Staff

Roly Owers - Chief Executive

 

Roly joined World Horse Welfare as Chief Executive in January 2008. He already knew the charity well, having led its fundraising and communication teams from 1999 to 2003.

 

Roly qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Cambridge University in 1992. Having spent a short time with the Blue Cross, he joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, which included a posting as the Veterinary Officer at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in London. After the army, he came to work for for World Horse Welfare until 2003, when he left to take up the post of Development Director at the Perse School in Cambridge. He returned to World Horse Welfare in 2008.

 

Roly has ridden for much of his life, greatly enjoying eventing and team chasing. He rode for his university and says that a highlight was being part of our first Challenge Ride in Jordan, back in 2001. He is married, with three children, and lives in Cambridge.

 

Tony Tyler - Deputy Chief Executive

 

Tony joined World Horse Welfare in November 1999 as Hall Farm Centre Manager. He was appointed as the Director of UK Welfare in 2003, before becoming Deputy Chief Executive in 2007. Prior to joining World Horse Welfare, he was a Senior Equine Lecturer at Walford College, Shropshire, where he helped to set up and run the equine facilities and trained students at all levels.

 

Tony has sat on numerous committees too and often liaises with both government and equine bodies. His current role involves the management of World Horse Welfare's UK operations, which includes four farms and 16 field officers.

 

 

 

 

Jo White - Director of Campaigns and Communications

 

Jo joined World Horse Welfare in 2001, and is responsible for running the campaigns department, covering all of the research, political lobbying and profile-raising activities needed to run World Horse Welfare's operational campaigns, such as Make a Noise.

 

She also oversees the communications team, which supports other areas of World Horse Welfare, raising awareness among all key groups, from our supporters to the press and decision-makers.

 

Before joining the charity, Jo was involved with a number of areas of the horse industry, including working as a course manager and lecturer in equine studies at further and higher education and as an editor of specialist horse magazines and websites.

 

 

 

Alastair Graham - Director of Fundraising

 

Alastair joined World Horse Welfare in 2008, and has 10 years' fundraising experience, including seven years as Head of Major Gifts at Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

 

He is responsible for all of World Horse Welfare's fundraising activities, including donations, events, grants and trading.

 

Alastair is also a trustee of two other charities, including Hackney Quest in East London, where he lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ian Kelly - Director of International Training and Affiliations

 

Ian has worked for World Horse Welfare since 2000. During that time, he has standardised and advanced the international training programmes to include farriery, saddlery, nutrition and business skills. World Horse Welfare is currently working in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Soweto, Lesotho, Romania and The Gambia.

 

Ian joined World Horse Welfare from The Royal Household, at Buckingham Palace, where he was Superintendent of the Royal Mews; as such, he has a wealth of experience as an accomplished equestrian and qualified riding instructor. Ian's last appointment in the Life Guards was Headquarter Squadron Leader of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Cotes - Director of Finance and Administration

 

Having worked in the private sector for 32 years, Peter has a wealth of experience as a Chartered Accountant. He also has a BSc in Accounting and Statistics. He started working for World Horse Welfare in 2003.

 

Before joining World Horse Welfare, Peter spent five years as Financial Director for the Panoply Group in Huntingdon, where he worked both at the strategic ‘group' level and the ‘hands-on' operational level, with day-to-day responsibility for the finance and IT functions. In the eight years leading up to joining the Panoply Group, he was Financial Director for Ridley Quiney Ltd, a company with an annual turnover of more than £20m.

 

 

 

Dale Gedge - Head of IT

 

Dale has worked for World Horse Welfare for 15 years, starting out as Assistant Fundraising Manager before developing his skills, to become Head of IT seven years ago.

 

Dale takes a keen interest in all things equine, having been an amateur jockey in a previous life. He rode in a number of Arab horse races in the 1980s and '90s, including the first ever British Arab Derby at Kempton Park. He was also responsible for looking after a number of horses including the sprinter Can Run. He now owns a 25-year-old Arab stallion, while one of his daughters has taken World Horse Welfare pony, Sinbad on loan.

 

 

 

Elaine Lincoln - Head of Human Resources

 

Elaine joined World Horse Welfare in 1996 as Personal Assistant to the General Manager.

 

Soon after her arrival, she attended the CIPD PQS course and took responsibility for setting up the Human Resources department. She has managed the department for a number of years overseeing all areas of human resources including recruitment, training, appraisals, employment law and general staff matters at Head Office, as well as the field officers and the staff at our four recovery and rehabilitation Centres.

 

Elaine had four horses whilst growing up and still occasionally rides.