Our Team

Susan has been the CEO of Sabre Education since July 2020. Susan is an experienced global
leader in both the international development and private sectors, with extensive work experience in
Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. She has a strong passion for education, women’s and girls
empowerment, and community-led development. In her career, she has developed innovative
experiential education programs for adult learners, has served on educational boards, has led
education and health system strengthening initiatives, and supported gender-based community
development projects in East and West Africa.

A graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Economics, Susan has also taught executive
education courses on international management topics at the Industrial Relations Center of the
California Institute of Technology.

Tony Dogbe joined Sabre as Executive Director, Ghana in January 2020 but has a longstanding
relationship with Sabre since 2012 when he was the lead consultant for the development of the
Kindergarten Operation Plan for the Ministry of Education which Sabre supported.

Tony is a co-founder of Participatory Development Associates (PDA) Ltd and its former Managing
Director (2008-2012). He is a seasoned social development practitioner, manager, trainer and social
entrepreneur who, over the past 27 years, has completed over 65 consultancy assignments
alongside full-time executive director roles in two companies. These consultancy assignments
included supporting organisations to do gender assessment, analysis and planning of their
programmes and training of their staff.

For nearly nine years he was the Executive Director of one of the leading Ghanaian NGOs, Centre
for the Development of People, and thereafter served on its Board.

He holds an MSc in Community Organisation for Rural Development (Manchester UK, 1991), and a
BA (Hons) in Political Science and Sociology (University of Ghana 1982).

Kwasi joined Sabre in April 2021 and is a qualified accountant with significant finance experience at the senior management level in the charity sector in both the UK and Ghana. He brings to Sabre experience in project accounting, charity financial reporting, donor reporting, and success in designing and implementing accounting system improvements and controls.

Before joining Sabre, he worked as Finance Director of China Dialogue Trust in London where he
was responsible for the financial management of UK and overseas programmes. He has also
worked for Citizens Advice and YMCA.

Kwasi holds Masters’ degree in International Accounting and Finance and Charity Accounting.

James is a development expert with a solid record of accomplishment in leading development programmes and operations at various levels. He has extensive experience in programme & operations management, monitoring & evaluation, human resource management as well as new business/project development.

Before joining Sabre he was Chief Resilience Officer for AMA/100Resilient Cities Organisation, Programme Manager for Canadian Feed the Children and Habitat for Humanity Ghana and practiced as a Civil Engineer.

James holds an MBA from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology as well as a Certificate in High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork and Negotiation from the Northwestern University.

Hannah joined Sabre in April 2021. Hannah has extensive experience across the charity sector in
grants and partnership building both in the UK and internationally and most recently spent five years
as Head of Fundraising at Unseen. Hannah brings a strong track record of growing and diversifying
income, excellent relationship management and strategic skills to Sabre’s fundraising team.
Hannah is also a Trustee of Makani, a social enterprise working with Syrian and Palestinian women
in refugee camps in Lebanon and she previously sat on the Governing Board of Bristol City Funds,
a grant and investment funder focusing on addressing the key environmental and social issues
facing the city of Bristol.

Hannah holds a degree in Politics & Sociology from the University of Warwick and has completed
gender and inclusion training at frequent intervals in her career. She partook in a Leadership
Programme through the Development Directors Forum, one of the areas of focus was gender and
inclusion. Hannah has experience of strategically shaping inclusive funding programmes through
her role with Bristol City Funds and is an advocate for the rights of women and girls.

Margaret Brew-Ward is a social development professional with over 20 years of experience working with international and national NGOs in Ghana. She has worked on issues related to child protection, women’s rights, education, economic justice, gender equality, and domestic violence.

She has technical expertise in policy advocacy, strategic development of campaigns, partnership building and strengthening, project management,  proposal development, and donor management.

Margaret managed ActionAid Ghana’s policy, advocacy and campaign programmes for over seven years. She also managed the organisation’s partnerships and served on numerous technical working groups and committees at the national level. Over the past decade, Margaret has made significant contributions towards policy reviews and development processes in Ghana. She has contributed to the development of policies around guidelines for the prevention of pregnancy, and a manual for Girls’ Education Officers.

Margaret holds a Master of Philosophy Degree in Development Studies, a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences (Economics), and a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast.

Michael joined Sabre in January 2021 bringing onboard his ten year experience managing education, agriculture and forestry projects within Ghana and West and Central Africa. As a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist, Michael has carried out project evaluations and worked with donor-funded projects (including projects with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID and DFID) to design and set up Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Systems.

Michael holds a Master’s Degree in Development Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; and a first degree in Math and Computer Science from the University of Ghana.

Iain works as Director of Industry & Engagement at GS1 UK and brings to Sabre 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 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.

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 is Chief Technical Advisor at Transforming Teaching, Education & 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. 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.

Bridget is a Program Director at Big Win Philanthropy. Bridget is a development professional with more than 15 years of 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 the 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.

Dr 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 of 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).

David is a former 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 times 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 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 of 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.

Edwin is a driven and insightful business development and corporate finance professional with over 20 years of experience in Financial Planning & Analysis, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Project Incubation in Sub-Saharan Africa and the USA. He is passionate about driving sustainable best business practices and promoting financial inclusion initiatives. Edwin is a staunch advocate for establishing high-quality education structures from the ground up. He has executive-level competencies and hands-on leadership and management experience providing project development and advisory services to businesses at various stages

Susan is Chief Executive of Sabre Education. She joined Sabre in July 2020 from Orchid Project, where she served as Chief Operating Officer. Before 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.