Chris Whatley
Executive Director, HALO USA
Leadership team
Meet the team leading HALO, and discover the wealth of experience they bring to our organization.
Since our humble beginnings in 1988, the HALO family has grown to employ over 8,000 staff around the world.
We're fortunate to have some exceptional leaders spearheading our global efforts.
HALO USA
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Kristen Stevens
Head of Congressional Affairs and Strategic Engagement, HALO USA
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Diana Tatili
Head of Philanthropy, HALO USA
Chris Whatley
Executive Director, HALO USA
Chris Whatley joined HALO as Executive Director of HALO USA in June 2019.
Prior to HALO, Chris served as Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States. Chris previously served as Deputy Executive Director of The Council of State Governments (CSG) and began his career as a field-based officer for the International Republican Institute (IRI), leading programmes in Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Kristen Stevens
Head of Congressional Affairs and Strategic Engagement, HALO USA
Kristen joined HALO Trust in 2017 while finishing her Master's of Public Administration at American University. Previously, Kristen taught argumentation and public speaking courses in the Communication Studies Department at Western Washington University and coached the school's competitive debate team. Drawing from a background in politics and the non-profit sector, Kristen now manages HALO's Congressional advocacy and public policy engagement in the US.
Diana Tatili
Head of Philanthropy, HALO USA
Diana joined HALO in 2019, bringing 24 years of experience in philanthropy and programming from several prominent organisations. She started her career with two different UN agencies in Albania and Kosovo, where she worked first-hand in humanitarian relief. She is very passionate about mine action post-conflict.
At HALO, she oversees plans for US philanthropy and communications, manages foundation and corporate partners, and works closely with executive leadership.
Executive Committee
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James Cowan
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
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Adam Jasinski
Chief Operating Officer
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Rob Thomson
Chief Strategy Officer
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Mick Darby
Chief Finance Officer
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Chris Whatley
Executive Director, HALO USA
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Lydia Davies
Chief of Staff
James Cowan
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
James Cowan was a soldier.
He joined The Black Watch from Oxford in 1986, serving in Berlin, Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Hong Kong. He helped plan the Kosovo operation in 1999, and he commanded in Iraq in 2004 and 2006. He planned the military Olympic security operation of 2012.
In 2015 he become HALO's CEO.
Adam Jasinski
Chief Operating Officer
Adam joined HALO in 2008 and worked on operations in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Georgia, Afghanistan, Mozambique and Ukraine before moving to HALO's Washington office as Executive Director in 2016.
His focus moved back to operations in 2019 when he joined the Capability department. He was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2025.
Before joining HALO, Adam worked as a journalist at the BBC. He has studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Tbilisi State University and King's College London.
Rob Thomson
Chief Strategy Officer
Rob joined the Army from Cambridge and served for 35 years.
He was an operational soldier for most of his career, serving on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. He then became more of a soldier diplomat, working in the British Embassy in Paris and then as the Administrator of the UK's Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.
After a spell running a communications coaching and training consultancy in London, he worked as an adviser, mostly in Africa. He joined HALO as Chief Strategy Officer in April 2025.
Mick Darby
Chief Finance Officer
Mick joined HALO as Director of Finance in April 2017, and became Chief Finance Officer in 2025.
He brings a wealth of public, private and not-for-profit experience to HALO, including finance, project management and logistics.
Mick is a keen weekend golfer and enjoys spending time with his family.
Chris Whatley
Executive Director, HALO USA
Chris Whatley joined HALO as Executive Director of HALO USA in June 2019.
Prior to HALO, Chris served as Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States. Chris previously served as Deputy Executive Director of The Council of State Governments (CSG) and began his career as a field-based officer for the International Republican Institute (IRI), leading programmes in Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Lydia Davies
Chief of Staff
Lydia joined HALO in 2021, spending three years in Afghanistan as Head of Donor Relations, leading fundraising and partnership initiatives, and later serving as Chief of Staff there. She then supported HALO's programmes across Africa as Regional Grants Manager before being appointed global Chief of Staff in 2025.
Prior to HALO, Lydia worked with humanitarian and development organisations in Iraq and Cambodia. She holds a BA (Hons) in Modern History and International Development, and an MA in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies.
