Skip over main navigation
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
Excellent Development
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linkedin
    • Youtube
Donate
Menu
  • About us
    • What we do
    • Our strategy
    • Where we work and who we work with
    • Our COVID-19 response
    • Our team
      • Staff
      • Trustees
      • Patrons
      • Join the team
    • Excellent Development Isle of Man
    • Governance
      • Key policies
      • Annual reports
    • Awards
  • Why sand dams
    • The challenge
    • What is a sand dam?
    • The benefits of sand dams
    • Our approach
    • Our theory of change
    • Sand dam FAQs
    • Other solutions we deliver
  • Our impact
    • Key statistics
    • Impact reports
    • Stories
  • Support us
    • Donate
    • Appeals
    • Fundraise for us
      • How to fundraise
      • Fundraising stories
      • Fundraiser tools
    • Leave a legacy
    • Charitable trusts
    • Join an expedition
      • About our expeditions
    • Corporate support
    • Rotary projects
      • Working together with Rotary
      • Rotary stories
  • Knowledge hub
    • Films
    • Evidence and research
    • Sand dam manual
    • Learning resources
    • Sand dam learning visits
  • News and blogs
    • Latest news
    • Blogs
    • Supporter newsletters
    • A word from our Chairman
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  1. About us
  2. Our team
  3. Trustees

Trustees

Chairman: David Jordan OBE

Board level environmental consultant and advisor

Expand

David is the former Executive Director of Operations at the Environment Agency (2008-2015). Before taking on the role as Chairman he was already involved with Excellent Development, as a donor and a business mentor to former Executive Director, Simon Maddrell. He brings a strong track record in operational delivery, change management, strategic development and leadership from a variety of Executive and board-level roles. Read more about David here.

Published: 1st July, 2018

Updated: 15th February, 2019

Author:

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Trustee and Treasurer: Nigel Reader CBE

Non-executive board member of the Marine Management Organisation and Natural England

Expand

Nigel has over 40 years experience as an accountant, most recently as the Director of Finance for the Environment Agency, a role he held for 14 years. He retired from full-time employment in 2009 and has developed a portfolio of non-executive roles on the boards of the Marine Management Organisation, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales. He chairs the audit and risk assurance committees of all three bodies, as well as being a member of the audit and risk assurance committee of the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Nigel was awarded a CBE in 2003 for his services to the environment. Read more about Nigel here.

Published: 2nd July, 2018

Updated: 15th February, 2019

Author: Dwain Lucktung

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Trustee: Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy, Director, Oyster Luxury Travel & Diving Ltd

Expand

Mark has over 15 years domestic and international Marketing experience working with some of the UK's largest plc's. More recently Mark formed and now runs his own International travel company. Read more about Mark here.

Published: 3rd July, 2018

Updated: 15th February, 2019

Author: Dwain Lucktung

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Trustee: Barbara Busby

Organisation Development Consultant, NHS Wales

Expand

Barbara is passionate about organisation, team and individual development based on over 30 years experience across the public and private sectors, spanning defence, environment, utilities and latterly the NHS. She has been an Executive Director and Board member so understands the challenges of governance and leading organisations. Much of her work has been enabling and supporting Directors and senior managers in organisation design and development, shaping and implementing successful change, introducing leadership development and driving talent management initiatives as well as leading her own functional teams. Read more about Barbara here.

Published: 5th July, 2018

Updated: 15th February, 2019

Author: Dwain Lucktung

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Trustee: Alex Day

Director, The Big Give

Expand

The Big Give is a non-profit organisation which is responsible for the UK's biggest online match funding campaign, the Christmas Challenge. Prior to joining the Big Give, Alex spent eight years working in various roles in the international development and humanitarian response sector including two years as Director of the UK office of the international NGO, Medair and a stint as Grants & Institutions Manager at Excellent Development. He holds a BA in Business & Geography from Exeter University and completed an MA in Charity Management from St Mary's University in 2015 which included a thesis entitled ‘Impact Bonds: The future of disaster resilience funding?’. Read more about Alex here.

