Meet the team

We are driven by a passionate team of dedicated professionals and volunteers who work tirelessly to empower the next generation of global changemakers.

Our programmes

Meet the Leaders Behind Pestalozzi International

Panning across the UK, USA, Switzerland, Zambia, India, and Nepal, our board members and staff bring a wealth of experience, expertise, and commitment to bettering the lives of the children we nurture and educate.

Pestalozzi World is a family of not-for-profit organizations. All organizations operate as separate legal entities but share common policies on philosophy and purpose. The educational philosophy of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (Head, Heart and Hands and our child-centred approach)is absolutely key to the success of our programmes to date and marks us out from other charities that educate children.

The primacy of local Boards, and their executives, in exercising control over their organisations in accordance with group policies, and local cultures, is an enshrined principle of governance in our family.

Merger Announcement

We are pleased to announce that, effective 13th September 2024, Pestalozzi International Foundation (PIF) has merged with Pestalozzi World Children’s Trust (PW). PIF's assets will transfer to PW and the newly unified organisation will support PW’s existing programmes operating under the name Pestalozzi International.

Patrons and Founders

Sir Richard Butler and Lady Butler, Founders

Sir Richard Butler, a distinguished international banker, and Lady Butler, an experienced educator and nursery school founder, established Pestalozzi International with the vision of using education to uplift children from the world’s most disadvantaged regions. Their leadership has been instrumental in creating the Pestalozzi World Villages in Africa and Asia and expanding our impact through innovative educational initiatives like Edulution.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Patron
We are deeply honoured to have His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as the Patron of Pestalozzi International. His support for our holistic education approach embodies our mission to nurture the "Head, Heart, and Hands" of each child, preparing them to be responsible and fulfilled global citizens.

UK Board and Staff

Kenneth Greatbatch, Board Chair
Kenneth Greatbatch brings over 25 years of experience in restructuring and expanding international businesses to his role as Board Chair of Pestalozzi International. As a chartered accountant and seasoned executive, Ken has played a pivotal role in shaping the organisation's strategic direction and ensuring our programmes deliver lasting impact.

James Haughton, CEO
James Haughton, CEO of Pestalozzi International, joined the organisation in 2020, bringing a wealth of experience from the charity sector. With a background in international development and philanthropy, James has led the expansion of our programmes, focusing on governance, fundraising, and building partnerships that enhance our mission.

Caroline Doggart, Board Member
Caroline Doggart’s career spans senior roles in economic development with the World Bank and contributions to major publications like The Economist. As a board member, she leverages her extensive expertise in global economics to support Pestalozzi International’s mission of fostering social mobility through education.

Francois von Hurter, Board Member
Co-founder of Bitter Lemon Press and former investment banker, Francois von Hurter has been a dedicated trustee of Pestalozzi International for over 20 years. His diverse experience in finance and publishing enriches our Board’s strategic capabilities.

Simon Wakely, Board Member
With a background in international development and youth empowerment, Simon Wakely has been involved with Pestalozzi International since 2007. His work has focused on expanding educational opportunities for young people in Africa and supporting the growth of our alumni network.

Catherine Stevens, Board Member
Catherine Stevens is a dedicated member of the Pestalozzi International Board, bringing a wealth of experience in education and philanthropy. Her expertise in strategic development and her commitment to social justice play a crucial role in shaping the organisation’s initiatives, ensuring they align with our mission to uplift disadvantaged children through holistic education.

Alain Rizk, Board Member

Alain is an experienced senior corporate and investment banker with history withMizuho Bank, Piper Jaffray and McKinsey. In recent years Alain has focused on providing his expertise to social enterprises including Stanford Seed, he is a Governor of the Laureate Academy.

Eddie West-Burnham, Chief Operations Officer

Eddie West-Burham Eddie is an experienced Chief Executive, Coach, mentor and consultant with a diverse range of experiences across health, social care, and education. He was the CEO of Pestalozzi International Foundation prior to its merger with Pestalozzi World in 2024 and is an experienced Trustee serving on the Board of various VCOs.

Dr Joanna Nair, Director of Education

Dr. Joanna Nair has been with Pestalozzi International since 1996 and is currently the Director of Programmes. With a PhD in international development and wellbeing and extensive experience in creating educational resources, Joanna’s leadership ensures that our programmes are culturally relevant and meet the educational needs of children from diverse backgrounds.

