John Baker

John  joined  in January 2011 in a new appointment as UK Operations Director. Having spent many years managing corporate banking teams in both the UK and South Africa, he subsequently worked for several Christian ministries, helping  them organise and  restructure themselves  ready for their next stage of development. John became a Christian in South Africa and belongs to a thriving evangelical Anglican church in Upminster, Essex which he attends with his wife, Heather. He has two children; Carl, who works in Afghanistan and Caroline who works in international development , mainly in Africa.

Jonathan Brown

Jonathan joined Mission Direct as a Volunteer Manager in January 2007 and has visited our projects in Sierra Leone, the Dominican Republic and Moldova. His role is to care for volunteers from initial enquiry through to the campaign debrief day. Jonathan is often the first point of call for volunteer’s questions and is responsible for the co-ordination of the Moldova, Dominican Republic, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe trips.  He is also an actor, director and writer within local theatre.

Ben Cohen

Ben is Mission Direct’s Communications Manager. He is responsible for Mission Direct’s publicity material, which includes an annual brochure MissionZones, this website and regular communications to our existing supporters. A former BBC radio producer, Ben is also blessed with one of those slightly posh voices that you hear on Radio 4.

Nigel Hyde 

Nigel Hyde is Mission Direct's Chief Executive. A chartered accountant by background, he spent several years in audit, including three years in Papua New Guinea with PricewaterhouseCoopers and six years with Deloitte.

In 1996, Nigel began using his financial skills for Christian mission organisations, including seven years for the global charity Mercy Ships. Mission Direct grew out of this work and Nigel's experience in the Christian, charity, international development and finance Sectors provide Mission Direct with a firm foundation.

Nigel lives in Luton with his wife Susan and has 4 children, Rebekah, Natasha, Georgina and Suzannah.

Jackie Johnston

Jackie joined Mission Direct in 2005 after 23 years at Barclays.  Jackie is our Senior Volunteer Manager and is responsible for our volunteer care and recruiting overseas staff. She first visited our work in Sierra Leone in March 2006 and found it incredibly moving to see the work and meet the people first hand.  Since then she has worked on Mission Direct projects in Brazil, The Dominican Republic and Cambodia. Jackie is married to Jimmy and has a daughter, Kirstie.  As a family they attend Christchurch in Bushmead, Luton.

Linda Lauermann

Linda joined Mission direct in 2006 as the country manager for the very first Uganda Rukungiri campaign.  She then ran the Sierra Leone campaign in 2006/7 where she met Daniel – who later become her husband.

After a short break when she worked in the NHS in her profession as a speech and language therapist, she and Daniel went out to run the 2009 Cambodia campaign.  In 2010 she joined the UK staff as the Medical Teams and Africa Experience teams manager.  This involves co-ordinating both the UK and the overseas ends of these 2 particular programmes.  She travels out to Africa 3-4 times a year and is particularly excited about the new medical team to Zambia.  She and Daniel are based in Germany where Daniel is completing his degree and managing the building of an old-age home for people with dementia.

Tim Martindale

Tim Martindale is an Executive Trustee and Director of Overseas Operations for Mission Direct and a founding member.

He is a Chartered Architect with a degree in architecture from Manchester University, establishing his own practice, undertaking work for over 25 years in the public and private sectors, largely on education, housing, health and commercial projects before retiring from commercial work to spend more time with Mission Direct.

Tim is also non executive trustee of Anglo Indian Concern, supporting the poor and disadvantaged amongst the Anglo Indian community in Chennai, India and Cambodian Action, a Christian charity working in Cambodia.

He lives with his wife Pam have four children and are members of Godmanchester Baptist Church, near Huntingdon.

Vanessa Nelson

Vanessa joined Mission Direct as our desk officer in 2008.  She is often the first person you speak to if you ring.  She works on reception and data entry and her trip to The Dominican Republic was transformational.  Vanessa attends St Mary's church in Luton.

Nicoleta Patriche

Nicoleta joined us as volunteer in 2010, finally bagging a coveted job with Mission Direct at the beginning of 2012. She works as a data entry analyst: looking at all the acres of data that comes into the office. She then makes some sense of all the numbers and offers advice and insight to the management from what she learns. As if this was not enough, Nicoleta is also studying for an MSc in International Business Management at the same time.

Sharon Sexton

Sharon joined Mission Direct as our UK Administrative Manager in May 2010, managing the office and local office volunteers.  Although originally from the States, she has been in the UK since 2001 and worked for more than 8 years with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) here in the UK as well as South America, the Middle East, and Asia.  Sharon attends Soul Survivor Harpenden.

Clare Truter

Clare joined MD in April 2010 after volunteering as a Country Manager in Uganda, Rukungiri. She is responsible for overseeing projects in Uganda, Malawi, Moldova and Cambodia and spends much of her time abroad in her four countries of responsibility. When at home, Clare is based in Oxfordshire and enjoys being part of the worship group and mission committee at her home church of St Mary’s, Cogges.

Justin Wood

Justin joined Mission Direct in July 2009 having been a volunteer after his visit to Zambia in 2008. He is joining one of the teams to the projects in Cambodia this winter.

He is the first point of contact for volunteers interesting in our Brazil, Cambodia, Malawi and Zambia trips. His role is to coordinate the volunteers from orientation to debrief. He is also responsible for coordinating and managing stand volunteers at our many exhibition from Spring Harvest to Greenbelt. Justin has recently moved from North London to Hertfordshire and has recently joined Christchurch, Harpenden.

Sharon Eason

Sharon Eason is our Professional Relations Director She has enjoyed a very successful career pathway, having served both in the NHS and industry in management and advisory positions. Sharon’s experience in sales, marketing and latterly in fundraising and overseas mission, has given her many opportunities in public speaking, mentoring and leadership.