Chief Executive - Andrew Copson
Andrew became Chief Executive in January 2010 after five years coordinating the BHA's education and public affairs work. His writing on humanist and secularist issues has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Times and New Statesman as well as in various journals. He is a former director of the European Humanist Federation and a delegate of the International Humanist and Ethical Union to the Council of Europe. He has been an adviser on Humanism to the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Authority, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the BBC, and the Office of National Statistics among others.
Andrew graduated from the University of Oxford with a first in Ancient and Modern History and was a member of the winning team of the 2005 Young Educational Thinker of the Year Programme. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Associate of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University. He came to the BHA in 2005 from the Citizenship Foundation.
Contact Andrew
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Head of Public Affairs - Naomi Phillips
Naomi heads the BHA’s public affairs team, and is responsible for the BHA’s campaigns covering a wide range of issues including public services, equality law, ethical issues, religion and schools, and social cohesion.
Naomi joined the BHA in 2007, following a spell working in a policy team at the Ministry of Justice. She has gained awards from both the University of Manchester and the LSE for her academic achievements in the fields of Social Policy and Gender. She is a director of the European Humanist Federation.
Contact Naomi.
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Campaigns Officer - Pepper Harow
Pepper graduated with a First in Peace Studies BA (Hons) from Bradford University in 2005. She then worked on a government funded community grant scheme for The Scarman Trust. She has been heavily involved in the governance of Amnesty International UK since 2004.
Pepper joined the BHA in 2007 in order to run the Local Development Project and now works on the BHA's campaigns with a particular focus on equality, human rights and community.
Contact Pepper.
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Campaigns Officer (Faith Schools and Education) - James Gray
James works on the BHA’s campaigns around ‘faith schools’ and a range of other educational issues.
James came to the BHA in June 2010 from Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state. He has previously worked for a range of social welfare and arts organisations, including as Treasurer of a London refugee charity. James has a BA in History of Art from Goldsmiths College and an MA in Cultural and Critical Studies from Birkbeck College.
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Head of Membership and Promotion - Bob Churchill
Bob studied Philosophy at the University of Warwick and Queens University, Canada. Subsequently he worked in communications for a social housing organisation and then in marketing for an industrial technology company, before becoming an Information Systems Developer.
Bob joined the BHA in January 2008. He has responsibility for membership communications and liaising with Local Humanist Groups, and he manages internal ICT and our online presence (including this site).
Contact Bob.
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Head of Ceremonies - Tana Wollen
Tana has her professional roots in education and the media. In the early 1980s she taught in inner London secondary schools. Later, she joined the British Film Institute, first as an Education Officer, organising training courses for teachers and lecturers and publishing a range of materials for media education. Later, she became head of the BFI’s Television Unit. She joined the London office of Corbis, the world’s first digital image library, based in Seattle in 1994. Here she was responsible for sourcing photographic collections and negotiating intellectual property agreements with European photographers, galleries and collectors.
In April 2001 she went to Channel 4 Learning where she was responsible for marketing Channel 4 Learning’s resources, then for leading production strategy for digital learning resources. Tana took up her post as Head of Ceremonies at the BHA in April 2008. She lives in London.
Contact Tana.
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Ceremonies Training Officer - David Pack
David has been a celebrant since 1999 and has a professional background on training and development.
He joined the celebrants’ training team in 2006 and took up the post of Ceremonies Training Officer early in 2007. He looks after the celebrants’ training programme and provides various other aspects of support to our celebrants.
Contact David.
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Head of Operations - Bernard Halter
Bernard graduated from The University of York with a degree in Chemistry and for many years pursued a scientific career in the pharmaceutical industry.
On being made redundant he took advantage of the opportunity to read for a Theology degree with London University and fulfil a lifelong ambition to understand the true nature and origins of Christianity. As a direct result of his learning he lost belief in religious teachings and practice, and left the church.
Now a humanist with a theology degree, Bernard joined the BHA in 2006 as a volunteer and has gone on to become our Head of Operations.
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Office Managers
Tamsin Van Dyken
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Contact Tamsin.
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Vanessa Ashbee
Vanessa joined us in 2004 to help Tamsin part-time in our busy office, while also working as a professional opera singer.
Vanessa read English and French at Birmingham University before starting her singing training at Birmingham Conservatoire and completing her M.Mus at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has sung with the CBSO as the soprano soloist in Mozart's Requiem in Birmingham Symphony Hall, has worked with Mid Wales Opera and Opera East Productions, and regularly appears in charity opera galas around the city.
Contact Vanessa.
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