Trustees

Carolyn has many years of private equity investment experience, firstly working at 3i as an Investment Controller and then as a Director of Causeway Capital and ABN Amro Private Equity where, over ten years, she gained experience of a wide range of transactions and portfolio management.

Carolyn started her career as a strategy consultant with the LEK Partnership. Prior to joining Bridges Ventures, she was a Director of Equinox Securities, a business focusing on raising finance for technology companies. She joined Bridges Ventures when the business started in 2002 and has led investments in the consumer, business services, education and environmental sectors. She leads on deal origination as well as sitting on the boards of a number of portfolio companies.

Carolyn is a graduate of Cambridge University with an MA in history. She has a keen interest in music and art and is on the Board of the Unicorn Theatre for Children. She lives in Islington with her partner, Alan and their baby son, William.

Chris is an an Associate of Leaders’ Quest and Treasurer and Trustee of the Leaders’ Quest Foundation. Chris is also an independent consultant and executive coach focusing on leadership, organisational change and working across cultural boundaries.

Chris spent 30 years with Ernst & Young, the last 19 of which as a partner before leaving the company in 2007. A Chartered Accountant, with a background of working in many industry sectors, Chris has focused on working with the Technology, Outsourcing and Professional Services sectors. He has a unique blend of experience in working with global corporates and in entrepreneurial environments.

Chris was European head of the Technology sector at Ernst & Young from 2004-2007. He was Managing Partner of the London office Entrepreneurial Services Group from 1991-1996, becoming national head of this service line in 1994. In 1997 he moved to Reading to run the office, and subsequently ran the UK Firm’s South Region for five years.

Chris is the Founder and Chairman of The Friends of Baale Mane Gopalapura, a charity formed to support a hostel for homeless girls in Bangalore. He is also a member of the Appeal committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Chris completed an MSc in Executive Coaching at Ashridge Management College in the UK in 2009. He is married to Shirley and has three sons, Richard, David and John.

David is CEO at United Business Media PLC, a publicly-listed international business information group with a market capitalisation of circa £1.5bn. Its businesses include PRNewswire and over 200 leading exhibitions worldwide.

David spent six years as CEO of technology companies, including Symbian Ltd, the author of the leading operating system for Mobile Phones and its original founder company Psion PLC, the innovator of handheld devices. Prior to this, David was COO of the international publisher, Euromoney Institutional Investor plc. and spent his early career as a consultant with Bain & Company based in the Far East, California and West Africa.

David is also Chairman of the International Steering Committee of OneVoice, a group working directly with Palestinians and Israelis to support conflict resolution.

Fiona Napier is the Associate Director of Campaigns at Global Witness. Prior to joining Global Witness in April 2011, she was the International Advocacy Director with the Open Society Institute for 2 years.

Fiona first came across Leaders’ Quest when she was programme director for Save the Children (SC) in South Africa (2003-2006), she then remained in South Africa for 2 years as Associate Director working with the Chief Executive on special projects and representing SC to policy makers and donors. She was also on the Board of the AIDS Foundation of South Africa. Fiona is proud of the programme she established which assisted more than 50,000 vulnerable children in Free State and Limpopo provinces.

Prior to this, Fiona was Policy Adviser in SC’s policy unit in London working on child labour and corporate social responsibility issues. She was a founder member of the Publish What You Pay coalition, calling for extractive industry to publish all payments made to government which led to the UK government establishment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). She also helped to establish the Ethical Trading Initiative, a multistakeholder body of trades unions, NGOs and business working together to improve working conditions in the agricultural and textile supply chains to the UK markets.

In the 1990’s Fiona played a leading role in the UK Ban Landmines Campaign, following her Masters in Community Health fieldwork on landmine injury in Cambodia. In 1998, Fiona was seconded to the UK Finance Minister’s office on the Millenium Gift Aid Campaign. She is a graduate of Cambridge University.

Ian Fisher is a Partner and founder of Rubicon Partners, a UK-based specialised investment firm focused on acquiring complex industrial business, founded in 1993. He is also Deputy Chairman of Helix Industries, an acquisition vehicle of Rubicon Partners and Cinven. Ian focuses on strategic development and marketing within portfolio companies and is also responsible for divestments and investor relations.

Ian has a number of other business interests in Israel and Europe including Domino’s Pizza, Airline Catering and Holmes Place Health & Fitness. He is also a Board Member of UCM Ceramics.

Ian was previously a partner with the Apax Partners where he led the European Buy-In-Fund (1989–93) and with strategy consultants Bain & Company (1980-1989). He was born in South Africa and grew up in Israel where he still spends a lot of time, but has been based for many years in London. Ian is a graduate of Tel Aviv university in Economics and holds an MBA with distinction from IMEDE, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Ian has a keen interest in dance and is Chairman of ‘The Place’ (Centre for Dance) and board member of the ‘Conservatoire For Dance & Drama’ (newly funded by HEFCE) for RADA, and a number of other educational institutions.

