Our Trustees

Jamie M. Morin serves as vice president of Defense Systems Operations at The Aerospace Corporation. He previously served as Assistant Secretary and Chief Management Officer of the US Air Force. Prior to his appointment to the Department of Defense, he served as a senior staff member on the Senate Budget Committee.

Nick joined HALO in January 1994 initially for the Mozambique survey (northern provinces), then became Location Manager in Cambodia, Programme Manager in Angola from 1994-96, then initiating operations in Abkhazia and Chechnya 1997-98. He also assisted the Kosovo survey in 1999 and Afghanistan in 2000, becoming a Board member on leaving HALO. Previously a British Army officer for 15 years and then with the ICRC for 14 years in Africa, SE Asia, finally Washington DC until leaving in late 2014 to travel.

Amanda Pullinger is the Chief Executive Officer of 100 Women in Finance. Previously, Amanda was a Principal at Aquamarine Capital Management. She later set up her own management consultancy business, working primarily with not for profit organizations. Her clients included 100 Women in Hedge Funds, American Red Cross of Greater New York and Brasenose College, Oxford University. Amanda has an Honours degree in Modern History from Oxford and an MBA from La Salle University, Philadelphia.

Nigel spent his early career as an officer in the British Army and has since gone to lead a variety of ventures around the world. He joined HALO in 2002 as chief fundraiser based in New York and spent many months each year working on programmes in Afghanistan, Cambodia, South Sudan and Angola. He went on to work at the United Nations in a variety of roles including business development advisor for Africa at UNOPS and is now a management consultant. Nigel is a chartered engineer, has an MBA in strategic planning and lives with his family near Toronto, spending any spare time outdoors enjoying the Canadian countryside.

Rexon has nearly two decades of experience working in global diplomacy and national policymaking. He has worked at the highest levels of the U.S. government, including as chief of staff to secretary of defense Chuck Hagel, the deputy to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, a director on the president’s National Security Council staff, and extensive experience at the U.S. State Department. Rexon is a currently partner at The Asia Group, a strategy and capital advisory group that works companies in markets across the trans-Pacific region, as well as a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Brad Tirpak is a managing director of Palm Active Partners in charge of managing various investment partnerships. He has been a professional investor since 1996 with roles at Credit Suisse First Boston, Caxton Corporation and Sigma Capital Management. Prior to his investing career, he founded a telecommunications company based in Mexico City. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Full House Resorts and sits on the board of Liberated Syndication Inc. Brad has supported HALO’s mission since he first encountered the organization while travelling through Cambodia in 2001.

Zaid A. Zaid is the Head of U.S. public policy at Cloudflare, and was previously the head of North America for strategic response policy at Meta. Zaid has broad and diverse government service experience. Most recently, he served on the Biden/Harris transition team for the State Department and international development agencies. In the Barack Obama administration, he served as special assistant to President Obama and associate White House counsel. He also served as the senior attorney advisor to the general counsel at USAID. As a career foreign service officer, Zaid served in Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, and at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. In addition to his legal experience in the government, Zaid worked in private practice at Wilmer Hale after three federal clerkships.

Paddy Beeley was an Army Officer and then worked in emerging markets at J P Morgan and Morgan Stanley for 18 years. He left in 2004 to set up his own emerging market fixed-income consultancy. In 2009-10 he worked part-time as a volunteer for HALO, training in Cambodia and Angola and then working in Afghanistan. He has a good working knowledge of mine clearance. Paddy has a degree in Classics from Trinity College, Cambridge and lives on a remote hill farm on Exmoor.

Jane is a nurse, most recently sitting as a Registrant Chair on panels of conduct and competence hearings for the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council. Her last NHS post was on the board of NHS Camden Clinical Commissioning Group. She spent 34 years as an officer in the Army Reserve, retiring in 2015 as a Colonel. Jane has visited most HALO programmes since she joined us in 1993 as a medical advisor. Jane remains involved in developing training and validation programmes for the minefield paramedics and procuring medical equipment. She is the Vice Lord-Lieutenant for Greater London and previously the Colonel Commandant of the QARANC.

Ruth Davidson is the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives and former MSP for Edinburgh Central. Before politics, Ruth worked as journalist across television, radio and newspapers. The majority of her time was spent at the BBC operating in news and current affairs as a presenter, reporter and documentary maker. She continues to write for a number of national titles. A former signaller in the Territorial Army, Ruth currently serves as the Honorary Colonel of her former regiment. Ruth has been a long-time supporter of HALO, most recently visiting our Afghanistan programme. In 2021 Ruth Became a life Peer in the House of Lords becoming Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links.

John is UK Chairman of Rothschild & Co where he has been a corporate financier for over 35 years. He has been a Governor of Bow Boys School in Tower Hamlets and was the Founding Chairman of the Rothschild & Co Bursary which provides financial support to academically gifted students from challenging backgrounds to enable them to attend university outside London. John has a BA (Hons) in Business Law from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Lucía is a consultant to business and charity executives. For 15 years, she Chaired the Friends of The Courtauld Institute and served as a member of The Courtauld’s investment committee. She is a Trustee of the literacy charity Worldreader, Governor of a central London primary school, and previously was a member of the International Advisory Board of the University of North Carolina. Earlier in her career, as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, she advised telecom, media and utility companies in Europe and Latin America. Lucía was a Morehead Scholar at UNC and has an MBA from Harvard University.

John served 33 years with the Foreign Office where his overseas postings included Syria, Baghdad and Islamabad. He worked extensively with UK Armed Forces on deployed operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was a senior member of the national security community in the UK, contributing to the design and implementation of UK defence and security strategy. John retired from Government service in 2017 and set up international risk advisory company Palmer & Paling Ltd, which advises clients including the International Institute for Strategic Studies and HSBC on geo-political due diligence. He has a number of charitable interests; from supporting former service personnel, to education. His interests include the Scottish Highlands, classical literature and the outdoor life.

Emma Sky is the founding Director of Yale’s International Leadership Centre. She is an acclaimed author, consultant, and member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council. Emma has served as political advisor in key roles including; to the Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq, to the Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and to the US Security Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Prior to that, Emma worked in the Palestinian territories for a decade, managing projects to develop Palestinian institutions; and to promote co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Anastasia joined the HALO Trust with nearly 20 years of experience spanning nonprofit management, fundraising, communications, and politics. She is currently serving as the Executive Director of the ESA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the video game industry. Previously, she served in leadership positions with distinguished organizations such as American Humane Association and Foundation Fighting Blindness. Prior to her career in nonprofit philanthropy, Anastasia worked in politics in her home state of Ohio.

Barney is a former British soldier whose career culminated in 2012 as Commander of the Field Army. He has widespread experience of both military and humanitarian operations in Africa, the Middle East, South and South East Asia, including running the British contribution to the Tsunami Relief effort in 2004. Since leaving the army he has been Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and chaired CAFOD’s Development Board. He is now a director of Burstock, the international consultancy he established in 2015 and Chairman of UK Fisheries Advisory Board. He also writes history, his most recent book (Berlin: The Story of a City) being published in 2020. Knighted in 2010, he also holds awards from France, the United States and Hungary.