BEHIND HOPELAND
The Founders
Nicholas Evans serves as CEO and Co-Founder of Hopeland, a young organization which advocates for vulnerable children around the world by testing and implementing innovative ways to prevent and solve the issue of family separation.
Prior to joining Hopeland in 2014, Nicholas spent ten years with Addaction, the largest organization for Drug and Alcohol treatment in the United Kingdom. His work has been cited by former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Nicholas is currently working on a number of exciting campaigns that demonstrate the benefit of a safe, loving family.
Deborra-lee Furness is an internationally acclaimed actress as well as a passionate advocate for vulnerable and abandoned children. Her humanitarian work for children is a driving force in her life. She is Patron of The Lighthouse Foundation for displaced children in Melbourne, Australia; a Global Ambassador for World Vision; Patron of the Bone Marrow Donor Institute for Children with Leukemia; Patron of International Adoption Families of Queensland. She founded National Adoption Awareness Week and Adopt Change in Australia, focusing on improving adoption programs, procedures and legislation, raising awareness and understanding of the issues of vulnerable children. In 2014 NAAW achieved the goal of new legislation being passed by the Australian government to greatly improve procedures surrounding adoption.
For her advocacy work she has been honored by The Joint Council USA and in 2013 was given the prestigious award of Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in Washington DC. Harlem Village Academies honored Deborra-lee and her husband Hugh for their philanthropy work in 2012. She was presented with the 2014 International Humanitarian Award in Utah by Mentors International. Also in 2015, Deborra-lee was honored in Washington as Advocate of the Year by Kidsave. And was named NSW Australian of the year, 2015. In March 2017 Deborra-lee received the United Nations Women for Peace Leadership Award and is a regular mainstage speaker at Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York City.
Deborra-lee is the co-founder of Hopeland, a platform that has been established to raise awareness around vulnerable and abandoned children. The mission of Hopeland is to put this issue front and center on the political and human rights agendas, globally. Mobilizing and influencing leaders across government, business and civil society, to create innovative solutions and policies that will ensure children will belong in a safe loving home.
The Staff
Andrew is Hopeland’s Campaign Director working on the Home and Family campaigns. Prior to joining Hopeland Andrew was a senior advisor at the UK House of Commons as Chief of Staff to an influential Member of Parliament. His MP sat on the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons and then subsequently became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, the then Secretary of State for the Home Department. Andrew’s role involved briefing and giving advice on this wide ranging policy area which in addition to policing and national security also included drug policy, immigration, and care for vulnerable children in the UK.
Additionally during his time in the UK Parliament Andrew worked on successful campaigns to increase infrastructure spending in his Representative’s district and across the UK; to improve healthcare provision for all; to better the lives of senior citizens; and to make government more representative of local needs. Furthermore he aided the passage of a Private Members Bill on Medical Innovation through the House of Commons and worked closely with senior Parliamentary authorities regarding renovation of the Palace of Westminster to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II. He also played a senior role on two winning General Election campaigns in the UK in a key marginal district.
He recently emigrated to the United States and lives with his wife Lisa in New Jersey.
The Board of Directors
Dennis Stratton is a dynamic facilitator, consultant, executive coach, and motivational speaker, with over 32 years’ experience in management consulting.
The primary purpose of Dennis' work is to assist individuals and organizations to achieve exceptional results in an environment of volatile and/or accelerating change. He believes solutions already reside within organizations and has developed high-impact methodologies for leaders, teams and organizations struggling with change yet in search for new ways to quickly respond.
Dennis’ reputation precedes him; getting underneath real problems, he is a proven catalyst for “stuck” organizations. He is an expert at interrupting business as usual and challenges ways of thinking, leading and designing an organization for successful change.
The genesis of Dennis’ interest in change leadership consulting came as Director of Information Resources for the Dun and Bradstreet Corporation. Faced with a daunting internal transformation project, Dennis chaired multiple task forces chartered with the fundamental redesign and implementation of new quality control systems, dynamic information systems, and recalibrated performance management systems.
Since 1989, as President of Stratton Consulting Group, LLC, Dennis has led comprehensive change interventions for organizations in diverse industries including healthcare, financial services, retail, technology, government and non-profit institutions.
