Pilotlight people
London-based staff
Fiona Halton, Chief Executive
Fiona Halton is chief executive of Pilotlight and the creator of our working process - a unique method that puts project managers at the heart of what we do and helps stimulate the next generation of philanthropists. She has a track record in establishing and running new organisations. She set up British Film Year which won the British Sales and Marketing Award and she has been runner-up for Veuve Cliquot Business Woman of the Year. Fiona was part of the team that ran the first Comic Relief which raised more than £13 million. She was acting director of TimeBank and took it to launch - it is now an established, BBC-supported campaign, inspiring a new generation of volunteers.
Gillian Murray, Deputy Chief Executive
Gillian is responsible for the Project Management and Evaluation teams nationally. She leads on project management and the development of senior staff. Gillian joined Pilotlight as a project manager in October 2005 and she became Deputy Chief Executive in 2007. Her long-term interest in the third sector was sparked by a three-year stint with Voluntary Service Overseas in Laos, during which she became VSO acting country director and advised the Laotian Ministry of Education. She holds a masters degree in Development Management from The Open University. Before entering the third sector she had a successful career teaching and managing a chain of language schools in Italy.
Tracey Ould, PA to Chief Executive
Tracey is Fiona's PA. She worked in various organisations before joining Pilotlight, most recently spending five years at a youth education charity.
Alice Graham, Evaluation Manager
Alice evaluates Pilotlight’s relationships with partner charities to understand the effect and impact of the Pilotlight engagement. She is currently developing ways of helping our partner charities measure their work and the impact this has on the lives of beneficiaries. Alice has volunteered and worked within the charity sector for five years, including working as a teacher in Kenya and as a counsellor at a national children’s charity in the UK. She has a degree in Sociology and a Masters in Social Research (Distinction) from Goldsmiths.
Gordon Shallard-Brown, Project Manager
Gordon joined Pilotlight as a Project Manager in November 2011. He previously worked for the Fostering Network covering a range of areas including developing and coordinating online and face-to-face training . He also has experience of working in public sector consultancy on a variety of projects mainly focused around community regeneration and local government.
Bruce McCombie, Project Manager
Bruce previously worked for a management consultancy, delivering organisational development and support services to a range of clients in the private, not-for-profit and charitable sectors. Bruce is an experienced project manager having overseen the performance of two large-scale European Social Fund projects in London and the south east, which aimed to support 14- to 19-year-olds into further education and employment.
Crystal Waldman, Head of Charity Recruitment
Prior to joining Pilotlight, Crystal spent three years working as a programme officer for an international NGO based in Brussels. She has experience as a project manager working in criminal justice and democracy and has worked in a number of countries, including Sierra Leone, Yemen, Italy and the United States. Crystal joined Pilotlight in August 2008.
Kate Jennings, Charity Recruitment Officer
Kate has extensive experience in the voluntary sector, having founded an arts-based voluntary organisation and organised art education programmes in London. Kate has also worked in the media industry and studied Fashion Styling and Photography at the London College of Fashion. She is actively involved in the fundraising and finance for a local school where she is a member of the board of governors.
David King, Head of Programme Development
While an Executive Director at UBS, David became involved in business-to-school mentoring through a community programme. Since 1992 he has mentored a number of young people from some of the most deprived areas of south London, some of whom have now gone on to attend university. This work was recognised by HRH The Prince of Wales when David was invited to represent UBS at an event at Highgrove. David has an MSc in Business Process Management. He left UBS to further his philanthropic journey and feels working at Pilotlight brings his business and mentoring experience to bear on managing the relationships between teams of Pilotlighters and charity managers.
Charlie Medcalf, Senior Project Manager
Before joining Pilotlight, Charlie worked for a London-based education charity, which aims to raise the aspirations of young people living in disadvantaged areas. Her work included setting up a new centre in Harringey and delivering the multi-stranded programme to young people aged seven to 19. She has a degree in Social Anthropology and has spent time volunteering in India with a community development charity promoting HIV awareness to young people in the city of Pune.
Pippa Lansdell, Project Manager
Pippa studied English and German Literature at Warwick University and has a Masters in Linguistics from Goldsmiths. Before joining Pilotlight she worked for several charities, including Hackney Carers Centre as assessment co-ordinator and Age Concern Wandsworth.
Marlijn Wijkhuizen, Membership and Business Development Manager
Dutch-born Marlijn moved to London in 2002. She started working for charities, firstly as a volunteer and later as an employee at the Howard League for Penal Reform and as partnerships manager at The Tree Council. She began working at Pilotlight in 2009.
Edinburgh-based staff
Graeme Powrie, Membership Manager
Graeme is responsible for the recruitment and retention of business members, as well as developing and implementing communication and event strategy. He brings a wealth of customer service, sales and business development experience to Pilotlight. Most recently, Graeme was area director of sales and origination at Bank of Scotland Commercial, based in Edinburgh.
Kate Robertson, Membership Manager
Kate is the latest addition to the Pilotlight team in Scotland, having joined in last summer. She is responsible for the recruitment and retention of business members, as well as the relationship between Pilotlight and business members. Kate worked for more than ten years in business development and relationship management, coming to us from Royal London’s protection brands, Bright Grey and Scottish Provident.
Michelle Davitt, Senior Project Manager
Michelle has been with Pilotlight in Scotland since it launched in August 2007. She is responsible for the recruitment of new charities and social enterprises and project manages charities from across Scotland. Michelle has over ten years' experience of working in the voluntary sector in Scotland, including managing a small charity. She is also on the board of the homelessness charity, Rowan Alba, which has been one of Pilotlight’s partner charities.
Ken Campbell, Project Manager
Ken joined Pilotlight in October 2009 and is responsible for managing the relationship between Pilotlighters and a range of charities. Ken has over 20 years' experience in the public sector and worked for two years as a volunteer in Tanzania. He recently helped to set up a new international sports and youth development charity.
Kerrie Jopling, Project Manager
Kerrie joined Pilotlight in February 2011 and is responsible for managing the relationship between Pilotlighters and charities, working with a range of charities across Scotland. She initially qualified as a corporate solicitor in England and spent over six years working as a solicitor and manager for a large human rights charity. Kerrie is the co-founder and former trustee of a Leeds-based charity working with vulnerable women and currently sits on the board of two Scottish charities.