Our Leadership

Jalpa Patel, CEO

Jalpa has been with ASI since 2008 and was Director of the Governance Practice prior to her appointment as CEO in March 2022 (since November 2020 she was Interim CEO). She has designed and overseen some of ASI’s most innovative and complex governance programmes globally, in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Prior to joining ASI, Jalpa worked with the World Bank in Afghanistan on public administration reform, and at the Department for International Development. Jalpa graduated with an MA in Political Development from the University of Manchester.

Ben Fetton, Director of Geographies

Ben joined ASI in 2007 after working as a consultant on programmes in Africa and the Middle East. He has extensive experience working in fragile contexts and on politically complex programmes and previously directed our South Asia Practice. Since 2019 he has overseen ASI’s entire project portfolio as Director of Programmes. From November 2020 to November 2022 Ben was appointed Interim COO and then Director of Geographies.  Ben has a law degree from Cambridge University and an MSc in public policy & management from SOAS.

James Phillips, Finance Director 

Having joined ASI in 2003, James has been a driving force behind our systems development and financial control framework for approaching two decades and has shaped our global finance functions.

As a Chartered Global Management Accountant, today he is responsible for the financial accounting, statutory compliance, and adherence to industry best practice for our corporate and project activities.

Lucy Fernie, Director Business Services

Lucy is an experienced HR professional, consultant and business psychologist who re-joined ASI in September 2022 after previously being our HR Director.  Prior to re-joining, she worked in the Metropolitan Police, overseeing a large portfolio of transformation programmes in the leadership, inclusion and talent space.  Before that she worked in consulting for Deloitte and PA Consulting, leading complex people projects in the public and private sector.

Matt Uzzell, Director Economic Development & Business Growth

Matt’s work is focused across infrastructure, private sector development and climate change in developed, developing and post conflict countries. He has been with ASI for over twenty years and has directed many of ASI’s largest and most complex regional programmes across Africa and Asia for the UK government, World Bank and other donors. Matt is skilled at directing large multi-location, multi-sector adaptive management programmes with a particular focus on resilient, sustainable and appropriate infrastructure solutions. He is passionate about maximising impact, building resilience and achieving sustainable inclusive growth.

Neil Fowler, Director Programme Quality & Impact 

Neil has been with ASI since 2016, when he joined the leadership team of our Syria response programme, overseeing programmes supporting essential services, education and aid monitoring. Since then Neil has headed our North Africa, Afghanistan and Yemen geography, led programme delivery in Pakistan and headed our Africa geographical team. Neil is now responsible for ensuring that our teams deliver impactful work, that makes a positive difference to citizens’ lives, across our global portfolio. Prior to joining ASI as staff, Neil was a management consultant at Accenture and worked for the United Nations and World Bank. Neil’s geographical experience includes Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Warren Turner, Director Asia-Pacific

Warren leads ASI’s engagement in the Asia Pacific region. For more than 25 years, Warren has worked with governments, donors, civil society and the private sector. Prior to joining ASI in 2018, he worked at the Asian Development Bank, and previously for the Australian Agency for International Development. Warren is ASI’s technical lead for economic governance in Asia Pacific and has performed technical lead, team leader and management roles spanning countries across Asia and the Pacific. He also worked for several years in international banking and finance. Warren holds a MA in International Relations from the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Economics from Deakin University.

Harry Kendell, Director Business Development

Harry joined ASI as Director South Asia in 2008 based in our London and New Delhi offices. He led the rapid expansion in our operations and impact across the region, establishing long term programme partnerships across Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. He is currently Director Business Development, responsible for ASI’s business growth strategy and coordination. Prior to joining ASI, Harry was an Overseas Development Institute Fellow in Guyana and a DFID Economist.

Daniel Pimlott, Director Governance & Stability 

Daniel Pimlott is an experienced leader of major international projects. He leads on our projects focused on accountable governments, open societies, public service delivery, illicit finance and anti-corruption and as well as security sector reform, conflict reduction and prevention, peacebuilding and strategic communications. He has broad experience of designing and delivering large value UK and other donor projects, often in the most challenging operating conditions. Prior to taking on his role as Director of Governance and Stability, Dan oversaw all ASI’s work in the MENA region and Afghanistan. Before he joined ASI, Dan was a journalist at The Financial Times.

Jalpa Patel, CEO ASI

• Interim CEO then CEO since Nov 2020
• Joined ASI in 2008 and former Director of Governance
• Extensive experience of working on impactful public sector governance programmes across Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
• Prior to ASI, Jalpa worked for the World Bank and UK Department for International Development.

Layth Bunni, Non-Executive Director

• Joined ASI in 2011 as COO and was promoted to CEO in 2016
• CEO experience in the public and private sector since 1998 where Layth became the first CEO of a UK Urban Regeneration company –  Liverpool Vision
• In addition to this senior management experience Layth has directed a number of prominent international development projects in Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Libya.

