgh.
Katie joined LEAD International in 2011 and is responsible for managing the global network and online community of Fellows, and for overseeing LEAD’s communications strategy.
Prior to joining LEAD, Katie spent nearly four years at the Royal Society - the UK’s science academy – where she was responsible for communications between the Society and its network of 700 researchers. She has experience in a broad range of areas including communication and engagement techniques, training design, monitoring and evaluation, and event organisation. She has also worked in the commercial sector where she focussed on business-to-business communications.
Katie has a Bachelors degree in History from the University of Cambridge.
Leo joined the LEAD team in August 2011 and has been working primarily on the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). He has worked on a number of activities, including assisting in the coordination of the CDKN Innovation Fund and Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) initiative, contributing to CDKN learning strategies, and managing the redevelopment of COMPASS and the CDKN Roster of Experts.
Leo Roberts graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BA in Human Geography, followed by an MA in International Development. Through his MA, Leo began to specialise in the impacts of climate change on development, and responses to these impacts. He has spent time conducting extensive field research in Kenya into rural livelihood diversification and the localised impacts of climate change, and in Guatemala researching the impacts of the Fairtrade movement on rural coffee farmers, the latter forming the basis of his Masters dissertation. Leo has also spent time working on monitoring the trade in endangered species at Defra, writing parliamentary responses for MPs at DfID, and in a paralegal capacity at a private sector corporate law firm in Sheffield.
Tammy is currently advising LEAD generally on fundraising, marketing and communications issues. She is currently overseeing a specific Business Development brief for the LEAD Africa Fellowship programme, in addition to building new strategic individual and organizational relationships for LEAD. She has 20 years experience of fundraising, marketing/communications and senior business management in the environmental NGO arena. Prior to working with LEAD, she was Fundraising Director at endangered species charity Tusk Force, before establishing Wildlifeline which she ran for 7 years as Managing Director. In 2005, she began an extended time away from working life to focus on bringing up a young family and is now juggling her work with LEAD, her additional clients and two young children!
Kirsty joined LEAD International in 2011 as the Finance and Administration Officer. Her role is to ensure the smooth running of the LEAD International Secretariat, assisting and supporting the Director of Finance and Operations with governance related tasks, finance, human resources and IT matters.
Prior to joining LEAD, Kirsty worked in sales and finance for a residual investment leasing company, where she managed a portfolio of home accounts and the relationships between clients and banks. She has also worked for a number of airlines as an Account Manager, where she focussed on corporate brand building.
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