Paul Wood
Chief Executive Officer

Paul Wood is an international expert in risk management and founded Pax Mondial with the vision of offering new and more practical approaches to support post-conflict and emerging market reconstruction and development. Paul brings a wealth of experience to clients, having operated more than five years as a Director within the international risk management sector, with particular focus on the Middle East.

Paul was Director and Country Manager for Kroll Security International in Iraq for three years before becoming Managing Director of International Operations. Prior to joining Kroll, Paul was Chief of Staff of a strategic communications and media development team with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in Iraq.

Paul began his career as an officer in the British Army serving in The Parachute Regiment before working for five years as a stockbroker with Collins Stewart. Paul is a Fellow of the Securities Institute and holds an Honors Degree in International Politics from Newcastle University.

Gordon Drennan
Chief Financial Officer

Gordon Drennan brings more than 30 years of financial experience to the Pax Mondial Management Team, having started his career as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross (now Deloitte). Gordon subsequently became the technical director for Touche’s Middle East and Africa division and traveled extensively in this role.

More recently, Gordon was Head of Group Finance for a FTSE 100 Company where he established a global internal audit department. Gordon is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and holds an Honours Degree in Law & Accounting and an Advanced Management Diploma from INSEAD.

Bill McGill
Managing Director for International Operations

Bill McGill brings extensive knowledge and experience from his work in high-risk and emerging markets to the Pax Mondial Management Team. Prior to joining Pax Mondial, Bill served as the Operations Director of Stirling Group where he oversaw all contracts and personnel on a number of Oil & Gas related projects, and served as the Senior Management Lead in the successful restructuring of Stirling Group’s facilities management business across North Africa. Leaving the military in 2004 after 33 years of service – 26 of which he served as an operator and officer in the British SAS – Bill became a Director of a leadership development consultancy working with a variety of corporate and public sector organizations to deliver a proposition around personal, team and organizational resilience.

Leon S. Waskin
Senior Vice President – Stabilization & Development

Skip Waskin, a nearly 30-year veteran of USAID, joined Pax Mondial in January 2011. His final overseas assignment for USAID was in Haiti from June to August 2010, where he served as the head of USAID’s Office of Response Coordination. In this capacity, Skip coordinated the USAID response to the devastating January 12 earthquake and led the design of a proposed $1 billion long-term development cooperation program between the United States and Haiti. After leaving Port-au-Prince, he led USAID/Washington’s Haiti Task team from September to December 2010.

Prior to his work on Haiti, Skip was seconded to the U.S. State Department, where he worked in the Office of the Deputy Secretary as a member of the Leadership Team that prepared the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). As a Senior Foreign Service Officer, Skip served as Mission Director in Russia (2008-2009) and Afghanistan (2006-2007), USAID Representative to Mongolia (2004-2006), and Acting Mission Director of the Regional Development Mission/Asia (2003-2004), where he oversaw programs in Burma, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Skip’s extensive career with USAID included office director positions in Washington as well as assignments as Assistant Mission Director in Madagascar from 1998-2000; Office of Development Finance Director for USAID/Honduras from 1993-1997; Project Development Officer for USAID/Nicaragua from 1990-1993; and as an International Development Intern in the Regional Economic Development Services Office for East and Southern Africa from 1988-1990. He originally joined USAID as a Capital Projects Officer in Zaire from 1981-1983 and 1985-1987.

Skip obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Kalamazoo College and a master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish and French.

Lorian McCallum
Managing Director East Africa

Lorian McCallum was born and raised in East Africa. After working internationally for nine years, he has returned to head Pax Mondial’s operations for the African continent. Previously, Lorian was head of plans and operations for Aegis Defence Services in Afghanistan, after which he managed a Weatherford International oil and gas project in southern Iraq, again for Aegis Defence Services.

More recently Lorian has worked in Kenya as a consultant in the oil and gas market. Lorian spent six and a half years as an officer in the British Army during which time he served actively in Iraq, Northern Ireland, and Afghanistan.

Nick Fisher
Director of Group Business Development

Nick Fisher brings a varied skill set of professional engineering management combined with military and business experience to the Pax Mondial executive team. Prior to joining Pax Mondial, Nick was responsible for developing and securing a number of significant global contracts for an organization providing support to government and commercial entities in high-risk and emerging markets. Nick began his career in the Royal Navy as an Engineer Officer responsible for engineering management oversight to teams of technical specialists providing weapons, sensors, communications and IT systems in support of maritime operations globally. Nick then undertook appointments in the UK and Afghanistan with UK Special Forces, spending his final years of service managing the provision of specialist engineering equipment and services to UK forces deployed on operations and revising strategic policy on such matters.

