Gordon Messenger

General Sir Gordon Messenger served as a Royal Marine from 1983 to 2019 . His career was notable for two reasons; he was the first Royal Marine to be promoted to 4 star rank for 50 years and the first member of the naval service since the Korean war to receive a Bar to the Distinguished Service Order. He has a hugely varied portfolio career including the public, private and charity sector.

As Vice Chief of Defence Staff from 2016-2019, he was the second most senior military officer in the UK, responsible for the day-to-day management of the Armed Forces. Since retiring, he has managed a portfolio career as a Board member of QinetiQ plc, on the Advisory Board of the Leadership College of Government and the UK Health Security Agency and a member of the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration. 

In November 2021 he was commissioned to conduct a review of leadership and management in Health and Social Care which was published in June 2022. He was appointed Rear Admiral of the UK by the Sovereign in December 2021. In April 2022 it was announced that Gordon Messenger had been appointed as the 161st Constable of the Tower of London, the first Royal Marine to hold the post.

The King appointed him as Lord High Steward of England for their Majesties’ Coronation on 6 May 2023, which included responsibility for carrying St Edward’s Crown.

"I’m most proud of being a member of the Royal Marines family, with which comes the recognition of the wider Armed Forces community. I am delighted to spearhead this vital Campaign, which targets our most seriously injured veterans. They, and their carers, deserve to know that they will be personally supported for the rest of their lives. We aim to deliver that certainty and that through-life peace of mind, while keeping the individual at the heart of the care package”.

Emma Kane

Emma Kane is a strategic communications expert whose career spans over three decades and has been focused on building brands and protecting reputations. 

Emma helps clients communicate across their whole spectrum of stakeholders, locally, nationally and internationally.  She is a special adviser to CEOs and Chairs of leading international organisations and is a ‘black belt’ in crisis management.   She is the UK CEO, Head of EMEA, and Deputy Group CEO of SEC Newgate, the 21^st largest communications and advocacy group in the world, with over 1,300 employees working across five continents.

Emma is also actively involved in not-for-profit and philanthropic work. She is currently Deputy Chair of the Green Finance Institute and Deputy Chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.  She recently stepped down as Chair of Target Ovarian Cancer, the UK’s leading ovarian cancer charity, and in May 2021 she stepped down as Chair of the Barbican Centre Trust, after 9 years in both roles. She is also a former trustee of The Wiener Holocaust Library, Children of St Mary’s Intensive Care (‘COSMIC’) and Nightingale Hammerson.

Charles Donald

Charles Donald joined the Charity as a Trustee in January 2019. Charles is the Chief Executive of UK Government Investments (“UKGI”), having previously been Head of UKGI’s Financial Institutions Group. UKGI is the government’s centre of excellence in corporate governance and corporate finance. Prior to UKGI, Charles spent over 30 years in investment banking, working in both equity research and corporate advisory.

Charles is a Non-Executive Director at the UK Infrastructure Bank, heads the government’s Corporate Finance Profession and is Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on State Ownership and Privatisation Practices. His prior charity experience includes over 7 years as Chair of an educational charity.

Sir Ken Olisa

Born in Nottingham and educated in State schools and Cambridge University, Ken has worked at IBM and Wang after which he founded 2 technology merchant banks. His business career has included serving as the first British-born black director of a FTSE-100 company (Reuters) and on the Boards of major companies including Open Text, ENRC, Huawei (UK) and Nigeria’s Interswitch. 

His charitable passions include President of London homeless charity Thames Reach (for which he received an OBE), Chair of welfare to work charity Shaw Trust, founding Chair of the Aleto Foundation, supporting future leaders from tough reality backgrounds. In the past he has served as a Governor of the Peabody Trust and a Director of the West Lambeth NHS Trust. His wider public service roles have included inaugural membership of the Postal Services Commission and IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority). In 2015 Her Majesty the Queen appointed Ken as her Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London – the first British-born black Lord-Lieutenant in the role’s 500 year history. He was knighted in the 2018 New Year’s Honours for services to business and philanthropy.

