Our team - Lumos

Executive Leadership team

Peter McDermott

Chief Executive Officer

Peter is a child development expert with over 25 years’ experience of leading global initiatives in international development and philanthropy. Previously the CEO of the Martin James Foundation, an organisation committed to protecting vulnerable and institutionalised children, he also led Fajara Associates, an international development and philanthropic advisory consultancy working with the UN and governments.

Prior to this, Peter served as Managing Director and Executive Director, Global Health, at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). He joined CIFF in 2007 following over 22 years in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) where he served in senior capacities throughout the world - extensively in sub-Saharan Africa and latterly as Chief – Global HIV/AIDS in New York. Peter was also Principal Advisor for HIV/AIDS in the Africa Bureau of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Chris Cuthbert

Director of Evidence, Advocacy and Campaigns

Chris leads the Lumos Evidence Unit, capturing new data and research about the scale, costs and consequences of child institutionalisation – harnessing evidence to influence policy and practice globally.

Chris was Director of Learning and Development for A Better Start, Head of Strategy and Development at the NSPCC, and Deputy Director of the government’s Social Exclusion Task Force. He co-authored the government’s Social Exclusion Action Plan and has worked in the Department of Education and the Children and Young People’s Unit. He has a Social Epidemiology MSc from University College London and is a Trustee of social innovation organisation Spring Impact.

Heather McCormick

Director of Communications and Media

Heather is Director of Marketing and Communications and is responsible for leading a team to profile Lumos’ work globally, raising awareness of the harm that orphanages cause children.

Heather has a background in leading communications strategies in the not-for-profit sector, with a focus on young people. With a degree in Social and Economic History, she is fascinated by human stories and the power of determination. As a mum, Heather is delighted to be amplifying the voices of millions of children hidden in orphanages. She is proud to support Lumos’ work, believing passionately in protecting the rights of children everywhere.

Nick Williams

General Counsel (Legal, Governance and Risk)

Nick is Lumos’ in-house legal adviser. He also acts as Company Secretary and Head of Risk Management, supporting Lumos colleagues and Trustees to enable the effective delivery of Lumos’ mission globally.

Nick feels privileged to be able to contribute to Lumos’ work and is passionate about human rights. He has held similar roles at Amnesty International, Save the Children and Oxfam. He started his career at a corporate law firm working in international disputes prior to moving to the charity sector, in 2008. Nick holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics.

Paul Hellmuth

Finance Director

Paul leads the Lumos Finance function. He is responsible for all aspects of the Finance area including strategic financial advice to the Executive Leadership Team and to the Trustees.

Paul is a Finance Director with extensive commercial, charitable, private and public sector Board level experience. He has worked with a number of differing types of charities such as NGOs, learned Society, Community Charities, Non-Governmental Public Bodies, Membership organisations and finally one of the largest fruit importers into the UK.

Yvonne Beauchamp

People Director

Working closely with all staff, managers, the ELT and Trustees, Yvonne’s role is to support Lumos by developing a culture in which people can achieve their best. She has been able to fulfil her passion for developing and enabling people through many years working as a HR Director in the IT industry and Education sector. Yvonne has spent 10 years managing her own counselling business and is a qualified HR lecturer specialising in Managing Equality and Diversity for BSc and MSc students. She loves the many opportunities at Lumos, to make a positive difference to its people and the children and families it supports.

Irina Malanciuc

Director of Demonstration Programmes

Irina has a background in paediatrics, starting her career in children’s health in rural areas where many vulnerable families lacked vital social services.

She is experienced in the strategic reform of child health and child protection systems, having worked in the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Moldova and with UNICEF in Moldova. She also contributed the National Strategy and Action Plan to reform the residential childcare system.

As Director of Demonstration Programmes, Irina is responsible for projects demonstrating successful deinstitutionalisation. Her hope is that we can build a society where no child knows loneliness, marginalisation and adults’ indifference.

Global team

Rosario Del Rio

Country Director for Colombia

Rosario worked for over 20 years for international non-governmental organisations such as Plan International and Mercy Corps, promoting children´s rights and gender equality in Colombia and other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

She has a Masters degree in Regional Development Planning and Administration and an MA in Business Administration. She is a proud mother of three.

As Country Director of Lumos Colombia, Rosario is leading work to support the Colombian Government and society to move away from institutions and towards family and community-based care, so children can thrive in safe, caring families.

Petra Kačírková

Country Director for Czech Republic

As a mother of two, and someone who has spent more than a decade working in mental health, Petra understands how much attention and human contact children need every day to be happy. She maintains that, despite the best efforts of staff in institutions, those needs cannot be met in a setting where there are as many as 48 children.

In the Czech Republic, around 11,000 children live in institutions, including 0–3-year-olds. There is not enough quality foster care, and establishments can house vulnerable people into adulthood – some will never leave. Petra is dedicated to changing this.

Bisser Spirov

Country Director for Bulgaria

Bisser has worked as an educator in a children's home, a teacher, a consultant and a trainer.

He has dedicated his career to ending the systematic institutionalisation of children, joining Lumos to support the process of care transformation in Bulgaria.

As Country Director of Lumos Bulgaria, Bisser aims to use his knowledge and experience to help transform a system that has historically seen institutions as the universal solution to children's problems. His team promotes children’s rights and best interests, and Bisser hopes they can encourage everyone to see children, regardless of their age, origin or disability, as human beings.

Domnica Ginu

Country Director for Moldova

Domnica completed doctoral studies in Special Psychology at the Institute of Pedagogical and Psychological Sciences in Moldova, where she was a speech and language therapist and teacher for children with mental disabilities. She was manager of the Secretariat of the National Council for the Children's Rights Protection and has authored scientific publications on child development and inclusive education.

As a specialist member of the Lumos team, and a mother, Domnica is dedicated to strengthening the child protection system in Moldova and sharing expertise in care reform across Europe, helping families offer their children happy childhoods.

Eugene Jr Guillame

Country Representative and Chief of Party for the BEST (Building Enduring Systems to End Trafficking) project in Haiti, funded by USAID.

A fervent advocate of deinstitutionalisation, he co-founded a local social development organisation before joining Lumos in 2015. Over nine years, he has worked to prevent family separation and human trafficking in Haiti and west Africa, helping pioneer the Haitian foster care family network. In collaboration with the government and others, he helped 350 separated children back to their families. In 2017, he was given a Human Rights Hero award by the US government in Haiti.