Founder and Trustee
Sita Schutt
Sita founded Prospero World in 2007 in response to growing interest in a donor recommendation service for international charitable work. Prior to this, she worked for 5 years as a lecturer in English in the UK and Turkey. Her international experience includes researching and assessing development projects in Thailand, Africa, India, the Philippines, Cambodia and Burma (Myanmar). Her special interest is in the Arts and Development.
Sita grew up in Geneva, read English at Oxford and then obtained her PhD from King's College, London. Sita is a trustee of PAN Arts Intercultural, Rainforest Concern, Refuge Productions and Swiss charity Fondation Veerni.
Sita is a bilingual English and French speaker.
Senior Consultant, Donor Advised Funds
Elizabeth Chatalas Benoit
Elizabeth holds a Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco. She began her career in the United States where she created fund development infrastructures for high profile American 501(c)(3) organisations working in the fields of women's leadership, social justice, the arts and environment.
Since moving to London from New York in 2006, Elizabeth has contributed her multi-sector experience and her philanthropic and fundraising expertise to support a number of social and educational causes. She joined Prospero World in 2017 as Manager of The Cornucopia Club.
Today, Elizabeth manages Prospero World's Donor Advised Funds, champions its Philanthropic educational initiatives, including Start Right and establishing Prospero World's collaboration with the London Business School.
Email: Elizabeth@ProsperoWorld.org
Social Media Consultant
Lucy James
Lucy James is the Founding Director of Pure Social, an agency offering tailor-made social media management and specialising in facebook ads. They only do Social Media so we do it really well. Lucy has been managing Prospero World's Social media since 2019.
Lucy, now a Facebook Ads Strategist, was formerly a solicitor in London's West End. Lucy has experience in dealing with a variety of clients from high net worth individuals, small businesses to large international corporates, providing creative problem solving with clear communication
Chair of Trustees
Debbie Fisher
Debbie is a solicitor with over 20 years’ experience. She is a partner in a boutique private client practice based in Norfolk which also involves her advising and administering several grant making charitable foundations, as well as acting for a number of individuals and trusts.
Debbie has been involved with Prospero World since its inception but more recently became a Trustee.
In her spare time, she enjoys the theatre (especially Shakespeare), visiting museums and art galleries around the world – and keeping her garden under control!
Trustee
Nadeem Shaikh
A visionary thought leader and innovator, Nadeem has over 25 years experience in financial services and information technology. As a pioneer in the Fintech industry, Nadeem is committed to driving the reinvention of the finance industry. He is focused on identifying markets in their most nascent stages, and partnering with promising entrepreneurs, as well as corporations, committed to realizing a new way to address our society’s needs.
Nadeem co-founded and was CEO at Anthemis, an early stage venture capital and advisory firm focused on Fintech. Prior to that, he was President at First Data Corporation, where he ran a billion dollar organization overseeing businesses in more than 50 markets. Prior to this, Nadeem was a senior executive at American Management System - a preeminent strategy and technology consulting firm.
Nadeem has served on the boards of leading edge startups including Bento, Currencycloud,Moven, Jumo, PayPerks. As a philanthropist, Nadeem is on board of Trustees of CARE UK, Pakistan’s largest educational foundation, and sits on the boards of African social enterprise Access Afya, focused on providing primary healthcare and Prospero World.
Trustee
Konstantin Sivokhin
Konstantin is an investor with 18 years of experience in financial services and investments. His main area of focus is manufacturers of highly engineered components for niche industrial applications in the US and Europe. Konstantin is a co-founder of Auctus Industries and is on the Board of Avantus Aerospace.
Prior to Auctus and Avantus, Konstantin worked at KPMG and the Investment Banking division of RBC Capital Markets in London.
Konstantin is a qualified accountant and a fellow member of the ACCA.
He speaks English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Advisor
Sayuri Aoyama
Sayuri works at Gojo & Company, a Japanese holding company of microfinance institutions in South and Central Asia, including Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India, and Tajikistan. With steadfast growth, Gojo is becoming one of the largest holding companies of inclusive financial institutions across the globe. Sayuri is responsible for debt fundraising for the group companies; she designs the funding with multinational agencies, development finance institutions, and impact-driven commercial investors in the US and Europe.
Before Gojo, Sayuri has more than 15 years of experience in fixed income, particularly in structured finance. She brought her debt capital market expertise to inclusive finance to channel the private sector capital to frontier markets.
Sayuri is also passionate about directing the private sector funds to charities and NGOs, where only grants and donations can make a difference.
Advisor
Mark Cheng
Mark Cheng is an impact investor who has invested in and raised capital for many charities and social enterprises in areas including education, healthcare, sustainable agriculture and clean energy. Mark is also a member of the Leadership Group at Ashoka, the global network of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. Ashoka supports more than 4,000 CEOs and founders of social sector organisations through its prestigious Fellowship program in over 90 countries.
