Advisory Board Members

CEO, WHF

Feraye Ozfescioglu is the CEO of the World Humanitarian Forum. She has been working within the group companies for 14 years and she is a strategist with cross-sector knowledge in event management. She is passionate on humanitarian aid and international development and has been involved in humanitarian and international development events since 2010.

She has been involved in the management of G8 - G20 Summits, EXPO organisations and she was the event director of the first ever World Humanitarian Summit. She has international expertise and has been a consultant for UN.

She was selected as one of the women leaders who will influence the future of the world by Goldman Sachs and US State Department.

Feraye holds Translation and Interpretation Diploma from Istanbul University. She speaks English, Spanish and Turkish.

RT. Hon Jack Straw

Chair, WHF Advisory Board

Rt Hon Jack Straw is one of three senior Ministers to remain in Cabinet throughout the 1997 to 2010 Labour Governments under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He was Foreign Secretary (2001-2006), Home Secretary (1997-2001), Leader of the Commons (2006-7), and Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary (2007-10). After Labour lost power in 2010, Straw served for six months as Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, and then stood down from the Shadow Cabinet, having served on Labour’s Front Bench for over thirty years. Straw was a Member of Parliament for Blackburn from 1979 to 2015, when he retired from the Commons.

His approach won praise from Margaret Thatcher, who once declared “I would trust Jack Straw’s judgement. He is a very fair man”. Before becoming an MP, Straw practised as a Barrister, and then worked as a Special Adviser in the 1974-79 Labour Government. Appointed Foreign Secretary in 2001, Straw played a leading role in the dramatic foreign policy problems arising from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and the resulting interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was instrumental in helping to avoid an extremely dangerous armed conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir in 2002.

CEO, the British Asian Trust

Richard Hawkes joined the British Asian Trust as Chief Executive in September 2015 after having held a range of senior roles in the UK and international not-for-profit sectors for more than 20 years.

Richard has been Chief Executive of Scope (one of the largest not-for-profit organisations in the UK) and International Director of VSO (a UK based international NGO working in 40 countries).  He has worked for the United Nations and been Chair of a number of sector bodies, including BOND (the umbrella body for UK international NGOs) and the UK voluntary sector body on social care.  He has been a member of the BBC Appeals Advisory Committee and is currently Chair of Motivation, an international disability NGO, on the Advisory Board of Charity Bank and on the judging panel for the UK Charity Awards.  He has a vast experience of social finance. As CEO of Scope he was responsible for launching the first social investment bond in the UK, a £20m bond that was listed on the Luxembourg Stock Market and the British Asian Trust recently launched the world’s largest education Development Impact Bond.

Mark Astarita, OBE

Director, Astarita Aldrich & Ward; Former Director of the British Red Cross

Mark Astarita, OBE has been one of the most successful fundraisers in the UK.  During his 25-year career he has been responsible for raising almost £1.5 billion pounds for charity. He has for a record four times been voted the most influential person in fundraising by his peers.

Mark is the former director of fundraising for the British Red Cross, National Deaf Children's Society and Prisoners Abroad. Mark is the former Chair of the Institute of Fundraising a trustee of St Clare Hospice and has previously held the role of Trustee at the Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and St Joseph’s Hospice based in Hackney.  Today he advises and supports the recruitment of senior personnel at many of the UK's and Global charities through his company Astarita Aldrich and Ward.

Dr. Mohan Kaul

Vice Chair, the Indo UK Institute of Health

A champion of globalisation and emerging markets, Professor Dr Mohan Kaul is an influential and recognised policy adviser, business leader, social entrepreneur, and an academician. To have a glimpse of his journey over last few years please visit www.kaul.co.uk .

After his retirement in 2014, he set up a Global Investment advisory company mainly focussed on Asian and African Markets: Global Investment Advisory Ltd. www.gial.co.uk

Dr Mohan Kaul is the President of Indian Professionals Forum, a leading think tank in UK set up to increase the participation of Indian Diaspora in national policy development and the economy and increase UK-India engagement particularly as a result of Brexit. www.ipforum.net

He is Chair of Pontaq-UK India Innovation Fund which was recognised by Prime Minister Theresa May in her address at Mansion House on India day, 16th July 2019. www.pontaq.vc

He is also Vice-Chairman of Indo-UK Institute of Health, an initiative set up by Prime Ministers Modi and David Cameron. www.iuih.co.uk

Prior to that he was involved in setting up Commonwealth Business Forum at CHOGM in 1997 and was also founding Director General of the Commonwealth Business council. During that period, Commonwealth trade increased to over $4 trillion dollars and investment flows reached over $200 billion with some countries receiving FDIs for the first time.

He also worked as Senior Diplomat and Director at the Commonwealth Secretariat for several years.

Dr Kaul was a Professor and later Dean at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.

Member of the Board, Afghan Red Crescent Society

Fatima Gailani has been serving as the president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society since 2004. She is the daughter of Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani, the leader of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

After graduating from Malalai High School in Kabul, Ms Gailani obtained a BA and subsequently an MA in Persian Literature and Sufism in 1978 from the National University of Iran. She also earned an MA in Islamic Studies from the Muslim College in London in 1994. She lived in exile during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and acted as spokesperson in London for the Afghan Mujahideen. She attended the Bonne Conference on Afghanistan in 2001. After her return to Afghanistan she was chosen as a delegate to the Emergency Loya Jirga – Grand Council – of June 2002 and was appointed as a constitution drafting and ratifying commissioner. Ms Gailani is the author of two books (Mosques of London and a biography of Mohammed Mosa Shafi).

