Michael Jermey is the Chair of the DEC.

Michael was previously the Director of News and Current Affairs at ITV for 16 years until the end of 2024. He has more than 3 decades of experience as a broadcast news executive and journalist. As ITV’s Director of News and Current Affairs he led ITV News and Current Affairs through a remarkable period of history – overseeing coverage of five UK General Elections, seven Prime Ministers, three US presidencies, the Scottish Independence and EU referendums, the Covid pandemic, Brexit, the death of Queen Elizabeth and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Michael commissioned the historically important first leaders’ debate at the 2010 UK general election for ITV and oversaw debates at every subsequent election, helping to ensure that they became a permanent feature in UK politics. He started the internationally award-winning Exposure documentary strand, expanded ITV’s peak time news output on television and invested heavily in impartial, accurate news services on digital platforms aimed at younger audiences. Michael modernised ITV’s provision of regional news, which included opening new state-of-the-art digital news centres around the UK.

While at ITV, Michael worked closely with the DEC, supporting the broadcast of DEC appeal films during emergency appeal launches. In 2018 Michael was appointed Honorary Visiting Professor at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism and Media. He has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.

Farmida Bi CBE is a solicitor who has been Chair of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP since May 2018, where she leads the firm’s Partnership and Audit committees and helps plan the firm’s strategic direction and monitor its financial and professional risks.

She also remains active in her own practices of debt capital markets and Islamic finance, where she advises on large international transactions for sovereigns and corporates.

In addition to her work at Norton Rose Fulbright, Farmida is also Chair of Trustees for the Barbican Centre Trust (which raises funding for the Barbican, the largest performing arts centre in Europe) and for the Patchwork Foundation (a charity that promotes engagement in politics and civil society for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds).

Farmida is a graduate of Downing College, Cambridge and qualified as a solicitor in 1992, and as a New York attorney in 1999.

Melanie has guided financial services and non-profit organisations towards purpose-led outcomes that benefit consumers, build public trust, and drive sustainable societal impact for over 35 years.

She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, qualifying as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand and later became a partner in PwC. She also held senior leadership roles at insurer Friends Life Group.

Melanie spent six years as Executive Director, Board and Committee Member at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), where she worked on corporate governance and stewardship, reporting, and ethical and technical audit and actuarial standards. She held non-executive roles at the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, the Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies, the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators and the Lord Mayor of London's programme, The Business of Trust.

Melanie has experience as a non-profit non-executive in the UK and US, and is an independent non-executive in the insurance sector, chairing the risk committee at OneFamily and the audit and remuneration committees at Talbot Underwriting. She is an audit non-executive at KPMG UK, providing challenge and support to its audit practice in the public interest.

Melanie is married with three adult children. She is a sports fan and loves to travel.

Peter Barron is a freelance journalist and author.

He spent 20 years in TV news and current affairs, followed by more than a decade handling communications at tech companies Google and Stripe.

He was editor of the BBC's Newsnight from 2004-2008, and before that deputy editor at Channel 4 News and ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

He joined Google in 2008 and went on to become Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for the company in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He was Global Head of Communications at Stripe from 2021-23.

He is also a trustee of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.

Tanya Steele leads the UK office of WWF, the world’s largest independent conservation organisation. She heads up WWF-UK at a critical time in which she is leading the delivery of an ambitious strategy to tackle the catastrophic decline in species and habitats across the world. From climate change to wildlife recovery, the food system to thriving oceans – Tanya sees WWF as a critical force for influencing change.

Tanya began her career in the tech industry working in product development, marketing and communications in senior roles for Siemens and BT.

After nearly 15 years in the private sector, and inspired by a volunteering assignment with the Red Cross, Tanya brought her corporate experience to the charity sector, joining Save the Children in 2004 as Executive Director of Marketing, Fundraising and Communications, and she later led the organisation as interim Chief Executive.

Whilst working in international development, Tanya saw first-hand the impact the environment has on people’s daily lives, particularly in communities which are less resilient to environmental pressures. Fusing her passion for, and experience of, human development and the environment, Tanya joined WWF-UK in January 2017 as its first female Chief Executive; its sixth since 1961.

