Mark Hamlin is Chair of Project 44, Lewis Hamilton’s management company.
Born in Johannesburg, Mark was deputy Chairman of Cable and Wireless Communications plc. For the last eight years, Mark has acted as an advisor to a global humanitarian organisation headquartered in New York.
Ajaz founded the design company AKQA aged 21. Today, AKQA is one of the world’s most awarded agencies. With clients that include Nike, Apple and LVMH, AKQA employs around 6,000 people around the world. AKQA is also the winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation.
Ajaz won the Spear’s Impact Award for Philanthropy in 2022 for the contribution of his charitable foundation ajaz.org. He also serves on the board of trustees for non-profit organisations including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Virgin Unite, and The Royal Foundation’s Mental Health Innovations. He was made an MBE in 2018. Ajaz has published three books and his essays and publications are available here.
Ajaz has extensive marketing and communications experience as well as experience on the Board of a grantmaking organisation.
Aziza Ajak is currently Vice Principal and a science teacher at a school in London. She’s had the chance to be part of the founding leadership team of a new school and has helped to establish the school as one of the best in the borough. Aziza’s recent voluntary experience includes being a trustee on the Teach First Board.
Aziza grew up in an environment similar to those of the young people Mission 44 seeks to serve. A successful school experience led her to successfully complete graduate and postgraduate qualifications at universities like Durham and Imperial College. As a result, she’s passionate about the transformative power of education.
Dawid is Co-Founder of Redington, Mallowstreet and 10,000 Black Interns.
Dawid qualified as a barrister and spent 16 years in investment banking. He was named Black British Business Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018 and is on the Prime Minister’s Business Council 2022.
He is passionate about mentoring young people and helping them learn to speak confidently in public so that they can tell their story and ‘hold the room spellbound’. He believes that every child needs in their life at least one adult who is irrationally crazy about them.
Anne is Vice President, Content at Netflix UK, where she leads the teams across all genres. Prior to this, she was Director of Drama and Sky Studios at Sky UK, Head of Independent Drama at the BBC and Head of Drama for BBC Scotland. She oversees all Netflix UK commissions including BAFTA, Emmy & Golden Globe award winning Netflix drama The Crown and BAFTA award winning Netflix series Sex Education.
Anne is a trustee of Into Film, as well as a member of the 2018 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Anne was named Britain’s third most influential Black person in The Powerlist 2023.
Anne has experience in the creative industries as well as experience of organisational growth.
Izzy Obeng is an entrepreneur and business consultant. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Foundervine. At Foundervine, Izzy leads a consultancy for creating systemic change in entrepreneurship. Foundervine has launched accelerators in the UK that support early-stage companies, providing entrepreneurs from under-represented communities with mentorship, training, and access to capital. By 2022, Foundervine had helped over 5,000 leaders to start, scale new businesses or raise capital.
Izzy acts as an Advisor to Lloyds Banking Group, Big Issue Invest & Unltd. She has been featured in the BBC, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and in 2022, Izzy was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Impact.
Matthew Otubu is a Senior Strategist at the Cabinet Office, where he collaborates with fellow civil servants across the UK Government to plan and coordinate the design, development and delivery of the Prime Minister’s domestic and foreign policy priorities through strategic communications and campaigns.
In addition to Mission 44, Matthew volunteers as a Board Member at NCG Corporation – the leading nationwide group of seven colleges enabling social mobility and economic prosperity
through exceptional further and higher education.
Hayaatun is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation.
She chairs the government’s Business Innovation Forum and St. Andrews Prize for the Environment and co-chaired with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on Black representation in UK motorsport.
Hayaatun is NXD at Laing O’Rourke and the UNBOXED festival; trustee of EngineeringUK and Foundation for Science & Technology; member of the Levelling Up Advisory Council; and advisor to EQL:HER and Lloyd’s Register Foundation. She has been named as one of the ten most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech. She has a PhD in Biochemistry and was made CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019.
Jason is CEO of Mission 44. After starting his career as a teacher in East London, he has held leadership roles in the non-profit sector, including at Teach First, the #iwill campaign and Youth Futures Foundation. Jason also served as a senior local councillor in London. He holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford and a Masters in Education from the University of Cambridge.
Yeonju is Fundraising Manager at Mission 44. With 5 years of non-profit development experience, she brings a wide range of expertise and knowledge spanning grassroots collective giving and government grants. Prior to moving to London, Yeonju called Chicago home and was active in her community as the Co-Chair of Young Women’s Giving Council and Programme Committee Member of Chicago Foundation for Women.
