Hanna John
Interim Chair
Hanna was born in Khartoum, Sudan. Her background is management consulting across retail, finance, media, pharma and non-profit sectors. She has degrees in theology from King's College London and Cambridge University and in International Development from LSE.
Patron
Caroline Welby
Caroline is a trained Spiritual Director, has taught on Spiritual Direction courses and has a particular interest in Ignatian Spirituality.
She works alongside her husband particularly within the Anglican Communion having visited every Province with him. She has developed, with others, and leads a programme, Women on the Frontline, aimed at supporting and equipping women leaders in their ministries, especially bishops’ spouses, and seeking to resource them both spiritually and in areas of reconciliation. She has spent time with bishops’ spouses in Juba twice in this capacity.
Ellen Davis
Trustee
Ellen is the Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Biblical and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School and is based in the US. She is the author of eleven books and her research interests focus on how biblical interpretation bears on the life of faith communities and their response to urgent public issues, particularly the ecological crisis and interfaith relations. She has long been active as a theological consultant and teacher within the Anglican Communion, especially in East Africa. She is passionate about education and about South Sudan and is excited about the role she can play to continue bringing the two together.
Stephen Dinsmore
Trustee
Stephen was ordained into the Church of England in 1985. Stephen ministered in the North East and South West of England, in North and East London and in Essex. From 2007 to 2021 he led the NGO SOMA UK, working with church and community leaders particularly in South Sudan as well as across East Africa and parts of the Indian subcontinent. He studied at London, Durham and Manchester Universities, latterly obtaining a MA in Culture and Mission. Stephen is keen for the development of South Sudan and sees the provision of excellent university education as a key to this.
Wendy Fry
Trustee
Wendy is a Chartered Accountant who first worked in Juba in the 1980s as a CMS Mission Partner. There she tasted the Nile and fell in love with the Sudanese! She returned to the UK when ACROSS was expelled, along with other Christian Agencies, married, had children, was widowed and now finds herself with an empty nest, and since 2015 has kept herself busy as a CMS Partner/Associate. She volunteers in many places for a few months, often to build capacity of the finance function. She has visited South Sudan and Sudan a number of times, including Juba, Rumbek, Yambio, Khartoum and Wad Medani.
Ron Hart
Trustee
Ron is a retired priest in the Church of England with a long association with East Africa, including teaching in Kenya in the 1960s. More recently he has been involved with SOMA and visits South Sudan regularly. He also served as a university chaplain in the UK for some years.
Suzan Voga-Duffee
Trustee
Suzan is a teacher, mentor and coach, and an aspiring author; with two poems published in No Time To Mourn: An Anthology by South Sudanese Women. She is driven by motivation, dynamism, personability and a good sense of humour. Mrs. Duffee worked in higher education for many years, training teachers and liaising, coordinating, and networking with the Ministry of Education in South Sudan. Suzan currently resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with her husband and son.
Advisory Board
Kay Hunter-Johnston
Kay is a retired solicitor who has always had a deep respect for and interest in the people of South Sudan. With SOMA she has visited South Sudan twice and a refugee camp for South Sudanese in Uganda. She is part of the team for Women on the Frontline.
Advisory Board
Nic Ramsden
Nic lived in Juba from 2007-2014 working in a series of roles with the Episcopal Church of Sudan and UKAid education projects. He has worked in all of South Sudan’s 10 states as well as Khartoum and the Nuba Mountains. During his time with the UKAid Basic Services Fund (BSF) and Girls Education South Sudan (GESS) programmes he helped support a number of South Sudanese education institutions. He is now Principal Consultant at RSK, an environmental, engineering and technical services business.
Alex Simm
Advisory Board
Alex spent the first ten years of his career in behavioural science research in Least Developed Communities, particularly in East Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan. Since then, he has worked on and designed several long-term research projects to understand the drivers behind instability. He is now Head of Partnerships at GMIS – a professional IT association of worldwide government IT leaders.
Advisory Board
John Wood
John has recently retired as the Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. He is an engineer and holds a number of honorary professorships. He has served on a number of public bodies and has a long involvement in higher education internationally.
Advisory Board
Stephen Spencer
Stephen Spencer is the Director of Theological Education for the Anglican Communion.He has lived and worked in Zimbabwe and has longstanding links with Tanzania. He visited South Sudan in 2018.
Dr. Eeva John
Founder - Volunteer
Eeva researched and co-authored the TEU feasibility study on behalf of the Episcopal Church of Sudan in 2011 together with Ruth Eade, and formally founded ECSSSUP in 2014. Formerly a research scientist and relief and development worker, Eeva has lived and worked in the UK, Switzerland, Ethiopia and Sudan. Now a practical theologian and theological educator, Eeva has overseen two major Church of England projects, including creating a new national framework for theological education validated by Durham University.
Eeva stepped down as Chair of ECSSSUP in June 2023, having completed the maximum consecutive terms of office as a trustee. She remains active as a volunteer.