Meet the Trustees

Julie is a dedicated Social Worker currently holding two roles in Northern Ireland — one with the Education Welfare Service and another with the Children’s Disability Service.

A Trustee of the charity for over a decade, Julie has also twice volunteered in Nepal, working directly with disadvantaged and marginalised children in Bhairahawa, near the Indian border. These experiences exposed her to both the beauty and the challenges of Nepal — from deep-rooted caste and gender discrimination to extreme poverty. Yet despite the hardships she witnessed, Julie developed a deep admiration for the resilience and spirit of the Nepali people, and especially for its children.

Reflecting on her involvement, Julie says:
“It has been an honour to be part of this charity – to see its steady growth, its responsiveness to urgent needs, and the real difference it makes in protecting children, communities, and the environment. Every day brings new challenges, but the team never hesitates to rise to them.”

Angela is a is a writer, linguist and artist now based in Denmark. Following a corporate career, she ran two online businesses, worked remotely in 10 countries and has written three non-fiction books.

Angela’s contact with the charity arose from meeting Philip Holmes on a fundraising course in London in 1999 and she was immediately taken with the cause.

She has visited Nepal five times, including as a volunteer, and is actively involved in designing and refining Pipal Tree communications, including sharing her own legacy message.

Never one to resist a challenge, she believes that small steps, even in the face of huge obstacles, can lead to major positive change, and that tough times can ultimately propel us forward, helping us learn the most important truths about ourselves.

Her guilty pleasure is making vegan chocolates while listening to Motown.

Nick is a former Commanding Officer of a Gurkha battalion and from 1999-2018 worked as a global programme executive for IBM. Since retiring he has been active in various charities related to Nepal and the Gurkhas. He is Chairman of the Britain-Nepal Society, the Britain-Nepal NGO Network (BRANNGO) – of which Pipal Tree is a member – and the newly formed Britain-Nepal Charitable Trust.

Nick has lost count of how many times he has been to Nepal. He goes there regularly and in late 2023 and 2025 visited our project work in the Kathmandu valley and the Janakpur area where he addressed children at several schools that we support (he speaks fluent Nepali).

Pipal Tree’s approach is based on conserving and developing the natural environment as a basis for beneficial change in the surrounding communities. This aligns very closely with Nick’s views that, long-term, assistance programmes should become self-sustaining if they are to endure and prosper, and he feels very privileged to be part of such an innovative, diverse and exciting enterprise.

Caroline graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in mathematics. After a short time in industry, she transitioned into education and has spent over three decades teaching and training teachers in both mathematics and English as a second language across a range of international contexts.

Her first visit to Nepal in 2006, following the death of her daughter, marked the beginning of a deep and enduring connection to the country. Caroline has since returned many times, including for extended periods of volunteer work. She is particularly passionate about the transformative power of education as a driver of individual and community development. She believes that lasting change must centre the voices and agency of local people, and that social justice is best served when solutions are created in partnership.

Currently based in Tirana, Albania, Caroline continues to teach while supporting Pipal Tree’s mission from afar. She finds joy in nature, good company, travel, and the occasional piece of dark chocolate eaten in peace.

Caroline says: “Real change grows from listening, questioning, and standing alongside others.”

John is a chartered accountant based in Cambridge with a degree in Mathematics with Computer Science from Leeds University and has 17 years’ experience working in financial services, following three years working in practice.

John enjoys adventure-based travelling and backpacked across South East Asia in 2000 where he first visited Nepal and quickly fell in love with the people, food, landscape and wildlife. John eagerly returned to Nepal in December 2022 to experience our Pipal Tree projects first hand.

John is also the Treasurer of the Triathlon England East Region Committee. He is a keen runner and triathlete, and has run two marathons in support of Pipal Tree – Rome in 2024 with, CEO Philip Holmes, and The London Marathon in 2025, and is looking forward to running more in the future.

He has promised to run SIX triathlons in 2026 as his contribution towards The Year of the Sixes!

Julian retired as a Partner from a London-based real estate firm in 2024, having joined the business as a graduate some 40 years earlier. Over the decades, he played a key role in its transformation from a small team of seven to a company employing over 1,100 people.

Now based in south Devon, within easy reach of the Pipal Tree office, Julian is bringing his wealth of experience to help the charity grow. He is particularly focused on strengthening corporate partnerships and encouraging major gifts and legacies, always with a strong commitment to being a responsible steward of any transformational income we receive.

Julian is also deeply committed to education. He currently serves as Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors at the highly respected Kingsbridge Academy.

A frequent visitor to Nepal, most recently in his capacity as a Trustee, he has taken a close and active interest in our education programmes on the ground.

Nigel recently retired as a designer having worked at Heathrow for 20 years as a manager of branding, wayfinding and signage. He helped build Terminal 5 and Terminal 2 which he now uses as a passenger but he says it’s a job you never retire from as you’re always looking at signage!

Before Heathrow, Nigel worked for design and advertising agencies where he first met charity Founder Philip Holmes over 30 years ago and worked on his charity branding at that time.

He has a keen interest in walking, including in Nepal where has trekked to Annapurna base camp. At the end of 2024 he visited Pipal Tree’s work in Janakpur and Kathmandu. He has joined Philip on several of his annual charity walks in the UK, acting as a very willing Sherpa…