Iain Walker
Chair of the Board of Trustees

Iain Walker works as Director of Industry & Engagement at GS1 UK and brings to Sabre over 25 years’ experience in diplomacy, policy, financial management and advocacy. over 25 years’ experience in diplomacy, policy, financial management and advocacy. He served at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for over 12 years, not only as the High Commissioner to Ghana, but also as British Ambassador to Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo, as well as Director of Finance and Strategy, and most recently as Director, Americas. Iain has a track record of high-level leadership and strategic planning in both the public and private sectors, and is highly committed to social impact and philanthropy, having served as a Trustee on the Board of the Irish humanitarian response agency, GOAL Global, for over six years.

Arriving in Ghana in 2017, on the 60th anniversary of independence, Iain received praise for his celebration of Ghanaian culture and heritage, as well as his focus on charity work and community engagement. In 2019, Iain generated headlines in Ghana by cycling 1000 km from Burkina Faso to Accra, bringing a focus to the country’s beauty and warmth whilst raising funds for the Burns Unit of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Akwasi Addae-Boahene
Trustee

Akwasi is Chief Technical Advisor at Transforming Teaching, Education & Learning (T-TEL). Akwasi is a strategic management, education policy and reform expert, with over 27 years of direct management experience implementing successful programmes in education policy reforms with the Government of Ghana, World Bank, USAID, FCDO and the Government of Canada. Akwasi is currently the Chief Technical Advisor of Transforming Teaching, Education and Learning (T-TEL), a Ghanaian not-for-profit organisation that provides high quality technical advice, project management, research, and implementation support services, using local talent and expertise to drive improvements in Ghana’s education system.

Sir Ian Bauckham CBE
Trustee

Sir Ian is the Chair of the UK Government’s Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to education. He currently holds positions as the CEO and Director of Tenax Schools Trust, and the Chair of Project Board Oak National Academy. Ian was formerly Chair of Oak National Academy, and has advised the Department for Education (DfE) on the creation and implementation of the Early Career Framework and reformed NPQs. He also chairs the DfE’s Initial Teacher Training Market Review.

Erinna Dia
Trustee

Erinna Dia is the Associate Director of Early Childhood Development at UNICEF in New York. Erinna is also a member of the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN)’s Steering Committee. Prior to joining UNICEF, she held technical positions at the African Development Bank where she worked with Regional Member Countries on generating growth through improved access to education, skills, technology and employment. Erinna has a successful track record in programme design and management, policy dialogue and negotiation around the world. Erinna is passionate about children’s education and development and believes in changing the world one person at a time. She brings with her more than 20 years of experience in the provision of strategic guidance at global and country levels from her current capacity as global lead at UNICEF for Early Childhood Development and past positions as Chief of Education in West and Central Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Erinna holds a doctoral degree from New York University and an MBA from Lehigh University.

Bridget Konadu Gyamfi
Trustee

Bridget is a Programme Director at Big Win Philanthropy. Bridget is a development professional with more than 15 years’ experience in the public and private sectors, as well as in the charity, donor, and research fields. She has worked as Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Ghana’s Senior Policy and Implementation Manager and earlier as the Head of Programmes for British Council. Bridget was part of the core team in Ghana that developed the National Kindergarten In-service Teacher Training Framework in 2016 and, most recently, the Guidelines for the Early Childhood Education Policy Implementation Plan.

Lucy Heady
Trustee

Lucy Heady is the CEO of Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), a charity working to connect evidence and data on education from Africa with those who have the power to change the system, including education leaders, policy-makers and young people themselves. Lucy has over 15 years’ experience working to improve the generation and use of evidence in education, both in the UK and internationally. She has previously worked as an Evaluator at New Philanthropy Capital and Building Markets, and as Evidence, Measurement and Evaluation Manager in the Education Team at Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). At CIFF, Lucy specifically focussed on the gap in knowledge and research in early childhood development, which she addressed through literature reviews and working with the World Bank to create a network that integrates best practice into programme design and building local capacity.

