James Woodward

Founder & Chairman

James is the Chairman of Kickstart in Australia and the UK, one of the co-founders of Familia Moja Children’s Centre and a trustee of Nanga Organisation (our Kenyan NGO partner). Outside of Kickstart, James has worked full time for the past 13 years at KPMG and is currently the firm’s East Africa Market Lead for the infrastructure sector, based in Kenya. James is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Business. James has been awarded an Australian Leadership Award for his work with Kickstart.

David Allan

Director and Secretary

David is the Kickstart Kids representative to the Nanga Finance Committee which reviews and approves all finance activities at Oltourto. David is a member of Kickstart Australian and UK boards, and has been the treasurer of Kickstart’s UK operations since September 2012. David is a Chartered Accountant and is currently on the management team at MrGrath Real Estate.

David has worked with the UK board to get tax deductibility for Kickstart in multiple European countries. If you have questions re donating through our European platforms, please contact David: david.allen@kickstartkidsinternational.com

Daniel Street

Director

Daniel Street is a strategist for the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC). Prior to joining IFC, Daniel worked as a consultant to the Gates Foundation, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. After completing a Masters in Development at the University of Cambridge as a recipient of the Chevening Scholarship, Daniel worked as a Development Advisor to Australia’s former Foreign Minister, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP. He is also a former award-winning journalist for the Nine Network Australia Pty. Ltd. where he focused on wide-ranging global development issues. Throughout Daniel’s professional career he has worked with numerous charitable organisations in championing the rights and needs of the poor.

Alexandra Schebesta

Treasurer

In her role as treasurer, Alex is responsible for financial control and reporting over Kickstart’s activities in accordance with various regulatory frameworks. Alex is a chartered accountant with over nine years experience working in tax, business services and audit and has been with BDJ Partners in North Sydney since 2004. She previously graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting. Alex has also been associated with other not for profit organisations within Australia; she served for seven years on the committee of Dressage NSW Inc and is currently the accountant for Gunawirra Limited, an organisation which focuses on improving the welfare and education of aboriginal children between the ages of 0 – 5 years across NSW.

Ariel Hersh

Director

Since late 2014 Ariel has been supporting the Olturoto Children’s Village team develop new local income streams – in line with one of Kickstart’s core philosophies of financial sustainability. Ariel holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and Commerce from UNSW and is a Senior Business Analyst at A.T. Kearney. Ariel also has multiple leadership experiences in the non-for profit sector, recently travelling to Cambodia to assist in the local microfinance industry.