We are delighted to introduce the independent judging panel for the GSL Global Goals competition. Each member of this years panel has been specially selected on the basis of their global experiences and/or a knowledge of sustainable development. They represent a wide range of specialisms and bring a wealth of personal and professional experience to the panel.
Lord Hastings is currently Chancellor of Regents University, and is the Former Head of Citizenship at KPMG International. Previous to this he was the BBC’s Head of Public Affairs and then its first Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. He also held the position of chairman of Millennium Promise UK as a member of the global Millennium Promise Board and is a vice president of UNICEF.
Between 2007-19 Lord Hastings attended the World Economic Forum in Davos annually and led the enquiry into the Future of Civil Society for the WEF and worked on the Role of Business in Society network. In 2014, Hastings was conferred with a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury in recognition for his leadership at KPMG, the BBC and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility. In 2017 he was installed as the Chancellor of Regent’s University London.
Katija works as a researcher for HundrED, a non-profit organisation that helps improve education through impactful innovations.
Since starting her career in education, she has taught early childhood and elementary school in Canada, France and Finland. She is passionate about language learning, which led to completing a Masters and researching French immersion teacher identity through the use of metaphors and storytelling.
She is also passionate about innovative solutions and practices in education that empower children and young people to thrive and be their authentic selves!
In 2007 Janvi co-founded Halebury, a pioneering new law firm that enabled legal teams to have access to senior in-house expertise on a flexible basis as well as a new career path for senior in-house lawyers. In 2018 Halebury was acquired by Elevate, a global law company providing consulting, technology and services to law departments.
As well as advocating for change in the legal profession, Janvi is a female founder and a strong supporter and advocate for women and children’s rights. Janvi is the advisory board member of Equality Now and the Children of War Foundation and a founding board member of the legal campaign #FreePeriods, which aims to end period poverty. Janvi was recently awarded an honorary degree from the University of Law in the UK.
Victoria grew up in Northern Ireland, moving to Liverpool in 2013 to undertake an undergraduate degree in Modern Foreign Languages. During her year abroad, she worked for Huffington Post Deutschland while attending university in Toulouse, sparking an interest in digital platforms and global storytelling.
Following a year working for The Financial Times in Belfast, she moved to London to pursue a career in the third sector, starting with The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust in August 2018.
With a particular interest in global citizenship and social equity, Victoria is passionate about community-focused social impact initiatives around the world.
Sir Brendan Gormley is an International Development Consultant who exercised a leadership role in International civil society organisations across the full range of development and humanitarian responses. Brendan worked in Africa and the Middle East for 10 years, lead Oxfam UK’s Africa programme and was the CEO of the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee.
Until the end of 2019 Brendan chaired two leading global organisations ensuring greater community participation in disaster responses and the increased accountability of leading International INGOs.
Clare is Senior Propositions Manager for Social Business at Barclays and has a passion to help social entrepreneurs drive growth in their businesses, trying to remove the divide between profit and purpose. She has been at Barclays for 17 years, previously holding roles managing charity partnerships and engaging colleagues in volunteering.
Barclays specific focus is around engaging broader society in building enterprise and employability skills which is delivered through their LifeSkills programme. Clare is a Trustee of Friends of the Nest Kenya and helped her daughter set up an enterprise called Polly’s Purpose.
Graduating from Bristol University, Mark has practised as a barrister since 1986, specialising in crime, financial crime, professional discipline and sports law. He took Silk in 2006, has sat as a Recorder since 2004, and is a member of the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission.
Mark is a Governor of Wellington College, a Governor of Amesbury School, and a Trustee of the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation, these roles providing him with the good fortune to follow his passions of education and cricket.
Monami wanted to leverage her background in economics and social sciences to understand how social investments can move the needle on pressing global issues. She felt deeply committed to working on the inequities and inequalities that give rise to poverty in India and around the world.
This led her to Dasra, where she supports non-profits in their growth journey, helping them scale strategically and strengthen their ability to address society’s most important challenges and opportunities. She also works with the Founders’ Office at Dasra, supporting the development and execution of organizational strategy and building strategic partnerships with key stakeholders.
Naim is a passionate advocate for youth empowerment, and the belief that young people hold limitless opportunity to positively develop themselves and the world around them. Naim holds national responsibility for the quality and impact of NCS, the UK’s flagship programme designed to empower young people to become confident, connected and caring citizens. Before that he had a career as an officer in the British Army, fulfilling a variety of operational and strategic roles.
