Meet the Team - The Turing Trust

MEET THE TEAM

Our Trustees and Advisory Board support our team in Edinburgh and our partners in Malawi who are the key to success in achieving our goals.

Our Trustees

Dermot Turing

Dermot is the nephew and biographer of Alan Turing. He graduated in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and did a DPhil in Genetics at Oxford. He then moved into the legal profession, where he was a partner at the law firm Clifford Chance from 1999-2014, specialising in bank and investment firm regulation. He has been a trustee of Bletchley Park and written extensively on codebreaking and computing. He has been a trustee of the Turing Trust since its inception. He is also a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford University.

Lilian Wanjiku Ndirangu

Lilian has a background in Digital Literacy and Business Management and a wealth of experience in youth and women empowerment. She founded Umbrella College, Nairobi and lectures in ICT at the East Africa School of Management. She is certified by the Kenya Government through the ministry of ICT to offer digital solutions to the disadvantaged youth and women in Nairobi. Through the business incubation initiative, over 1,000 young people have been equipped with business ready skills in preparation for their entrepreneurial journey.

Anne Wacera Wambugu

Anne Wacera Wambugu is the Testing Laboratory Manager at Strathmore Energy Research Centre (SERC). She holds a BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Nairobi. Her work at SERC involves the implementation of solar PV related standards. She previously worked at Kenya’s Rural Electrification Authority on the School Electrification and Last Mile Connectivity projects which were funded by World Bank and the Kenyan government. The School Electrification project involved electrification of primary and secondary schools through solar PV installation and grid extension.

Anne is a member of the Kenya National Committee for the International Electrotechnical Commission, KNCIEC, and the IEC Young Professionals Programme. She is Kenya’s representative to the African Standardization Electrotechnical Commission, AFSEC, Technical Committee on Solar and the acting chair for the Youth and Gender section under the same.

Bernie Hollywood OBE

Bernie has raised over £39.6 million pounds for UK charities, trekked unsupported to both Geographic North and South Poles, cycled across the USA and South America, cycled from UK to Africa and back, run 41 marathons in 20 consecutive days, run / trekked across the Sahara and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt McKinley and Mt Everest. He is an internationally renowned motivational speaker who has spoken at the United Nations in New York and at TED. He is a mentor, trustee of two charities and sits on the board of the School of Social Entrepreneurs, Memusi Foundation and World Merit. He is an author, film maker and founder of the world’s first blind ukulele orchestra, “Ukulele Light Orchestra”. He is an ambassador for Wallace and Gromit Children’s Charity, Memusi Foundation, Save the Children and Barnardo’s and joined the Turing Trust as a trustee in October 2017.

Lumbani Mwafulirwa BSc MSc PhD

Lumbani Mwafulirwa is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Plant Sciences. Lumbani holds a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Aberdeen and has worked at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA, Malawi) and Universities of Edinburgh and Reading. He was also a visiting researcher at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen.

Lillian Owiti BA ACCA MSc

Lillian’s professional background is in Financial Management and International Development Grant Funding. She currently manages the Finance and Operational aspects for a grant making charity in Edinburgh. Lillian has a keen interest in how the governance of organisations in the International Development sector can best reflect the voices and realities of the supported communities. Lillian previously worked with the Corra Foundation in Edinburgh on Operational and Finance Management as well as International Development Grant Funding. Her other previous experiences include over ten years working for Scottish NGOs as well as a period working in Ghana for an education INGO. Lillian is an ACCA qualified accountant and holds an MSc in Africa and International Development from the University of Edinburgh.

Our Team

Our Team in Edinburgh

James Turing, Founder & CEO

James, the great nephew of Alan Turing, graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MEng (Civil Engineering with Architecture) and a PhD in International Development. James has presented his work at international meetings in the US and Japan and organised a conference on solar waste, repair and recycling in Nairobi, Kenya. James has worked within the charity sector for over a decade working with large charities such as Marie Curie in Scotland and in building small NGOs in Ghana, which led to the foundation of the Turing Trust. In his current role he is focused on enabling the Turing Trust to scale its impact and realise the organisation’s vision.

Neil Gilchrist, Chief International Operations Officer

Neil joined the Turing Trust as a volunteer in 2015. He has a background in delivering government IT projects with 30 years’ experience in technical support and project management and operational management. He has been working as our operations manager since 2017 leading our operations in the UK and supporting our African project teams. Neil’s current role includes managing our Malawi programme of work and various associated projects.

Izzy Almond, Operations Manager

Izzy joined in Spring 2023 having been Head of Operations for Murrayfield Rugby Stadium and Summerhall arts venue before that. In her earlier career she owned a whisky bar in Edinburgh and prior to that worked for a mental health charity, helping people get back into work. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the operational side of things – tracking all the donations from delivery until they are shipped to Malawi.

Sam Welch, Operations Supervisor

Sam Welch started volunteering at The Turing Trust in the summer of 2022 with no previous experience in the IT industry. After showing a keen interest in learning how to refurbish, wipe and reimage computers, he completed a 6 month IT apprenticeship in conjunction with Edinburgh Council and The Turing Trust. His role now includes co-ordinating new and current volunteers, managing donations and organising the warehouse and shipments.

Sam Trench, IT Sales Executive

Sam started at The Turing Trust as a volunteer in March 2021, and worked as our Operations Assistant from September 2021 before taking on the role of Donations Manager. Sam’s move to IT Sales Executive sees him supporting a wide array of functions at the charity beyond heading the resale of devices to the charity’s benefit. These include testing and implementing new processes at the workshop that prepare computers for a new lease of life and supporting our volunteers.