Suzanne Davis, Head of Philanthropy

Suzanne Davis leads the Philanthropy efforts at Pestalozzi International, with a proven track record of building successful corporate and major donor partnerships. With her extensive experience in high-level marketing, previously as the European Marketing Director at American Express, Suzanne is instrumental in driving the financial support necessary to sustain and expand our educational programmes.

Mags Alexander, Alumni and Outcomes Manager

After a 10-year career in the Civil Service Mags decided to change career and work with young people. Before joining Pestalozzi International in 2003, she worked with young people with special educational needs and emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Emma Peadon, Senior Fundraising Executive
Emma Peadon, a passionate fundraising professional, joined Pestalozzi International in early 2023. With over four years of experience in organising successful events and cultivating corporate and major donor relationships, Emma plays a key role in ensuring that our fundraising efforts meet the growing needs of our programmes.

Donna Rose, Creative Community Lead
Donna brings a creative flair to Pestalozzi International as the Creative Community Lead. With a background in primary education and digital resource development, Donna is dedicated to supporting children's educational journey, ensuring that learning materials are engaging and effective.

Georgia, Partnerships Executive
Georgia is dedicated to building and maintaining strong relationships with our alumni through the Alumni Connections Programme. With her experience in both UK and US educational systems, she plays a vital role in enhancing the support we provide to our alumni and expanding our network of partners.

USA Board

Elizabeth Beim, President

Elizabeth Beim served as the Development and Public Affairs Officer for Museum of the American Indian-Heye Foundation and was Senior Director on Cultural Affairs at the Americas Society. She earned her degree at Hollins College before her graduate studies at the London School of Economics. 

Sir Richard Butler, Board Member

Sir Richard became a social entrepreneur following a distinguished career in international banking with The First Boston Corporation and Blyth, Eastman Dilon, processor US banks of Credit Suisse and UBS.

Anthony Dub, Board Member

Anthony Dub is Chairman of Indigo Capital, a financial advisory firm based in New York.

Before forming Indigo Capital in 1997, he was an officer of Credit Suisse First Boston, where he served for 26 years, having led the Asset Finance, Mortgage Finance, Capital Markets, and Investment Banking practices. Indigo Capital has invested in over 20 startups including BlueMatrix, Capital IQ, Lucid, and Morning Consult.

Todd Langstaff, Board Member

Todd’s connection to the Pestalozzi family began in earnest in 2009 when he spent several weeks in the Zambian Village at Ibex Hill. Since then, and after several subsequent visits to Lusaka, his involvement has mostly centered on supporting young alumni based in the United States. He joined the US Board of Directors in 2019. Todd is on the Nonprofit Marketing and Social Impact teams at First Republic Bank. He lives in Manhattan with his fiancé.

David Langstaff, Board Member

David H. Langstaff is a global business and community leader with extensive experience as Chief Executive Officer and Director of advanced technology and professional services companies. He serves as EVP, Leadership of the Aspen Institute.

Sandra Weiksner, Board Member

Sandra is an experienced lawyer. She sits on the Board of Directors New York Law School; is director Cunningham Dance Foundation; is a member Union Theological Seminary; Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, American College Trusts and Estates Counsel, International Academy Estate and Trust Law; member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Association Bar of City of New York, Connecticut Bar Association.

Amy Hunter, Board Member

Amy Hunter advises companies on establishment of climate and sustainability programs across multiple sectors with the goal to inspire and leverage their strengths to meet standards not only necessitated in the current regulatory environment and to mitigate the risks but also to strategically capitalize on the opportunities

Swiss Board

Reto Urech, Board Chair

Reto has extensive and varied experience as a marketeer and as a leader in the development cooperation sector. He was the Head of Fundraising for four different Swiss NGOs of various sizes in the fields of development cooperation, health and nature conservation.He also co-founded a social enterprise in Uganda called Communauts with the aim of including local farmers into tourism value chains.