Fiona Bassett is a managing director currently leading strategic transformation at DWS (Deutsche Asset Management), responsible for helping to shape the strategic agenda, focusing on transformation of the commercial platform through organic and inorganic measures.
Fiona has extensive experience successfully building and transforming businesses in investment banking and asset management. Prior to her current role, she co-led the Global Index business, overseeing $140 billion in assets and was a key architect behind the growth and development of the award-winning X-trackers ETF franchise, building and delivering investment solutions to a broad range of clients including large global financial institutions, corporations, private banks, hedge funds and money managers.
Fiona is also a passionate advocate for corporate sustainability and community impact initiatives as well as being actively engaged in the firm’s pro-bono activities.
Fiona is widely recognized for her leadership and innovation in the financial services industry and has been recognized by American Banker, the Institute of International Finance, Mutual Fund Industry and Crain’s New York Business.
Fiona has a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Birmingham.
Thad Hartmann is a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Thad advises public and private companies and private equity firms on mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, corporate governance, joint ventures, spin-offs and securities offerings. He advises companies in a variety of industries, with an emphasis on sports, media, entertainment and technology.
Thad has been recognized as a Power Player in Sports Law by SportsBusiness Journal and a Rising Star in Media & Entertainment by Law360. Thad is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Peta-Gay is well-rounded professional with over 15 years of experience as a Business, Information Technology, and Community leader.
In 2015, Peta-Gay joined the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion division at Google Inc., where she is the Program Manager for Code Next -- Google’s first community-facing initiative that works to cultivate Black and Latinx tech leaders. Through the development of culturally responsive programs, events and the build-out of innovation labs, Code Next removes barriers, expands social capital, and provides unparalleled access to technology.
Peta-Gay is a member of the Board of Trustees at Pace University and is an Adjunct Professor at the University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science. Before joining Google, Peta-Gay was the Deputy Director of IT at the Columbia University School of Journalism. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Software Engineer building web-based applications for companies such as Federal Reserve Bank, NYC Department of Education, New York Magazine, and COACH Inc.
Peta-Gay holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Programming from Farmingdale State University of New York (SUNY) and has earned a Master's Degree from Pace University. Peta-Gay is a 1st generation Jamaican-American. She is a native New Yorker and resides in Long Island, NY.
Benjamin Rehberg is the global co-lead for Boston Consulting Group’s Agile at Scale work. He is also a member of the global leadership team for the Technology Advantage practice.
Benjamin works primarily in financial services, including banking, insurance, and payments on multiple digital, technology, and operational issues. He focuses on digital transformation, technology, agile organization, and governance. His clients include large global financial services institutions in North America, as well as select clients in other industries (automotive, consumer, and others). Benjamin also has co-authored numerous articles about agile transformation.
Prior to BCG, Benjamin worked as a consultant with IBM Global Services in Germany.
Rich Tucker is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he serves as Global Head of Data Privacy & Cybersecurity in the Legal Division. Prior to joining Goldman, he spent three years as a Senior Vice President at the secure identity company, CLEAR, where he oversaw the company’s privacy, data security and data governance programs. Before that, he was an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, Criminal Division, from 2009 to 2021, where he was Chief of the National Security and Cybercrime Section, as well as senior litigation counsel for cyber investigations and prosecution. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Rich prosecuted numerous high-profile national security and cybercrime cases. In September 2017, Rich led the trial team that secured jury convictions on all counts against a U.S. citizen who traveled to Pakistan and became a leader in al-Qaeda’s external operations group. Prior to that, Rich prosecuted eight defendants convicted of exporting more than $30 million in microelectronics overseas for use by the Russian military in advanced weapon systems and next-generation fighter aircraft. In the realm of cybercrime, Rich led the trial team that in July 2018 secured convictions on all counts against two defendants who conspired with others to hack into the servers of newswire companies, stole press releases before they were released to the public, and made millions of dollars by trading on the stolen information. Rich also prosecuted a computer hacker who was convicted of carrying out three cyberattacks on the global financial system between 2011 and 2013 that caused more than $55 million in losses. Rich is a frequent guest speaker and panelist at forums relating to national security, privacy and cybercrime, and is a two-time recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, as well as numerous other awards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. government agencies and associations. He is a GIAC Certified Incident Handler and member of the GIAC Advisory Board, and he is an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional.
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