Our Board of Trustees

Y Care International is governed by a Board of Trustees who are appointed for a period of six years. The Board has responsibility for the strategic direction of the organisation and has ultimate responsibility in law for its assets and activities. Trustees meet quarterly and also provide ongoing guidance and support to the staff team.

Louise Brooke-Smith OBE (Chair)

Louise is Director of a Chartered Surveying and Town Planning Consultancy, based in Birmingham UK, and works across the country and overseas. She is the past Global President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and has worked in the built environment sector for over 30 years. She has grass-roots experience of working with various aid agencies and the UN and has a specific interest in disaster resilience policy and housing improvement schemes. She is a frequent speaker on land use planning and diversity issues around the world. In 2019, Louise was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal for her contributions to the land, planning, property and construction industries.

Ali Johnson

Ali works for Cliff College as a digital evangelist, and is also a freelance digital consultant - helping churches including the Methodist Church in Britain run digital projects. His roles involve equipping the Church to see digital as tool for sharing faith. At home, he is a dad to Ella and husband to Sylvie. He loves coffee, sport and having fun with amazing people. Ali is part of the Public Engagement Committee.*

Anne Mpendo

Anne is a financial sector development and integration expert with over twenty years of leadership and experience in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan) . This experience has entailed working with leading development partners, governments, academia, civil society organizations and the media in the East African Community Partner States to create a single investment space for the bank and non bank financial subsectors. This has meant working with state and non-state actors in adhering to international standards in developing legal and regulatory frameworks, financial inclusion, integration of financial markets infrastructure and capacity building among others. From commercialization of microfinance institutions, development of capital markets, to integration of financial markets infrastructure, her focus has always been on enabling finance for development to ensure that goods, products and services can be made available to all people, natural and legal. Anne is part of the Governance Committee.*

Brian Murtagh

Brian Murtagh is YMCA Ireland Development Officer for the Greater Dublin area where he manages Family Support Programmes and Mentoring programmes across Dublin.

Chris Sutton

Chris is an independent management consultant and experienced trustee, working across the banking, international development and heritage sectors. He has over 30 years experience as a management consultant and as a director in a global technology company and is also a Chartered Accountant. Chris enjoys being part of his local Anglican and Methodist church in Kent. Chris is part of the Programmes and Partnership Committee.

Denise Hatton

Denise Hatton is Chief Executive Officer at YMCA England & Wales, and has been involved in work with the YMCA since 1983. Before her role as CEO of YMCA England and Wales, she served as CEO for Dartford YMCA (Now YMCA Thames Gateway) for ten years. Denise is passionate about the impact that YMCAs can have on young people’s lives. She lives in Bromley with her husband David, and two teenage daughters.

Geoff Park

Geoff is Chief Finance Officer for the Leeds Diocesan Board of Finance, which ìs the charity that administers the work of the Church of England in West Yorkshire and the Dales. He is a Chartered Accountant having trained with PwC and subsequently worked for the government body running down the nationalised banks Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock. Geoff is part of the Finance and Audit Committee.

Hanna Ferguson

Hanna is a programme manager at the Equality & Justice Alliance, a programme reforming laws around the globe which discriminate based on sex, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. Her background is in international development with focus on governance reform and gender equality, with experience in the civil society sector and the UN system. Hanna is part of the Programmes and Partnership Committee.

Holly Wilkinson

Holly is the Communications Officer for the Fundraising Regulator, the independent regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. She has worked in communications and fundraising roles in several different charities, from local grant-making organisations to national health and homelessness charities. Holly has experience of serving on the Parish Church Council of her former local Anglican church, and is currently Secretary of the Church Council for her local Methodist Church. Holly is part of the Public Engagement Committee.*

Jennifer Evans

Jennifer’s career has focused on Risk and Regulation within the financial services sector. She spends her working days looking to understand what regulatory changes are taking place and the impact of them on different financial industries. She is a Chartered Accountant by trade, with over 14 years of experience in the Insurance and Banking industries. Jennifer is part of the Programmes and Partnership Committee.

Jongi Zihle

Jongi is Chair of the London District of the Methodist Church. His background is in peace monitoring and community building. Born in South Africa at the height of apartheid, Jongi originally trained as a lawyer. Before being called to ordained ministry and his roles serving the Methodist Church in the UK, Jongi worked as a respected peace monitor, diversity trainer and legal consultant in South Africa, as well as later on in Swaziland and Lesotho. Jongi holds a Doctorate in Ethics, and is the official representative of the Methodist Council on the All We Can Board. He is part of the Programmes and Partnership Committee.

Kerry Reily

Kerry was appointed Chief Executive of YMCA Scotland in January 2015. She has worked locally, nationally and internationally in the YMCA movement for over 22 years. She also worked for the International Development Education Association Scotland (IDEAS) between 2006-2007.

Natalie Newton

Natalie is a Learning and Development Consultant and Practitioner. She specialises in enabling, encouraging and equipping individuals and organisations to flourish within the not-for-profit sector. Throughout her career, she has worked locally, regionally and nationally for churches and charities. This includes The Leprosy Mission and The Methodist Church. Natalie is part of the Public Engagement Committee.

Phil Crosby

Phil currently works as an independent financial management consultant to small charities and performs grant audits for a range of international donors, primarily in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This builds on his background as a qualified accountant, working in international companies for many years before moving into the charity sector. He has worked at country level, in regional and head office finance roles for several international charities including Merlin, Concern Worldwide, Mercy Corps and the Malaria Consortium. Phil is part of the Finance and Audit Committee.

Richard Griffiths

Richard is the Finance Manager for Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, a post he has held since 2006. Prior to this, he worked across a number of sectors and for a range of organisations from multinationals to small to medium-sized enterprises. Richard has extensive trustee experience as a co-founder, trustee and treasurer of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK, as a trustee of Picton Castle Trust and most recently as a trustee of Mbale Pont. He has also been a secondary school governor for more than 12 years acting as vice-chair of the temporary governing body and chair of several sub committees. Richard is a committed Christian and has been a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Haverfordwest for the last 20 years.

Rob Mahoney

Rob Mahoney is a retired Chartered Surveyor and a former Honorary Secretary of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He specialised in Geospatial Technology and was at the forefront of developments in his field. Rob has provided advice to governments and the utility sector on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Land Registration. He currently chairs the Standards Committee for the International Land Measurement Standard (ILMS). Rob is part of the Governance Committee.

Rob Varley

Rob is a strategic advisor to international leaders in weather and climate science and services, currently working with the UN World Meteorological Organisation and the national weather services of Australia, Switzerland and Hong Kong. As a professional meteorologist, Rob served as Chief Executive of the Met Office, 2014-18, and First Vice-president of the UN World Meteorological Organisation. Rob is part of the Governance Committee.

Terry Waite

Terry Waite CBE is Y Care International’s Co-founder and current President, who also serves as a Trustee. You can read more about Terry here.

Sahr Yambasu

Sahr is President of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Born in Sierra Leone, Sahr moved to Ireland in 1995 following the civil war. He ministers in Waterford, and is married to Clodagh, who is also a minister in the Methodist Church in Ireland. Sahr has spent much of his life studying challenging and addressing the causes and effects of poverty both in Sierra Leone and in Europe. He is part of the Programmes and Partnerships Committee.*

Warren Downey

Warren is Chief Executive of an insurance broking firm specialising in placing difficult to insure risks. He has spent the majority of his career working for the same company leading their regulated financial services businesses in the UK, Scandinavia and most recently Asia. He is part of the Public Engagement Committee.

*Appointment subject to Methodist Council confirmation.