CEO, Moana

Nedal Juma is a well respected and innovative Global C-Suite Executive who has built a firm reputation in global and regional markets for championing international trade & investment, strategic partnerships and delivery of sustainable growth, with in-depth exposure to government and private sectors.

Serving on the Advisory Board of the CEO Club World Wide since 2016 with over 13,000 member CEOs.

In 2019 was appointed VP for BRICS Forum aiming to increase collaboration with key Middle Eastern Governments and private sector.

Nedal served as Head of Advisory and VIP relationships to New Zealand Government’s Trade and Enterprise NZTE in IMEA region. He was a core foundering member of Dubai Aid / Humanitarian Cities with Dubai Government and has lead trade and investment deals valued over 1.5 $ Billion.

Director, Global Supply Chain, Medical Corps

Neil Rodrigues is a Supply Chain leader with multi-region & multi-sector executive experience across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia in the international development, aid and relief, commercial logistics, international trade & engineering sectors.

Coming originally from an engineering supply chain & commercial logistics management background working in leadership roles with large multinational corporates; Neil has worked with a range of NGOs in recent years in leadership roles, including International Medical Corps, Save the Children UK and International, Merlin and the Humanitarian Logistics Association. With a passion for and expertise in developing countries, his objective is to drive excellence in high performing supply chain and logistics global operations through effective change management strategies & inspirational leadership with the aim of furthering outcomes. 

Neil is also passionate about humanitarian causes and the potential of business in being an agent for sustainable positive change through effecting the right linkages and partnerships. 

Prof. Bulent Cicekli

Head of Legal, WHF

Prof. Bulent Cicekli has a long-established legal academic life both in UK and Turkey as well as a profound professional career in government and judiciary in Turkey. He graduated from Ankara University Law School (1989), completed his LLM at Nottingham University Law School (1992) and obtained his PhD from London SOAS Law School, University of London (1997).

His academic works and publications have focused on immigration law, private international law, and human rights law. He also held administrative roles and responsibilities as head of department, vice-dean and acting dean (2002-2009), worked as chief legal counsel of the Turkish Ministry of Energy (2009-2010) and as a member of the Turkish Judicial Council (2010-2014).

Prof. Cicekli is a dual-qualified lawyer both as a practicing solicitor in England and Wales and attorney at law in Turkey. As part of his legal practice, he deals with immigration law, corporate and commercial law as well as international and cross-border legal matters.

Prof. Cicekli is also a research associate at SOAS Law School, University of London. He provides counsel views and expert opinions for domestic and international litigations in areas including private international law, human rights law as well as various aspects of Turkish law. He also provides legal counsel to the World Humanitarian Forum.

Head of Marketing, Branding & Communications, Crown Agents Bank
 

Charlie Bronks is a Marketing, Branding and Communications Strategist with deep cross-sector knowledge in international development, fund-raising and complex key account management.

Charlie joined Crown Agents Bank (CAB) in 2016 to work with strategic key government and development sector clients now leading Marketing, Branding & Communications as the bank enters a new and exciting growth phase. She worked with the previous CAB owners; Crown Agents Limited before joining Atos Consulting UK, to lead the key account relationship with HMG and with a superb track record of delivering targets cross-sector and function in the UK and overseas.

Charlie holds an MA in Global Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Charlie was Director of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award World Fellowship, an International NGO (INGO) for six years where she developed and expanded the fundraising mechanism engaging and working closely with complex stakeholders including donors, governments, high-level dignitaries and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) from over 30 countries.

Charlie is a member of the winning England Women’s Rugby World Cup squad from 1994, a SOAS Alumni and a Fellow of the Learning & Performance Institute (FLPI), passionate about gender equality and an amateur enthusiast of ethical AI and Robotics.

H.E. Sam Sumana

Former Vice President of Sierra Leone

H.E. Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana (born April 7, 1962) is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007 to March 17, 2015.

Sam-Sumana served as the managing director of the United Diamond Mining Company based in Koidu Town, Kono District, Sierra Leone. He also served as the regional manager for C-12 International, a Texas based mining company engaged in diamond production in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Sam-Sumana has a Bachelor of Science (BSC) in management information systems from the Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.

He also has a diploma in diamond rough grading, sorting and polishing from the America Institution of Diamond Cutting and Polishing, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, United States, and a diploma in computer network support from Knollwood Computer and Business School in St Louis Park, Minnesota. While in the United States, Sam-Sumana had worked as a systems officer for the Prudential Financial Group. He was employed as a network support specialist for Allina Health in the United States. H.E Samuel Sam-Sumana has received a number of Global Awards and recognitions for his unique role in advocating for Peace and transformative governance in Africa. On 10 August 2018, He was appointed to the Global Advisory Council of the HWPL and WARP. He and other Former Heads of States including Former President of Mozambique H.E Joaquim Chissano were present to discuss how peace can be sustainably achieved in Africa.