Global directors
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Lorraine Hare
Director of Global Philanthropy and Corporate Partnerships
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James Denselow
Director of Strategy
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Louise Vaughan
Global Head of Strategic Communications
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Dan Dickinson
Director of Information Systems
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Michael Nevard
Director of Transformation
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Alice Unwin
General Counsel
Lorraine Hare
Director of Global Philanthropy and Corporate Partnerships
Lorraine joined HALO in 2026. She's an impact-driven fundraising leader with experience in both the UK and US across the higher education, health, animal welfare, and humanitarian sectors. She is passionate about authentic, relationship-led fundraising that increases supporters' experiences to drive income growth and impact.
In her spare time, Lorraine enjoys swimming, travelling, and cuddling dogs.
James Denselow
Director of Strategy
James joined HALO in April 2024 as Global Head of Policy and Advocacy, and became Director of Strategy in August 2025.
He has spent more than 20 years working on and in the Middle East, including time living in Syria and Lebanon. Prior to joining HALO, he worked at Chatham House, MAP, Crisis Action and Save the Children. He's a contributing author to 'An Iraq of its Regions: Cornerstones of a federal democracy' and 'America and Iraq: Policy-making, intervention and regional politics since 1958', and a Fellow at the Centre for Syrian Studies.
Louise Vaughan
Global Head of Strategic Communications
Louise has worked in the media and charity communications for 25 years, starting her career at BBC Radio Scotland and then Scotland on Sunday. She reported from Brazil for the Independent before becoming an editor at The Sunday Times.
Since 2004 she has worked for a number of NGOs in the human security field. She joined HALO in 2015 and holds an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from the University of Leeds.
Dan Dickinson
Director of Information Systems
Dan joined HALO in 2025 to lead our expanding Information Systems function.
Dan has had a 25+ year career in information systems and technology, from running helpdesks to being an information systems director and everything in-between. He has commercial experience in large global corporates and small-scale, rapid-growth start-ups, as well as working with not-for-profit organisations – his most recent role being at Amnesty International where he headed up enterprise solutions.
Michael Nevard
Director of Transformation
Michael joined HALO in 2007 and completed operational training before taking on roles in Afghanistan and Angola. He then moved to a global research and development position, which involved developing and testing equipment and techniques for clearance of landmines and other explosive hazards across HALO's global operations.
Michael has had long involvement with the development of HALO’s training, procedures, safety systems and information management. He has a MMath in Mathematics.
Alice Unwin
General Counsel
Alice is HALO's General Counsel and Company Secretary. Alice is responsible for HALO's global legal affairs and provides strategic legal advice to HALO's CEO, Trustees and leadership team. In addition, Alice oversees governance and risk management.
Alice joined HALO from BDB Pitmans LLP, where she specialised in supporting clients with charity law and governance matters. In that role Alice advised HALO for over 10 years, as well as international NGOs, public bodies, philanthropists and corporate foundations.
Programmes group
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Andrew Moore
Regional Director MENA
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Lucy Reeve
Regional Director Africa and the Americas
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Fiona Kilpatrick-Cooper
Director of Weapons and Ammunition Management
Andrew Moore
Regional Director MENA
Andrew has worked for HALO since 2005. He has managed demining operations in Mozambique, Angola, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Georgia. In his previous role as Regional Director for Europe, Andrew was responsible for developing private fundraising for Kosovo and Nagorno Karabakh, and from 2017 to 2020 he was Director of Private Fundraising and Communications.
Andrew is a former professional opera singer.
Lucy Reeve
Regional Director Africa and the Americas
Lucy joined HALO in 2017 and completed operations training in Cambodia, Somaliland, Georgia and Abkhazia. She was then posted to Afghanistan, Cambodia and Libya, overseeing the delivery of projects in mine clearance, weapons and ammunition management and IED clearance. In 2021 she became Chief of Staff, and became Regional Director for HALO's Africa programmes in 2025.
Before joining HALO, Lucy worked in sustainable travel and international development. She has a BA Hons in Chinese, an MPhil in racial and ethnic conflict, and is a visiting fellow at The University of Oxford.
Fiona Kilpatrick-Cooper
Director of Weapons and Ammunition Management
Fiona joined HALO's Côte d'Ivoire programme in 2014, managing large-scale demolitions, weapons destruction, and construction of weapons and ammunition storage facilities. She went on to manage programmes in Sri Lanka and Laos, later becoming HALO's Head of Training then Head of Region for the Balkans and South Caucasus. In 2024, Fiona became Director of WAM Operations.
Before joining HALO, Fiona taught bomb disposal in Afghanistan after spending nine years as a British Army Ammunition Technician.
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