About Us

Country Director, Lesotho Headquarters

Harper Brown
Before joining Sentebale in November 2006, Harper Brown, 50, was employed as lead Director for Strategic Planning and Director of Integrated Care for Castle Point & Rochford Primary Care Trust in South Essex. Prior to his appointment in Essex he was Chief Executive of the Central Suffolk Primary Care Trust and during 20 years with the NHS he has had a history of partnership working in health and social care, with experience both in running and commissioning services.

Prior to joining the NHS Harper worked in overseas development for the World Food Programme in the Sudan, for Oxfam in Uganda and for VSO in Nigeria; and as a young man he spent five years as an officer in the Gurkhas. Brown has three degrees - an MBA in Health and Social Services from Leeds University, an MSc in Epidemiology and Health Planning from the University of Swansea and a BA in International Relations from Keele University. He is also a qualified teacher. He was brought up in East Africa, where his first language was Swahili; and he also speaks Nepalese. He is passionate about rugby - in his twenties he played for London Irish, and he is now a certified RFU coach.

Sentebale's Trustees are:

Sophie Chandauka
Charles J. Denton (Chairman)
Mark Dyer
Jayne-Anne Gadhia
Dr Christopher Hanvey
Jamie Lowther Pinkerton
Geoffrey Matthews
Dr Matthias Schmale
Damian West

Sophie Chandauka
Sophie was born and raised in Zimbabwe before completing her "A" Levels in Canada. She undertook her first degree at Lake Superior State University in Michigan, where she graduated with the highest distinction. She always wanted to be a commonwealth lawyer, and so she did a conversion graduate diploma in law at the College of Law and then completed her LPC at the Oxford Institute, receiving a distinction. Sophie joined Baker & McKenzie LLP in September 2003 as a Trainee Solicitor and is now an Associate in the Corporate Department, based in London. Sophie's professional achievements whilst at Bakers have been recognised by the British Legal Awards, The Lawyer Awards and Management Today amongst others. Sophie is also an active supporter of Rotary International and believes strongly in the value of mentorship and the pursuit of education. She mentors a number of students and volunteers with Legal Chances, MERLIN and ACDiversity and she has acted for Save the Children, advising on company law matters.

Charles J. Denton
Charles was educated at Millfield School in Somerset. In 1984 he began his business career in financial services with the Brian Neal Group before moving to London with Charles Sturge & Co. In 1989 he joined the luxury lifestyle company Molton Brown where he worked for fifteen years in variuos roles including CEO and Deputy Chairman. Following the sale of the business in 2005, he joined the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity as Executive Director and in 2008 he became Chairman. Charles is a Trustee of Jeans for Genes. He lives in Kent with his wife and two teenage children.

Mark Dyer
On leaving school in 1984 Mark worked for the Save the Children Fund as an Administrator for eight months in Ethiopia and Sudan during the famine. He went on to Sandhurst in 1986, and then joined the Welsh Guards, with whom he served in Germany, Belize, Australia, Northern Ireland and the UK. He also served as Equerry to HRH The Prince of Wales. Mark left the Army in 1997 and worked for Allied Domecq until 2000 as an Area Manager and Brand Manager in the pub retail sector. In 2000 he founded The Bar Management Company which opened and continues to operate the So bars in West London. From 1997 to 2005 Mark worked as a part time private secretary for The Prince of Wales, with responsibility for Prince William and Prince Harry.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia
On graduating from London University, Jayne-Anne started her career with Ernst and Young. Following training she then joined Norwich Union where she worked in a number of roles before joining the Virgin Group in 1994 to set up the Virgin One Account. This was a great success and the account was brought by The Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001; Jayne-Anne moved with the business and became Managing Director of RBS's Consumer Finance Division. She returned to Virgin Money in 2007 where she is now Managing Director. Jayne-Anne lives in Edinburgh with her husband and daughter.

Dr Christopher Hanvey
Chris is Director of Operations at Barnardo's, the largest of the UK children's charities. His career has been spent largely in child care work, in both policy and operational roles in the statutory and voluntary sectors. He was formerly Chief Executive of the John Ellerman Foundation, a major grant making trust whose roots are in South Africa, and was Chief Executive of the Thomas Coram Foundation, the oldest UK childcare charity. Chris also worked, briefly, in the Deregulation Unit of the Cabinet Office, is a former Deputy Chair of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations and a past member of the Home Offices Active Community Unit Advisory Board.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton
Jamie has been Private Secretary to Prince William and Prince Harry since May 2005. Until recently, he acted as a senior security consultant for Kroll, a major security services corporation, designing security solutions for NGO’s and individuals. He is a founder (2001) and director of Objective Team Limited, a company specialising in safety awareness training for young travellers and foreign correspondents. From 1979-1998, Jamie was an Army officer, serving in the Irish Guards and the SAS. He is also a Trustee of the HALO Trust, the global humanitarian mine-clearance organisation. Jamie is married with four children, and lives in Suffolk.

Geoffrey Matthews
Geoffrey is a freelance strategic consultant. From 2006 to 2008 he served as the Project Secretary to Prince William and Prince Harry and was the founding Chief Executive of Sentebale. Between 1982 and 2006 Geoffrey was variously a strategic consultant (with McKinsey & Co. and with SRU Ltd); Managing Director of the National Gallery Company Ltd, the trading arm of the National Gallery in London; and an infantry officer in the Irish Guards. He was educated at St Paul's School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. Geoffrey is a Trustee of The London Library and a Governor of St Charles's Sixth Form College; a Director of National Theatre Enterprises Limited; and past Chair of the UK Executive of the British-American Project.

Dr Matthias Schmale
Matthias Schmale joined the British Red Cross in December 2004 as International Director. His work for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies spans nearly 11 years. During this time he worked as a delegate in Sudan for 2 years, as Deputy Head of Regional Delegation for 4 years covering 14 countries out of Nairobi, Kenya, and then as Head of the Federation's Organisational Development Department in Geneva until mid 2003. His previous experiences also include working for the London-based International Save the Children Alliance as Deputy CEO as well as working for church based organisations in Ethiopia during the famine in the mid 80's. Matthias has a Ph.D. in Development Economics from the Free University of Berlin.

Damian West
Damian West is a director of Sarmiento Mining Ltd, a mining company operating in Sub-Saharan and West Africa. Prior to this he spent ten years at MJ Gleeson Group Plc as head of joint venture development and contracting. Before joining MJ Gleeson Plc he worked as Legislative Assistant to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington DC. He was educated at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire with His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho and His Royal Highness Prince Seeiso, and has enjoyed close connections with Lesotho for more than 30 years.