UK Trustees

Trustees of The Friends of Baale Mane Gopalapura

The Friends today has nine trustees. Each has visited the Baale on more than one occasion and plays an important role in the development of the Baale Mane. 

Chris Harrison
Chairman

Chris has a portfolio career, combining his commitment to the Baale Mane with responsibilities as an executive Director of Leaders’ Quest where he designs and leads experiential leadership programmes across the globe, as well as overseeing finance and IT. Chris is also an executive coach,a non-executive director of The Innovation Group plc, a trustee of Farnham Castle, and a member of the Appeal Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Chris spent 30 years with Ernst & Young, the last 19 as a partner. A Chartered Accountant, with a background of working in many industry sectors, Chris focuses on working with the Technology, Outsourcing and Professional Services sectors. He has a unique blend of experience in working with global corporates and in entrepreneurial environments.

Chris was European head of the Technology sector at Ernst & Young from 2004 to 2007. He was Managing Partner of the London office Entrepreneurial Services Group from 1991 to 1996, becoming national head of this service line in 1994. In 1997 he moved to Reading to run the office, and subsequently ran the UK Firm’s South Region for 5 years.

Chris is married to Shirley, and has three sons, Richard, David and John

Chris typically visits the Baale three or four times a year to support the strategic direction of the home. As founder and Chairman of The Friends, he oversees the regular trustees meetings, plays an active role in fund raising, and is responsible for our regular newsletters.

Matt Clarke

Sandeep Dwesar

Sandeep is Finance and Operations Director of both the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

After qualification as a Chartered Accountant, with four years as an auditor, Sandeep moved into industry working for British and American multi-national companies, in the UK and in Europe. Following this, he worked as a consultant within local government, working on a variety of different projects, including management training, business process engineering and privatisation initiatives.

Sandeep is also non-executive director of the Bernie Grant Centre, a major arts and education centre in Tottenham. And, until recently Sandeep was non-executive director of Cavendish Ltd, a publisher now part of Informa plc.

Sandeep is the Secretary to The Friends and has been the trustees since the beginning. He has visited the Baale on several occasions, and has played a critical role in helping to shape the governance of our organisation both in the UK and in India

Rod Banner

Rod is a real life ‘Mad Man’. After a nine year stint working in international ad agencies launching the VHS video standard (remember that?), Casio and Baileys Irish Cream, he founded Banner Corporation (www.b1.com), dedicated to solving all the marketing needs of the TMT sector. During 25 years there, the company was responsible for European launches of Cisco, RIM (BlackBerry) and major marketing initiatives helping most of the biggest technology brands stay that way.

Since selling Banner to WPP, Rod has made various angel investments in early stage technology companies and enjoyed various consulting, advisoral and mentoring roles. Besides bringing his network and a heap of dynamism to young companies, his marketing skills and industry knowledge have been shown to make a tangible difference.

Most recently, Rod has co-created Forgather (www.forgather.com) – a fresh, new proposition in the events business. Its mission is to build and develop event properties that enhance people’s lives.

Rod joined The Friends as a trustee in 2009, visiting the Baale at the end of that year with his wife Catherine. His considerable creative talents add great value to The Friends.

Raj Tandon

Balraj Tandon is the founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Park Garage Group Plc.

From Uganda, Balraj and his brother started by helping their parents in ensuring the wellbeing of the family. The early days were spent by simple handwork for long hours working in tandem with Mum and Dad to fulfil their father’s desire that all his children would be well settled and married in the Indian tradition. Today Raj and his brother see this as their best achievement. After these risk averse days with little capital and a desire to establish a company with fiduciary and cooperate responsibility, Raj established PGG plc which now owns or operates some 100 outlets in the UK.

Evolution through innovation and managing change has seen Balraj transform the company from a business that serves petrol to a retailing business that is now in the top 30 independent grocers in the UK. He has spearheaded development and implementation of the Park & Shop brand, a concept soon to be franchised across the UK. A keen advocate of governance, Raj is currently working to gain ISO 9001 accreditation. His passion for people and having a work place of well-trained individuals who can be empowered has seen the creation of PGG’s Human Resource and Learning centre.

Balraj oversees a range of strategic, financial, M&A and business performance issues of the company. He is the architect behind the development of an IT structure for enhancement of operations, due diligence, staff and customer relations.

Apart from his role in Park, Balraj is a local advisor to the MPC and involved with some local charities. Balraj is a trustee of the Hindu Society in South London, a charity that furthers Hindu Culture and looks after elderly in the community.