Tukeer Hussain

Tukeer has spent most of his career in the Political/Public sector covering a wide variety of roles linked to Financial Services, the Machinery of Government, and the Honours & Peerage System. Alongside this, he has had the pleasure of working on regional devolution policy and projects that seek to grow/spread economic growth outside the M25. Tukeer has a strong Financial services policy background and has worked with and at all the major institutions and understands the key stakeholders at play. He has had a strong background in advising regional and national political campaigns and is often used as a sounding board for engagement/community matters. 

Recently, he has spent time in the private sector pursuing his personal passion in the technology space where he is a Judge of the National Cyber Awards and often hosts/contributes to roundtables on the benefits of technology innovation and reform. In his spare time, he enjoys supporting colleagues in the ‘City’ (especially on not-for-profit purposes) throughout the Livery System: where he has the pleasure of being a member of both the Worshipful Company of Grocers’ and the Worshipful Company of World Traders. Moreover, Tukeer also enjoys providing pro-bono consultancy work to diplomatic missions in the UK who are looking to grow their economy; work on improving Human Rights and strengthening Governance/Government infrastructure. He works with diplomatic missions to help on Financial Services access-to-finance and state-building efforts, leveraging his vast experience and network to support these crucial areas.

Karim Wallani

Karim Wallani joined Help for Heroes as a Special Advisor in 2023. Karim began his career supervising the delivery of a notable residential development overlooking London’s Hyde Park, enabling him to establish a strong foundation in Project Management. This experience afforded diversification across various real estate asset classes over the subsequent decade, in numerous capacities.    

Karim’s passion for environmental and social impact saw his career trajectory shift. Currently, Karim is engaged in an investment portfolio spanning Natural Resources, Technology and Healthcare, while also holding multiple Advisory roles across differing industries. Additionally, Karim serves as a dedicated Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, where he also assists with fundraising endeavours for their charitable trust.    

Karim’s desire to support marginalised communities led him to join the team and act as an interface between the No One Left Behind campaign and his network in both, Public and Private sectors. 

Louise Arnold

Following a career in my 20’s working in the commercial sector, building partnerships for brands such as British Airways and Eurostar, I was lucky enough to move into the not-for-profit sector.

This involved working in a variety of fundraising and engagement roles for causes including Macmillan Cancer Support, the RSPCA, Acorns Children’s Hospice and smaller national and international charities. 

I am passionate about creating impactful partnerships with philanthropists, funders and companies to make a significant and lasting difference, not just to the cause, but also the individuals and funders themselves. 

On a professional level I am most proud of the teams I have developed during my career – empowering and inspiring amazing fundraisers to achieve. I take immense pride in achieving a long-held ambition of returning to study Psychology as a mature student, whilst working full time as an Executive Director of a large regional charity and raising 3 (very lovely) boys.  

My husband is a Royal Marine veteran who completed many tours including Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Iraq; we have lots of friends who are veterans or still serving. 

I’ve been at Help for Heroes since May 2023. I joined Help for Heroes as I know there is huge value in partnerships and can see so many opportunities for H4H working with companies, philanthropists and funding organisations to positively impact on our veterans and armed forces community. 

I am passionate about the work of Help for Heroes for so many reasons; working in the charity sector I have long admired the passion and ambition that started Help for Heroes.

I have personal knowledge of the need and the difference the charity is making every day, not just for the veterans themselves, but also their families and close friends. This campaign encapsulates everything that Help for Heroes stands for, and highlights the incredible difference our amazing clinical teams make. I feel incredibly proud to be able to use my skills and experience to enable this phenomenal work.   

No One Left Behind is the embodiment of everything Help for Heroes stands for – ambition, passion, tenacity and a dogged determination to want more for our heroes (our veterans and their families, who are heroes too!). They deserve to live well and thrive after service.