Lindsay is Founder and Managing Partner of Leaders’ Quest and Trustee of the Leaders’ Quest Foundation. Lindsay’s long-standing interest in the impact of inspirational leadership combined with her passion for economic and social development issues and for bringing together leaders from different disciplines and perspectives led her to found Leaders’ Quest in 2001.

Lindsay is also Chair and major shareholder of Whites Group, with businesses in the retirement care homes and property sectors in the UK. Through the 1990s she was CEO of Whites Group, which at that time included a network of Audi and VW motor dealerships that she went on to sell during 2004. Lindsay has founded a number of start-ups (where her near misses have shaped her learning at least as much as the successes!) and her entrepreneurial companies have been widely recognised for their focus on people and innovation. Lindsay was named as an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999.

Lindsay has a keen interest in international development; she is an active supporter of several global NGOs including Oxfam and a number of local NGOs in Asia and Africa. She was a Trustee of the New Economics Foundation from 2005 –2009. She Chairs the International Steering Committee of OneVoice, a conflict resolution movement, working to strengthen civil society in Israel and Palestine, and regularly facilitates workshops and dialogues in the region.

Lindsay graduated in Economics from Cambridge in 1985 and started her career with Bain & Company in London. She lives in London with her husband David and their three sons, Zac, Joe and Louis.

Paul is Senior Partner, Actis, a private equity company focused on investments in emerging markets. Based in London, Paul heads up Actis’s business activities worldwide. He joined Actis in 2000 as Director of Africa and Global Sector Groups and was appointed as CEO in 2002, after which he led the demerger of Actis from CDC.

Previously, Paul was Head of Emerging Markets Strategic Planning for Citibank in London and, prior to that, GM for Citibank in East Africa based in Nairobi. Paul also spent eight years working as a Corporate Finance professional in New York, Tokyo and London. He began his career trading commodities for Cargill in Minneapolis and London before joining the commodities division of Bankers Trust.

Sue has recently joined Leaders’ Quest Foundation as Chair. She was Chair of Arts Council England – London and as a member of the ACE National Council. She is the current Chair of AMREF UK, Africa’s leading health development organisation and on the main board in Nairobi.

She has recently joined the boards of the Free Word Centre and Complicite Theatre Company. She is a former director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, former Chair of Tate Members and a retired member of Tate Modern Advisory Council. She is the founder and co-owner of Bringing Up Baby Limited, a childcare company which runs a group of high quality day nurseries in London. She regularly appears on the Power List of ‘Britain’s 100 Most Influential Black People’.

Sue is married to the Labour peer, founder of Channel 5 Lord Hollick. She has three daughters, one granddaughter and a grandson. She was born and brought up in the UK.

Lifelong learning and leadership development are top priorities for Kimberly. By day, she is the director of community relations for Southern California Gas Company, a natural gas utility based in Los Angeles and by night she teaches an undergraduate course, “Government and Business,” as a part-time faculty member in the School of Policy Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.

Kimberly is a graduate of several leadership programs including Leadership California, Leadership Southern California, LEAD San Diego, and the African American Leadership Institute at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She also serves as a gubernatorial appointee on the board of the California African American Museum and chairs the Southern California Leadership Network board of directors.

When she is not working, teaching, or volunteering in the community, Kimberly loves to travel internationally with a purpose. As a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service organization, she has travelled extensively throughout southern Africa with various delegations and has met with local organizations that provide education and support services to children and families affected by AIDS. She is also an alumna of the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship Program.

A native of Los Angeles, Kimberly has an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Giles is an Affiliate Partner of Leaders’ Quest and President of the Leaders’ Quest Foundation – USA. He has co-led or participated in Quests to China, India, Brazil, Russia and Southern Africa. He is also a private equity investor in business information companies, and a member of Kereitsu Forum, a network of angel investors in early stage companies.

Previously Giles was CEO of LA 411, a specialised yellow pages directory for the film and TV industry, until its sale to Reed in 2000. He began his business career as a strategy consultant with Monitor Group, based in Los Angeles. He holds an MBA from Stanford and read Economics at Queens’, Cambridge.

Among his eclectic interests, Giles enjoys mountain biking, antique slot machines, steam trains, skiing, and watching Arsenal football (on some weekends). In 2003 his travel book “Us versus Them” was published by Penguin. The book recounted eight trips to places like Buenos Aires, Glasgow and Istanbul in search of classic football rivalries.

Giles grew up in England and now lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Claire and two children.