Sara is leading the Podio product line at Citrix and working to empower users to work the way they want to, while being able to access applications securely through Citrix Workspace.
Sara is passionate about the Future of Work and driving change in local communities.
Alistair Bullen is the founder of ABA – a branding agency that specialises in the educational sector. We principally deliver consultation, strategy and creative services across the three platforms of culture, brand and marketing. As a company they have serviced the educational sector internationally since 2008.
ABA’s work includes major academy chains in the state sector such as Oasis and AET, as well as for a wide range of private schools and educational service providers such as Oxford University Press.
Alistair is also a regular speaker at key educational events and an experienced coach for senior leaders in education, commerce and the charity sector.
For the past 20 years d’Arcy has experienced more than 90 countries, given over 1300 presentations to 120,000+ people and worked with leading development, environmental, social justice and global education organisations and people. His self-initiated concept and organisation, Teaspoons of Change, focuses on the personal choices, decisions and actions that have a positive impact on people and the planet.
d’Arcy is often seen each year around the world facilitating youth empowerment programs, supporting global citizen education and working with leading development organisations and projects including as a communications specialist with UNICEF. Among other things d’Arcy has also built two self-sufficient Happy-simply tiny homes and in 2014 started Teaspoons of Change with a 1000km walk and 1500km bike ride in Japan.
Anne works with Global Financial services Institutions and is also passionate about supporting education charities through working with Mellon Educate and Future Foundations as well as promoting diversity in IT.
Katy is privileged enough to be the co-founder of GSL with Jon Harper. Katy is also the founder of the Wellington Leadership and Coaching Institute. She is a Deputy Head at Wellington College and author, with Emmie Bidston, of ‘Leader: know, love and inspire your people’. Katy has nearly finished a PhD at Oxford University asking ‘How could school leaders improve the flourishing of teachers?’ Katy is also an affiliated researcher at the Oxford University Wellbeing Research Centre.
After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in economics – and before going into teaching – Emmie Bidston worked for the Civil Service developing policies for the British government, in a range of areas from education to contingency planning. She is currently head of economics at Wellington College and director of the Wellington Leadership and Coaching Institute. She co-founded a charity to help develop young leaders in Africa and runs conferences, coaching and leadership training for adults and young people. She is also the co-author (with Katy Granville-Chapman) of ‘Leader: Know your people. Love your people. Inspire your people’,
Ioana is a social entrepreneur, artist and consultant based in the UK. With an aim to empower people to lead their best lives, she co-founded LightMountain in 2014 and Femship in 2019, addressing the climate action and gender equality SDGs. She has also served as Head of Community at public health start-up Safe & the City and has been mentoring social entrepreneurs at Enactus UK for the past 5 years.
In her consulting work, she has helped technology businesses such as Vodafone improve their processes and adapt to global market changes. Ioana is a trained actor and a writer on Medium, and studied Business Management at King’s College London and Acting at Fontainebleau School of acting.
Jonathan is a Housemaster and teacher of Economics and Business at Cheltenham College. He is in his final year of his MA in Character Education with the Jubilee Centre at Birmingham University where his dissertation is currently focusing on authentic school leadership and the character traits of leading headteachers. Jonathan is also working with a number of organisations to develop a character based educational leaders’ course- the first course will run during the academic year 2020/21.
His wider research interests include the role of leadership in flourishing school communities. Jonathan has worked closely with a school in Finland over the last two years setting up both formal teaching and learning links and visited Helsinki to undertake research into Finnish education. Jonathan loves to travel and immerse himself in new cultures. Jonathan also enjoys reading, playing golf and spending time with his family and friends.
Alex is a bilingual facilitator, Coach and Consultant in business, education, and leadership with extensive international experience. He is the founder of Imperfect Designs.
Imperfect Designs is an innovative training, facilitation and coaching organisation providing high-quality learning experiences to businesses and individuals in Bolivia and Internationally.
Maryce has always been curious about the world and wanted to learn how to care for it. She studied Biomedical Sciences at a London university and then moved into working as a Science teacher for the next 11 years, becoming head of department for 7 of those years. In that time Maryce was able to head out on expeditions where I met tribes, went diving with turtles and hiked volcanoes.
Maryce then decided to relocate to the south coast of England and started working within property management which has given me more time to enjoy my hobbies whilst also extending my brain. Everyday is still a school day and even in lockdown I see birds who have migrated for the summer and all the beautiful flowers my neighbours have planted. I am still in awe of our world and look forward to collaborating with those who feel the same.
