John Lawler
Founder and Trustee
John spent his gap year teaching in Ghana, living in a remote village in the Volta Region where he worked to build and improve education in the community. Due to his extensive work in developing this community, the village made John a Chief of Development, and renamed him Chief Torgbui Mottey I, which means Pioneering Pathfinder of the Forest. On returning from his gap year in 1998, John set up the MAD Foundation.
John has a BEng in Environmental and Ecological Engineering from Newcastle University and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Toby Illingworth
Fundraising & Homes for Ukraine
Toby’s development work has focused on Bosnia & Herzegovina where he founded and runs a think tank focused on political, economic, social and cultural policies for BiH.
His background is in policy and government relations having been Executive Director of a financial services think tank in London and Singapore and previously running a trade consultancy focused on emerging and frontier markets.
Vanessa Armijo
Logistics and Supply Chain Support
Vanessa’s international development work spans across the globe including Ukraine, Turkmenistan, London and Zambia. Her focus is predominantly on operational and logistics and specializes in rapid program development and implantation. Her experiences abroad in challenging and ambiguous conditions have built empathy, resourcefulness, and resilience that are reflected in a strong work ethic.
Kari Anderson
Translation Services
Kari has a degree in Russian Language and Literature from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She began her development service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan from 2006-2008 and spent the following two years working for the language immersion program for Middlebury College. She studied Peace and Conflict Studies in Malmo, Sweden, before becoming an attorney.
Eliza Reock
Advisor: Human Trafficking
Eliza has been a leader in the anti-trafficking and child protection fields for over 15 years, providing expert testimony, shaping policy, building partnerships and providing direct services to survivors. She has served as Strategic Advisor on Child Sex Trafficking to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), Director of Programs for Shared Hope International and as Executive Director of the HKA Family Foundation. Most recently, Eliza was responsible for launching NCMEC’s first Child Sex Trafficking Survivor Expert Working Group and has been supporting the launch of Atlanta’s Missing Youth Recovery Unit.