Tanya is married and has a teenage son. She lives in North London and in addition to her trusteeship of the Disasters Emergency Committee, is a trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance. In 2022, Tanya received a CBE for services to Wildlife and to the Environment.

Julian Douglas is the International CEO of global advertising agency VCCP, the President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) 2021-23, and the Chair of Black Representation in Marketing (BRiM).

Over the past 20+ years he has many created award-winning campaigns for clients in the UK and around the world including Barnardo’s, Lynx, Levi’s, Audi, O2, Domino’s, Nationwide, White Claw and his beloved Man City FC.

As IPA President, his agenda was 10X: Accelerate Opportunity, a call to arms to the ad industry to make the most of the inflection point created by the pandemic by waging war on incrementalism and resolving to move 10 x sooner, 10 x bigger, 10 x bolder on the issues facing business and society.

He holds a BA and MA from Jesus College, Oxford, and an Executive MBA from Warwick Business School. Most recently, he completed a certificate in Business Sustainability Management at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

Outside of advertising, he is a Founder of Lucky Voice Private Karaoke, the UK's premier chain of karaoke bars.

Jean-Michel has been the executive director of Action Against Hunger UK since 2003.

He started his career in the humanitarian sector in 1994 as a logistician during the Bosnian war where he worked for two years before being deployed to mostly conflict- and drought-related humanitarian crises. He spent the subsequent six years in Chechnya (1996 and 2001), Northern Rakhine state in Myanmar, Tajikistan, Malawi and Zimbabwe, working mainly for Action Against Hunger.

He represents Action Against Hunger UK on the International Executive Committee of the organisation’s International Network (which is present in over 50 countries). He was a board member of VOICE, the network of European Humanitarian NGOs, from 2011 to 2016 and has been a member of the 'sounding board' seminars on effective management hosted by Bain and Company since 2006. He is also a director of ACFIN trademark licensing company.

Over the past two decades, Jean-Michel has dedicated most of his efforts to addressing child undernutrition around the world, helping populations affected by humanitarian crises, and promoting agroecology. He has been instrumental in galvanising support around these issues from the UK’s food and hospitality industry.

He studied history at the University of Lyon.

Hannah Bond is Co-CEO and Director of Advocacy and Influencing at ActionAid UK. Hannah is a passionate expert in women, peace and security and feminist leadership and foreign policy in the UK and globally and has a wealth of knowledge and a strong dedication to advancing the rights of women and girls and their movements worldwide.

With extensive experience in developing partnerships and working with feminist movements, Hannah has worked within the UK Government and civil society driving forwards innovative approaches and collaboration for a more peaceful, just world.

Hannah's innovative approach to programming and advocacy, personal commitment to activism and feminism, and prior experience of being a director in the sector will be invaluable in steering ActionAid UK towards greater gender justice.

Alison leads Age International and is a member of the Age UK Senior Leadership Team. She manages the relationship with HelpAge and oversees Age International’s governance, advocacy, fundraising, communications, programme funding and humanitarian work.

Alison brings over 25 years’ experience in international development. She was previously Managing Director of Sense International, working for and with people with disabilities. Before that she held senior roles at the International Planned Parenthood Federation, UNICEF UK, Bond and CAFOD. Her work on human rights has seen her travel extensively.

Alison is on the Boards of the Fairtrade Foundation and INTRAC. She holds a MSc in NGO Management from Bayes Business School, University of London, and MAs from Sussex University and from Cambridge University where she studied Geography.

Béatrice became Chief Executive of the British Red Cross in November 2023. In this role, she is responsible for leading the executive leadership team and collaborating closely with the Board of Trustees in fulfilling our charitable mission. Before joining the British Red Cross, Béatrice was the CEO of Greenhouse Sports charity.

Béatrice started her career at one of the big four accounting companies KPMG immediately after graduating from university in Belgium with a master’s degree in engineering economics.

After a few years in New York working for a major consultancy firm, Béatrice ran her own business before joining multinational telecommunications company, BT, where her roles included a Board position at BT wholesale and a group managing director role for the transformation of BT’s customer experience.

As Capita’s managing director in 2016, Béatrice established Capita Networking Solutions by merging seven businesses. A major achievement for her was the turn-around of a large contract to place fibre across Scotland.

