FOUNDERS

Cristi Gherghiceanu has particular responsibility for in-country project co-ordination and financial control. He graduated from The University “George Baritie” Brasov having specialised in IT, economics and accounting. From 2000 to 2003, he was resident accountant for a British NGO. He has been guide and translator for numerous World Bank missions and election observers and runs his own consultancy undertaking market research for foreign companies. He is fluent in English, (speaking, reading and writing) and speaks / reads German. He has been closely involved with Fundatia ADEPT from the beginning.

Nat Page has particular responsibilities for conservation development, policy and fund raising. He was First Secretary at the British Embassy in Bucharest 1991-1995. From 1998-2002 he was Director of an NGO involved in conservation of vernacular built heritage in Transylvania. 2002-2004 he was co-ordinator of the planning stage of the Agricultural Development and Environmental Protection in Transylvania (ADEPT) Project, funded by the private sector and Global Environment Facility through the World Bank/International Finance Corporation. In particular, he was responsible for preparing the application for environmental protection to be submitted to the GEF. He speaks fluent Romanian and has a deep knowledge of the country. For further details on the range of services offered visit www.copac.org.uk

Jim Turnbull has particular responsibility for enterprise development, financial control and human resources. He has over thirty five years experience of agriculture and agribusiness in 28 countries throughout the world. Since 1997 he has been Managing Director of Belmont Management Consultants Limited providing expertise in Business Planning, Trade Development and Investment Promotion and responsible for over 60 projects in 20 countries. This includes preparing the agricultural research and extension, farmer association and small enterprise development components of the GEF funded Agricultural Development and Environmental Protection in Transylvania (ADEPT) Project from 2002 to 2004. For further details on the range of services offered visit www.bmc-ltd.com

Malcolm, Earl of Caithness worked for a firm of land agents as a chartered surveyor in Oxfordshire and in the late 1970s moved into Commercial Agency and development. In 1984 his career changed again when Mrs Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister invited him to join her reforming government. He served in a number of departments as a Minister of State in both her and John Major’s Governments. He was created a Privy Councillor in 1990. He remains an active back bench politician and while retaining his interest in an Estate Agency in London is actively involved with heritage and tourism projects in the north of Scotland.

Richard Dennis, a Chartered Accountant, has worked as Financial Expert and Consultant for over thirty years in both international and UK government aid for agriculture and environment projects. For the last 15 years he has been a Consultant actively engaged in projects for the pre-accession programmes for the new East European member states for the European Commission. During this time he has worked in Romania on the setting up of EU Funding and grant scheme mechanisms and has been active in Transylvania on the preparation of management of Agricultural Structural Funds which handle mainly environmental issues.

Moritz Fried works with New Europe Capital, the investment management and advisory firm of Reconstruction Capital II, an AIM-listed private equity fund which invests in Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria. Previously, he worked at Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan, both in London. Moritz graduated from ESCP-EAP European School of Management in Paris and speaks fluent German, English, French, Spanish and Romanian. He is also a Trustee of the Romanian charity Pro Patrimonio (UK).

Nicolae Ratiu, businessman and philanthropist: Born Davos, Switzerland 1948, Managing Director of Regent House Properties Ltd., UK, and Chief Executive of the RH Group in Romania with interests in media (Realitatea Catavencu Group), printing (RH Printing) and real estate – Bucharest and Campulung Industrial Parks, Carol Park Residence, and others; Chairman of The Ratiu Foundation; Treasurer of The Romanian Cultural Centre London; Trustee of Pro Patrimonio (The National Trust of Romania); Trustee of The Relief Fund for Romania; President of Fundatia Ratiu, Romania.

Tim Scott Bolton was born in Shropshire in 1947. He worked as a land agent in Yorkshire for Smith Gore, then in Kenya valuing farms for resettlement. Retunfiong to England, he managed farms on Salisbury Plain for the Ministry of Defence. In 1984 he became a full time landscape painter and his work takes him all over the world, especially India and Romania where he regularly takes groups of painters. He is married with four children and lives on his organic farm in Wiltshire. He and his wife Tricia run the Summerleaze Gallery in their redundant farm buildings. www.summerleazegallery.co.uk.

