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Our Team & Trustees

Our dynamic and diverse team of staff and trustees all play a unique role in ensuring the success of our organisation. Collectively they bring together a wealth of experience from the charitable and private sector.

Our Staff

Anil Patil

Anil Patil

Founder & Executive Director

Anil Patil

Anil has 25 years’ experience in the international development sector as a veterinarian, development worker, grant maker and trustee. Experiences in his professional and personal life led him to establish Carers Worldwide in 2012 and continue to fuel his passion to transform the lives of unpaid family carers across the globe.

Ruth Patil

Ruth Patil

Development Director

Ruth Patil

Ruth has almost 30 years’ experience in the health, disability and international development sectors, both in the UK and South Asia. She combines her work influencing the lives of carers overseas with advocacy work on behalf of parent carers in the UK

Jane Cox

Jane Cox

Finance Manager

Jane Cox

Jane has over 20 years’ experience in international development and finance. She was a founding member of BasicNeeds, responsible for setting up operations, governance, finance and administration systems.

Jane has recently undertook a consultancy for Practical Action, supporting registration of overseas companies. Since 2015, she has setup and operated Carers Worldwide financial systems.

Michelle Gocoldas

Michelle Gocoldas

Communications & Supporter Engagement Manager

Michelle Gocoldas

Michelle has experience working in social media, digital marketing and events, both agency side and in-house, in industries ranging from FMCG to non-profits, from travel to education. She is responsible for all communications from Carers Worldwide, with the aim of extending the reach of our organisation and telling our story.

Sarah Culverhouse

Sarah Culverhouse

Executive Assistant

Sarah Culverhouse

Sarah has 18 years’ experience in the not-for-profit housing sector providing both face to face and back office support to the public. Sarah’s role will be to provide administrative support to the growing team and act as first port of call for day to day

Our Trustees

Jonathan Freeman

Jonathan Freeman

Chair

Jonathan Freeman

Jonathan is CEO of The Charity for Civil Servants, which has supported current, former and retired civil servants when they face tough times, since 1886.

Prior to this, he was the founder CEO of the CareTech Foundation, the leading corporate foundation in the social care sector. Jonathan was also Group Sustainability Director of leading specialist care and education provider CareTech. Previous roles include Managing Director of Mosaic, the then HRH The Prince of Wales’s mentoring charitable initiative, and managing his own consultancy. His career started in the Civil Service, where he worked across a range of policy, delivery, strategic and front-line roles in a number of Government departments.

As well as Chair of Trustees of Carers Worldwide, Jonathan is a Board member of NCS Trust. Jonathan was recognised with an MBE for charitable services in Her Majesty The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2021.

Dhanya Vamadevan

Dhanya Vamadevan

Treasurer

Dhanya Vamadevan

Dhanya is an FCCA qualified accountant with a range of experience in the not for profit sector. She currently works as Finance Manager at The Silverline, the free confidential telephone helpline offering information, friendship and advice to older people in the United Kingdom.

Ian Yates

Ian Yates

Trustee

Ian Yates

Ian is Learning and Development Manager at St James’s Place, a multinational wealth management business. He is an expert in training, learning and development, with a speciality in creating high quality training teams with a commercial focus.

Maria Andrews

Trustee

Maria Andrews

Maria is a new business development professional and strategic marketer. She has worked in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors where she has extensive experience of fundraising income generation and partnership growth.

Maveen Pereira

Maveen Pereira

Trustee

Maveen Pereira

Maveen is Programme Manager at IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative. She is a development professional with over 40 years of experience of grassroots and international development, with specific expertise in fair trade and gender.

Maveen Pereira

Jay Suterwalla

Trustee

Jay Suterwalla

Jay is Managing Director of Sutaka UK Ltd. He is a results-driven, ambitious and competitive business leader focused on transformative leadership and continuous improvement to drive growth and maximise profits. He is always ready to take on new and challenging roles, meet goals and surpass expectations.

Maveen Pereira

Dr Pramod Prabhakaran

Trustee

Dr Pramod Prabhakaran

Pramod has over 20 years’ experience in clinical, educational and leadership roles within the public and private sector in the UK. He has considerable global healthcare knowledge and expertise having clinically practiced in the UK, UAE and Australia, as well as led various collaborative projects in the Middle East, China and India. Pramod is a faculty member with National Institute of Health Research London IVD Cooperative at Imperial College London, leading on market access programme for diagnostic innovation.

Maveen Pereira

Nicole Hunter

Trustee

Nicole Hunter

Nicole has demonstrated success in developing leadership teams that drive strategic change management programmes to uncover key business insights, optimizing business processes that increase productivity, reduce working capital, and improve bottom-line performance. She has worked leading third sector provision for mental health with expertise in formulating and implementing financially viable social care provision that meets the highest standards of quality and culture.

Maveen Pereira

Ruwaida Randeree

Trustee

Ruwaida Randeree

Ruwaida volunteers in the Day Care Unit at the St John’s Hospice where she offers psychological support to patients living with chronic and terminal illnesses. She also currently assists on the Woolf Institute’s Diversity in the End of Life Care programme, where she trains health care professionals in hospices and care homes to support the end of life needs for patients from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Ruwaida holds a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Health Psychology from University College London and has worked at AGE UK where she focussed on developing memory clinics and seated exercise programmes for elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Dave Gill

Dave Gill

Trustee

Dave Gill

Dave has led communications and creative functions at charities including Independent Age, Cancer Support UK, and National Zakat Foundation. He has also worked as a content consultant for organisations such as Carers UK, Article 25 and Book Aid International. Currently, he leads communications and content at Age International, a humanitarian INGO and DEC charity, focused on supporting older people in low and middle-income countries. Dave oversees PR, change campaigning, digital, content, and brand. With experience in a range of humanitarian contexts, he advocates for partnering with local organisations worldwide to tell stories that drive social impact.

Amber Meikle

Amber Meikle

Trustee

Amber Meikle

Amber is an international development and humanitarian adviser with considerable experience leading policy, advocacy and influencing, learning and communication in multiple countries and contexts. Currently an independent consultant to government, NGOs and UN entities, she is also an unpaid carer for her daughter who has Williams Syndrome.

Carers Worldwide Ambassador

Chris Underhill, Mbe

Chris Underhill, MBE

Ambassador

Chris Underhill, MBE

Having been the Founding Chair of Carers Worldwide, Chris was delighted to be invited to be the organisation’s first Ambassador. He is a social entrepreneur, having founded organisations in the field of disability and mental health and works as a professional organisational development advisor and professional mentor. He is an awardee of the Skoll Foundation, Schwab Foundation, and a Senior Ashoka Fellow, and was made an MBE by HRH The Queen in 2000.