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Our Team

Board of Trustees

Dr Celia Russell

Co-founder & Chair of Trustees

Celia teaches mathematics in the UK. She has a longstanding interest in how digital technologies can be used to advance education in developing regions.  After her first trip to Myanmar in 2009, Celia teamed up with Paul and other colleagues at the University of Manchester to think of ways a digital library could work in Myanmar and the eTekkatho project began.  Celia led eTekkatho through its early years as a University of Manchester project, and in 2014 co-founded the charity. 

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Dan Collison

Trustee

Dan is Chief Executive Officer of Farm Africa and has over 20 years’ experience as an international development professional. He worked across Asia for many years with Save the Children, firstly as Regional Programme Manager for Southeast and East Asia, moving with his family to Yangon to become Director of Programmes, Myanmar.  Over the next three years, Dan worked all over the country implementing programmes to improve children’s access to basic health, nutrition and education.

Dr Khin Mar Mar Kyi

Trustee

Dr Mar is a social anthropologist, film maker and the winner of ‘excellence in gender research’ award. She holds the inaugural Aung San Suu Kyi Senior Gender Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Dr Mar has previously taught as a lecturer at the Australian National University and was the solo Burmese to serve as a member of International Election Observer of the 2015 election. She is also a senior advisor for various international agencies, including the United Nations, UNFPA, DFID, the EU, and the Humanitarian and Resilience Programme (HARP). She serves as a board member and adviser for many local and international organizations including Australian Myanmar Institute, Oxford Burma Academic Initiatives, Ethnic Peace and Resource Project.

Ed Nash, Trustee

Ed Nash

Trustee

Ed is a history and politics teacher working in Berkshire. He previously worked for the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh and UCL in international relations and communications roles, and prior to that as a journalist in the UK and China. He holds an MA from the University of St Andrews and an MSc in Comparative Public Policy from the University of Edinburgh.

May Tha-Hla

Trustee

May Tha-Hla is a co-founder and trustee of Helping the Burmese Delta, an NGO that builds schools, develops vocational training and livelihood projects, trains community health workers and provides access to safe drinking water in the villages of the Irrawaddy Delta Region.  She has extensive experience in running practical projects that bring about change on the ground and over the years her work has helped improve the life chances of tens of thousands of people in Myanmar.

Tekkatho Foundation People

May Thet Khine Nyein

Head of IT

May Thet Khine Nyein joined the eTekkatho team determined to improve access to education in Myanmar.  She was previously a team leader at Yatanaron Teleport, a telecom service provider in Myanmar, and has a BA (Hons) and Master of Computer Science from the University of Computer Studies, Yangon.
 
May Thet Khine Nyein leads on the technical development and delivery of eTekkatho.  She is also responsible for the 
eTekkatho MyLibrary project, working to scale up delivery of the eTekkatho digital library through an innovative new capsule technology.

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Susan Noble

Company Secretary

Formerly International Data Manager at the UK Data Service, Jisc and the University of Manchester, Susan now works as an artist, but maintains her interest in international development and education. As Company Secretary, Susan is the main point of contact between the Tekkatho Foundation and the Charity Commission and Companies House. She ensures that we remain compliant with statutory and regulatory requirements, including filing annual reports and accounts and maintaining the register of Trustees.

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May Thu Thu Zaw, CFA, FCCA

Treasurer

Thu Thu holds an MSc in Finance and Investment from the University of Exeter. She is a qualified accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst currently employed at an investment bank in the UK. Originally from Myanmar, Thu Thu has prior experience in account management within the energy and telecom sectors. We are very grateful for her time, care, and diligence in managing our bookkeeping and accounts, which are crucial to the financial integrity of our charity.

Paul Murphy, our co-founder, trustee and friend, passed away on 19 March 2023. You can read more about Paul's life and work here.

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