I retired from chartered accountancy at the age of 28 moving, via a masters degree, into the world of international development. For the next decade I worked with a number of international NGOs in Africa and Asia. In 1998 I joined the UK Department for International Development where I worked in Whitehall and in lower and middle-income countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, until retiring in 2018.

Since retiring I have kept busy as a consultant, undertaking various pro bono work, trying to improve my bridge and Italian language and, most recently, hosting Ukrainian refugees in collaboration with SWR. I am extremely excited about joining SWR as the Key Partners Trustee where I hope my background will help me to advance the goals of SWR and support the other volunteers and the refugees.

I joined SWR relatively recently, initially as a language volunteer. For much of my career I have advised trustees of pension schemes around funding or when their employer is involved in a major transaction and I currently am a partner in a large consulting practice in London. 

I have previously worked on the corporate finance side of a stockbroking firm for several years and also practised for several years as a banking and finance lawyer.  

I qualified as an accountant in 1980 at Unilever, for whom I worked for 17 years in the UK and abroad.  I subsequently worked for Lloyds TSB, the NHS, and DEFRA and retired from the role of Head of Financial Accounting for the Department of Energy and Climate Change in 2015.  

I am also involved in several other charities including Empathy Action, Safe Passage, Future Men and Action for Happiness, working in both finance and non-finance roles.

I retired in 2020 after 16 years with Save the Children. I was Save the Children's Global Education Director, Country Director first for Afghanistan and then for Pakistan, and Team Leader for the Response to the Rohingya Crisis in Bangladesh. While at Save the Children I was also deployed during the Ebola crisis to Sierra Leone. Since retiring, I deployed again, within the UN architecture, for three months to Kyiv to set up the coordination of the education aspects of the entire international response to the crisis in Ukraine.

I am currently also chair of the statutory Independent Monitoring Board of HMP Maidstone, one of three prisons in the country to house only foreign nationals.

My background is in marketing and communications, with a series of roles in the social enterprise, private and government sectors. I also worked for Oxfam in Africa for 3 years managing aid programmes in Sudan and Somaliland, and for one year in a fundraising role at Oxfam’s head office in Oxford. I have experience in leading teams and projects as an Army officer, a director and as a senior civil servant. I am also a trustee of The Lord Deedes of Aldington Charitable Trust.

I began working in the House of Lords over 20 years ago. I am currently Deputy Head of the Legislation Office, a role which I have held for about 10 years. Prior to the Lords, I trained as a barrister and worked as a government lawyer for the Court of Appeal Criminal Division and for the Law Commission criminal law team, after which I was Assistant Secretary to the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the body which monitors ethical standards across public life in the UK.

I have previously volunteered for the Samaritans in Tunbridge Wells. I currently work full time but am planning to take partial retirement. I am looking forward to the further opportunities for volunteering that working part time will provide.

THEO

I decided to join Sevenoaks Welcomes Refugees after I heard what was going on in Afghanistan. I chose to help where & when I could at events, and help share interesting articles on our social media.

I'm glad I decided to join and I'm glad I've met so many great people and made good friends.

Sam

I've always enjoyed making friends with people from other parts of the world. SWR represents a wholesome way to broaden my horizons and connect with the community.