Michael Tinne (Chairman) has lifelong international experience in agricultural and agribusiness ventures, most of which have been on a large or national scale. He has also carried out many specialist assignments, mainly in organisation, institutional strengthening, management, development and planning in the agricultural sector. His long term ‘hands-on’ management experience in a range of environments from arid to humid has provided him with a fund of practically based experience. This has included the planning and management of multi-national, multi-disciplinary teams working alongside and closely with government structures. More recently he has been much involved post-conflict resolution in such countries as the Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, Angola and Liberia with especial emphasis on projects designed to enhance rural livelihoods in deprived and remote areas. Apart from having a home in London he also spends much time in Connemara in the west of the Republic of Ireland – a part of the world with many similarities to Transylvania.

Gavin Bell has joined the team as Project Manager based in Saschiz after several years providing behind the scenes support to Fundatia ADEPT. He brings experience of managing a major European Union ERDF funded partnership project that helped develop sustainable tourism and community capacity in and around the Peak District National Park. He has a long standing involvement in South Eastern Europe and in particular Romania. Gavin has spent the last two and half years working on protected area and sustainable tourism issues with national parks across Europe with the PAN Parks Foundation. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission for Protected Areas.

Anca Calugar - E-mail: anca@fundatia-adept.org - speaks Romanian, French, German and English

Charlie Dalmasso - E-mail: charlie@fundatia-adept.org - speaks French, Romanian and English

Johann Schaaser - E-mail: johann@fundatia-adept.org - speaks Romanian, German and English 

Diana Schuster-Costea - E-mail: diana@fundatia-adept.org - speaks Romanian, German and English

Dr John Akeroyd: Botanist, Conservationist and Author

• Associate Editor, co-founder and principal contributor Plant Talk, the first magazine on global plant conservation;
• BOTANICAL CONSULTANT on the flora of Britain, Ireland, Europe and Mediterranean region: plant identification and research, writing, editing and lecturing;
• Field research, student teaching and lecturing in Albania, Austria, Denmark, France & Corsica, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece & Crete and islands, Italy & Sicily, Macedonia (FYROM), Poland, Portugal & Madeira, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey; with extensive knowledge of the flora of Greece, Balkans and Romania, Poland, Ireland and Britain;
• Preparation of 2nd edition of Flora Europaea volume 1 (published 1993), contributing accounts of many families, genera and species;
• member of Flora Europaea Editorial Committee (1988–1998);
• Editor of Collins Photoguide to wild flowers of Britain and Northern Europe (1988);
• Author of Collins Wildguide to flowers of Britain and Ireland (1996) and Voir les fleurs sauvages (1996), with Dutch (1997, 2003), Finnish (1997) and German (1999) editions; 3D Plant (Dorling Kindersley, 1998); and Encyclopedia of Wild Flowers (Dempsey Parr, 1999).

Rosemary Barron, Culinary Educator, Food Historian, Author

• 30 years experience in food culture and food tourism in Greece
• Organiser of culinary tours to Greece, including Santorini (Conde Nast Travel & Leisure
• 2003: 1 of 10 ‘Best in the World’; Guardian 2006: 1 of 50 ‘Best things to do this summer’)
• 1980-86 owner of a cooking school on Crete & Santorini, Kandra Kitchen (Vogue 1981: 1of 3 ‘Best Cooking Schools in the World’)
• Initiated, and responsible for the food of, the first international conference on gastronomy in Greece, in Halkidiki, 1991
• Author of 3 books on Greek foods and food culture, including award-winning Flavours of Greece (New York Times, 1991: 1 of 7 ‘Best Cookbooks’ published that year)
• Food writer, with features published in Decanter (UK), Bon Appetit (US), BBC Good Food (UK)
• Food historian
• Lecturer on foods and food culture of an ancient Greek past (including The Smithsonian Outreach Program)
• Published Papers on cheeses in olive oil; capers; food art in Greek antiquity; ‘old’ cheeses
• 30 years experience in teaching vocational and avocational courses on cooking and food culture in US, Canada, UK, Greece, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, Panama
• Consultancy, including Marks & Spencer (UK), Hormel (US), Olympic Airways (Greece)
• Vice President, International Association of Culinary Professionals (www.iacp.com)