Steve Cook, IT Development Manager

Steve began volunteering with us in February 2022, and has been working as our IT Development Manager since November 2022. In this role he is leading our programme of technology systems enhancement to support our growth and efficiency goals. Steve has a background in Financial Services technology, with over 22 years’ experience in technology development and management.

Blythe Richardson, Sales Technician

Blythe graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a BSc (Hons) in Games Development. He started at the Turing Trust as a volunteer in October 2019 and has worked as our Sales Technician since January 2020. His role has slowly evolved over time taking on more System Administrator duties, in 2023 that became his primary focus and he is currently responsible for improving and maintaining core technologies and business applications across the charity.

Stephanie Sharkey, Programme Support Officer

Steph comes from a marketing background but has passion for travel and international development. She transitioned into this new role here at Turing Trust as Programme Support Officer after pursuing a career change and obtaining a master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Glasgow. Steph will be responsible for managing projects, overseeing IT distributions, and conducting reporting for various initiatives, including those in Malawi and the UK.

William Bellinger-Smith, Donations Coordinator

Will began volunteering with us in April 2022 after spending over a decade working in AV and IT. In July 2023 he joined the marketing team as a Donations Coordinator, liaising with donors and helping to grow the charity’s reach, as well as creating media content.

Noah van der Linde, Donations Coordinator

Noah joined the Turing Trust in July 2023, after supporting tech startups for several years. He has a versatile background in international development and hospitality and holds a degree in Social Psychology. Noah has been involved with a Cambodian charity for over a decade, and supports underprivileged communities as volunteer, coach and board member. As a Donations Coordinator he focuses on improving every part of the process involved with donated IT Equipment.

Jessica Ciupa, Donations Coordinator

Jessica is originally from Singapore and came to the UK in 2018 to pursue Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Manchester. She worked at Cancer Research in the Cambridge Institute as a laboratory technician and came to Edinburgh for her Masters in Applied Artificial Intelligence. She was introduced to the Turing Trust through the Informatics department and wanted to involve herself in the charity. In January 2024 she joined the marketing team part time as a Donations Coordinator.

Our Advisory Board

Evelyn Toma BSc (Hons)

Evelyn Toma has a degree in Microelectronics from the University of Edinburgh and spent the first part of her career in Motorola eventually running one of their European Semiconductor Business Units. She was then Managing Director and shareholder in a successful IT Disposal business for almost 10 years. Evelyn is currently working as the Director of Strategy for the world renowned James Watt Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Glasgow and is a mentor and investing angel. Evelyn brings a wealth of experience in IT Disposal and in generally managing and growing SME and corporate businesses.

Andrew Clark BSc Chartered Information Systems Professional Member of the British Computer Society

Andrew Clark worked in the construction and computer industries before setting up his own Computer Consultancy business. Since his retirement he has been instrumental in setting up and overseeing the Turing Trust operations in Edinburgh. He started as a volunteer, but then served as a Trustee from 2015-18 and now continues to offer his time and expertise on the Advisory Board. He is also active in Rotary and been part of an engineering team that has built a community-owned 100kW hydro scheme at a local reservoir feeding into the National Grid

Rob Dobson BSc FIET

Rob Dobson is a serial entrepreneur, technology investor, engineer and maker. Founded Actix in 1991, algorithmic optimization for mobile phone networks – London, and as CEO built a highly profitable business to over £25m revenue, 250 staff with 12 offices worldwide. Rob led Actix through acquisitions of ComOpt (Sweden) and RadioPlan (Germany) before selling a majority stake to PE company Summit Partners in 2005. For 8 years Rob was a board trustee of Southbank Sinfonia. Now based in Edinburgh, Rob is one of the most active independent angel investors in Scotland having invested in over 20 Scottish tech companies. He currently chairs DevicePilot (London – Internet of Things). Rob is also a director of Robotical (Marty the Robot – STEM education), Singletrack (capital markets CRM) and Float (business planning for SMBs). Rob was E&Y Technology Entrepreneur of the Year (London/South-East) 2005 and is a fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (FIET). He holds a first class honours degree in Electronic Engineering (Computing and Telecommunications) from Southampton University (graduated 2005) and grew up in Bolton attending Bolton School where he sponsors the Rob Dobson award for Engineering.

Brian Ferguson HNC HND BEng Cybersecurity and Forensics

Brian Ferguson HNC, HND, BEng Cybersecurity and Forensics. Brian had a broad experience in ship building, sales and project management before taking on the role of Malawi Project Manager for The Turing Trust in 2016. He was responsible for the successful implementation of our first project in Malawi funded by the Scottish government and now works as a project manager for the Scottish government.

John Turing BA MA D.Phil

John Turing graduated from the University of Oxford with a doctorate in history and now works as an editor in the book publishing industry. He has previously volunteered for the Turing Trust in Ghana and now supports grant applications and the development of promotional materials for the charity, while providing general editorial support for its publishing programme.

Nicola Turing BM BCh DM

Nicola Turing previously worked as an NHS Consultant and Clinical Lead for IT. She is now retired and helps with administration and accounts, the collection and transport of donations, online activity, the development of e-learning materials for schools in Malawi and monitoring and evaluation.

Henry Mphwanthe

Henry is a techpreneur currently working with Dr Strive Masiyiwa as his Chief of Staff and leading Cassava Technology’s Health Technology business. He is a graduate of University of Malawi, Sussex University and Oxford University where he read Economics and Public Policy. Prior to joining Cassava Technologies, Henry worked with several international organisations in Nigeria, Chile, USA, Zimbabwe and more recently, in Malawi as Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Health in Malawi.

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