Published: 6th July, 2018

Updated: 15th February, 2019

Author: Dwain Lucktung

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Trustee: Pam Gilder

Communications, public policy and governance expert

Expand

Pam Gilder has worked in public policy and communications for over 30 years. Starting out as a field ecologist (advising farmers on how to combine productive farming with caring for the environment), she then moved from the field into public policy and advocacy working first for the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, helping to design and shape legislation that continues to protect the environment in the UK today. She led a number of ambitious initiatives including the New National Forest, a project in the Midlands which uses large-scale tree planting to improve the local environment and provide a place for millions of people to enjoy. More recently Pam was Director of Corporate Affairs at the Environment Agency where she was responsible for advising at Board level on corporate governance and communications. She led a number of campaigns and crisis communications during periods of drought, flooding and environmental pollution events. During her career Pam visited China on a Winston Churchill Fellowship to see their environmental programmes in action and visited North America to how the national forest estate was being managed for conservation and public benefit. Since finishing full-time work in 2016, Pam acts as a mentor for mid-career women and also volunteers with charities in Bristol. Read more about Pam here.

Published: 7th July, 2018

Updated: 15th February, 2019

Author: Dwain Lucktung

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Trustee: Faith Lyons

Humanitarian crisis manager, partnership development and project management

Expand
Faith Chastain

Faith Lyons is an experienced programmes director and international humanitarian crisis manager, focusing on team leadership, partnership development and project management. She is the former Director of Partnerships at Lightful, a tech for good company that wants to help charities and social enterprises simplify their work and amplify their impact. Previously, she was General Manager at charity: water UK and Director of Programs at charity: water (USA), an international nonprofit with a mission to bring clean, safe drinking water to the 663 million people worldwide who don’t have it. Faith has a Masters in International Development with over 10 years of experience in development, education and humanitarian work. Faith was deployed everywhere from Haiti and Nepal to South Sudan and Iraq. She led teams to acquire millions of dollars in funding and to plan effective humanitarian responses with Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), Shelter and Health programming. Faith has traveled to over 60 countries and now lives in London. Read more about Faith here.

Published: 8th July, 2018

Updated: 27th October, 2020

Author: Dwain Lucktung

Related topics:
  • Trustees
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Back to top

Showing 10 of 7

Latest

  • Excellent win 2020 iF Social Impact Prize!

    Excellent win 2020 iF Social Impact Prize!

    Excellent Development are awarded an International Forum Design GmbH (iF) Social Impact Prize for our sand dam project work in southeast Kenya.

  • Empower families to feed themselves

    Empower families to feed themselves

    We need your help so that we can continue to support more dryland communities to build sand dams and implement climate-smart farming, providing vital food and water supplies to vulnerable families.

  • £83,443 raised in Big Give Christmas Challenge 2020!

    £83,443 raised in Big Give Christmas Challenge 2020!

    In this year's Big Give Christmas Challenge you helped us raise over £80,000 to build two sand dams and implement a range of environmental protection measures in southern Zimbabwe.

  • Missing school and education due to COVID-19 and lack of water

    Missing school and education due to COVID-19 and lack of water

    Kasangi Simon, a 12-year-old pupil at Nzeluni Primary School, southeast Kenya, shares her experience coping with water shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what difference a school water tank would make.

Most read

  • What is a sand dam?

    What is a sand dam?

  • 1 million sand dams for 0.5 billion people by 2040

    1 million sand dams for 0.5 billion people by 2040

    Read about our plan to directly support other organisations to build sand dams, in turn, realising our vision to support millions of the world’s poorest people by helping them to transform their own lives through water and soil conservation in drylands.

  • Donate

    Donate

    Please donate what you can to transform lives with sand dams and clean water.

  • Zimbabwe (Partner: Dabane Trust)

    Zimbabwe (Partner: Dabane Trust)

    Dabane Trust and Excellent are working together with rural communities in the semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe to develop simple, appropriate and sustainable water abstraction and food production systems.

  • Watch how sand dams work

    Watch how sand dams work

    Film explaining how sand dams work and their potential impact in the world's drylands

  • Sand dam manual

    Sand dam manual

    For everything you need to know about building sand dams, click here to read (and download for free!), Sand Dams: A Practical & Technical Manual.

  • The challenge

    The challenge

    Find out what are drylands, why they are they are such harsh regions to live, how sand dams are applicable in drylands and what difference they can make to over 40% of the world's land surface.

  • Job opportunities

  • September 2018 sand dam expedition with Barclays Isle of Man

    September 2018 sand dam expedition with Barclays Isle of Man

    Barclays Isle of Man volunteers and community members share highlights from the construction of a sand dam they worked together to build in southeast Kenya in September 2018.

  • Working together with Rotary

    Working together with Rotary

Sign up for our newsletter

Please enter your first name
Please enter your last name
Please enter your email address Please enter a valid email address (e.g. [email protected])
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Login
  • Logout
  • Manager
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact

Registered in England & Wales No. 4432166. Registered charity No. 1094478

Excellent Development, 7-14 Great Dover Street London, SE1 4YR, United Kingdom