Beatrice is a Partnerships Manager, who manages relationships within Mission 44’s education pillar and will be playing a key role in developing our reimagining education strand. Beatrice’s background is in fundraising within the international development sector with a strong passion for girls education and gender based violence.
Xavier is Digital Communications Officer at Mission 44, responsible for content production, brand and managing our social media channels. Xavier previously worked in the non-profit sector at social mobility charity upReach, before joining Mission 44 in July 2022. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in History.
Hannah is Operations Manager and Executive Assistant at Mission 44, supporting the CEO and Head of Operations and Finance. She previously held roles at The Jo Cox Foundation and Ark, after graduating from Durham University with a degree in History and Education in 2018.
Cara is Director of Impact at Mission 44, leading on our grantmaking, research, evaluation and advocacy work. Cara started her career in the private sector at Procter and Gamble, and has held various senior leadership positions over the last 15 years, most recently serving as the CEO of a youth justice charity and before that, as Head of Business Development for Teach First.
Sharon is Head of Impact at Mission 44, responsible for overseeing our grant-making approach. She has a long history in grant-making, having worked for The National Lottery Community Fund, Children in Need and Youth Futures Foundation amongst others. She is Vice Chair of the Co-op Foundation and as a proud northerner also sits on the Board of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity.
Rob is COO at Mission 44. Having started his career as a grantmaker, Rob then spent over 15 years as a British diplomat, serving overseas in Brazil, France and as High Commissioner in Malta. Most recently he was COO at purpose-driven communications consultancy Social. Rob is passionate about enabling organisations to maximise their positive social and environmental impact.
Aisha is Team Coordinator at Mission 44, responsible for supporting the Finance and Operations team with office management, HR and governance. Aisha previously worked in Operations for a non-profit organisation known for tackling environmental change. She holds a BA (Hons) in Politics from Goldsmiths University.
Katie helps lead on Mission 44’s grantmaking and activities to enable pathways for young people into STEM and the creative industries, as well as, work towards a diverse and inclusive motorsport sector. She brings over 10 years experience working across sectors building entrepreneurial, equitable and collaborative approaches to social impact. Katie is also a member of the Social Innovation Advisory Council to the Government of Canada.
Amy is Senior Communications Manager at Mission 44, leading the organisation’s communications and engagement programme. Amy has over a decade of experience in the non-for-profit sector, with a particular focus on young people, collaborating with global brands on multimedia change-making campaigns. Amy graduated from the University of Bath with a BSc in Sociology.
Olivier is Head of Finance and Operations. He has worked in the private and public sector, in France and the UK, and has been a theatre producer for many years. Olivier is a Chartered Accountant and recently held finance roles at Somerset House Trust, Soho Theatre and Artsadmin. He holds a Master’s degree in Executive Engineering and is currently doing an MBA at Warwick Business School. He is also the Vice-Chair of Talawa Theatre Company and a Trustee of Paines Plough.
As a Partnerships Manager, Deshni manages relationships with Mission 44’s portfolio of funded partners and plays a key role delivering our progressive grant-making programmes. Based in Bristol, Deshni holds a passion for music and advocating for equality. Outside of Mission 44, Deshni sits on the Board for Saffron, a music tech initiative working to re-address the gender imbalance in the industry.
Tom is External Relations Coordinator at Mission 44. Tom comes from a sporting background where he has both playing and coaching experience at the pro level. He has held roles in Diversity and Inclusion and social change through sport and activity. Tom also holds a BA (Hons) in Sports Management.
Stephanie is Senior Development Officer at Mission 44 and an Associate Sporting Director for Team X44. Stephanie is a former Senior Trackside Fluid Engineer who co-managed the Petronas Trackside Laboratory. Prior to Petronas, she was an asset care engineer at BASF PLC, where she was responsible for asset reliability and the general coordination of asset management plans.
Sophie is Senior Research and Evaluation Manager at Mission 44, leading on the development of our impact and evaluation framework and cultivating a culture of continual learning, curiosity and improvement both within our organisation and more broadly. Sophie held previous roles at Turn2us and Unlocked Graduates where she designed and delivered various evaluation projects. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with an MA in Political Economy.
Sarah is Director of External Relations and a member of Mission 44’s Senior Leadership Team. With 20 years’ experience in Fundraising, Communications and Engagement, Sarah has held previous roles at global organisations, including UNICEF, ActionAid and International Rescue Committee. She also serves on the Board of STIR Education.
Coming from across the UK with a broad range of expertise, our Youth Advisory Board members are at the heart of everything we do, collectively helping us to reimagine the future and transform the lives of young people from underserved communities.
