Our Senior Management Team consists of our Chief Executive, Mark Waddington, and Pete Garratt, Toby Bourke and Mark Shadrack.
Together, they develop and, with Board approval, execute strategic and operational plans. They also manage our four departments of passionate, dedicated staff: Programmes; Global Advocacy; Marketing, Communications and Fundraising (MCF); and Finance and Resources.
Read below to find out more about the experience and expertise they bring to Hope and Homes for Children, and what motivates them most about working to stop the institutionalisation of children.
- Mark Waddington, CEO
- Toby Bourke, Director of Global Marketing, Communications and Fundraising
- Mark Shadrack, Chief Operating Officer
- Brenda Kariuki, Director of Global and EU Advocacy
- Pete Garratt, Director of Global Programmes
Mark Waddington
CEO
Mark has been CEO of Hope and Homes for Children since 2012. During that time, he’s worked with colleagues to build on the firm foundations laid by his predecessors to almost treble our income and treble our impact. He spends much of his time building partnerships with other organisations, including with the private sector, to mobilise the skills and resources needed to help progress our ambition to make orphanages an unacceptable way of caring for children.
Mark is clear about his motivation:
“Orphanages deprive children of their liberty. Too often they replicate the conditions of a prison. They regiment the lives of children, stigmatise and isolate them from their families and communities. They inflict violence and neglect upon them. In the worst cases, orphanages are engines of child trafficking. They are harmful and have no place in our society. Despite continuing resistance though, we have great confidence that change is in fact possible, and at scale. With every day, more governments, local authorities and organisations are recognising that helping to keep families together, and supporting alternative forms of family and community care and protection are not only more cost effective than concentrating and locking resources up in orphanages, but are actually saving lives and radically improving many more.”
Mark was previously the CEO of War Child. He currently serves as a Trustee on the Board of Barnardo’s, and is also the Chair of the Barnardo’s Foundation Advisory Board. He was awarded the CBE for services to international child protection in the 2019 New Years Honours.
Toby Bourke
Director of Marketing, Communications and Fundraising
Toby has extensive experience of working at a senior level, nationally and internationally, growing some of the world’s most iconic, change-leading organizations, like Greenpeace and Oxfam. As Global Head of Supporter Acquisition at Greenpeace International, Toby grew global income by $100 million over 4 years. He also held Director of Fundraising roles for Greenpeace in the UK, Canada and Turkey. He has created brands and messaging that have generated audiences in the hundreds of millions, mobilizing millions to take specific actions in multiple territories and has created income streams worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In his most recent role at Animals Asia, he oversaw a doubling of annual income within 2 years.
Toby’s motivation is that:
“Children thrive in families, and even messy families are better than institutions. The warehousing of over 5 million children in orphanages, when the vast majority have family, is an injustice that urgently needs to stop. When children are in families, they can be loved, and when they are loved, they are limitless. I relish the opportunity of closing all such institutions and getting these children back to family”
Mark Shadrack
Chief Operating Officer
Mark has extensive experience in finance, governance, and operations across the commercial and charity sectors. He initially joined Hope and Homes for Children as a trustee in 2018. Having seen our work first hand, he was inspired by the opportunity to help some of the world’s most vulnerable children and families and became Chief Operating Officer in 2020. Prior to this, Mark enjoyed an international career in finance at Unilever which included leadership roles spanning operations, strategy, and change management. Mark is a Chartered Management Accountant, holds the ICAEW diploma in Charity Accounting, and has a Masters in Charity Accounting and Financial Management from Bayes Business School in London.
As COO, Mark leads the Resources team, covering Finance, HR, IT, Facilities, Risk Management and Governance. Their role is to provide strategic and operational support for organisational objectives, enabling effective and efficient work toward our vision.
When asked what motivates him most about his job, Mark said:
“Seeing our work in Moldova was a key moment for me. It highlighted the deep injustice of systems which place children in orphanages, but also the hope and inspiration of the fantastic, life-changing work led by our frontline teams. We have a unique opportunity to protect vulnerable children and enable many more of them to grow up with the love of a family, and I am delighted to be part of that.”
Brenda Kariuki
Director of Global and EU Advocacy
Brenda is a seasoned policy, advocacy and communications specialist, with over 25 years’ experience working in the development, public and private sector in Africa.
Brenda is passionate about issues affecting children. She has led and managed regional and national advocacy initiatives aimed at influencing policy change and holding governments accountable for children and women.
She enjoys the outdoors and spends her free time taking walks with her family. She is also an avid reader and enjoys landscaping, knitting/crocheting and traveling with her family. Brenda is also a chorister and a member of the Nairobi Music Society.
Brenda holds a master’s degree (MSc) in Health Policy, Health Economics and Management from the London School of Economics; a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Policy and Management from the University of York; and a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from the University of Nairobi.
Pete Garratt
Director of Global Programmes
Pete Garratt joined us in 2022, with over twenty years of experience in the international development and humanitarian response, including in the disability and child rights sectors. He has led global emergency response teams in some of the world’s toughest contexts with the Red Cross and served for the last eight years in director of programmes and operations roles with the Leprosy Mission and with Street Child. Holding a master’s degree in international development, Pete specialises in strategic programme leadership, organisational development, and promoting accountability and well-being across multiple programmes. This familiarity will be especially important to our future as we seek to continue to strengthen our resilience to ensure we’re able to work on long-term national systems change.
While working for the Leprosy Mission Pete gained vital knowledge on how to work on a systems response to the deep stigmatisation associated with leprosy which constantly leads to the terrible exclusion of those afflicted. This experience has given Pete an understanding of how children living with disabilities and their families may be similarly affected, leading to institutionalisation.
Pete’s consultative and participatory approach to leadership, alongside a well-developed emotional intelligence and a reputation for integrity, commitment and empathy are an asset to our teams and our overall objectives for our Global Programmes.
When asked what motivates him most about his job, Pete said:
“My heart breaks when I see the debilitating impact of injustice and locking up a child in an orphanage – no matter how well intentioned – is a terrible injustice. I’m so fortunate to get to work with similarly passionate and professional colleagues to make a difference in the lives of children and their families. There is no better feeling than knowing that we’ve helped bring about positive change and seeing the long-lasting smiles and joy that results.”
