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.
John Blake - Director of Fundraising
John Blake joined as Director of Fundraising in March 2011 with a background including four years as Chief Executive of the the Professional Jockeys' Association, and the role of Racing Editor at both Teletext and Racecall.
His charity experience includes working with The Responsible Gambling Fund, and he led an animal welfare project for The Greyhound Board of Great Britain. Under his leadership, greyhound racing became the first sport to achieve accreditation from the government-backed service UKAS.
Jessica Stark - Director of Communications
Jessica joined World Horse Welfare as Director of Communications in October 2010, having previously led communications for the FDA, the union for the UK’s senior public servants.
She has more than 10 years' experience in traditional and web-based communications gained with international media company Pearson plc and The Economist Group in London and New York. Her early career was spent on the agency side in the USA with a focus on international marketing and technology.
Liam Maguire - Director of International
Liam joined World Horse Welfare as Director of International in September 2011. He has considerable experience in management in the international development sector, with his career to date taking him to countries such as Liberia, Jordan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Egypt, Indonesia and Zanzibar.
Before joining World Horse Welfare Liam was the Head of Organisational Development with the Brooke. He has also worked for organisations such as OXFAM as a Country Representative, Save the Children as a Project Manager and CARE International as a Country Director. Liam has a BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Engineering from Newcastle University and am MSc in Management for Agricultural Development from Cranfield University. He is married with three children.
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.
