Our Team
With extensive experience in supporting locally-led development across the globe, our staff and board are uniquely qualified to activate power inside communities through World Connect's co-investment model and drive progress in education, health, economic opportunity, and environment.
Who We Are
Staff
Natacha Scott-Weiss
Executive Director, World Connect UK
Natacha became the Executive Director for World Connect UK (also covering Europe) after previously working as a Partner Liaison for World Connect since 2017. She is an expert on refugee rights and development impact analysis with a special focus on gender issues. In the 1990s, Natacha worked as Senior Advocate for Refugees International in Africa, both in West Africa and the Great Lakes region, and served on their board from 2004 to 2021, including as Board Co-Chair. In 2001, Natacha founded and was the President of American Friends of the Bambi Homes Colombia for 10 years, a foundation focused on abandoned children in Colombia. In 2007, Natacha helped form Surgeons Overseas, an organization assisting surgical capacity in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Ghana. She serves on the board of The Reckoning Project, an organization devoted to investigation and accountability for war crimes in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza; the emeritus board of Refugees International; and the advisory board of Bata Children's Program. Natacha's three decades of experience include numerous missions throughout Africa and the Americas.
Who We Are
Board
World Connect's board brings experienced and celebrated leaders from a variety of industries together in a shared belief that global progress is most successful and cost-efficient when communities are trusted to lead development on their own terms.
Stephanie Cabot is half French, half American, and grew up in London, Paris, and New England. She attended Harvard University, where she studied international relations and comparative religion. Stephanie worked in Paris in investor relations, then in New York and London with JP Morgan. Her career as a literary agent began at WME in London, where she spent nine years and ran the office for the last five, before relocating to the U.S. Stephanie works at Susanna Lea Associates and represents global voices, social justice warriors, and bestselling and prize-winning fiction and nonfiction writers. Alongside George Biddle and James Hunt, she has been involved with World Connect for over twenty years.
Hafsat Abiola is the President of Women in Africa, the first international platform dedicated to the economic development and support of leading and high potential African women. She served as a member of the Ogun State cabinet where she pioneered the use of mobile phones to deliver cash grants to poor pregnant women to ensure their access to health centres for antenatal to post-natal care and worked on programmes to ensure inclusive growth to address high youth unemployment. Through her non-profit, the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), she has worked to promote a groundswell of exemplary women leaders and build pathways to public service for them. Motivated by women’s strength, Hafsat believes that the challenges facing the continent of Africa offer opportunities for women's leadership to emerge. She is one global councillors of the World Future Council; a recipient of several international awards, including the Vital Voices’ Public Service Award, Goi Peace Foundation Award, and the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leadership community, her work is a tribute to her parents who lost their lives while leading the democracy movement that brought an end to military rule in Nigeria in the ‘90s.
Kemal Ahmed has over 26 years of institutional asset management experience. He is currently a Partner with London-based CGM UK Advisors Ltd, a strategic investor in asset management firms. Prior to CGM, his experience includes institutional money management in senior roles for Ninety One Asset Management, Old Square Capital Advisors (an investment firm he founded), the Brown University Endowment and the World Bank Group's Treasury Department. He has extensive asset allocation, portfolio management, and manager selection skills.
His not-for-profit activities include having served (most recently) on the UK Board of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and previously on the boards of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Fund for Global Human Rights.
Kemal earned a MA, with distinction, from the Johns Hopkins University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Andrew Bedford is the 15th Duke of Bedford. He has been a supporter of World Connect's work since its founding in 2005. Andrew has run Bedford Estates since 1988 and Woburn Abbey since 2000. Andrew serves as Director of Tattersalls Limited, Woburn Estate Companies Limited, Woburn Enterprises Limited, and Jockey Club Estates. Andrew was educated at Heatherdown, Harrow, and Harvard, class of '84.
A professional coach and mediator based in Paris, Sara supports young people and adults at every stage of their professional journey: from early orientation to career development and retirement transitions. Her coaching practice focuses on helping individuals uncover their potential and align their talents with meaningful professional goals. Before establishing her coaching practice in 2005, Sara worked in communication consulting with a particular focus on internal communication and crisis management. This experience has given her a strong expertise in guiding individuals and organisations through moments of change and uncertainty.