Nathan Koblintz
Trustee

Nathan Koblintz is the Portfolio Manager for Early Childhood Development at Porticus, a philanthropic organisation, where he has worked since 2009. He has also served as Expert Panellist and Expert Reviewer for other funders’ investment portfolios. He is a passionate believer in the fundamental role of whole child development for young children, with his work at Porticus focussing on amplifying the importance of play in the global education and early childhood sectors. Nathan holds Masters’ degrees in Comparative Social Policy and in Community Development from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He previously worked as Programme Manager for Porticus’s work in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India, and preceding this was employed as a Researcher at the Las Casas Institute in Oxford. Nathan currently resides in Sri Lanka.

David Main
Trustee

David is currently Senior Advisor at the Gemini Corporation. He was appointed to Sabre’s Board of Trustees in March 2011 and served as Board Chair from October 2017 to March 2023. David contributed invaluable insight and strategic guidance to Sabre’s growth and development, and visited Ghana multiple timnes to assist in the implementation of strong management practices. He has been the Chairman and Chief Executive of a range of companies covering the retail, consumer products, research, technology, and distribution sectors, and has provided leadership to companies in the public, private equity and venture capital sectors for over 35 years.

Tom Vandenbosch
Trustee

Tom Vandenbosch is Global Director of Programmes at VVOB – education for development, an education non-profit working in strategic partnership with governments around the world on the professional development of teachers and school leaders. Tom is highly skilled in programme development and has over 20 years’ experience working in 22 countries across 4 continents, including 9 years based in Kenya. Tom has been a Member of the Steering Committee of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, hosted by UNESCO, and holds an appointment to the International Technical Advisory Board of the Global Coach Program of the World Bank, helping countries improve in-service teacher professional development programmes and systems to accelerate learning. He also serves on the Steering Committee of Educaid.be, the Belgian platform for education and development actors.

Helen Varma
Trustee

Helen is a Freelance Fundraising Consultant. In a career spanning 30 years, Helen has helped a diverse range of organisations improve their fundraising potential, from international development and aid agencies to arts and higher education institutions. Helen has worked with Save the Children, RedR UK, Children in Crisis, the Consortium of Street Children, Hospice UK, the British Library, and Alzheimer’s Disease International. Helen was born in Uganda, and draws on her extensive fundraising experience and networks to guide and advise Sabre’s fundraising strategy. She is also a Trustee of Starehe UK and Transaid.

Edwin Akaba
Chair of Ghana Board

Edwin is Head of Financial Planning & Analysis at MicroEdge Inc. He is an educationalist and entrepreneur, with a strong passion for sustainable development and high quality education structures. Edwin has over 10 years of corporate finance experience with a background in Mergers & Acquisitions, Competitive/Market Analysis, Financial Systems Implementation, Financial Planning, Accounting, Reporting, and Analysis.

Sir Ian Bauckham CBE
Board Director

Sir Ian is the Chair of the UK Government’s Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to education. He currently holds positions as the CEO and Director of Tenax Schools Trust, and the Chair of Project Board Oak National Academy. Ian was formerly Chair of Oak National Academy, and has advised the Department for Education (DfE) on the creation and implementation of the Early Career Framework and reformed NPQs. He also chairs the DfE’s Initial Teacher Training Market Review.

Susan Place Everhart
Board Director

Susan is Chief Executive of Sabre Education. She joined Sabre in July 2020 from Orchid Project, where she served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, Susan held a number of Executive Leadership positions in both international development and private sector organisations, working in Japan, the United States, China and Haiti, as well as supporting community initiatives in East and West Africa. Susan brings deep international development experience on women and girls’ issues and social change, education leadership experience from serving on academic boards, and extensive strategic and coaching experience from working with a variety of global corporations.

Karen Shormeh Sai
Board Director

Karen is the Founder Director of The Resource Mobilization Center in Accra, Ghana. Over the past 20 years, Karen has held management and consultant positions with ministries, departments, and agencies in Ghana and with non-profit and civil society organisations locally and globally. She is the Founder Director of The Resource Mobilization Centre, providing resource mobilization support services and capacity building to non-profit and non-governmental organisations, working with clients such as STAR Ghana Foundation and Ghana Centre for Democratic Development. Previously, as the Executive Director of the Africa Philanthropy Network, Karen worked to enhance innovation and collaboration in African philanthropy