Our trustees

Our trustees help guide our work and help ensure our accountability to those we work with and for. They come from a diverse range of professional backgrounds and nationalities:

  • Jon Cooper

    Jon has worked in both the commercial and charity sectors, and is currently Country Director in Waiting, with Marie Stopes International, a results-orientated social business, which uses modern management and marketing techniques to provide family planning, reproductive and sexual healthcare and allied services. Before that he headed the legal and risk team at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, worked at Eversheds, the Financial Services Authority, First Choice Holidays PLC and the NSPCC. Jon is a practicing solicitor and acts as a trustee of several local charities in the UK, including the Brighton & Hove Community and Voluntary Sector Forum, which gives a voice to over 500 local community organisations. When he escapes from Outlook Express, Jon enjoys clambering over mountains, Manchester City FC and experimental cooking.

  • Tomy Mathew

    Tomy heads Elements, a business endeavour committed to organic and fair trade. He is also the chairperson International Nut Producers Cooperative, an international fair trade alliance, a trustee of the Fairtrade Foundation U.K and Director of Liberation Foods CIC ltd, a hundred percent fair trade company. He was previously the Vice President, Corporate Communications, Alacrity Group of Companies.

  • Dr Francis Sathya

    Francis is currently the Senior Policy Adviser for Plan International, an international child focused organisation in the United Kingdom. Francis’ international development experience spans over thirty years. Beginning with local NGOs in India, he worked with ActionAid, an international NGO for more than 13 years in various capacities. In 1994, he moved to Kenya to advise on education programs of ActionAid in Kenya and Ethiopia and then moved to Tanzania as ActionAid’s Country Representative and established and managed the new country programme. Francis is a prolific thinker and writer on international aid, development, post development, education and organisational learning.

  • Tom Thomas

    Tom Thomas is the CEO of our parent organisation, Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices, headquartered in New Delhi, India. Tom has been a development worker for the past 20 years in various capacities – student activist, development manager and participatory practitioner/researcher/trainer. Tom’s association with Praxis began in 2000, when he took over as CEO. Prior to joining Praxis, he has held many senior positions with ActionAid in India, Bangladesh and the U.K. He has led Praxis on several important assignments, both nationally and internationally. When he isn’t working, Tom likes to experiment with what’s new in the world of technology – and his day is made, if it is related to his pet – his MacBookPro.

Interested in being a trustee?

Are you interested in volunteering your considerable knowledge and experience to an innovative NGO with international reach? Praxis UK is currently seeking two trustees to further broaden the experience of our board. The board meets four times a year. If you would like to enquire further about the possibility of being a trustee, please contact info@praxis-uk.org

Advisory teams

In addition to our trustees, Praxis UK also has two advisory teams to help guide us with specific aspects of Praxis UK’s work. We currently have a programmatic advisory team and a resource mobilisation advisory team.