Balraj is a graduate from the University of Birmingham and holds a masters degree from the LSE.

Balraj joined the friends in 2009, visiting the Baale at the end of that year. He has been both generous and active in fundraising for the Baale, amongst other things organising two mountaineering trips to raise funds for the Baale. He has also helped us to organise collection boxes to be distributed across the Park Garages estate.

Eileen Peach

Eileen is a Chartered Accountant with many years’ experience working with entrepreneurs and companies with overseas parents.

She worked and qualified with a small firm before joining Ernst &Young where she spent 19 years looking after Consumer Product Companies and Corporate Charities.

Eileen and her husband Chris (a family doctor) have three daughters aged 23, 20 and 14.

Eileen is the Treasurer of The Friends. She joined the board of the trustee in 2009, visiting the Baale at the end of that year. As well as looking after our finances, she has helped to organise a fundraising event and as a mother of three young women, is able to bring her experience to bear during the course of our deliberations. 

Kunku Soota

Kunku is co-founder and Director of Kudos Consulting which offers organisational change consultancy, executive coaching and career management services. She is also governance adviser to International Development Economics Associates, a network of economists seeking to influence international research and policy on poverty reduction.

Kunku has extensive experience in supporting people and organisations through change and transition. She believes passionately that positive regard and support enables people to surprise themselves and achieve the goals that mean most to them and their organisations.

Kunku’s career started in India in the 70s where her roles encompassed that of university lecturer at Lady Shri Ram College; educational publisher at Oxford University Press and educational adviser to the British Council.

She moved to the UK in the late 80s where she has worked in the not- for-profit sector.

In recent years she has been Head of Organisation Development, The Anchor Trust; Head of Human Resources, Berkshire Social Services; Head of OD & later Interim Director, Warwickshire Social Services and Head of Corporate Strategy, Reading Borough Council.

Underpinning her work is a belief that collectively we can make a difference to people’s lives. Kunku has been involved with voluntary work both in India and the UK. Her focus has been empowerment of women and girl children as well as capacity building for the organisations that support them.

Kunku is the mother of a lovely daughter whose 3 daughters aged 6, 4 and 3 bring much joy and a reminder that not all women and girl children have the same life chances.

Kunku joined The Friends in 2009 since when she has been tireless in supporting our cause. A regular visitor to India and to Bangalore, she has played a key role in supporting the team on the ground, and in particular in developing the educational strategy for our girls. She is currently developing a child rights training agenda, which we hope will become both a source of income for the Baale and a vehicle for developing our agenda around improving the understanding of issues of child rights in Bangalore and the surrounding area.

Mark Hodgkinson

After reading Jurisprudence at Brasenose College, Oxford, Mark qualified as a solicitor and has spent his professional life in London working in the real estate sector on investment, development and strategic opportunities for a range of UK and overseas clients. He recently retired as a senior partner of the City law firm Speechly Bircham LLP. Mark is married to Vicki and has two daughters. His older daughter Bella one of whom, recently spent 2 years working as Assistant Manager at the Baale.

In common with so many of its visitors, Mark and Vicki were enormously impressed by the atmosphere, energy and vitality that was so evident when they first visited the Baale and have since, with their other daughter, been keen to be involved in fund raising for it. Mark’s recent appointment as a trustee cements that commitment.

Graham Sheffield
Graham is currently Director of Arts for the British Council having taken up his new role May 9^th 2011.  He is responsible for leading and developing the global arts policy and programme across the Council’s operations, with direct management of the London arts team.  He holds a position on the Council’s Executive Board reporting directly to the CEO

Graham was previously Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority in Hong Kong, leading the development of one of the largest arts infrastructures and programming projects ever envisioned.

Graham was Artistic Director of the Barbican from 1995-2010.  He led the development of artistic vision, policy and strategy across the art forms in Europe’s largest integrated multi arts centre – music, drama, dance, cinema, spoken word and the visual arts.  He also led the marketing, new media and customer experience departments.

Under his directorship, the Barbican became one of the most innovative, dynamic and respected centres in the arts world, with an award-winning international programme.

Along with many other responsibilities and accolades, too numerous to mention, Graham has a passion for fine wine.  He was named as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, alongside becoming a Chevalier de Tastevin de Bourgogne.

He was awarded CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours’ list for services to the arts.

Graham has been a Trustee of The Friends since the beginning, interrupted by his spell working in Hong Kong. He is able to bring his long experience of working in partnership and his extensive network in the world of the arts to bear in supporting the Baale