Beyond her professional activities, Sara has been engaged in social impact for more than a decade. Since 2010, she has been volunteering with Secours Catholique in Paris, conducting night rounds to support homeless individuals and organising fundraising events. She also supports young people entering the job market through her involvement with Jeunes et Entreprises de la Défense.
Dr. Caroline Greenhalgh is a philanthropy leader, researcher and adviser with more than 20 years' experience working across the charitable and not-for-profit sectors. She is Executive Director and Co-Founder of Three Dimensional Impact Ltd (3DI), where she works with philanthropists, foundations and not-for-profit organisations to strengthen strategy, evidence, impact, and evaluation. Her particular interest is in how donors make decisions, how evidence is used in philanthropy, and how giving can be made more thoughtful and effective.
Earlier in her career, Caroline was Director of Development at The Childhood Trust and, before that, at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Charity. She has also held a range of governance and advisory roles, including serving on the Board of the Fund for Global Human Rights, chairing its European Development Board, and as a founding member of Human Rights Watch's Disability Advisory Committee. She is a member of the advisory board of The Rivers Forum and previously served on the fundraising board of the Liberal Democrats.
Caroline holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, where her research explored how ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists use evidence in their charitable decision-making, and holds an MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation from the University of Oxford. She was formerly an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford. Across her work, she is particularly interested in the relationship between evidence, values, and judgement in philanthropy and in helping individuals and organisations translate good intentions into meaningful impact.
After qualifying as a solicitor with Norton Rose, Kristina moved into banking, first with Svenska Handelsbanken and then with JP Morgan in London. She has a masters degree in environmental law, and from 2015-2022 she was a consultant solicitor with Richard Buxton Solicitors (environmental and public law).
A frequent visitor to East Africa, Kristina was a trustee of Kenya-based charity Friends of Karen Street Children for over a decade. From 2018-2026 she sat on board of the Foundation and Friends of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. She currently sits on DEFRA's Farming in Protected Landscape (Surrey Hills) Assessment Panel.
Kristina chaired Surrey Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE Surrey) from 2014-2022 and currently chairs Citizens Advice Mole Valley. She is a British citizen (Swedish mother) and lives close to London.
Jantiene T. Klein Roseboom van der Veer is an international board director with a career spanning the private, public, and non-profit sectors. She brings over a decade of senior executive leadership in corporate strategy, M&A, investor relations, and capital and debt markets at major global corporations, complemented by three years as a partner at a premier London-based capital markets advisory firm. Currently, she leverages her expertise to drive large-scale landscape and river restoration initiatives, forging and leading high-impact, cross-sector partnerships.
Alongside her executive work, Jantiene has developed a diverse portfolio of non-executive directorships and trusteeships. Central to her non-executive work is a commitment to exploring the intersections of the environment, human rights, music, and education to support human flourishing.
Notably, she served on the Board of Trustees of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew from 2017 to 2024, and continues to contribute her expertise as an Independent Member of the Audit and Risk Committee. She was also a trustee of the Kew Foundation from 2021 to 2026. Her commitment to the arts is reflected in past and present international trusteeships, supporting organisations that champion music as a universal language to promote peace and harmony.
With academic and professional roots in the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom, her multidisciplinary background bridges business administration, economics, and landscape architecture. She is an alumna of both Harvard Business School and London Business School.
Emmanuelle Lepic is French and currently lives in London. She is a ceramicist. Prior to her artistic career, Emmanuelle worked in commercial art galleries and as an exhibition organiser for the Tate Gallery and Serpentine Gallery in London. Since 2015 she has been involved with non for profit organisations focused on helping refugees in Greece and France and co founded in 2016 the non for profit organisation Relay for Refugees which supported education programs and raised funds for refugees in Europe.
Esme Lovell Smith is Senior Business Planning Manager at Value Retail PLC.