Béatrice has also held several non-executive positions including most recently as a non- executive director for the South London and Maudsley Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. She is also currently an independent non-executive director of Reynolds, Porter and Chamberlain (RPC), an international law firm.

Christine joined CAFOD as Director in March 2019.

Christine has held leadership positions at two faith-based international development organisations for the last 17 years, most recently as the Director of Policy and Public Affairs for Christian Aid.

Previously, Christine was Progressio’s Executive Director for 11 years from 2001-2012.

Before joining Progressio, she worked for 10 years in the area of housing, poverty and social exclusion in the UK as Head of Public Affairs at the National Housing Federation and Education Department Co-ordinator at CHAS. Her career began as a field worker with the Justice and Peace Commission in the Archdiocese of Liverpool in 1987 and as CAFOD’s campaigns coordinator in 1989.

In 2024, Christine was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Liverpool Hope University in recognition of her contribution towards social justice.

Helen joined CARE International UK as CEO in August 2023, following a career dedicated to championing social justice, gender equality and human rights. She was CEO of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women from 2017-2023. Under Helen’s leadership, the Foundation saw a tenfold increase in the number of women entrepreneurs it supported each year, successfully achieving its 100,000 Women Campaign in 2022.

Prior to this, Helen worked for over a decade at leading international charity for women and girls ActionAid, where she was Director of Fundraising and Communications for ActionAid International and, most recently, Director of Fundraising for ActionAid UK.

Helen has over 25 years’ experience in international NGOs where she has held a number of senior leadership positions. She started her career in commercial and non-profit marketing in her native Australia before moving into international work in 2001 with Greenpeace International. Helen has travelled extensively and worked in a number of countries including South Africa, India, the Netherlands and the US.

Helen has a BSc. in Social Policy from Birkbeck, University of London, and an International Executive MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid.

Patrick became Christian Aid CEO in May 2022. Prior to that, he was Christian Aid’s Policy and Campaigns Director, responsible for leading the organisation’s influencing, mobilisation, and research and evidence.

He has 25 years of experience in the development and humanitarian sector, including with Oxfam, the World Bank, ActionAid, and World Vision, and has worked on education, global health, aid policy, and debt and trade. He has engaged extensively with the UN, EU, and African Union, as well as with the UK government and parliament.

Before joining Christian Aid he worked for Save the Children for ten years, the last eight of them as advocacy and campaigns director for the international federation. He has degrees in Theology, from the University of Cambridge, and in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. He is married and has three daughters.

He is committed to Christian Aid’s strategy of using prophetic voice to confront injustice, and of working with churches to achieve lasting change.

Sayyeda Salam joined Concern Worldwide UK as Executive Director in September 2024. Previously, she worked at Save the Children for over 15 years, where she has held roles across Fundraising and Marketing, Policy and Advocacy, and Operations. These have included stints in Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt, and in Tanzania.

As Director of Partnerships and Philanthropy at Save the Children UK, she built relationships with philanthropists, foundations and the private sector in teams that have delivered more than £300 million for children’s rights. In 2022, she was seconded to lead an initiative developing strategic partnerships in the Gulf.

She has given broadcast interviews to outlets including the BBC, and was Save the Children UK’s co-leadership sponsor of efforts to shift power from London to operations & local partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Sayyeda has degrees from Cambridge and the School of African and Oriental Studies and is also a trustee of the Refugee Council. She lives in London with her partner and their two young children.

Waseem Ahmad joined the Islamic Relief family over 24 years ago, serving as Programme Officer in the Balochistan province of south-western Pakistan before becoming Head of Programmes in Pakistan. Waseem then moved to Oxfam and Tearfund before returning to Islamic Relief to establish our mission in Malawi. Later serving as Head of Programme Funding and Partnerships, Waseem led the response to major crises across the globe, including the East Africa drought, Pakistan earthquake and the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Waseem then served for nearly 6 years as our Director of International Programmes, during which time the charity secured and retained the coveted Core Humanitarian Standard certification in recognition of the quality of our programming. He was appointed CEO of Islamic Relief in May 2021.

