David Scott-Ralphs - Chairman Expand David Scott-Ralphs - Chairman David is the Chief Executive of St Wilfrid's Hospice in Eastbourne and prior to this was CEO for 13 years of sight loss charity SeeAbility. He is a previous Vice Chairman of Vision 2020 UK. David became Chairman of Vision Aid Overseas in 2012
Peter Corbett - Honorary Treasurer Expand Peter Corbett- Honarary Treasurer Peter is an experienced Finance and General Manager. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant he spent 17 years working for Sony Music in the UK, USA and Europe, most recently as Senior Vice President Germany, Switzerland and Austria. He then spent 8 years as Finance Director of the Post Office and has spent the last 7 years working for the sight loss charity Thomas Pocklington Trust where he has been CEO since January 2011. He has also held a number of Trustee roles both within the sight loss sector and elsewhere including the British Lung Foundation and the charity arm of a leading housing association.
Geoffrey Ballantine Expand Geoffrey is the fifth generation of a family of optometrists and his family firm, Lizars, dates back to 1830. His enthusiasm for Vision Aid Overseas stems from his experiences working as an optometrist in Zimbabwe and Kenya. His first Vision Aid Overseas assignment was to Burkina Faso in 2010 and he has since taken part in assignments to Zambia and Ethiopia. Geoffrey is a past Chairman of the the Vision Centre Task Group. Away from optics, he is a keen golfer and skier and was Moderator of the High Constables and Guard of Honour of the Palace of Holyrood House from 2010- 2012
Laura Bennett Expand Laura qualified as an optometrist in 1985 from City University, London and soon after set up an independent practice in Gloucestershire. For the last twelve years she has lived in Scotland providing optometry services in the independant, multiple and NHS sectors. Laura has completed four volunteer projects with VAO in Zambia and Burkina Faso to date and participated in The Great Ethiopian Run in 2015.
Peter Beverley-Smith Expand Having had an early business background Peter returned to his studies in his mid-thirties to complete an Optometry degree. He is a Director at Primary Eye Care Dorset (Dorset LOC Company), Discipline Specific Practitioner for Wessex Area Team PLDP/PAG, a Facilitator for the College of Optometrists and in the process of completing a Coaching and Mentoring course with the AOP. He is currently a locum and before that he was Ophthalmic Director at Specsavers Poole.
Vera Wilton Expand Vera is an experienced optometrist who became involved with VAO in 2000 firstly as a fund raising member and she then completed her first assignment teaching refraction to trainee ophthalmologists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2004. 14 more projects to Ethiopia followed including teaching and outreach assignments as well as fact finding missions. She is now Country Director for Ghana as well as a Trustee and has just completed her fourth visit to Ghana working with optometry students in the University of Cape Coast. She is on the Local Optical Committee with responsibility for arranging the annual local CET course and co-ordinating the Better Care Together programme with the ophthalmology department of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust. She is also involved with the local dyslexia and autism groups. In her spare time she tries to play golf, cycles, sails and walks in the lovely Lake District where she lives.
Lucy Devine Expand Lucy is delighted to be a part of the VAO Board. She has been involved with sensory loss charities for nearly ten years, and VAO’s commitment to local sustainability is particularly important to her. Professionally, Lucy is a highly experienced governance adviser, with more than 20 years’ experience of governance and change management delivery. This has included supporting governments of the UK, Africa, the UAE and Afghanistan, and holding senior roles in a national and international NGO and a global consultancy firm. Lucy's skills include strategic analysis, project and programme management, Board and Secretariat management, building numerical and financial confidence in client and internal teams, facilitation, business process reengineering, process mapping, change management, relationship management, business case development, risk management, content writing, presentation delivery and training (particularly Assertiveness, English Writing Skills and Numerical Confidence). Lucy speaks Swahili and French, is a PRINCE2 practitioner and is currently studying for the Institute of Governance Company Secretary Qualifying Scheme (Diploma in Governance already achieved). For fun, Lucy knits obsessively and swims outside in the cold.
Kajal Shah Expand Kajal graduated as an optometrist from Aston University in 1998. After graduation, she completed her PhD in developing competency frameworks for eye care personnel in Mozambique in 2015 through the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the Brien Holden Vision Institute. Since 2015, she has led an Irish Aid funded workshop (as part of the Human Resources for Eye Health program) to develop competency frameworks in four more countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, Kajal is a director of a Boots Opticians franchise, a post-doctoral researcher at the DIT, and the clinical governance lead for Primary Eye care Hertfordshire. Her current research interests include: working with the African Vision Research Institute on systematic reviews of refractive error, on a child eye health project in Southern Africa, and supervising PhD students. Her passion for working in training eye care personnel in developing countries stems from being brought up in Kenya and experiencing the inequities in eye care provision.