Board

CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Richard Graham is MP for Gloucester, and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to the ASEAN Economic Community, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. He chairs the All Party Parliamentary Groups for China, Indonesia and Marine Energy and Tidal Lagoons. He is a member of the Select Committee for Exiting the EU and a director of the Great Britain China Centre. Richard was previously an airline manager, a diplomat and an investment manager. He has worked in ten countries seeing apartheid, colonialism, communism, dictatorships and democracy at first hand. Richard speaks eight languages, played squash for Indonesia and the Philippines and chairs a charity.

VICE-CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Rushanara Ali was first elected Labour Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow in May 2010. Rushanara has served on the Labour front bench as both Shadow Minister for International Development and Shadow Minister for Education. She was also a member of the Treasury Select Committee until the last General Election. Prior to becoming an MP, she worked as Associate Director at the Young Foundation, the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Institute for Public Policy and Research.

Patrick Grady was elected SNP Member of Parliament for Glasgow North in May 2015 and is the Westminster Group Chief Whip. Patrick was SNP International Development Spokesperson and a member of the Procedure Committee in the 2015-2017 Parliament. Patrick was SNP National Secretary between 2012 and 2016 and, having worked in a range of policy and campaigning positions in the charity and public sectors, was Advocacy Manager for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) prior to his election in 2015.

Sue Inglish was Head of Political Programmes for BBC News from 2005 to 2015. Sue was responsible for the BBC’s political, parliamentary and election news, programmes and digital content. She chaired the committee of broadcasters and politicians which negotiated the first Prime Ministerial election debates in the UK. Before working at the BBC, Sue was the senior foreign editor and deputy editor of Channel 4 News from 1988 to 1997. She chairs the board of the International News Safety Institute, a charity working for the safety of journalists around the world, and is vice-chair of the board of trustees of Reach South, a multi-academy Trust.

Andrew Rosindell was first elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Romford in Essex in 2001. Andrew was formerly a Shadow Home Affairs Minister with special responsibility for Animal Welfare, having previously served as one of Her Majesty’s Opposition Whips and Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. In June 2010 Andrew was elected to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons. He was appointed as a Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in July 2010.

Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge was first elected Labour Member of Parliament for Barking in 1994. Margaret is the former Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, the first female and elected person to take that role. She held numerous roles throughout her career including Minister of State for Children, young people and families, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, Industry and the Region, Department for Work and Pensions and Education and Skills. In 2010 she was elected as the first Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and sat on the Liaison Committee. Margaret’s interests include public finances, education, local government, housing, inner cities, democratic reform and London government.

Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson was first elected the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley in Northern Ireland in 1997.  Jeffrey was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1985, with the distinction of being the youngest person ever to win a seat at Stormont. He is a leading figure in the Northern Ireland peace process and was a senior member of the Unionist negotiating team in the constitutional talks that led to the ‘Good Friday’ Agreement in 1998.  In 2003 he was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly and, following the renewal of devolution, became Chairman of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee and Leader of the DUP delegation on the Northern Ireland Policing Board. He subsequently became a Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister with special responsibility for co-ordinating the business of the Northern Ireland Executive as well as relations with the European Union. At present he is Chief Whip of the DUP in the House of Commons.

Thomas Hughes has been the Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, an international human rights organisation focusing on freedom of expression and information since 2013.  Thomas is also the founder and former Director of the social purpose enterprises, Diversity, an international advertising network for online news media from Human Rights repressed countries, and VirtualRoad.org, a secure hosting service that protects the websites of civil society organisations. For the past 15 years Thomas has worked on human rights and sustainable development issues, including as Deputy Director of the Copenhagen-based press freedom organisation, International Media Support (IMS) between 2003 and 2009, as well as previously for the European Commission, United Nation and OSCE.

Simon Walker was, until early 2017, Director General of the Institute of Directors. Simon previously served as Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Captial Association from October 2007 to March 2011. Between 2003 and 2007 Simon worked at Reuters as Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing.  He was Communications Secretary to HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace from 2000 to 2003 and earlier served as Director of Corporate Affairs at British. From 1996-1997 Simon worked as a special adviser in the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street. He is currently lead non-executive on the Board of the Department of International Trade, as well as Chairman of the Global Network of Director Institutes and adviser to a number of UK and international businesses and organisations.  Simon was born in South Africa, and has worked as a journalist and consultant in New Zealand, Belgium and the UK.