Join Us
Our Team
With extensive experience in supporting locally-led development across the globe, our staff and board are uniquely qualified to activate power inside communities through World Connect's co-investment model and drive progress in education, health, economic opportunity, and environment.
Who We Are
Staff
Natacha Scott-Weiss
Executive Director, World Connect UK
Natacha became the Executive Director for World Connect UK (also covering Europe) after previously working as a Partner Liaison for World Connect since 2017. She is an expert on refugee rights and development impact analysis with a special focus on gender issues. In the 1990s, Natacha worked as Senior Advocate for Refugees International in Africa, both in West Africa and the Great Lakes region, and served on their board from 2004 to 2021, including as Board Co-Chair. In 2001, Natacha founded and was the President of American Friends of the Bambi Homes Colombia for 10 years, a foundation focused on abandoned children in Colombia. In 2007, Natacha helped form Surgeons Overseas, an organization assisting surgical capacity in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Ghana. She serves on the board of The Reckoning Project, an organization devoted to investigation and accountability for war crimes in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza; the emeritus board of Refugees International; and the advisory board of Bata Children's Program. Natacha's three decades of experience include numerous missions throughout Africa and the Americas.
Who We Are
Board
World Connect's board brings experienced and celebrated leaders from a variety of industries together in a shared belief that global progress is most successful and cost-efficient when communities are trusted to lead development on their own terms.
Stephanie Cabot is half French, half American, and grew up in London, Paris, and New England. She attended Harvard University, where she studied international relations and comparative religion. Stephanie worked in Paris in investor relations, then in New York and London with JP Morgan. Her career as a literary agent began at WME in London, where she spent nine years and ran the office for the last five, before relocating to the U.S. Stephanie works at Susanna Lea Associates and represents global voices, social justice warriors, and bestselling and prize-winning fiction and nonfiction writers. Alongside George Biddle and James Hunt, she has been involved with World Connect for over twenty years.
Hafsat Abiola is the President of Women in Africa, the first international platform dedicated to the economic development and support of leading and high potential African women. She served as a member of the Ogun State cabinet where she pioneered the use of mobile phones to deliver cash grants to poor pregnant women to ensure their access to health centres for antenatal to post-natal care and worked on programmes to ensure inclusive growth to address high youth unemployment. Through her non-profit, the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), she has worked to promote a groundswell of exemplary women leaders and build pathways to public service for them. Motivated by women’s strength, Hafsat believes that the challenges facing the continent of Africa offer opportunities for women's leadership to emerge. She is one global councillors of the World Future Council; a recipient of several international awards, including the Vital Voices’ Public Service Award, Goi Peace Foundation Award, and the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leadership community, her work is a tribute to her parents who lost their lives while leading the democracy movement that brought an end to military rule in Nigeria in the ‘90s.
Kemal Ahmed has over 26 years of institutional asset management experience. He is currently a Partner with London-based CGM UK Advisors Ltd, a strategic investor in asset management firms. Prior to CGM, his experience includes institutional money management in senior roles for Ninety One Asset Management, Old Square Capital Advisors (an investment firm he founded), the Brown University Endowment and the World Bank Group's Treasury Department. He has extensive asset allocation, portfolio management, and manager selection skills.
His not-for-profit activities include having served (most recently) on the UK Board of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and previously on the boards of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Fund for Global Human Rights.
Kemal earned a MA, with distinction, from the Johns Hopkins University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Andrew Bedford is the 15th Duke of Bedford. He has been a supporter of World Connect's work since its founding in 2005. Andrew has run Bedford Estates since 1988 and Woburn Abbey since 2000. Andrew serves as Director of Tattersalls Limited, Woburn Estate Companies Limited, Woburn Enterprises Limited, and Jockey Club Estates. Andrew was educated at Heatherdown, Harrow, and Harvard, class of '84.
A professional coach and mediator based in Paris, Sara supports young people and adults at every stage of their professional journey: from early orientation to career development and retirement transitions. Her coaching practice focuses on helping individuals uncover their potential and align their talents with meaningful professional goals. Before establishing her coaching practice in 2005, Sara worked in communication consulting with a particular focus on internal communication and crisis management. This experience has given her a strong expertise in guiding individuals and organisations through moments of change and uncertainty.