Prior to joining Ashoka, Mark started his career as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in London. He is a guest lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong, and writes and speaks frequently on social entrepreneurship and finance. He is the author of the Social Investment Toolkit, a manual for start-up social entrepreneurs on how to raise investment. Mark is based in Hong Kong and London.
Advisor
Müge Kınacıoğlu
Müge Kınacıoğlu is a professor of International Relations. She completed her MA degrees in Political Science and in International Affairs at Marquette University, USA as a Fulbright scholar. She received her PhD from Bilkent University, Turkey. She was a visiting fellow at the European Institute and at the Centre for International Studies of the London School of Economics between 2004-2007. She has been a visiting scholar and a lecturer at Leiden University College (2018-2020).
She has published mainly on Turkish foreign policy, security issues, and politics and law of the use of force in Turkish Studies, International Relations, Uluslararası İlişkiler (International Relations Journal), Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Global Governance, International Affairs, among others. Currently, she is a lecturer at the Institute of Political Science in Leiden University.
Advisor
Richard McShee
Richard has been a friend of Prospero since its inception. He currently works at London-based fintech SquareBook, whose mission is to optimise the capital-raising process from series A right through to IPO and follow-ons. This is done through an innovative use of game theory, digitisation and the destruction of conflicts of interest.
Prior to SquareBook, Richard has worked at a number of early-stage tech businesses including Zurich’s Menu Technologies AG. He spent the bulk of his career on trading desks in Zurich at Lombard Odier and Credit Agricole, where he ran the Swiss equities desk servicing London institutions.
He has a particular interest in impactful agricultural tech solutions whose aim is to cut carbon emissions out of the food chain and has been an early investor in cultured meat technologies.
Richard grew up in Chicago and Geneva and now calls London home. He holds a masters degree from London Business School.
Company Secretary and Senior Consultant
Anna-Louisa Psarras
Anna-Louisa joined Sita in 2007 to help set up Prospero World. She has over 20 years of experience in international development, programme management, strategy, fundraising, communications, and financial management. Anna-Louisa has a special interest in logistics and crisis response. She has worked in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Anna-Louisa is responsible for the overall management of Prospero World. She oversees Financial and Governance matters including due diligence procedures, External Communications and Design (print and online), Fiscal Sponsorship, the Forum for Good Fellowship and Prospero World's relationships with Trusts and Foundations. She supports Donor Advised Funds.
She is a Director of Brightseeds Education CIC and 14MM CIC.
Anna-Louisa speaks English, Spanish and rusty Greek and lives in Madrid.
Email: Anna-louisa.psarras@prosperoworld.org
Senior Consultant, Fiscal Sponsorship
Agata Sivokhin
Agata is a former professional Ballroom and Latin dancer with many years of competing and teaching experience. Before joining Prospero Agata successfully ran her dance business for over 10 years.
After graduating from Bayes Business School and participating in international leadership programmes she has developed a strong interest in coaching and leadership training. Agata is a qualified Leadership Coach Practitioner recognised by the International Coach Federation (ICF).
At Prospero Agata is responsible for the Fiscal Sponsorship Programme, communications and digital platforms support.
Agata speaks English and Russian, while improving her Ukrainian and Polish.
Email: Agata.Sivokhin@ProsperoWorld.org
Financial Consultant
Fran Nichols
Fran is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 30 years’ industry experience. After qualifying with Deloitte Haskins & Sells London (now PricewaterhouseCoopers, London), she held senior financial positions with Hutchison Telecom and with Uniplex Ltd., a UK software house.
Prior to establishing FJ Consulting in 1995, she spent 4 years as Director of Finance for Gensia Automedics, an American owned Biotechnology company.
With her FJC team she specialises in assisting entrepreneurial businesses as these enterprises start up and mature.
Trustee
Penny Richardson
Penny is a City trained IP and commercial solicitor. She has worked as an in-house lawyer for multinational technology organisations over the last fifteen years, most recently in the Fintech industry.
She has a strong interest in social justice and the environment and over the years has volunteered with a number of charities and not for profit organisations working in these areas
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She has supported Prospero since its inception in 2007 and was delighted to join the Board of Trustees in February 2022.
In her spare time she is a keen amateur cellist and supporter of the Arts.
Trustee
Murray Shanks
Murray is a circuit judge. He hears serious criminal cases in the East End of London at Snaresbrook Crown Court and employment and freedom of information cases in Tribunals.
Until his appointment in 2009 he was a commercial and employment law barrister and he sat as a judge in the West Indies between 2000 and 2005.
Murray has been involved with Prospero World for eight years. Formerly he was a trustee of Crisis, the single homeless charity, for six years and a volunteer and trustee for the Fulham Legal Advice Centre for 20 years.
Apart from his time in the West Indies he has lived all his life in London.