With a special interest in community mobilisation and infrastructure, Waseem received an MSc in Project Planning and Management from the University of Bradford, as well as an MSc in Economics from Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Waseem has also worked for Lepra Health in Action and is a member of the International Civil Society Centre’s Board of Trustees. The father-of-3 enjoys walking and playing football, and is a keen birdwatcher.

Flora Alexander brings 20 years of experience in the humanitarian and social impact sectors. She joined the International Rescue Committee in New York in March 2023 as VP of Advocacy and Influence, and was appointed as Executive Director of IRC UK in April 2025.

Before joining the IRC, Flora spent five years at UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, as Global Chief of Advocacy, and nine years at Save the Children UK as Head of Government Relations and Chief of Staff. In her early career, Flora worked for the UK government, a tech start-up, and as head of policy for a think tank. She has a Masters in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, and is from St Andrews in Scotland

Halima is CEO of Oxfam GB. Much of her career has been spent working in international development with DFID (now the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office), the British Council and LEGO Foundation, with extended overseas postings to countries including China, Nepal, Indonesia and Pakistan. Prior to joining Oxfam, she was CEO of fellow DEC member ActionAid UK.

Halima has headed major civil society, research and policy programmes in various fields, among them education, gender equality, poverty reduction, human rights, food insecurity, public health and post-conflict reconstruction, and is a well-known thought leader on civil rights and equalities.

She serves on the board of Demos, and is a member of both ITV and Burberry’s Cultural Advisory Councils. Halima is also a recent serving member of the board of the National Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty) and the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity, as well as an expert advisor to Cambridge University and the Institute for Government's Review of the UK Constitution. Born in Bangladesh and raised in London’s East End, she has been identified as one of the most influential disabled people in the UK, and one of the most influential British South Asians.

Rose Caldwell became Chief Executive of Plan International UK in 2019.

Previously she was Executive Director of Concern Worldwide (UK), serving since 2008. During this time, Rose brought to the forefront Concern Worldwide (UK)’s focus on hunger and malnutrition, the tackling of which is at the heart of addressing extreme poverty. Driven by her experience of working overseas with Concern Worldwide in emergency contexts in Burundi and Zimbabwe, Rose is also committed to ensuring that the organisation plays a key role in responding to those who are worst affected by the increasing number and scale of humanitarian crises.

A qualified chartered accountant by training, Rose has previously worked as a management consultant, as the Finance Director of a mental health charity and as Assistant Director for the Refugee Housing Association. Rose is currently on the Board of BOND and the DEC.

Malik, 57, served as UK Ambassador to Indonesia for five years and as Director General, first at the Department for International Development (DfID) and then at the merged Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

At DfID, Malik led initiatives to improve children’s prospects through education and health. At the FCDO, he led the UK’s embassy network and diplomatic engagement across Africa; and held global responsibilities for international finance, conflict and stabilisation, open societies and human rights. For the last two years, he has been Managing Director at the World Resources Institute, working on global climate change and development, and leading a programme of organisational change.

Tim is interim CEO at Tearfund. He has previously been Chief Executive at World Vision UK and worked in a variety of complex contexts, from major international corporations like Shell to Cambridge University. Tim is married to Gail, has two grown-up children, and loves attending C3 church in Cambridge where he is also a Trustee.

Fola was appointed in October this year as World Vision UK’s CEO. Her extensive leadership experience straddles both the business and charity sector in the UK and abroad. She has held senior roles for large multinationals such as HSBC, IBM and Mazars where she was a Partner and Global lead for International Development. In her role as CEO of Indisys Business Solutions, she provided strategic advice to charities and directed a portfolio of development projects in countries across Africa and South Asia for the Open University.

Fola has held several non-executive board positions including roles such as Vice President of the British Red Cross, Vice President of Trustees for World Vision UK and President of Milton Keynes Community Foundation. Fola founded and directed several charities in Milton Keynes and pioneered large scale community initiatives.

She has received a number of public service awards, most notably an MBE in 2016 for her services to business and the community; an Honorary Degree from the Open University for her contribution to public services; and most recently, she received both the Community Award for Volunteers and the Overall Outstanding Achievement Award at the Women Leaders UK Awards. Fola was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Buckinghamshire in 2016.