The Q•Learning Nepal Trust CIO
Kangchenjunga View Villa was funded by the UK-based charity Q.Learning Nepal Trust CIO to provide income generation through visiting schools, volunteers and tourists. All the income from the villa is used to support the two schools in the village of Hangdewa which the Trust founded in 2007.
Q·Learning Nepal Trustees bring a wealth of understanding of good business practices, good governance and global standards of education. This enables us to ensure that 98% of money donated funds schools in Hangdewa and environs and this translates into children who can achieve their potential. We are proud of what they have achieved.
We believe that education is the corner-stone to a fairer world and can allow the village to continue its way of life. The Q·Learning Nepal Trust CIO funds a quality education and the villagers choose how the village and their children develop so that this harmonious, diverse and beautiful place maintains its culture and uniqueness whilst lifting itself out of poverty.
Lesley Warburton
Charity Founder and Chair of Trustees
Grammar School educated with a degree from Birmingham University, Lesley was born into a family who never went hungry, and she could choose the career she wanted. After a time in Human Resources (HR) and Organisational Development (OD) in the electricity generation and supply, and nuclear industries, Lesley trained in Group Analytic Psychotherapy and other coaching methodologies and spent 14 years self-employed as a consultant in change management and OD whilst bringing up Clare and Edward. When they reached secondary school, in 1997, she started Q·Learning Ltd www.qlearning.com with Karen Cove and Mike Cheeseman and became the Managing Director.
In 2009, after the Q·Learning series of books ‘Be your best…and beyond’ was published, she had a week’s work postponed at short notice and, exhausted, googled ‘where in the world is without a mobile phone signal’…and ended up meeting Moti Bhattarai in Nepal. Whilst trekking around Annapurna, she saw the need for young people to have improved life chances and agreed to build a school in Hangdewa. It has been one of the greatest privileges of her life. She works closely with the Headmaster and other teachers, bringing resources, learning, volunteers and opportunities to the schools, as well as strategic plans and so has recently given up running Q·Learning in the UK.
Karen Cove
Trustee – Makes things happen with Energy, Trust and Integrity
Karen and her family have visited the school over the years and they have financially helped to support it from the beginning. Karen is the Managing Director of Q•Learning Ltd, manages the largest Organisational Development Projects and works with clients across both the Public and Private Sectors.
Whilst Karen has a degree in Sport, it is her qualifications in OD, coaching and management that guide her every day.
Mike Cheeseman
Trustee – Provides a depth of business advice and support few can equal
Mike has a degree in Pure Physics and his career started as a research scientist then evolved into IT. Mike set up and ran QA Training and it became one of the fastest growing UK companies and the largest IT Training company in Europe. After its sale, he became a non-executive director for several young companies operating in the IT and education sectors. He was involved in education for many years, serving as Chair of Governors for a primary school and a 6th Form College. He is currently the non-executive chairman of Q.Learning Ltd.
His wisdom and understanding of governance has inspired all the good practices embedded in the Q·Learning Nepal Trust.
JULIA MULLER
Trustee – Creative Ideas Combined with Technological Expertise
Julia was born in the mountains of Austria and is now living in the U.K. and is part of the management team of K3 business technologies as Chief Customer Success Officer. Julia brings extra breadth of expertise in both digital marketing and tourism. Julia has had a career in Digital Marketing/eCommerce which then branched out into Account Management and Customer Success. For over 15 years she has worked with international brands across technology, marketing tech, eCommerce and payment industries with her most recent roles being with Emarsys, Digital River and Qubit where she was Vice President of Customer Success.
Julia brings extra breadth of expertise in digital marketing, commerce across borders and tourism, all of which she will use to help with fundraising for the schools in Hangdewa.
Tom Crawford
Trustee – Grower of Businesses and People
Tom has grown public companies fast for the past 25 years in the UK, USA and world-wide. He has made his own luck and will be an energetic and innovative fundraiser. As president and CEO of Aptitude Software, the company donated computers and people to install them and to provide support over several years. This has proved to be a game-changer: not only have the children been able to learn skills for the 21st century, but his sponsorship has also provided them with a window on the world beyond the Eastern Himalayas.
The school now has undergraduate software engineers and all children love their practical IT lessons (most of Nepali children learn the theory only without ever having access to real computers). As a Chartered Accountant, he also brings a rigour to the CIO and an understanding of just how much money matters!
ROY BLATCHFORD CBE
Trustee – Promoter of Sparkling Classrooms
Roy’s professional life began in publishing – and he has never stopped writing. He started truanting from office life to teach in H.M Prison Brixton. From there he has spent a lifetime in early years settings, schools, colleges and universities, enjoying the wonderful double-act that is teaching and learning. From his home in Oxford, Roy has visited over 15,000 classrooms across the world and has a passion for promoting what he calls ‘sparkling classrooms’. He has led a number of schools, set up two national charities in the UK, advises governments, and currently serves on a number of Boards.
One thing he has learned about global education: you can’t take one country’s ways of doing and expect them to work in another. The trick is to beg, borrow and steal best practices and shape them to a particular setting. And that is what he requires the schools in Hangdewa to do.