HelpAge International | Our board | Who we are

HelpAge International is governed by a strong and diverse board of trustees. At least six of our board members are representatives of our affiliates. 

Tilak de Zoysa (Chair)

Chief Executive of a large commercial conglomerate in Sri Lanka, with connections at the highest level of government in Sri Lanka and across the region.

He is also Chairman of HelpAge Sri Lanka

Cynthia Cox Roman (Vice Chair)

Chief Executive Officer of WIT Consulting, LLC, a strategic research and consulting firm based in Washington, DC.

WIT Consulting helps businesses, government agencies and non-profit organisations understand their target audience, develop effective communications and spot new areas for growth and innovation.

Professor Nicholas Barr

Professor of Public Economics at the London School of Economics, and the author of numerous books and articles on the welfare state.

He has worked for the World Bank on social safety nets in post-Communist countries and has been active in international debate on higher education finance, on which he has advised various governments.

Luz Barreto

Graduate in Social Gerontology from the Catholic University of Peru and currently Vice-President of HelpAge International's affiliate, the Working Group of NGOs for Older People, based in Lima.

She works with Peruvian government ministries to promote the rights of older people in the community and raise awareness of the physical and sexual violence suffered by older women in particular.

Mathew Cherian

Mathew has worked in the area of rural development with cooperatives, in association with the National Dairy Development Board. He was a consultant to voluntary agencies and to the National Wastelands Development Board.

His further assignments include the post of Director, Oxfam, UK and India, Programme Director, South Asia, Plan International, and Country Representative, Charities Aid Foundation.

He is the Founder of Association of Third Sector Researchers in India, Resource Mobilization Network in India, Campaign for Human Rights (Dalits and Tribals), and CAF India. Mathew serves full time as Chief Executive of HelpAge India.

Professor Silvia Gascón

Former government minister in Argentina and was a member of the delegation to the Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid in 2002.

She has enjoyed a distinguished academic career and is viewed as an expert on ageing in Latin America. She is currently Director of Social Sciences with the national organisation, ISALUD Foundation University Institute, an affiliate of HelpAge International.

Pham Hoai Giang

Women's activist and Head of the International Relations Department of the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU). 

The VWU is a large organisation which is taking the lead on ageing and gender issues in Vietnam. It has also been a valued partner of HelpAge International for more than ten years.

Cho Hyunse

President of HelpAge Korea, Mr Cho has been instrumental in promoting initiatives like the ASEAN Homecare programme and other regional initiatives like the OPA leaders regional event and supporting links for KOICA and other Korean donors.

He has been instrumental in providing direct funding for small projects in Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Ageing, Seoul City and member of the Policy Forum for the Elderly and the Policy Department for the Elderly in Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Korea.

Eric M Kimani

Former chief executive of one of Kenya's largest state enterprises and now runs a number of his own businesses.

He holds degrees in Accountancy and Law and is currently chairman of HelpAge Kenya. 

Eric is one of the top philanthropists in East Africa having founded the equally successful Palmhouse Foundation an education trust that finances the secondary education of deserving students and mentors them through life.

Sanja Miloradovic

Executive Director and co-founder of Lastavica, an NGO and HelpAge International affiliate founded in 1996 as a joint project of the Autonomous Women's Centre in Belgrade and Oxfam. 

Lastavica offers community services, economic support and training to refugees, internally displaced women and other marginalised groups in Serbia such as older people, children, socially excluded people.

Professor Du Peng

Director of the Gerontology Institute at Renmin University of China in Beijing. He is an academic and activist on ageing in China.

Edith Sayo Skweyiya

Pursuing a distinguished career in community health and development, Edith Sayo Skweyiya has been a trustee and board member of many community-based organisations and women's groups.

In 2002, she was appointed deputy city manager of Health, Safety and Social Services of the Ethekwini municipality of Durban, South Africa

Vindrani Shillingford

Economist with the Dominica Ministry of Finance and Planning and Liaison Officer to the Ministries of Education, Health, and Community Development.

She is also a board member of HelpAge International's affiliate, REACH Dominica, with responsibility for REACH's fundraising. She was a member of the committee for the establishment of the Dominica Council on Ageing and a member of the Council from 1994 to 2001.

Mike Wade

Mike Wade started his career at the development charity Oxfam, where he worked for 17 years in a variety of roles - most recently as Head of Individual Fundraising. After a further three years at WaterAid, he joined the National Deaf Children's Society in July 2008 as Director of Fundraising and Communications.

As well as helping and advising HelpAge International, Mike Wade also sits on the Policy Advisory Board of the Institute of Fundraising.

via helpage.org