Sacha Clements

I’ve just spent the past 15 months as Trusts & Foundation Manager in the Partnerships Team at H4H.  Prior to that, I worked in Corporate Fundraising and Charity Communications for ten years within the environmental sector building partnerships and funding expeditions. (I once dressed up as a common crane to help teach chicks to feed and run away from predators as part of the Somerset reintroduction programme!) Before that I bounced around various corners and specialties within the NHS. I worked with Joanna Lumley whilst on expedition in my last role. Listening to her talk about the development of Patsy and learning to do handbrake turns in the Avengers over G&Ts in the Gower has to be both a professional and lifetime achievement! I have a big military family and am the proud custodian of some impressive medals.

Years ago I helped to run the Plastics & Max-Fax Department of Salisbury District Hospital where Carol now runs the War Injuries clinic, and I first got to know about the work of a little emerging charity called Help for Heroes.  The first veteran I met on the ward was a 19 year old, sadly he been caught by an IED and had returned with only had one limb left.  His spirit was utterly broken and he broke my heart.  Our Plastic Team had done an amazing job, but there as only so much the NHS could do. I’ve thought about him a lot since joining the Charity. We were invited by Bryn for a tour of Tedworth House, starting the day in this tiny space, packed with stuff and a phone that didn’t stop ringing - the Tin Hut.  Sitting in a big, panelled meeting room with Bryn you could feel his force, passion and desire to help these veterans when on one else could. I went home thinking ‘I wouldn’t mind working with that bunch’.  Years later, here I am.

Helen Pert

After a career in my 20’s working across Europe in financial services, I moved into the not-for-profit sector where I have enjoyed many fantastic opportunities working for a variety of causes including the NSPCC, the British Heart Foundation, Age UK and occasionally veteran charities. My passion is raising funds from HNWI’s, companies and larger trusts, foundations and institutions. I have served as a volunteer on Boards and taken a lead in sharing my knowledge voluntarily across the charity sector.

I am proud of my not-for-profit career, having raised millions over the years for good causes, leading teams to success in the charity sector. I am of course very proud of our children who I have raised over this time.

My father trained as a diver in the Royal Navy at the age of 14, and had a wide and varied career there for 25 years, serving on submarines and warships.  

I am delighted to bring my experience to the No One Left Behind fundraising campaign and feel humbled by the veterans we are raising money for. They are fantastic, awesome heroes, and I am very grateful to have this opportunity to work with them.

Vanessa Phillips

After my initial career in Communications in the Commercial Sector, working for Royal Automobile Club, RAC and Marsh, I moved into the charity sector. I worked for Hospices of Hope (a UK based charity providing palliative care in South East Europe) for over 14 years prior to joining Help for Heroes.

I covered all areas of fundraising apart from Trusts & Foundations, and was part of the team spearheading the £14 million capital campaign for the first in-patient, free at point of service, hospice in Bucharest.  This was followed by an £8m campaign for the renovation of an 18th century country estate into a Children and Family respite centre.  

Witnessing the very real impact of palliative care on some of the poorest patients and their families was truly humbling and made me more determined than ever. In addition to being fascinated by philanthropic motivation and a genuine interest in people, this led to a passion for raising funds from those who have the power to make real and lasting change to people’s lives. 

I don’t have any family links to the military being brought up in Zimbabwe, unless you consider my grandparents farm in the Eastern Cape, which was used as a staging post for horses during the Boer War! 

If it wasn't for the sacrifices of our VSI veterans, the world we inhabit and our country today would be a very different place.  We owe it to these brave individuals who stood in front of us and our loved ones to protect us while directly facing towards injury and death.

I’ve been with Help for Heroes for the past four years and lived through the pandemic and some seismic strategic changes during this period.   

It’s an honour to work with and for such a brilliant cause and I know there is so much more we can achieve in Philanthropy, and the broader charity, to support all our veterans and their loved ones. No two days are the same in this role and I look forward to being a key part of the No One Left Behind Campaign.