Oliver Field: Honey Production and Marketing

• Over 20 years experience as a consultant and promoter on development projects in Africa and Asia involving Apiculture and the honey industry, including beekeeping and queen rearing, honey production, preparation and running of training courses both in the UK and overseas, beeswax production and cosmetics from beeswax. Since 1976 he has been the proprietor of a large scale commercial honey production operation in Southern England. Prior to this he was a Director of Chiltern Honey Farm (part of Manley Pure Foods) operating approximately 1,000 hives on the Downs of Southern England. Manley Pure Foods were packing 7,000 tonnes of honey per annum from all corners of the globe. Mr Field helped to install much of their original packing plant.
• Author of numerous articles on beekeeping. His book “Honey by the Ton”, which covers his experience both in the UK and overseas, has become a key reference book for honey producers. It has a chapter devoted to Queen rearing and breeding programmes which he has been undertaking since 1975.

Dr Andrew Jones: Conservation and Economic Use of Grasslands of Scientific Importance

• Technical skills in statistical analysis methods for ecology (SAS, Genstat, SPSS)
• Senior Ecologist, The Grasslands Trust. Developing projects on grassland conservation including:
• Advisor to H.R.H. Prince Charles on wildflower grassland management and wildlife conservation. Developing and implementing wildflower grassland restoration projects at Highgrove.
• Director of Flora locale (English Nature sponsored body which promotes the conservation of local genetic variation within ecological restoration schemes)
• Member of the UK Lowland Grassland Habitat Action Plan steering group.
• excellent knowledge of temperate floras.

Elena Nemes: Rural Enterprise Development in Romania

• Project manager in various rural development project for example:
• Business School applied by the National SMEs Owners Association -Ricop Programme
• Business and Crafts School-applied by the National SMEs Owners Association Ricop Programme
• Euro-Info-Centre - Europa Programme (SMEs Owners Association and Fagaras Town Hall) Info-Business –USAID- CIPE
• Export Promotion Centre- Transilvania – USAID                            
• Gypsy Handicrafts Association- Roma Partnership Fund-(SMEs Owners Association and Fagaras Town Hall )
• Project Management Training in Three Rural Business Units in Brasov County- financed by CIPE and USAID
• Milk producers Associations Set –Up in Mures and Brasov County – project financed by World Bank
• President of the National SMEs Owners Association-Fagaras subsidiary
• Director of the “Business Training and Info Center-Transilvania

Sue Prince: Food and Tourism Marketing

Consultant to ‘Foods from the Peak District’ project, previously project manager running the same project, for University of Derby, linking local food production and tourism, making ‘Eat the View’ actually work. Consultant to the Peak District National Park Authority’s international BESST Project (Business and Environment linked through Small Scale Tourism). Initiated ‘Peak District Foods’ a group of 36 independent producers. Working to encourage and support sustainable, collaborative, rural business developments. Initiator and Development Leader of the Peak District Dairy Wagon Project. Previously Peak District Farm Holidays objective 5b Project Officer directing £420k rural business development project having served as Chairman of Project and led the bid. Retired Chairman of Peak District Farm Holidays marketing consortium. Farm Accommodation Provider: Proprietor of farmhouse Bed and Breakfast and award winning self catering and wheelchair accessible cottages on 37 ha Organic dairy farm. 

