The Elders

The Elders are assisted by a small team based in London.

Chief Executive Officer

A global advocate on peace and justice issues for almost two decades, Mabel van Oranje became Chief Executive Officer of The Elders in July 2008. She is also a founder and co-chair, together with Martti Ahtisaari and Joschka Fischer, of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

In 1993, while still a student, Mabel founded the European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans and was its CEO until 1997. She also co-founded the Dutch foundation War Child in 1995 and served on its board until 1999. In 1997, she joined the Open Society Institute in Brussels as Executive Director, becoming OSI’s International Advocacy Director in 2003.

Mabel holds a masters degree in Economics and Political Science (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam. She helped found the global NGO coalition Publish What You Pay and the Independent Commission on Turkey, and was actively engaged in global efforts that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. In 2005, the World Economic Forum named her one of its Young Global Leaders.

Mabel was born in the Netherlands and lives in London with her husband and two daughters. She loves modern dance, jazz music, swimming and tweeting – follow @MabelvanOranje.

Events and IT Coordinator

Prior to joining The Elders in October 2009, Loretta was an Events Manager for the Campaign to Protect Rural England and held a temporary contract as the Assistant National Campaign Coordinator for the Australian Council for International Development. Having worked in the financial services industry until 2007, Loretta turned her full attention to the not-for-profit sector after volunteering for organisations such as Earthdance Association Inc. and Make Poverty History and has never looked back. Loretta has a BA in Music/Business from RMIT University, Melbourne, and is currently learning how to play the ukulele.

Senior Policy Officer

Penélope joined The Elders in January 2012. Between 2009 and 2011 she worked for the Swedish Foreign Service as Deputy Head of Mission of the Swedish Embassy to Syria and Lebanon. She has also worked for the EU delegation in Jordan and for a NGO in Lebanon providing support to Palestinian refugees. In Tanzania, she was a consultant for UNDP and UNHCR and has together with her family started a small-scale project in support of the health care sector in one of the country’s most disadvantaged regions. Penélope has a Masters in Political Science and speaks Swedish, English, Spanish, some French, and is struggling to learn Arabic – her long-term aspiration. She loves outdoor activities and adventure, has a soft spot for animals and admires all the brave people out there fighting for their rights.

Media Manager

Sylvain joined the Elders in September 2011 after 15 years in international journalism. He travelled throughout the world as a reporter for Radio France Internationale. He covered the conflict in Darfur, immigration in Libya, elections in Nigeria, the military coup in Honduras, climate change in Copenhagen and the 2008 presidential campaign in the United States. Most recently, he was the UK correspondent for online newspaper Rue89. He also worked as a press officer for the United Nations in New York and the French Institute of South Africa in Johannesburg.

Sylvain holds an MA from Science Po-Paris and from the Centre de formation des journalistes. He also studied Sustainable Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Sylvain has a passion for African cinema and a weakness for pecan pie.

Digital Communications Manager

Adam joined The Elders in June 2009, and launched a new website two weeks later. He is used to moving quickly, having spent 18 months developing and launching new websites for ActionAid in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia and China. He has been a website editor and content manager since 2001 with a wide range of experience in the UK and in Europe with ActionAid, the BBC, Endemol and Which? magazine, prior to which he worked as a freelance web designer.

He trained in Art & Design at K.I.A.D in Maidstone and is obessed with music, film, and finding the best dosa in London.

Office Coordinator

Prior to joining The Elders Louise completed an MA in Human Rights at the School of Advanced Study in conjunction with an internship at HelpAge International. She also has a BA in Religions and Theology from The University of Manchester. She is cofounder and board member of Linking Bridges, a women’s community group aimed at empowering women and encouraging diversity. Louise is also a volunteer Family Learning in Prisons tutor, offering support during children’s visits to prisons. She loves to travel, is taking swing dance classes and always looks on the bright side of life.

Communications Director

Katy has held senior media and communications roles at DATA from 2006 to 2008, Crisis Action from 2005 to 2006 and the International Crisis Group from 2001 to 2004. Before moving into the NGO sector, Katy was a radio and television journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She was the ABC's Europe correspondent from 1996 to 99 and received a national Walkley Award for her coverage of the Kosovo war. Katy has an MA in Contemporary War and Peace Studies from the University of Sussex and speaks French and German. She likes cooking, cycling and walking and can't get started without tea in the morning.

Digital Communications Officer

Before joining The Elders in September 2010, Pia was a Peaceworker for Quaker Peace and Social Witness and spent a year with Crisis Action working on their Sudan365 campaign. She has a BA in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Sussex, and a background in human rights activism in Southeast Asia and Israel and the West Bank. Pia trains in the Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat, but remains a feeble opponent due to her commitment to nonviolence.

