A board of seven directors governs NLT Ireland. The board is responsible for ensuring that the organisation complies with statutory obligations and operates within recognised standards of good governance. Audited accounts and an annual report are produced each year.
The board oversees strategy, financial regulation, internal policies, fundraising, project development and management. Board members provide their time and skill on a voluntary basis.
In setting and overseeing the direction of NLT Ireland, the board members bring a wide variety of skills. They meet quarterly with the administrator.
Chairperson: Mike Winterburn volunteered with Nepal Leprosy Trust for four years in the early 1990s. As well as helping to develop glazes in our Kathmandu pottery, he started NLT’s social programmes at Lalgadh Hospital with a model farm, income generating schemes and discussions in local communities that reduced the stigma surrounding leprosy.
He now lectures in IT at Limerick Institute of Technology and, in his spare time, enjoys gardening.
Director: Tricia Linehan has worked as a software developer for over 20 years. More recently she has worked as a financial administrator for a number of charities.
Director: Debbie Thomas trained as a BBC radio journalist. She lived for ten years in Bangladesh and South Africa where she worked for international aid agencies and never quite dared to go shark diving.
Now living in Ireland, she has written 4 middle grade children’s books. She is the Writer in Residence at Crumlin Children’s Hospital School and a teaching author on Irish Aid’s WorldWise Global Schools development education scheme. Her dream is to bungee jump from a bridge in Ecuador.
Director: Dr. David Weakliam is a doctor, specialised in public health medicine and general practice, and has worked in global health since 1988. He worked overseas for twelve years with Tearfund and GOAL in Nepal, Liberia, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. From 1995 to 2003 he worked in Nepal with United Mission to Nepal.
On returning to Ireland, he worked from 2003 to 2007 as Health Adviser with Irish Aid, the Government’s aid programme. David is now a consultant in Public Health Medicine in the Health Service Executive (HSE) and is Programme Lead for the HSE Global Health Programme.
Director: Anne Winterburn. Dr Anne Dee is a doctor, specialised in public health medicine and general practice. She worked at Lalgadh Leprosy Hospital in Nepal from 1993 -1995. Anne is a Specialist in Public Health Medicine in the Department of Public Health, Health services Executive (HSE), Limerick since 2010.
Director: Dr Breda Cosgrove is Acting Specialist in Public Health Medicine – HSE Mid-West (Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary, Strategic Planning and Transformation, Department of Public Health, Limerick.
Director: Sarah Adams is a proposal writer and content manager. She studied English Literature and Russian in Dublin and, in her spare time, enjoys reading and learning about the world.
Fundraiser and administrative coordinator: Bruna Horst studied business with emphasis in marketing in Brazil and moved to Ireland in 2023. Her experience is as a marketing specialist for the areas of technology and education. She finds culinary and classic movies the best combination to do in her free time.