Patric Klees, Board Member

Patric is a global investor and entrepreneur. He has been active in the world of alternative investments (private equity, real estate etc.) for more than 20 years. He seeks to inspire entrepreneurial leaders to exceed their expectations about what is possible-empowering them with creative solutions, ambitious stewardship, and access to resources to transform their businesses and mindsets to create superior value. Patric channels his skills and interests into Board Member positions at two social enterprises Pestalozzi International have invested in which aim to deliver high-quality education in sub-Saharan Africa

Rory Macleod, Board Member
Profile coming soon

Zambian Board and Staff

Brian Sitamulaho, Board Chair

Brian is an Associate Director with Deloitte Africa based in Zambia. He has over 18 years of experience in advising clients in various sectors on Governance, Risk, Controls, Data Management, Internal Audit, and IT Auditing. He holds an MBA (General), BSc in Mechanical Engineering (Hons), Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA); and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC).

Priscilla Mpundu, CEO

Priscilla is a partner of a public accounting firm Bee Compliant Advisory that targets women led and managed businesses. She has been involved with Pestalozzi Zambia for over 12 years serving at different times as a counselor to the children, an interim village manager, a parent with a child at the school and the current role as board member in that order.She has seen a number of the children fully mature and develop into contributors to the Zambian economy.

Mwitti Muvula, Board Member

Mwitti joined the Board of Pestalozzi World Zambia as a Board Member in 2018 and channels her skills and expertise in assisting the Zambian Board with Legal and Regulatory Compliance advice. She is an Advocate of the High Court for Zambia with significant experience in property law, commercial transactions, employment law, and general legal advisory. She currently works for a real estate and property development company as a Compliance and Contracts Manager.

Indian Board and Staff

Yashpal Kapoor, Board Chair

President and Founder of Io Global Services, Yashpal is an alumnus of a Pestalozzi program in the United Kingdom and graduated from the Imperial College in London.

Cheme Palden, Director

Cheme’s family fled Tibet when the Communist Chinese took over, gaining refugee status in India. Her tertiary studies in London and Northern India included Osteopathy, English and Psychology before she earned her Bachelor’s in Education.

Thespal Kundan, Board Member

A graduate of The University of Cambridge and Moravian Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania, Thespal is an educationalist with over 40 years’ of experience.

He is Vice-President of the Dehradun Private Schools Association and a Board Member at Bharat Susamachar Samiti. Thespal, is currently Director-cum-Principal of the Moravian Institute in Dehradun.

Usha Tiru, Board Member

Usha was a Pestalozzi World student at the Indian Village. In 2021, she graduated with a degree in Fashion Technology in Apparel Production from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, sponsored by the Tiara Foundation. She now works as Sales Trainee for World Fashion Exchange, also in New Delhi.

Naveen Sharma, Board Member

Naveen, from Himachal Pradesh, was awarded a scholarship by the Tiara Charitable Foundation to study for a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Shimla, and graduated in 2020.

He did an internship with a private company and is now preparing for government jobs.

He has supported Indian Village students in their studies and from April 2015 to March 2016, teaching Maths and Science to Classes 10 and 12, as well as supporting selection.

Yeshi Khampa, Board Member

Yeshi completed her schooling from St. Thomas’ College, Dehradun, in 2014.

In 2017 she completed a BA (Hons) in German language, literature & cultural studies, from Jawaharlal Nehru University, with the help of funding from Tiara.

Following this, she completed a course at Heidelberg University, Germany, which was sponsored by DAAD. Yeshi, is currently working as as senior data associate at Amazon.

Nepali Board and Staff

Ajay Shrestha, Board Chair

Ajay Shrestha was a student at our Indian village before joining Pestalozzi World in Nepal as Board Chair. He is also on the international alumni committee.

Shree Shankar, Board Adviser

Social Worker, Former National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Nepal. Fields of experience: Good governance, financial management & accountancy, child development and community development.

International Alumni Council

Shelja Thackur

Lubinda Mbundi

Mildred Kasonde

Sabita Bhandari

Tenzin Tsepak

Phurbu Dolma

Peeraya Utsajit

Kannika Kaewrakmuk

Joseph Kumwenda

Prisca Mulongo

Usha Tiru

Grace Mwena

Chikuku Musonda

Ajay Shrestha

Afonso M. Fernando

Pestalozzi International is committed to expanding our social impact, focusing on the regions where the need is greatest.

The children and young people who join our programmes demonstrate exceptional potential despite facing significant challenges. Many are girls and refugees from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our rigorous selection process ensures that we reach those most in need, helping them transform their futures and, in turn, the futures of those around them.

By supporting our expansion efforts, you can help bring holistic education to the children who need it most, enabling them to break the cycle of poverty and become leaders and changemakers in their communities.