Sabine is an independent strategy consultant for cultural organisations. She brings experience working for an international art museum after having transferred her skills from business to the cultural sector following a post-graduate masters in art history. She built this on a deep understanding of consumer focus, strategy and commercial management from a previous career in global branded consumer goods.
She is a Board member of the local PumpHouse theatre and volunteers for English Language Partners as an English tutor for migrants. She grew up with the rich culture of Vienna, Austria, and currently lives in New Zealand with her kiwi husband, enjoying the beautiful coast line and discovering more about the cultures of the Pacific.
Charlene is an enthusiastic person, who enjoys participating in projects which encourage and empower young individuals from all backgrounds to thrive and help them seek answers to the solve environmental and climate problems.
Charlene currently works for Atkins Global as a wastewater modeller, which she explains her role as the following;
“I use computers to design and model sewerage systems to ensure that waste water and sewage can go to the correct place to get treated, so that our homes don’t get flooded and pollution doesn’t get released into the environment.”
She has expertise which includes wastewater modelling, data analysis and asset management from here experience working for the UK Government, water companies and engineering consultancies. Outside of work, she actively volunteers within the community, with organisations such as GoodGym and WaterAid and she loves to find some big rocks to climb.
Ella’s job is to reduce inequality by improving access to further education in the London boroughs of Barking, Dagenham and Havering. She does this through online workshops which I write, film, present and edit.
Outside of this, Ella helps to unblock people’s creativity and is currently working on the Sister Improv Society, enabling women and girls to flourish through self-led improvisation theatre groups. She wholeheartedly believes that arts can change the world and would love to one day direct a feature film that empowers and unites its audience.
Katie has worked with Future Foundations over the past 5 years in the UK and China, including being a Coach on the incredible Global Social Leaders World Summit. For two years, she was the Sustainability Engagement Officer at the London School of Economics where she got students, staff and the wider community implementing projects to improve environmental impact of the University.
She is Trustee for the charity Tz Rising which enables disadvantaged girls in Tanzania to finish education and find work and, she has recently returned from a solo trip to Nepal and Sri Lanka where she discovered more about meditation and Buddhism. She’s continually inspired and motivated by the amazing projects that come from GSL.
Simon is passionate about making a difference both inside and outside of work. He has over twenty years experience in the HR, L&D and outsourcing services sector. Simon withholds a broad wealth of leadership, operational, and commercial expertise from working with both large and small clients on some of the most complex and innovative outsourced projects and services in public and private sector.
UK native, Stacey Jones is passionate about Leadership that empowers social change. Having previously worked as PE teacher and MYP Action as Service co-ordinator at Stamford American International School in Singapore and through her work with United Through Sport and Bhubesi Pride in Africa and the Caribbean, she is passionate about practical and active immersion as a way of empowering personal growth and social change.
She is currently studying for her MA International Education at The University of Bath with a focus on Global Citizenship Education, EQ and Leadership. As part of the Compass Education Youth Empowerment group, she supports Youth in the South-East Asia region. Having co-facilitated the running of ServICE and helping prepare students for GIN Manilla, 2019. Stacey believes in the power of collaboration and partnerships to create a better world. In her free time, she likes traveling, hiking, connecting, exercising and reading.
Annie Woollard is a Teach Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Ambassador and an Australian educator with a background that encompasses; Primary teaching in both private and public sector schools, Content creation for educational publishers and private sector education providers, and Program design & delivery within schools and for private sector education providers.
Passionate about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), she wants to inspire children and educators throughout Australia to change their thinking and day to day behaviours by embedding the SDGs directly into the classroom and curriculum.
Annie strongly believes that we are all global citizens and wants to share the mantra of “Think Globally, Act Locally.” By thinking globally, children learn empathy and cultural diversity. From there, Annie believes children and their teachers form connections and are more likely to take ownership and invent, innovate and campaign for change.
Jeffrey Clement is a PhD Candidate and Researcher at the University of Minnesota in the US. His research is focused on the intersection between people and AI/robots, especially how users interpret information from AI/ML systems and how those interpretations shape decisions.
Jeffrey’s corporate experience includes several years in the healthcare industry as a Brand Manager and Marketing Director, focusing on the intersection of clinical and commercial aspects of special care and rare disease management. Prior to working in industry, he was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Jeffrey deployed to Afghanistan twice, first as a truck platoon commander and then combat operations planning officer.
