Trustees & Governance

Pat Upson

Dr Pat Upson has been Chairman of Lattitude Global Volunteering since 2014.

He was Chief Executive of the Enrichment Technology Company, which was responsible for building plants for enriching uranium in Europe and the USA. He retired in 2011, having spent 40 years in the nuclear industry. In 2007 Pat was awarded the CBE for his work in Industry.

He was president of the European Nuclear Society in 2000/2001. He has held various volunteer roles in training and education over the past two decades, including that as Chairman of the Learning and Skills Academy for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and Chairman of the Nuclear Skills Academy for SE England.

Pat is married to Helen, and they have two daughters and three grandchildren

Harvey Smith OBE

Now retired, Dr Harvey Smith spent over 30 years in the education sector in developing countries, including in post-conflict and fragile situations, leading complex programmes in Africa and Asia, and advising ministries and aid agencies.

From 2007 to 2013 he was Africa Director for a leading British education charity.

His areas of expertise include strategic planning, project management, monitoring and evaluation. He has a PhD in the management of aid projects and was made an OBE in 1988.

Steve McCann

Steve was one of the earlier volunteers at Lattitude, back in 1984 he went with a group to spend time on a kibbutz, in Israel.

Since then he has gained a degree in Literature, served as an Officer in the Army with the UN in the former Yugoslavia, and established his own risk management and advisory company, Safer Edge, in 2002. In that time Steve has worked with many INGO and Academic clients around the world, helping them do great things in difficult places.

In 2017 he stepped out of executive management at Safer Edge to spend more time working with his wife, Judy Rees, an international expert in remote team communications.

He has one son, Tom, and lives with Judy in London, where he spends much of his leisure time training for and competing in triathlons, from sprint up to Iron man distance.

Ben White

Ben White has been a Trustee of Lattitude Global Volunteering since 2014, and is chair of the Lattitude Alumni Association.

Ben volunteered through Lattitude Global Volunteering (then GAP Activity Projects) in Chile in 2002, where he met his wife Mairi with whom he now has two daughters. In Chile he taught English and improved his Spanish, where by having a strong foundation in the language, he benefited in subsequent years.

After volunteering in Chile, Ben studied at Oxford University.

Ben is an in house lawyer at a start-up fashion company, having worked for several years at the international law firm Clifford Chance. He has returned to Chile since his gap year for work and pleasure, and always received a warm welcome.

Charles Reynolds

Charles Reynolds is Vice President Corporate Communications for global medical device business Smith & Nephew. He joined Smith & Nephew in 2011. His previous experience includes senior roles at AMEC plc and leading consultancies Madano and Bell Pottinger.

Simon Fisher

Simon Fisher is head of the automotive industry team in the Department for International Trade, which promotes foreign direct investment into and exports from the UK car industry.

Simon is a career diplomat who has served in Greece, Japan (twice), Vietnam and Egypt. He has extensive overseas trade and investment promotion, consular and leadership experience, most recently as UK Consul-General in Osaka until 2013. He is a fluent Japanese speaker.

Rachel Burgon

Rachel has over fifteen years’ experience working in higher education, international strategy and project management. She has worked for several UK universities, the FCO’s Chevening Scholarship programme and the European Commission.

She enjoys travelling and is passionate about international cooperation and youth development.

Upon graduating from university she spent two years working in a senior high school in rural Japan as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, she has volunteered on youth projects in Guatemala and has managed projects on behalf of the European Agency for Reconstruction in the Western Balkans.

Rachel is also an entrepreneur and has been involved in a number of start up businesses. She is the Founder of uni4u.co.uk a website to help young people make informed university choices and is a volunteer with Young Enterprise.

She lives in Milton Keynes with her husband, two children and their pet cat.

John Wallace F.C.I.P.D.

John brings considerable HR experience to the Board having held Corporate Centre and Business Unit roles within a range of sectors to include Services, Telecomms, Aerospace, IT, Consultancy, Automotive, Oil, Gas, Not for Profit and Manufacturing.

His international experience includes over 3 years based in Toulouse (with remit covering Spain, Germany, France & UK), 9 months based in Zagreb and a 6 week assignment in Japan. His previous roles have also required regular business engagements and visits to Belgium, Germany, India, Middle East, Australia, USA and the Netherlands.

He has managed the HR function for two greenfield start-ups and also has extensive experience of major HR transformation programmes, delivering major improvements within organisations personally leading team sizes ranging from 3 to 150 personnel.

Ian Lee

Ian is currently an independent management consultant / advisor within the Financial Services sector with over 20 years’ experience in Banking & Capital Markets working in Europe, North America and Asia.
He is a highly experienced Strategy & Finance Director with extensive experience advising Board level management, within leading Financial Services organisations.

Throughout his career, he has supported numerous pro bono / voluntary activities in the UK, US and Canada utilising his professional experience / network:
• Community Co-operative Financial Management
• London 2012 Olympic Tennis Tournament
• Social impact financing

Ian is a fellow (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, holds an MA (Hons) in Management from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and has also completed a General Management Programme at INSEAD, France.

Nigel Cribb

Nigel has had broad financial experience in both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors.

He spent the early part of his career with Unilever in the UK and the Netherlands, before relocating to Singapore as Chief Financial Officer Asia Pacific for a division of ICI. He returned to the UK in 2001 as ICI’s Group Financial Controller. After the takeover of ICI by Akzo Nobel, he joined SABMiller, the international brewer.

Most recently and until his retirement, he has been Chief Operating Officer of the US UK Fulbright Commission. He is currently a trustee director of the ICI Specialty Chemicals Pension Fund.

Nigel is married with two grown-up sons and particularly enjoys walking the UK’s long distance paths with his wife.

Abhinav Gaurav

Abhinav Gauav has been a trustee for Lattitude since 2018. He is currently IT Manager at Kennedys Law.

Abhinav has responsibilities including delivery management, operations management, leadership, and governance. As someone who believes in continuous improvement, knowledge sharing and living a purposeful life, he likes to work for organisations that are trying to bring change to make this world a better place.

Sarah Rodda

Sarah Rodda has been a trustee for Lattitude since 2018. Currently, she is director of Hemdean People LTD and specialises in organisational development, change management, and learning and talent management.

She is passionate about learning and developing young people through apprenticeships and volunteers in local schools.

In her free time, a Sarah enjoys being out in the open and hobbies include cycling with her family both on and off road. She also enjoys skiing in France and running.