Beyond her professional activities, Sara has been engaged in social impact for more than a decade. Since 2010, she has been volunteering with Secours Catholique in Paris, conducting night rounds to support homeless individuals and organising fundraising events. She also supports young people entering the job market through her involvement with Jeunes et Entreprises de la Défense.
Dr. Caroline Greenhalgh is a philanthropy leader, researcher and adviser with more than 20 years' experience working across the charitable and not-for-profit sectors. She is Executive Director and Co-Founder of Three Dimensional Impact Ltd (3DI), where she works with philanthropists, foundations and not-for-profit organisations to strengthen strategy, evidence, impact, and evaluation. Her particular interest is in how donors make decisions, how evidence is used in philanthropy, and how giving can be made more thoughtful and effective.
Earlier in her career, Caroline was Director of Development at The Childhood Trust and, before that, at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Charity. She has also held a range of governance and advisory roles, including serving on the Board of the Fund for Global Human Rights, chairing its European Development Board, and as a founding member of Human Rights Watch's Disability Advisory Committee. She is a member of the advisory board of The Rivers Forum and previously served on the fundraising board of the Liberal Democrats.
Caroline holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, where her research explored how ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists use evidence in their charitable decision-making, and holds an MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation from the University of Oxford. She was formerly an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford. Across her work, she is particularly interested in the relationship between evidence, values, and judgement in philanthropy and in helping individuals and organisations translate good intentions into meaningful impact.
After qualifying as a solicitor with Norton Rose, Kristina moved into banking, first with Svenska Handelsbanken and then with JP Morgan in London. She has a masters degree in environmental law, and from 2015-2022 she was a consultant solicitor with Richard Buxton Solicitors (environmental and public law).
A frequent visitor to East Africa, Kristina was a trustee of Kenya-based charity Friends of Karen Street Children for over a decade. From 2018-2026 she sat on board of the Foundation and Friends of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. She currently sits on DEFRA's Farming in Protected Landscape (Surrey Hills) Assessment Panel.
Kristina chaired Surrey Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE Surrey) from 2014-2022 and currently chairs Citizens Advice Mole Valley. She is a British citizen (Swedish mother) and lives close to London.
Jantiene T. Klein Roseboom van der Veer is an international board director with a career spanning the private, public, and non-profit sectors. She brings over a decade of senior executive leadership in corporate strategy, M&A, investor relations, and capital and debt markets at major global corporations, complemented by three years as a partner at a premier London-based capital markets advisory firm. Currently, she leverages her expertise to drive large-scale landscape and river restoration initiatives, forging and leading high-impact, cross-sector partnerships.
Alongside her executive work, Jantiene has developed a diverse portfolio of non-executive directorships and trusteeships. Central to her non-executive work is a commitment to exploring the intersections of the environment, human rights, music, and education to support human flourishing.
Notably, she served on the Board of Trustees of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew from 2017 to 2024, and continues to contribute her expertise as an Independent Member of the Audit and Risk Committee. She was also a trustee of the Kew Foundation from 2021 to 2026. Her commitment to the arts is reflected in past and present international trusteeships, supporting organisations that champion music as a universal language to promote peace and harmony.
With academic and professional roots in the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom, her multidisciplinary background bridges business administration, economics, and landscape architecture. She is an alumna of both Harvard Business School and London Business School.
Emmanuelle Lepic is French and currently lives in London. She is a ceramicist. Prior to her artistic career, Emmanuelle worked in commercial art galleries and as an exhibition organiser for the Tate Gallery and Serpentine Gallery in London. Since 2015 she has been involved with non for profit organisations focused on helping refugees in Greece and France and co founded in 2016 the non for profit organisation Relay for Refugees which supported education programs and raised funds for refugees in Europe.
Esme Lovell Smith is Senior Business Planning Manager at Value Retail PLC.