Trustee
Alicia Eastman
Alicia Eastman is Co-Host of cult favorite podcast ‘Everything About Hydrogen’. She is the Co-founder and Board Director of leading green fuels company, InterContinental Energy (“ICE”). Alicia is currently developing hydrogen/ammonia policy, regulations, certification, external relations with industry regulators and trade groups as well as different UN bodies to establish best-in-class practices for renewable hydrogen companies and countries developing hydrogen road maps. She is a member of the McKinsey & Company Sustainability Advisory Council, and a UN ECE hydrogen expert.
For 25 years, she was a founding MD and Fund Manager of institutionally backed Asia Pacific Capital Fund II and the Mongolia Opportunities Fund. Alicia led global strategy, outsourcing, and acquisitions of biotech, pharma and specialty chemicals at Elan Biopharmaceuticals and was Vice President of Prudential Asia Infrastructure Mezzanine Capital Fund. She was a Founding Principal at NetFuel Ventures (acquired by UChicago) and has held international strategy and investment positions at Gemini, Lend Lease, and AirTouch International (Vodafone).
Alicia is a frequent speaker at green hydrogen, sustainability, shipping, and ammonia conferences and contributor to industry events and publications. She is on the Board of several charities and has been involved with Prospero World since it was founded in 2007.
Alicia holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Advisor
Vladimira Briestenska
Vladimira is an innovator, human systems architect and global ecosystems-builder. She has founded a design strategists group creating inclusive and diverse workplaces of tomorrow, The Timber.
Vladimira has a unique skill-set built on a diverse background in complexity thinking, organisational design, ecosystem development, diplomacy and human rights. Operating as a strategic advisor, over 10 years Vladimira has been engaging with fast-growth start-ups, impact businesses, technology and innovation ecosystems including governments across Europe, North America, Middle East and East Africa.
Recently, Vladimira has been leading the inclusive culture transformation for the global investment fund, Anthemis Group.
Vladimira is a frequent speaker on international forums and a Forbes contributor on topics related to inclusive workplaces, innovation technology ecosystems and Stanford’s life-design methodologies. She also serves on advisory boards of several social impact initiatives including Perry Talents and Prospero World.
Advisor
Riffi Khan
Riffi Khan is a Television Producer and Director with more than 15 years in the industry, and is also an established Media and Communications Consultant. As a film production consultant Riffi helps charities such as CARE Pakistan, Children of the Mekong, as well as brands to authentically and humanly tell their story through the power of film. As Head of Communication at The Big Life Project, Riffi works with young people to teach them important life skill such as speak up for themselves, clearly articulating themselves and speaking from the heart.
Riffi’s portfolio of hit primetime shows for ITV and Channel 4 have been viewed by audiences worldwide and include Hell’s Kitchen, Come Dine With Me and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here. She was instrumental in successfully rolling out popular Television formats globally from Canada and Poland to Cyprus, the Netherlands, South Africa and Latvia.
She graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE) and is based in London.
Advisor
Niall Marriott
Niall has spent the last 20 years providing consultancy services to government agencies, non-governmental organisations and companies on strategy development and implementation. A particular theme has been stakeholder engagement and cross-sector partnership, providing clients with a range of partnering facilitation, brokering and training services.
Niall has developed a close understanding of the role that cross-sector collaboration can play in delivering robust and sustainable business strategy, particularly in the context of entering new markets and operating environments.
A passionate concern of Niall’s is the need to apply the same rigour of thought and implementation to partnering as to any other aspect of business strategy and implementation. All too often, relationships billed as partnerships lack the resources and support required to deliver the flow and quality of benefits and outcomes intended either for business or development.
As an Associate of TPI, Niall has designed and delivered programmes for a range of organisations including for UNESCO on Partnerships for Education, and a programme on the extractives industry as a partner in development for BG Group
Advisor
Amélie de Marsily
Amélie de Marsily is deeply interested in people, teams, their growth, transformation and flourishing.
She is Head of Solution and Service Smart Infrastructure for Siemens in Paris. Before this she was the Academic Director for IE's Centre for Health, Well-being and Happiness in Madrid, having previously worked for over 20 years in IT as a lawyer and business leader.
Amélie holds an Executive Master in Positive Leadership and Strategy from IE, and trained at IE as a teacher for the Mindfulness Based Strategic Awareness intervention.
She lives in Paris.
OUR TEAM
Our experienced, dedicated, multi lingual team, draw on decades of experience in the Private, Public and Voluntary sectors. We combine our knowledge, experience, expertise and creativity to provide a tailor-made and unique offering to each of our partners and donors. Working together as a team, we pride ourselves on the robust, fully personalised offerings we provide to our partners who can be confident that they are receiving the highest level of service.
The heavy lifting is done on a daily basis by our all female, executive team. They are supported by our active Board of Trustees and a stellar Advisory Board.