Tabitha Wacera is the founder and CEO of Sustainable Water. Sustainable Water exists to solve the water crisis once and for all by ensuring that the problem does not recur. They do this by designing affordable, sustainable water solutions that increase transparency in the water crisis sector. They just happen to make amazing solar water pumps!
Tabitha’s entrepreneurial journey entails both victories and heartbreaks. She discovered that without a vision people perish. Solving the water crisis is why she gets up in the morning and why people should care. Having walked the water walk, it is with this perspective that she wants to solve the water crisis. This vision has become the standard by which they do everything. Their activities are only those that result in more people getting access to water. Sustainable Water has won Sainsbury Management Fellows Award and 4 Ingenuity 19 Awards.
Website: www.sustainablewaterswp.com
Linkedin : Tabitha Wacera
Neil is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Office of Hussle, the UK’s largest gym and health club network. Prior to founding Hussle, Neil worked for German engineering giant Siemens where he was the first UK employee to lead their international programme for future leaders under-30. From Siemens, Neil progressed to global consultancy firm Ernst & Young where he worked on a number of high profile mergers and acquisitions across Europe and the Middle East.
At the age of 30, Neil dropped out of the corporate world to create Hussle which was the first company globally to attempt to ‘aggregate’ access to fitness facilities to increase overall participation in exercise across the UK. Neil has subsequently grown the business to a team of 40 people, partnering with more than 2,500 UK gyms and health clubs, catering for c.1 million registered customers.
I’m currently working at the Bertha Earth foundation, which is all about working with young people to reignite a great love for our planet. I also lead the Greenpeace ocean campaigning for my local community to raise awareness and drive positive environmental change.
I’ve enjoyed a variety of other roles over the years, including working with entrepreneurs in Uganda to develop their businesses and helping to build a change-maker startup which develops a variety of projects that focus on the greater good and are all connected to the SDG’s in some way.
I’m super passionate about sustainable development, which was my main focus at university. I truly believe in young people as forces for change and can’t wait to see the great work everyone has been dedicating their time and passion to!
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Smitson, PhD, is an Army Strategist currently serving in the U.S. Southern Command. He has served in a variety of military leadership and staff assignments globally for two decades, and has frequently served as a professor of political science at multiple universities, to include Georgetown University and the United States Military Academy. He is devoted to inspiring and preparing future generations of national and global public and private sector leaders to become skilled, confident change agents and deliver results in environments where rapid change is the new normal.
From professional sport and the mental health sector in Sri Lanka, to health work in sub-Saharan Africa – Liam’s career to date has spanned across a whole host of different settings. The one common theme which holds these all of them together is the desire to improve other people’s lives for the better.
Building upon these experiences, and my educational background in psychology, Liam’s role at mindflick involves driving forward research into the concept of adaptability. Working with high-performing clients, including those from professional and Olympic sport and City-leading banks, Liam takes key lessons from the field and distills them down into simple, accessible, and useable messages to help people from all walks of life to get the best out of themselves and others across the many situations they may encounter.
Arhant is an investment management professional with experience in investment operations and product design and development. Arhant started his career at BlackRock upon graduating with a BSC Economics and Politics from the University of Southampton in 2016. At university, Arhant was a Vice President of Local Projects of the World Cup Winning Enactus team 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa and lead a team of 6 leading social entrepreneurship projects in Southampton.
Guy is a student in the Lower Sixth Form (Year 12) at Wellington College, Crowthorne, where he was recently named Head of College. As a National Geographic reader from a young age, he has developed a passion for Geography and the environment.
In the past year, Guy has been serving as Co-President of the Environmental Society at Wellington College. He is also Co-Chair of the Sustainability Committee, Co-President of the Economics Society, Chief Editor of the Economics Magazine and Co-President of the ‘Geographies of What If’ Society at school.
Building on these experiences, Guy hopes to study Geography at university and aspires to one day work in the field of sustainable development.
David is a current employee of Barclays Investment Bank working in its Equity Capital Markets division, providing companies with financial advice and helping raise equity to address their balance sheet concerns.
Outside of the finance world, David is passionate about helping the homeless and has previously dedicated his time towards feeding and talking to the homeless, whether it be through serving food at a homeless shelter or serving food and talking to the homeless at Green Park. David also has a passion for discussing mental health issues because he realises at the core of society are individuals who seek to belong and in order to do this, addressing the foundations of the mind / mental health is very important.