Our team

Children belong in families,
not orphanages

Executive Leadership team

Patricia Chale

Interim Managing Director

Patricia has a track record of leading organisational change and transformation initiatives in complex, multi-cultural, multi-function and multi-stakeholder environments. Her experience spans a wide range of organisations in the private, international, public and not-for-profit sectors across developed and emerging economies and markets in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North America, South and South East Asia. In addition to a number of Executive Organisational Development Director roles, she has also been an Executive Director of two charities and held a number of Board of Trustees/Non-Executive Director roles. Patricia has also participated in national taskforces established by governments in the UK and internationally to address issues relating to policy on national workforce strategies.

Alex Christopoulos

Deputy Chief Executive

Alex leads Lumos’ programmes, research, advocacy and training and technical support functions. Alex joined in 2016 and has a background in designing and leading a range of complex programmes to help meet the needs of marginalised children across a number of countries.

Alex has led a number of international programmes aimed at preventing, recognising and responding to the harm children and their families face. He is a strong advocate of locally-led development, ensuring that children, and the communities they live in, are given a voice and can influence decisions that affect them.

Scott Moir

Chief Operating Officer

At Lumos Scott leads the Corporate Services function: Finance, People, Operations and IT. He works closely with the other members of the leadership team, supporting Lumos’ programmes globally. Scott also serves as the Company Secretary of the Lumos Foundation, working with the Board of Trustees.

Scott is a Chartered Accountant with a background in management consulting. He held several finance leadership roles during 15 years with McKinsey & Company, including five years in Asia. As father of a young family, Scott is proud to be part of the Lumos team, recently running the London Landmarks Half Marathon to raise funds.

Jonathan Simmons

Chief Experience Officer

To reach our ambition of helping all children out of institutions and into families by 2050, we need to work with more people, organisations and countries, raising public awareness and significant funds. Jonathan brings a wealth of experience from 19 years at the helm of a leading digital agency: as Chief Strategy Officer, Jonathan led projects for some of the world’s most prominent businesses and causes.

At Lumos Jonathan focuses on projects that will help us equip hundreds of thousands with the skills to safely end institutionalisation, and engage millions to divert public support from orphanages to loving families.

Chris Cuthbert

Global Director of Research

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.

Global team

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.

Daphne de Souza Lima Sorensen

Regional Director for Latin America and Caribbean

Daphne joined Lumos in April 2019 after almost five years as Bolivia Country Director for Save the Children. As Regional Director, she leads across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), including our demonstration programmes in Colombia and Haiti. A citizen of Brazil, she is based with her family in Panama.

Daphne has over 20 years’ experience in international development, social justice and human rights, leading multi-cultural teams across Latin America and Africa. She is passionate about working with allies, partners, coalitions and social movements towards a future where orphanages cease to exist and all children grow up in loving families.

Domnica Ginu

Acting 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.

Georgette Mulheir

Global Strategic Advisor

Georgette Mulheir is Lumos’ Global Strategic Advisor. Georgette’s work with vulnerable children began two decades ago and she has worked in 17 countries across Europe and Africa, leading large-scale programmes to transform the lives of children and their families. Georgette pioneered a model of deinstitutionalisation now followed in many countries across Central and Eastern Europe and has advised governments on the reform of their services for children and families. Georgette is the author of four books related to children’s rights and previously was the CEO of Lumos for eight years.

Heather McCormick

Director of Marketing and Communications

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.

Irina Malanciuc

Head of Europe

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 Lumos Head of Europe, 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.

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.

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.