Phil Talbot
Director of communications
Phil joined the British Red Cross in July 2004, after five years with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). He served as the NSPCC’s deputy director of communications and was heavily involved with the development of its “Full Stop” campaign.
Phil’s background is in PR/media relations and internal communications, and he spent seven years as head of UK PR and head of corporate communications for The Body Shop. He also spent 18 months as director of communications for The Body Shop Australasia.
He lives in rural Sussex with his partner Deborah and their six-year-old son Archie, and counts horse racing, music, films and - soon - beekeeping among the interests that keep him sane.
Rohan Hewavisenti
Director of finance and business development
Rohan joined the British Red Cross in March 2008. He has more than 13 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector. He was previously director of finance and resources at Breast Cancer Care and has worked for ActionAid and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in China. He also lived and worked in France, Italy, the USA and Israel.
His non-executive roles include acting on the boards of Charity Finance Directors’ Group, Charities Tax Group and East Living, a care and support provider in East London. He writes and speaks regularly on charity issues.
Rohan lives in Golders Green and has two daughters, Ella and Mimi.
Mark Astarita
Director of fundraising
Mark joined the British Red Cross as director of fundraising in July of 2003, moving from the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) where he held the position of deputy chief executive. Since joining the Red Cross, Mark has driven through the new fundraising strategy "Volunteering to Give,” secured an additional £15M of fundraising investment and seen income rise from non-emergency income rise from £55m to £80m.
He has responsibility for more than 700 staff and is considered by many in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as the leading Red Cross fundraising expert. Mark is an accomplished speaker, and never shies away from controversy while hopefully entertaining at the same time.
Roger Smith
Director of HR and education services
Roger joined the British Red Cross in 1993 as its head of training, after a successful career in education including nine years as a head teacher. After a year as head of HR and three years as director of support services, he spent six months as lead director in the period leading up to the appointment of Sir Nicholas Young as CEO.
As director of HR and education services, Roger’s current responsibilities cover human resources, health and safety, first aid support service, commercial training, diversity, schools and community education and the humanitarian action programme.
Matthias Schmale
Director of international
Matthias joined the British Red Cross in December 2004 after a long career with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. This included two years as a delegate in Sudan, four years as deputy head of the regional delegation in Kenya, and a period as head of the Federation’s organisational development department in Geneva.
As the British Red Cross’ international director, he leads a 55-strong team in London and around 250 field-based staff around the world. Matthias has a Ph.D. in Development Economics from the Free University of Berlin.
Kate Lee
Director of strategy and evaluation
Kate Lee has been with the British Red Cross since 1994, when she joined as community services manager for South Yorkshire Branch. Since then she has worked in a number of service delivery roles including a spell as operations manager for West Midlands, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
She joined the senior management team as UK Director for Wales & Western in September 2003, only three weeks after returning from maternity leave. She became the director of strategy and evaluation in February 2008.
She has been married to Rupert for ten years and has two children, four-year-old Epiphany Scarlet and baby Spike.
Margaret Lally
Director of UK service development
Before joining the British Red Cross as director of UK service development in October 2005, Margaret held a number of posts in the NHS and also worked at the Greater London Council. Most of her work has been in relation to community health services, and she served as director of community health services at Haringey Healthcare Trust for a number of years. She joined the Refugee Council as its deputy chief executive/director of operations in 2000.
Her role at the British Red Cross includes overall responsibility for the development of the organisation’s services in the UK, as well as the operational management of some nationally-led services.
Jean Henderson
UK director, Northern Territory
The Red Cross’ Northern Territory director was born in Nottinghamshire and has lived there all her life – except when she’s exercising her love of travel. Jean joined the Red Cross as director of Nottinghamshire Branch in 1990 and held a number of operational posts before joining the senior management team.
Previously, Jean worked as a social worker before qualifying as a sign language interpreter and becoming principal regional officer for the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). She took her MBA at Nottingham Trent University in the three years following her move to the Red Cross.
Gerry McLaughlin
UK director, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man Territory
A social sciences graduate, Gerry worked for 20 years as a local authority social work manager. Following a period as Glasgow’s Principal Child Protection Officer, he moved to Royal National Institute for the Blind as assistant director, Scotland in 1998, before joining the British Red Cross as director in 2000 and taking his place on the senior management team.
Gerry is also a non-executive member of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Liz Page
UK director, South Eastern Territory
As UK director for the bustling South Eastern Territory, Liz Page has responsibility for the delivery of Red Cross services across a wide and densely populated area – including emergency response in the capital.
Liz joined the British Red Cross in March 1998 after a successful career as production manager for Gordon’s Gin. She has also worked as an economist for the government of Swaziland. She lives in Highgate.
Annie Bibbings
Acting UK director, Wales and Western Territory
Annie moved from the local rural community council to join the Red Cross in 2000 as director for Hereford and Worcester Branch, taking on the role of operations director for Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire in 2002. She became acting UK director for Wales & Western Territory in February 2008.
She has more than 25 years experience of working in the voluntary sector, having started her career in music therapy in London in the NHS. She was director of development at Carers UK where she had a leading role in campaigning and establishing their field operations structure. She is a member of the Marches Employment and Skills Board and plays an active part in a number of statutory and voluntary sector strategic partnerships.
She lives in Herefordshire with her daughter and husband.
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