Tim Cartwright — has been a university professor and a consultant in international development for more than 30 years. Throughout his career, one of Tim’s most cherished beliefs has been that more knowledge leads to wiser decisions and better performance. The principle that we can, by deliberate thought, improve our individual and organizational performance is what drives Tim’s approach to management and leadership. As a consultant, he aims not just to resolve problems but also to build problem-solving capacity. Having worked for clients in more than 50 countries around the world, Tim has developed a unique ability to communicate with people from different backgrounds and cultures. As a university professor, Tim taught and did research on various aspects of management and planning — including policy-making, strategic planning, institutional development, human-resource development, information systems, stakeholder participation, and governance — as well as more theoretical studies in organizational behaviour, strategic choice, simulation modelling and chaos theory.
Tim’s DPhil from University of Oxford is in public administration and management. Research for his thesis [later published by Hodder and Stoughton] focused on the role of royal commissions and other ad hoc committees in public policy-making in the UK. In the mid-1980s, Tim worked as special adviser on data management to the Executive Director of UN Habitat in Nairobi. He later wrote a book on his experiences, The Management of Human Settlements in Developing Countries (Routledge). Other publications include Les relations entre organismes: Facteurs stratégiques en planification urbaine (Presses de l’ Université de Montréal) and Modeling the World in a Spreadsheet: An Introduction To Environmental Simulation (Johns Hopkins). From mid-2003 to the end of 2005, Tim was executive head of the United Nations System Staff College in Turin, Italy. Prior to joining the UN, Tim was the chief executive officer of Carl Bro International, a multi-national consultancy based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He also served as non-executive director of Oxford Policy Management Ltd. (an economics consultancy in the UK) from 1999-2003.
Vivian Magero — has been an advocate for more open and transparent national and county budgeting processes in Kenya. Focus of much of her research work has been on transparency and participatory budgeting approaches, equitable resource sharing, and social sector policy analysis, with an emphasis on health, education and social security. Passionate about working with the most vulnerable in society, Vivian stresses using evidence based data to inform decision-making processes. Her assignment experience spans the public, private, and NGO – donor sectors.
Graduating top of her BSc class, she holds a masters degree in public administration from the University of Potsdam, Germany. Vivian is a recipient of the Helmut Schmidt Scholarship Programme, provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Murad Rayani — is a writer, producer and director of films, news reports and features with a focus on current affairs, human rights, education and development issues in East Africa and more widely.
Murad’s work spans both the corporate and NGO – donor sectors. In the private sector, he has directed commercials and documentaries for, for example, East African Breweries, Bamburi Cement, Unilever, Ethiopian Airlines and several banks.
In the NGO and donor world his work has included, for instance, ‘Kikulacho’, a documentary on the roots of corruption commissioned by Transparency International and ‘A Continent On The Move’ for the UN Commission for Africa.
A lawyer by training, turned film maker he has a bachelors degree in law from the University of Nottingham and masters of laws from Kings College, University of London. From 2000 to 2002 he studied media at the New School University in New York City. With many documentaries to his credit, he was the co-director and script writer on ‘Mo and Me’ about the photo journalist Mohamed Amin which won the award for best foreign documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Chair Team Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. Murad is a producer on one of Kenya’s most popular TV shows: KCB Lions’ Den.
Currently, he is working with David Abbott on a pilot for a series that challenges conventional wisdom, revealing the quirky unpredictable nature of business and management in East Africa.
Catherine Kagunya — now based in France, has over 15 years of consulting experience. In Kenya, her time at aCatalyst and PwC, led her to provide specialized organisational development services, to both the public and private sectors. In 2013, Catherine joined the UNICEF Middle East and North Africa regional office in Amman, Jordan as a Regional HR Officer. In 2016, she joined the UNICEF Turkey country office in Ankara as a HR consultant, where she assisted in the country office’s organisational restructuring process.
Catherine received her BCom in management science from the University of Nairobi, and has a master’s degree in international cooperation, plus an MBA, from the University of Bradford, United Kingdom.
Ged Griffith — is a teacher and educationalist with a passion for developing increasingly effective methods of teaching, including the application of ICT. His bachelors degree in modern history [after the fall of the Roman Empire] is from Oxford University where he began at Merton College at the age of 18.
Ged was resident in Kenya since 1985 and has taught at Strathmore College, Arboretum Academy and St Austin’s Academy in Nairobi. An avid bird watcher, he has reputation for an eye for detail and keen intellect. Currently, he is pursuing a career in journalism in the UK.
Ceciliah Adhola — is a ‘marketing whiz’ where she has held senior sales manager positions in several leading Kenyan five star hotels. Her working experience spans hotel and hospitality, ICT and management consulting. As a consummate ‘people person’ she is also a non executive director of aCatalyst Consulting.