Since our small beginnings over 30 years ago, the HALO family has grown to employ nearly 9,000 staff around the world.

In the countries where we work, we become part of the local community, training and employing men and women from the communities we serve. We create jobs in places where opportunities are often scarce and our local staff make up 98 per cent of our total workforce. Visit our individual country pages to meet some of our local and international staff or view the profiles below for HALO executives.

Our headquarters are in the beautiful Scottish hills of Dumfries and Galloway. We also have offices in Salisbury, UK, and across the Atlantic in Washington DC. 

"HALO is committed to making the world a safe place. We clear mines to stop people from being killed and wounded. We restore land for farming and other livelihoods and we restore confidence in countries devastated by war. I am proud of HALO's men and women, many of whom come from villages and towns living with landmines, who work everyday in pursuit of this goal."

James Cowan, CEO, HALO

 

 

CEO and Senior Directors

Calvin Ruysen

Director of Programmes

Calvin has worked for HALO since 2007 in Nagorno Karabakh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Angola, Somaliland and Afghanistan in both mine clearance and weapons and ammunition management. He was Regional Director for Southern Africa from 2012-16 where he witnessed Mozambique clear its last known minefield. Calvin has represented HALO at the IMAS Review Board. He has an MA from the University of Edinburgh and has attended the University of Cambridge’s Advanced Leadership Programme. He was Head of Region for Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa before taking on the Director of Programmes role in 2021.

James Cowan, HALO Trust

James Cowan

Chief Executive

James Cowan was a soldier.  He joined The Black Watch from Oxford in 1986, serving in Berlin, Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Hong Kong.  He helped plan the Kosovo operation in 1999.  He commanded in Iraq in 2004 and 2006.  He planned the military Olympic security operation of 2012.  In 2015 he become HALO’s CEO.

Camille Wallen, HALO Trust

Camille Wallen

Director of Strategy

Since joining HALO in 2012 in Sri Lanka, Camille has taken on a range of roles, leading on monitoring and evaluation, donor engagement, and policy and advocacy, including HALO’s co-leadership of the Landmine Free 2025 campaign. Over this time, she has worked extensively with our programmes, partners and donors and from our US Office. Now, Director of Strategy, Camille leads on the development of HALO’s organisational strategy and oversees the functions of European donor relations, policy and advocacy, and monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.

Chris Whatley

Executive Director, HALO USA

Chris Whatley joined HALO in June 2019. Prior to HALO, Chris served as Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States. Chris previously served as Deputy Executive Director of The Council of State Governments (CSG) and began his career as a field-based officer for the International Republican Institute (IRI), leading programs in Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Helen Pedley

Helen Pedley

Director of Human Resources

Helen joined HALO in January 2018 having previously worked within the NHS and more recently the Further Education sector. She brings with her, extensive strategic management experience having had responsibility for Human Resources, Finance and Facilities. Helen is responsible for leading the Human Resource and supporting approximately 150 staff employed by HALO.

Mick Darby HALO Trust

Mick Darby

Finance Director

Mick joined HALO as Director of Finance in April 2017 and brings a wealth of public, private and not for profit experience to the organisation, including Finance, Project Management, Systems Development, Logistics and ICT. Mick is a keen weekend golfer and enjoys spending time with his young family.

Lucy Reeve

Chief of Staff

Lucy joined HALO in 2017 and completed operational training in Cambodia, Somaliland, Georgia and Abkhazia. She was then posted to Afghanistan, Cambodia and most recently Libya, overseeing the delivery of projects including mine clearance, weapons and ammunition management and IED clearance. In 2021 she took up the position as Chief of Staff. Before joining HALO, Lucy worked in sustainable travel and international development. She has a BA Hons in Chinese, an MPhil in racial and ethnic conflict and holds IMAS EOD Level 3 and IEDD Level 2 qualifications.

Heads of Region

Tom Dibb

Deputy Director of Programmes - West

Tom joined HALO in Mozambique in 1996 and has managed operations and surveys in the field in Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Kosovo and Zimbabwe. Between field postings he has spent 7 years in headquarters serving as Desk Officer for Central Asia (2000 – 2004) and South East Asia (2004 -2007). Tom was regional director for Africa until 2021. He holds a BA LLB from the University of Cape Town.

