Led by our Patron Lady Caroline Cox, this is a highly experienced group of distinguished individuals. It includes a retired Vice Admiral helicopter pilot, a retired Major General logistician who is now engaged with the humanitarian sector, the recently retired Deputy Chairman of an institutional stock broking business, and a retired doctor who acted as the regional medical officer for a significant part of northern Kenya. They have all volunteered their support and we are most grateful.

Wings Like Eagles has a board of 4 trustees. They combine legal, banking, commercial pilot and complex operational leadership skills with their Christian faith and seek to deliver our vision of countries that can stand on their own and people with self respect, mutual respect and independence. Each has committed to Wings Like Eagles for an initial period of 2 years and intends to visit the work in Africa about once per year.

Conscious of the excellent and long-standing work of many NGOs, the Chairman and the Trustees hope that Wings Like Eagles will mature into a very positive contributor to aid and development in our complex and changing world.

Adrian Nance is the Chairman and Chief Executive of Wings Like Eagles. In 2006, he retired from 33 years in the Royal Navy and has been increasingly involved in humanitarian work. He is a graduate in engineering, served in four combat operations, including being a survivor of HMS SHEFFIELD, a ship sunk in the Falklands Conflict in 1982. He commanded a ship in the 1991 Gulf war and the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL, and he ran the Navy’s largest training school, with 1500 staff and a budget of £110M per year.

Adrian was the strategic integrator for Operation DESIRE BLESSING that proved the Wings Like Eagles concept in Mozambique in February and March 2007. He is training in humanitarian relief and development with RedR UK and is also a leadership training facilitator for the Windsor Leadership Trust.

This small team is indispensable. It includes 3 helicopter pilots, one PR expert, an ex BBC producer, one aeronautical engineer and an ex Mission Aviation Fellowship missionary, all in 4 people. Their counsel adds great value as we progress towards implementation. In January 2007, the 4 were reinforced by Sergio Ido, the Mozambican Chief Executive of Aero Visao (a not-for-profit aviation organisation partnered with Mission Aviation Fellowship) and by Duncan Mgogo in Malawi. In June 2007, James Njinji volunteered in Mozambique. These committed representatives are locals who understand the environment, represent us linguistically and act as part of our regular presence abroad.

Wings Like Eagles is most grateful for the time made available by government ministers, civil servants and aid workers at all levels in Malawi and Mozambique and more widely. We greatly appreciate their feedback and support.

Mark Mitchell is our first Country Director and is an advisor to the CEO in matters humanitarian. In his thirties and extensively experienced as a humanitarian logistician, Mark’s duties vary from providing sage counsel over the technical detail to adding his wider experience of the sector over the broader aspects of capability, reputation and connectivity. His wife is also a humanitarian and they have 2 children. They will move to Maputo in Mozambique in February 2008.

Several people have volunteered to be a helicopter pilot with us. Please join with us seeking the calling of our first Chief Pilot. We are in active discussion with one person and we welcome other volunteers and guidance. Ideally, our Chief Pilot will be an instructor to uphold our standards of airmanship and train local and volunteer pilots and integrate any surge support into our disaster relief efforts.

We are seeking a Chief Engineer who can provide the proper standards over oversight of all our maintenance and stores support.

The Wings Like Eagles team would not be complete without mentioning the academics, NGO professionals, imagery experts, graphic artists, IT specialists, government workers who have all given of their time and thought. Much expertise has also come from the skilled members of Christ Church Winchester. These advisers have helped improve Wings Like Eagles and turn idealism into a realistic opportunity to invest in Africa. Their footprint spreads from the USA (especially the East Coast and Texas) through the UK and Europe to Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. They are too numerous to mention individually, but their honest feedback, occasional criticism and frequent encouragement have been huge investments in the Vision. Mission Aviation Fellowship deserves a special mention for their technical and personal advice and the rapidity with which they made their Tanzanian fuel network available to Operation DESIRE BLESSING.