Finance and Services Manager

Beata has worked in the non-profit sector since 1989 in Poland and the UK and joined The Elders in May 2009. She was Finance and Executive Manager and Company Secretary of the Open Society Foundation in London from 2004 to 2009, and Company Secretary and Treasurer of the Inter-University Foundation in Oxford from 1996. As Senior Programme Coordinator and Company Secretary of the Stefan Batory Trust (SBT) in Oxford from 1991 to 1996, she was responsible for administering Soros/Chevening PhD and Hospitality Scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Beata loves gardening and grows her own bonsai. She tries not to check emails before breakfast.

Assistant to the Policy Team

Prior to joining The Elders in September 2011, Manou worked with several non-profit organisations including the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, the EastWest Institute and most recently Oxfam in the Netherlands as Support Officer to the Regional Manager of the Middle East and Maghreb. She has a BA in History with Development Studies from the University of Sussex and a Masters in Political Science from the Sorbonne University. Manou speaks English, French, Dutch and Spanish and is addicted to cheese and dreamy music. She can also sing and dance but stage fright prevented her from becoming a popstar.

Media Officer

Elliott joined The Elders in March 2012, following two years at a government and public relations consultancy specialising in international development policy. Prior to that, he had worked at the London School of Economics and interned at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.

Elliott holds a BA in Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, an MSc in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics, and an evening masters' course in political reporting from City University's journalism school. Elliott grew up in France but, after several years in North London, is becoming confused by his increasing fondness of injera and Arsenal Football Club.

Personal Assistant to the CEO

Anna is Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive and has worked in the non-profit sector since 2001. She was Programme Administrator at both Development Finance International from 2001 to 2004 and also Leonard Cheshire Disability from 2005 to 2007. Anna has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Wales and taught English in Portugal and the UK from 1987 to 1997. She cycles to work, has a weakness for chocolate and enjoys film and theatre.

Senior Policy Officer

Rosemary Nuamah Williams joined The Elders in March 2009. Prior to this, Rosemary was Policy Adviser and Speechwriter to the executive head of the United Nations Development Programme in New York, providing policy and strategic advice, drafting and finalising speeches and published statements, and managing arrangements for official overseas missions. From 1998 to 2002, Rosemary worked as an international policy officer responsible for policy research, policy development and liaison with the UK Government. She has also served as a ministerial speechwriter for the UK Government. Rosemary has a Masters in International Relations with a focus on conflict and a BA in British Politics, both from the University of Nottingham. Rosemary enjoys Latin and ballroom dancing, Pilates, tennis and to balance things out, good chocolate.

Senior Policy Officer

Henry joined The Elders in September 2008. From 2002 to 2007 he was International Coordinator of the Publish What You Pay coalition which helps citizens of developing countries hold their governments accountable for revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries (and he even wrote a book about it).Henry has a degree in International Studies from Flinders University in South Australia where he also served as Student Union President. He is fanatical about politics, sport, cinema, travel and speaks French and Spanish. Among his favourite movies of all time are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Groundhog Day and The Silence of the Lambs.

Executive Events Manager

Tom joined the Elders in February 2010. Before that he spent the past decade working all over the world as an orchestra manager, first with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, then in the UK with Britten Sinfonia, which took him to South America, Latin America, and all over Europe. Prior to that he production managed large scale rock-n-roll concerts, worked as a geologists’ assistant in outback Australia, played in a C-grade Australian band, and completed a degree in Journalism and Creative Writing. Now he is no longer in the music industry he is looking forward to ‘jumping the fence’ and actually attending concerts as a punter rather than as a manager. Tom is a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, married to a wonderful London gal, and has two beautiful daughters who are the apple of his eye.

Policy and Advocacy Director

Andrew Whitley joined The Elders in January 2011. He worked for the previous 16 years with the United Nations in East Timor, Kosovo, Gaza, Jerusalem, Geneva and New York, concluding his UN career as Director of the Representative Office of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, in the United States.

Earlier in his career Andrew worked as a foreign correspondent, with the BBC and the Financial Times, in the Middle East and Latin America. He was active in human rights, with Human Rights Watch, from 1990 – 1994 and had short spells as an academic, in Tehran and New York.

Andrew holds a Masters degree in history from St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He is a voracious reader of non-fiction, and loves nothing better than exploring new parts of the world he has yet to visit. He is married and has two children, both of whom are aspiring opera singers.