Tom Meredith, HALO Trust

Tom Meredith

Deputy Director of Programmes - East

Tom has worked for HALO since 2008 in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Georgia. As Regional Director, he covered HALO’s programmes in the West Bank and Ukraine before becoming deputy director of Capability and then Deputy Director of Programmes with responsibility for the Eastern hemisphere in 2021.

Simon Conway

Head of Programme Development

Simon joined HALO in Cambodia in 1998 and was subsequently involved in survey and clearance in Kosovo, Abkhazia, Eritrea and Sri Lanka. He left HALO in 2004 to become Co-Chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition, which successfully campaigned for an international ban on cluster bombs. He re-joined HALO in 2013, first as trustee and then as a director. Since 2015, he has been involved in setting up new country programmes across Africa and the Middle East, including in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. He is the author of eight novels and winner of the 2010 Ian Fleming award. He holds a Masters degree in English Literature.

Matthew Hovel, HALO Trust.

Matthew Hovell

Head of Region - South Asia (Cambodia, Laos)

Matthew joined HALO in 1998. He has managed mine clearance programmes in Angola, Somaliland, Cambodia, Nagorno Karabakh and Colombia. He has completed two HQ postings as Regional Director where he set up and led our programmes in Georgia, Colombia, Laos and Myanmar. Additionally he has carried out assessments and surveys in Eritrea and Kosovo. Matthew regularly represents HALO at technical review boards and States Parties meetings. He is married to Sirei, an artist, and they have two boys.

Belinda Vause

Head of Region - South Asia (Sri Lanka, Myanmar)

Belinda completed her technical training across Cambodia, Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Georgia. Subsequently, in eastern Ukraine Belinda helped oversee 200 deminers and established a new forward operations base. As Deputy Programme Manager in Abkhazia she helped coordinate HALO’s emergency response to a large ammunition store explosion. Then, as Sri Lanka’s Programme Manager Belinda grew the programme from 700 to 1,100 staff. Today as HoR Belinda is committed to seeing Sri Lanka soon become mine free and to responding to the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. Prior to joining HALO Belinda worked as a scientist in Antarctic marine ecology and commercial fisheries management.

Pete Smith

Programme Manager

Pete joined HALO in 2018 following 33 years’ service with the British Army. A career EOD, C-IED, logistician and ammunition technical officer, he commanded the Army’s 3,000 strong EOD, Search, Military Working Dog and ammunition technical capability delivering task forces and specialist support to operations around the globe including the London 2012 Olympics. Pete became Head of Region for HALO in Afghanistan in 2019 before becoming Head of Region for West Africa in 2022. In 2023 he took up the role of Programme Manager for HALO in Ukraine.

Nick Torbet, HALO Trust

Nick Torbet

Head of Region - Middle East (Iraq, Yemen, Libya)

Previously Nick was responsible for setting up and developing new programmes and technical projects as part of HALO’s Capability Group, with a particular focus on the Middle East and Iraq. He is now head of region for HALO's established programmes across the Middle East. He was previously HALO's Programme Manager in Laos and Operations Manager in Ukraine. Before HALO he served as a British Army Officer for over ten years, specializing in Explosive Ordnance Disposal. He enjoys long walks on the beach and patting dogs.

Andrew Moore

Head of Region - Middle East (West Bank, Syria)

Former professional opera singer, who has worked for HALO since 2005. Has managed demining operations in Mozambique, Angola, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Georgia. As Regional Director for Europe he was responsible for developing private fundraising for Kosovo and Nagorno Karabakh and from 2017-2020 was Director of Private Fundraising & Communications.

Fiona Kilpatrick, HALO Trust

Fiona Kilpatrick-Cooper

Head of Region - Europe (South Caucasus)

Fiona joined HALO in 2014 as the technical officer in Côte d’Ivoire, and has since managed the programme plus those in Sri Lanka and Lao PDR. Following that, she headed up HALO’s global training team for two years before becoming Head of Region for the South Caucasus in 2021. Fiona was a British Army Ammunition Technician for nine years, specialising in explosives safety and bomb disposal.

