Our Team
Our team
The Foundation is run by a small but dedicated team based in Maidenhead. We also have a board of Trustees who are responsible for helping to guide the Foundation as well as finding us further help and support.
Michelle Jennings
Director of the Foundation, Volunteering and Outreach
Michele joined Commonwealth War Graves in January 2023 after over a decade as Chief Executive of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, one of the UK’s top 1% of charities by income. She has experience of leading high-performing teams, delivering volunteer programmes, and generating significant income growth. Before joining the charity sector, Michele was Commercial Director, Group Procurement Director and Marketing Director and worked for brands including Compass Group Plc, Pret a Manger, PepsiCo, The Rank Group Plc, and Cafe Rouge. She has an MBA, degrees in Business and Law, and is an alumna of Oxford University’s Said Business School. She is a trustee of The Royal Grammar School Foundation, Assistance Dogs UK, and The Blue Cross.
Laura Stoker
Director of Fundraising
Laura began her fundraising career at the University of British Columbia in Canada. She worked primarily with the world-class Museum of Anthropology, raising funds to create a new gallery and to support a range of educational projects. She returned to the UK in January 2021 to take up the role of Director of Development at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, managing the College’s fundraising and alumni engagement programme. Prior to working in fundraising Laura worked as an administrator in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Laura is passionate about history; she has an undergraduate degree in History from St Anne’s College, Oxford, and a Master’s degree in International Security Studies from the University of St Andrew’s.
Abigail Rowlands
Individual Giving Fundraising Officer
Abigail is a history graduate, specialising in Landscape History and Public History. Soon after completing her degree, Abigail worked in France for four months at Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme as a CWGF Intern.
Previously our Fundraising Administrator Apprentice, Abigail started her new role as Individual Giving Fundraising Officer in April 2023.
Abigail has been involved in an array of volunteering opportunities including The Forum, Norwich, the International Bomber Command Centre, Norwich Castle and the Imperial War Museum.
Kirsty Biggar
Interim Trust and Corporate Fundraising Officer
Kirsty joined the CWGF in September 2024 as our Interim Trust and Corporate Fundraising Officer.
Born and raised in South Africa, Kirsty moved to the UK and has had a varied career in the corporate and charity sectors, working for large brands including Camelot, Haven and Currys.
Kirsty began her fundraising career at an innovative Hospice, where she acquired an appetite for Trusts and Foundations fundraising and put her writing and stewardship passions to good use.
Jo Musty
Administrator
Jo joined the CWGF team in October 2023 as our part time Foundation Administrator.
Jo previously worked in the aviation industry in airline operations, with periods at the Isle of Man, Birmingham & Gatwick Airports. Jo then worked as an Operations Coordinator for British Airways at their Gatwick Operations Centre before taking a career break to raise her family. She initially helped our Foundation Team at Head Office as a Volunteer before becoming our Administrator.
Our Trustees
DAME JUDITH MAYHEW JONAS DBE
Chair of Trustees
Born and educated in New Zealand, Judith Mayhew Jonas graduated LLM from the University of Otago, where she lectured before moving to the UK as a lecturer in law at King's College, University of London. Here she set up and became Director of the Anglo French Law Degree (Sorbonne), the first joint degree in Europe. In 1989, she became Special Adviser to the Chairman at Clifford Chance. She was elected to the City of London Corporation in 1986 and became Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee in 1996. She was Leader of the Council for six years.
In 2008 she was appointed Chairman of The New West End Company. She has also served on a number of boards of educational and cultural institutions in recent years, including Birkbeck College, Imperial College London, Gresham College and the Natural History and Imperial War Museums. From 2003-06 she was Provost of King’s College Cambridge. She was Chairman of The Royal Opera House from 2003-08 and from 2008-11 she was Chairman of the Independent Schools Council. She became Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln in 2008.
Major General Alastair Bruce of Crionaich OBE VR DL
Major General Alastair Bruce of Crionaich OBE VR DL is the National Event Commentator for Sky News and Contributor to ABC News, in America. He was appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 2019 and has served a full military career, first as a Regular in the Scots Guards, serving in Northern Ireland and the Falklands War of 1982, then as a Reservist, including mobilisation to Iraq.
He is an Historical Advisor for Film & TV Dramas, like Downton Abbey, The King’s Speech & The Greatest Showman. Author of books like Keepers of the Kingdom, Oldest and The Queen’s Birthday Parade. He makes TV Documentaries and was granted conversation on camera with The Queen talking about wearing the Crown for BBC film, Coronation. Alastair is Equerry to TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex and Forfar; he is Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary and Trustee of the Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel and the Scottish National War Memorial.
The Rt Hon. the Lord Beamish, Kevan Jones
Kevan is a British Labour Party politician, who served as Member of Parliament for North Durham from 2001 to 2024. He was Veterans Minister between 2008 and 2010 and is a current member of the Commons Defence Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee. He served as a CWGC Commissioner from 2010 to 2018.
Sir Adrian Montague, CBE
Sir Adrian is currently the Chairman of Thames Water, Porterbrook Rail Group and Cadent Gas Ltd. Previous Chairmanships include Manchester Airports Group, TheCityUK Leadership Council, Aviva, 3i plc, Anglian Water Group, London First and British Energy. Sir Adrian was awarded a CBE in 2001 and holds a Law degree from the University of Cambridge.
Captain Jay Singh-Sohal
Capt. Jay Singh-Sohal VR is a strategic communications expert, currently a director at M&C Saatchi World Services as well as an Army Reservist with more than twelve years of service. He is a trained television journalist and filmmaker by trade and the author of four books on Sikh faith and military history. Jay is Founder and Chairman of the award winning WW1 Sikh Memorial, the UK's first monument to Sikh service during the Great War, located at the National Memorial Arboretum. For his voluntary work, Jay received the Prime Ministers "Points of Light" award in 2019.
You can follow Captain Jay on:
Instagram: @jaysinghsohal
Twitter: @JSinghSohal
Julian Evans
Julian served for 40 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His posts included Moscow, Zurich, New York, Islamabad, Ottawa, San Francisco, New Delhi and, finally, as Director of Protocol and Her Majesty The Queen’s Vice Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps. On retirement from the FCO in 2017 he joined the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as International and Public Engagement Director and was Acting Executive Director of the Foundation from 2018-2019. He retired from full-time work with the Commission in 2020.
Gerald Allison
Gerald has a deep and personal interest in the global impact of warfare and conflict on the lives of ordinary people. He seeks to encourage working with partner organisations to add context to the names on memorials so that they are appreciated as people whose sacrifice and that of their families will never be forgotten. He frequently walks the battlefields and regularly visits cemeteries at home and abroad. He is devoted to the Missing, civil casualties and their commemoration. Gerald is also an independent advisor, board member, trustee and Chartered Surveyor specialising in property investment strategies and sustainable funding.
Christopher Walsh
Christopher Walsh is a solicitor and partner at Clifford Chance LLP, specialising in securitisation, structured debt finance and loan asset portfolio sales. Chris is also a member of the global programmes advancement board for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and a Trustee of the Hawling Ecclesiastical Trust.