Harry Kendell, ASI Director

• Harry first joined ASI in 2008 to form our South Asia practice
• He led the growth of a significant part of the business securing and delivering a suite of major programmes
• A trade economist by background, Harry has extensive experience working in the international development sector in a range of roles

Tim Mitchell, Chairman

• For over 20 years, Tim has built and managed businesses focused on enabling clients to operate in the world’s most demanding and complex environments
• Founder and former CEO of Iqarus, an independent subsidiary of International SOS
• Prior to founding Iqarus, Tim was CEO of FrontierMedex, G4S Risk Management, and Kroll Security International

Baptiste Vaissié, Director

• Baptiste has served as International SOS’ group Chief Financial Officer since 2019
• Prior to this he spent 11 years working for Oaktree Capital Management
• Qualifications in accounting and finance

Nichola Crail, Head of Internal Audit

Nichola, (Nicki) joined ASI as Head of Internal Audit in 2017, becoming our Head of Audit and Investigations in 2021. A qualified accountant, Nicki is a career risk and assurance professional, working in the humanitarian and international development sectors for the last 10 years, having spent 5 years at Save the Children UK and International. She has travelled extensively, completing audits and investigations in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, South Asia and Asia Pacific. Prior to moving ‘in-house’, Nicki worked as a Director at Grant Thornton leading it’s UK Midlands risk assurance not-for-profit team and working as the Transformation Director (Senior Civil Servant Grade) of the Risk Assurance Division at the Department for Work and Pensions. Nicki, who started her career with the Audit Commissions, is a Historical Studies graduate from Sheffield Hallam University.

Morgan Rothwell, Head of Adam Smith US

Morgan has been with ASI since 2015 and was the Private Sector Development Coordinator prior to his appointment as Head of Business Development in 2017. He has worked to secure some of ASI’s most interesting projects for a range of donors across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He currently heads ASI’s India office in Delhi. Prior to joining ASI, Morgan worked at PwC where he managed programmes in the private sector and for the Department for International Development. Morgan is a Political Science graduate with an MA from the University of Bath, SciencesPo Paris and Charles University Prague and a BA from McGill University.

Karim Megarbane, Head of Adam Smith EU

Karim oversees all of ASI’s EU- and EU Member States-funded project activities and business development efforts. Since joining the company in 2016, he helped build a significant EU project portfolio as well as internal capacities to deliver these contracts. In 2017, he led the creation of Adam Smith Europe, the Group’s Amsterdam-based subsidiary, of which he is a director. Prior to joining ASI, Karim designed post-conflict stabilisation programmes in central Africa at Expertise France, and managed multiple public administration reform programmes in the MENA region on behalf of the French Prime Minister’s international development unit. Karim holds an MA in Development Economics from the University of Manchester and a BA in Political Science from the University of Montreal.

Nick Parkhill, Head of Adam Smith Pakistan

Nick leads ASI’s work in Pakistan and is our global lead on Sustainability. Nick’s professional background is in strategy consulting, with technical expertise in corporate sustainability and government change. Since joining ASI from Accenture in 2014, Nick has worked in Nigeria and Southern Africa managing large and politically complex UK government programmes in Climate Change and Infrastructure Finance. In 2017 he transitioned into the role of Head of Sustainable Impact to support ASI’s evolution to become a B Corp. Since 2020, Nick has been based in Pakistan, firstly as Deputy Team Leader on the FCDO-funded SEED programme, moving to lead the country platform in 2021, with a consulting portfolio of over £60m at this time. He is passionate about bringing climate finance to meaningful projects in Pakistan – to help the most vulnerable to become more resilient to the effects of climate change. Prior to ASI, Nick worked at Accenture, a small boutique strategy consultancy, and supporting multiple NGOs in the UK and internationally.

Alex Elphinstone, Africa Project Director

Alex joined ASI in 2006 and has directed a number of ASI’s biggest programmes around the Africa region. He has focused predominantly on agricultural development, market systems development and climate change, as well as a youth employment and anti-corruption. Alex is an Africa regional expert having spent fifteen years working on the continent, predominantly in commercial agriculture businesses. During this time he worked for major multinationals and founded and ran an agribusiness in Uganda from 2012-2016.

Nicholas Haslam, Head of Climate Change

Nicholas is the Head of Adam Smith International’s Climate Change Practice, with 15 years’ experience designing and delivering climate mitigation and adaptation, sustainable finance, and policy initiatives in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. He brings skills in analysis, strategy development, government and development partner and engagement and coalition building, and project design, delivery and oversight. Much of his recent work lies in enabling environment reform and capacity development, setting the conditions for climate action and finance mobilisation. He is currently Director for the UK-Nigeria Climate Finance Accelerator, Africa Green Finance Coalition, a climate finance scoping study in Pakistan and a green buildings project in Nigeria.

Michael Everard, Head of Business Development

Michael is responsible for managing ASI’s global pipeline of new opportunities. He works closely with teams across the company to devise business growth strategies for each of our services and geographies. He has an MA in International Relations from King’s College, London, and a BA in Theology from Cardiff University.

Ilmari Soininen, Principal Manager, Economic Development Team

Ilmari leads ASI’s private sector growth practice and brings extensive experience in impact-driven programmes focused on investment facilitation, enabling environment reform and trade policy. He has worked with governments, donors and business across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, delivering projects for clients including the FCDO, European Investment Bank and TradeMark East Africa.

Prior to joining ASI, Ilmari was an Economist with the World Economic Forum, working as part of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, a $60 million, public-private programme to support ambitious trade facilitation reform across emerging markets.