Mike Newton

Michael Newton

Head of Region - Europe (Ukraine)

Mike joined HALO in 2014 in Cambodia. He has managed operations in Mozambique and Somaliland, following which he was programme manager for Somalia and in 2017, Nagorno Karabakh. Mike became Europe’s Deputy Head in August 2018 and is now Head of Europe (Ukraine). Prior to joining HALO, Mike spent five years in the Royal Air Force and holds a MSc in International Relations.

Chris Pym, HALO Trust

Chris Pym

Programme Manager

Chris has worked for HALO since 2006, managing operations Somaliland and in western Cambodia. He went on to manage HALO’s programme in Kosovo in 2009, set up and manage HALO’s PSSM programme in Ivory Coast in 2011 and coordinate HALO’s HQ Logistics 2014/2015. Prior to becoming Programme Manager in Angola, Chris was HALO’s Regional Director for North Africa.

Susanna Smale, HALO Trust

Susanna Smale

Head of Region - Southern Africa

Susanna joined HALO in 2014. After training in Zimbabwe, Nagorno Karabakh and Afghanistan she became a Location Manager in Cambodia and then was the Programme Manager of HALO Laos for two years. Susanna worked globally within the Capability Department on training and R&D projects before becoming head of HALO's southern Africa region in 2021. Susanna has a BA in Geography and a post-graduate degree in Law.

Tom Griffiths, HALO Trust

Tom Griffiths

Head of Region - Latin America

Tom trained with HALO in Somaliland in April 2011 and subsequently spent time managing operations in Georgia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Afghanistan. Returning to Somaliland as Programme Manager in 2015 he overseen the establishment of HALO’s Southern Somalia Programme. Tom is currently HALO’s Regional Director for Latin America and is IMAS-EOD3 trained. Prior to HALO, he worked in Outdoor Education after attending university in the English Lake District.

Lawrie Clapton

Head of Weapons and Ammunition Management

Lawrie Clapton has worked for HALO since 2018, working primarily in Somalia and North Africa. Lawrie took up the post of Head of WAM in January 2021, and is leading new WAM project development in Africa’s Great Lakes region.

Communications and Fundraising

Paul McCann

Global Head of Programme Communications

Paul has lengthy international experience working in journalism and communications. He was a reporter on The Times in the UK, before running communications for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Before HALO, he was communications and advocacy director at the global justice NGO Namati. At HALO he helps to tell our story.

Louise Vaughan

Global Head of Media

Louise Vaughan has worked in the media and for NGOs for 20 years. She started her career at BBC Radio Scotland and then became a features writer at Scotland on Sunday. She reported from Rio de Janeiro for the Independent before becoming an editor on The Sunday Times. In 2008, she went to work for the Control Arms coalition campaign for an Arms Trade Treaty. She has also led media relations for a UK charity working with families affected by child sexual exploitation. She joined HALO in 2015 and has an MSc in Conflict, Security & Development from the University of Leeds.

Diana Tatili

Head of Philanthropy, HALO USA

Diana joined HALO Trust in late 2019 and brings 24 years of experience in philanthropy and programming from several prominent organizations. She started her career with two different UN Agencies in Albania and Kosovo where she worked first-hand in humanitarian relief and is very passionate about mine action post-conflict. At HALO, she oversees plans for U.S. philanthropy and communications, manages foundation and corporate partners and works closely with executive leadership.

Kristen Stevens

Government Affairs Manager, HALO USA

Kristen joined HALO Trust in 2017 while finishing her Master’s of Public Administration at American University. Previously, Kristen taught argumentation and public speaking courses in the Communication Studies Department at Western Washington University and coached the school’s competitive debate team. Drawing from a background in politics and the non-profit sector, Kristen now manages HALO’s Congressional advocacy and public policy engagement in the U.S.

Get in Touch

We always love to hear from you. If you have a question or need to get in touch, please use the details on our contacts page.