Our people

Paul Lunn

Chair of Trustees

Paul Lunn joined as a Trustee in June 2021 and was appointed as Chair of the Board of Trustees in March 2022.

Paul is currently Dean of the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool, starting the role in January 2022. Previously, he served as Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University since February 2012. Prior to moving to North Carolina, Paul was a Professor and the Head of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. Before moving to Colorado in 2003, Paul worked as a large animal medicine faculty member and as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Director of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Paul grew up in a farming community in North Wales, before studying veterinary medicine at Liverpool University. After a period in private practice in the UK, he pursued clinical training in Ontario and Wisconsin, and doctoral research training at the University of Cambridge. As a faculty member, outside of clinical work Paul’s interests have been in equine immunology and infectious disease. His research has focused on influenza virus and EHV-1 infection in horses, and more recently on infectious diseases of working equids in low-income countries.

Outside of work, Paul and his wife Kathy enjoy hiking and raising terriers. Paul also fly fishes and skis inexpertly but enthusiastically.

Vivienne Hole

Vivienne joined as Trustee in September 2023 and was appointed the Resources Performance Committee Chair in July 2024.

Vivienne is an experienced HR consultant with a background in financial services, having held senior roles at the international press agency Reuters, and in the City of London at LIFFE (London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange), Cofunds and James Hay. She has run her own HR consulting business for several years providing services to clients such as EBRD, Vitality and Bravura Solutions, and has provided coaching for boards in the charity and not for profit sector. Vivienne served as a Board Director at Cofunds and as a Non-Executive Director for the Welsh Assembly Government. She is currently a Trustee at Epping Forest Schools Partnership Trust.

Vivienne is a Freeman of the City of London and studied a BSc in economics at Cardiff University before gaining a Masters at the London School of Economics. She holds a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

Vivienne lives in London with her family, three cats and an elderly Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Ajay Barai

Ajay Barai joined as a Trustee in July 2023.

Ajay is an experienced senior INGO leader, with an MSc in responsibility and business practice from the University of Bath. Since 1999 Ajay has been working exclusively in values-driven environments, initially with local government, then as a consultant for not-for-profit organisations, and for the last 17 years with the global environmental NGO WWF. From 2001-2006 Ajay mainly lived overseas in Singapore and Malaysia, where he established and grew a successful eco-resort business on Tioman Island (a marine protected area), also learning about other cultures’ and communities’ approaches to nature and species protection. Throughout his career Ajay has worked to find ways to promote harmony between people and nature, working to build and transform teams and organisations to be more effective and impactful.

While at WWF, Ajay has led several national and global change management initiatives including major organisational restructuring and changes to network governance. In his current role as Senior Leadership Team member and Regional Director for WWF International, Ajay is responsible for overseeing and supporting multiple offices in Europe and North Africa, guiding their strategic and organisational development, operational excellence, risk management, fundraising, policy influence, conservation delivery and financial sustainability.

Ajay lives in Surrey with his wife, two teenage children, two cats and dog, enjoying running, tennis, travelling, and long walks in the countryside.

Andy Stringer

Andy Stringer joined as a Trustee in March 2019 and was appointed as the Donkey Performance Committee Chair in June 2019.

Andy graduated with a veterinary degree from the University of Liverpool and spent the initial years of his career volunteering for a veterinary non-profit organisation in Morocco, completing an equine veterinary internship and in equine primary care practice. He returned to the University of Liverpool in 2007 to study for a PhD focused on evaluating the efficacy of knowledge-transfer interventions for communicating animal health information to rural farmers in Ethiopia.

In 2010, he joined a British non-profit organisation as Director of Veterinary Programmes where he was responsible for managing global veterinary programmes focused on improving the health and welfare of working animals. Between 2015 and 2022, he was an Assistant Professor - Veterinary Global and Public Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University. In September 2022, he returned to the UK to join the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, as a Senior Lecturer in One Health.

Elizabeth Sheldon

Elizabeth Sheldon joined as a Trustee in March 2020, and was appointed as the Finance Investment & Performance Committee Chair in June 2020.

Elizabeth is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants with more than 15 years’ experience across many sectors. She graduated with a Geography degree from University College London before qualifying with an audit practice specialising in the ‘not for profit’ sector.

She worked for Ernst and Young and Man Group prior to joining CCLA Investment Management, a firm who specialise in managing investments for charities, religious organisations and the public sector.

Elizabeth is the Chief Operating Officer of CCLA and with a lifelong interest in animal welfare and international development.

Lucy Back

Lucy Back joined as a Trustee in March 2020.

Lucy graduated from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester in 2005 with a degree in Rural Land Management before qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 2007. Originally from Somerset, Lucy has worked in the South East and South West for private and PLC property consultancies at Partner and Director level, providing management and strategic advice on property portfolios for private and institutional clients across the country.

She now runs her own company and is delighted that this allows the flexibility to contribute to a charity that encompasses animal welfare, the environment and education, all being areas she is passionate about.

Natalie Cook

Natalie Cook joined as a Trustee in September 2014, and in 2022 she became the Trustee Safeguarding Lead.

Natalie completed her post-graduate degree in International Animal Welfare Ethics and Law from Edinburgh University, having first completed a degree in Applied Animal Behaviour and Training.

After completing her undergraduate degree, Natalie spent three years in Singapore, working at a wildlife charity, Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres). During this time, she conducted a number of large scale projects, including a country wide Zoo Animal Welfare Check in Malaysia; advocating for change with the Malaysian government officials resulting in nationwide change of welfare standards, training of zoo staff. Her work investigating the illegal trade in tiger parts in Singapore resulted in a significant decrease in the number of shops selling parts.

For the past ten years, Natalie has worked as a Civil Servant, first as an animal behaviour and welfare scientist and then as a policy official in central government. In her current role, Natalie is the policy lead for working dogs, in this role she develops standards pertaining to the welfare, training and accreditation standards of working dogs, working closely with police and military colleagues. She is the author of the Working Dog Strategy used within government and oversees a large scientific programme. She is Chair and member of a number of cross-government working groups and governance boards.

Sue Griffin

Sue Griffin joined as a Trustee in August 2014, and was appointed Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees in June 2022.

Sue graduated from the University of Wales and went on to complete an MSc at The City University in Information Science. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. After graduating with an MBA from Cranfield School of Management she followed a career in various marketing roles, from Sales to product development and Marketing Director, at Cable & Wireless in the US and UK.

Following her return to the UK from California she ran online financial services at Charles Schwab Europe and Fidelity International Investments and spent six years at The Pensions Regulator working as Director of Communications. She is currently a Director of two large UK Pension Schemes.

Sue began her involvement with donkeys riding on the sands at Porthcawl beach and has been involved with equines ever since. She is the proud owner of Top Hat her beloved horse.

Tom Mitchell

Tom Mitchell joined as a Trustee in March 2019 and was appointed the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee Chair in June 2019.

Tom is a Chartered Accountant with more than 35 years’ experience across many sectors, including the charity sector. He has been a Trustee and the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, was Chair at Dunedin Canmore Housing Association and Treasurer at the Royal Scottish Forestry Society.

Tom is a partner in CGPM Consulting LLP, a firm of Chartered Accountants which works almost exclusively with charities across the UK. He currently sits on the charities technical committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, and he has sat on two reference groups of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator dealing with the redesign of Risk-based Regulation and the Incorporation process.