Trustees

Mark had a 34 year career with BP, of which nearly half was spent overseas in Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. He then became a management consultant, specialising in service stations globally and the provision of electric vehicle charging for cars. He retired in 2024.

Before moving to south Devon in 2023 he was Chair of Governors at a special needs school and Vice Chair of a Multi Academy Trust comprising four secondary and three special needs schools. He has maintained his trusteeship at The Vine Centre, in Hampshire, which serves the poorly housed, people living in poverty, socially isolated or long-term unemployed.

Mark brings charity trusteeship, business management, international development and fund raising experience.

Kirsty has several years’ experience working on African and UK groundwater research as a hydrogeologist at the British Geological Survey.

Kirsty’s research is focused on groundwater resource assessment and management, particularly assessing borehole sustainability, and improving the availability of groundwater information for Africa.

Kirsty was one of the main developers of the Africa Groundwater Atlas and Literature Archive.

Andy Bastable is the head of Water and Sanitation for Oxfam. He has over 20 years of emergency and development field experience in the water and sanitation sector.

Amongst his many achievements Andy was responsible for the second version of the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Promotion) Chapter in Sphere (the manual of agreed standards in emergencies) and has spent considerable time promoting new innovations in the field of water and sanitation.

Andy's vast experience will ensure that Groundwater Relief provides practical and purposeful support to charities that are developing water supplies in a wide variety of different contexts.

Emma is a qualified CIMA management accountant with over 15 years of experience working in the private sector, public sector, and volunteering for various charities.

Emma brings a broad range of experience in all accounting matters including: monthly reporting, commercial analysis, short-term forecasting, long term budgeting and strategic planning, optimising value and offering financial advice on all operational activities.

Steve has a wide range of qualifications and experience in fields relevant to the charity. He is a Chartered Geologist and postgrad of Hydrogeology from Birmingham Uni with 20 years hydrogeology/geophysics experience in Namibia, Botswana and Oman working for government groundwater exploration and water resources management departments, primarily for village, town and national water schemes; followed by an MBA and 25 years work applying various geophysical methods in the UK construction industry with Fugro GeoServices Limited and Zetica Limited, involving a wide remit of technical, general management and business development.

Steve is currently Technical Account Manager for Achilles Toitu, an ISO 14064 accredited programme from New Zealand that is aligned with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and which verifies the carbon reduction plans of over 100 large organisations.