• www.peakdistrictfarmhols.co.uk National winner Silver Award for Best Tourism Website 2005, Gold Award for Best Tourism Website East Midlands for Peak District Farm Holidays website
• Awarded an OBE June 2004 ‘for services to tourism and farming in the East and West Midlands’
• www.beechenhill.co.uk National winner of ‘Safeway Excellence in England Gold Award for Best Tourism Website 2003’, beating the Tate, Leeds Castle and Visit Liverpool. Winner Gold Award in Heart of England Best Tourism Website 2002
• Winner of CPRE Regional Design Award for website and farm and countryside interpretation 2002/3
• Winner of Peak Achievements Business Category 2002 for website, book and information
• Winner of Staffordshire Rural Business Woman of the Year 1998/9
• National finalist in Nat West Venture Cash Competition for innovative development of accessible accommodation 1990

Qualified Group Trainer and co-author of training courses: Specialising in simple integration of computers into businesses, environmental tourism, interior decoration for tourism and leaflet production.

Dr Mark Redman: Rural Development Policy

• Over 15 years of experience and proven ability in research, consultancy, teaching and training activities in sustainable agriculture and rural development
• Over 10 years experience and proven ability in a diverse range of food, sustainable agriculture and rural development-related projects in central and eastern European ranging from local, community-based projects to technical assistance in policy-making and governmental capacity-building
• 6 years comprehensive experience and proven ability in the provision of technical assistance to the development of environmental legislation, Rural Development Plans, agri-environment schemes and organic farming in EU accession countries - notably Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Malta
• Proven skills in project formulation, planning/inception, management and evaluation
• Proven ability to work with and manage teams of local and international experts

Bill Taylor: Heritage, Tourism, Interpretation and Wildlife

He has a wide range of experience which can be summerised as focussing on integrated development based on natural and cultural heritage, tourism and interpretation. Much of this has been within the Highlands and Islands which is widely regarded as a leader in the integration of these sectors. His experience is transferable to other rural areas worldwide. Key attributes are: 28 years in conservation, recreation and tourism sectors; Unique range of complementary skills; Wide geographical and work experience; International, remote and rural communities supported. Specific Experience and Skills includes: Heritage - Focus on management and development of visitor services through Visitor Centres, Trails and Guiding. Main emphasis on people and heritage relationships; Tourism - Nature based tourism – advice, studies, analysis. Tourism General – sustainable, ecotourism; Interpretation – (this is the key connector between visitors and the heritage of an area – if done well becomes a key differentiator in the market place.) Interpretation/Communications skills, planning, advice, research, reports, strategic work; Wildlife - Conservation Management associated with public engagement – recreation, access, ranger services;Services - Facilitation, Workshop leader, Presentations, Reports, Events / conferences, Training, Developments proposals

John Taylor: Food Technology

• Over 40 years experience in the food industry, gained in Europe, Africa, CIS and Asian countries. (20 countries in all).
• His experience covers general management and administration at Board level; company development (new and acquired); development of new products and packaging; marketing and sales; production, process development and control; Q.C./Q.A.; GMP, Hygiene, HACCP and Training; Project and Operation Audits and Analysis; SME Company Controls, Institutional Strengthening (Ministry and Banks).
• Specific technological expertise includes: Packaging applications; Thermal Processing (canning aseptic processing, etc.); Dehydration and Concentration (fruit and vegetable products); Beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic); Confectionery (sugar and baked); Novel Frozen Foods (fruit and vegetable); Milk and meat products; Semi-moist products; Preserves; Application of Controlled Solar Drying; Post Harvest Control; Water Activity; “Combined Processes” (Hurdle Technology) for improved food packaging and preservation. Recently developed products include balanced carbohydrate convenience products, fruit preserves with honey base, fruit juices and novel carbonated beverages. Environmental analysis to World Bank and Asian Development Bank Requirements.
• He is an approved Tutor and Examiner for the Royal Society of Health “Essential Food Hygiene” and “Food Hygiene Awareness”, and HACCP courses. Courses have been held in the UK, CIS and other countries. Due diligence has laid an increasing burden on SME’s in many areas of operation and there is an increasing demand for these courses in conjunction with computerised company control systems.