Nick currently holds an MSc in Engineering and Management (University of Portsmouth, UK); post graduate qualifications in Financial Management, Marketing, Business Operations and Strategy (Bristol Management School, UK); BEng(Hons) in Electronic Engineering (University of Newcastle, UK); Diploma in Leadership and Management (ILM, UK); and a Certificate in Terrorism Studies (University of St Andrews, UK). Additionally, Nick is a certified and registered practitioner in the globally recognized UK OGC Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE) 2 and Management of Risk (M_o_R) methodologies. Nick is also an active member of the Institutes of Engineering and Technology and Leadership and Management.

Phil Figgins, MBE
Director – Central Asia

Phil Figgins is a security professional with more than 30 years experience with both the military and international civilian agencies in conflict and post-conflict environments. Prior to joining Pax Mondial, Phil served as the senior International Security director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he carried out security assessments in high-risk countries, compiled intelligence reports, gave country briefs and regularly liaised with international organizations, agencies and security companies worldwide. Prior to his work with the IMF, Phil served as the Project Manager for the Kroll Security Elections team in Afghanistan in 2005, where he was responsible for the overall direction and management of the countrywide project, which included a staff of 87 international and more than 150 local national staff.

Starting in 1994, Phil spent 10 years working in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Albania and Georgia for a number of organizations including the United Nations, The European Community Monitor Mission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Phil began his career with 17 years of service as an Officer in H.M. Royal Marines, which he concluded in 1994 in Bosnia as the Chief UK Liaison Officer in the rank of Major. He was made a Member of the most excellent order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2000.

Dan Bridges
Director – South Asia

Dan Bridges brings extensive operational risk and landmine action management experience to Pax Mondial. Prior to joining Pax, he managed several large multi-disciplinary development programs for The HALO Trust in Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. He also worked as the head of business development and commercial operations for the Geneva-based INGO ‘Swiss Foundation for Mine Action’ (FSD), assessing and developing opportunities and establishing networks in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. Dan has a strong client-facing commercial risk management background, having designed and introduced integrated risk solutions for SOMIPA S.A.R.L, Petra Diamonds and BHP Billiton in Angola, and for DP Worlds in the UK. Prior to work in this field, Dan was the Operations Director for a UK-based start-up health company and has also managed a group of retail stores for Aldi GmbH Co KG.

Dan’s early career began in the British Army, where he spent seven years as an officer in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, serving on operations in Northern Ireland and Bosnia. He also trained recruit soldiers and has served in both heavy gun and surface-to-air missile Regiments.

Dan holds an LLB Honours degree in Law and Politics from the University of Buckingham. He speaks conversational French and Portuguese.

Leon S. Waskin
Senior Vice President – Stabilization & Development

Skip Waskin, a nearly 30-year veteran of USAID, joined Pax Mondial in January 2011. His final overseas assignment for USAID was in Haiti from June to August 2010, where he served as the head of USAID’s Office of Response Coordination. In this capacity, Skip coordinated the USAID response to the devastating January 12 earthquake and led the design of a proposed $1 billion long-term development cooperation program between the United States and Haiti. After leaving Port-au-Prince, he led USAID/Washington’s Haiti Task team from September to December 2010.

Prior to his work on Haiti, Skip was seconded to the U.S. State Department, where he worked in the Office of the Deputy Secretary as a member of the Leadership Team that prepared the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). As a Senior Foreign Service Officer, Skip served as Mission Director in Russia (2008-2009) and Afghanistan (2006-2007), USAID Representative to Mongolia (2004-2006), and Acting Mission Director of the Regional Development Mission/Asia (2003-2004), where he oversaw programs in Burma, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Skip’s extensive career with USAID included office director positions in Washington as well as assignments as Assistant Mission Director in Madagascar from 1998-2000; Office of Development Finance Director for USAID/Honduras from 1993-1997; Project Development Officer for USAID/Nicaragua from 1990-1993; and as an International Development Intern in the Regional Economic Development Services Office for East and Southern Africa from 1988-1990. He originally joined USAID as a Capital Projects Officer in Zaire from 1981-1983 and 1985-1987.

Skip obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Kalamazoo College and a master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish and French.

Per Baerentsen
Managing Director – Camp Construction Africa

Per Baerentsen brings 20 years of international, operational, business development and construction experience to Pax Mondial. Before joining Pax, Per was the Managing Director for DCS Group Africa, a Danish firm delivering operations in construction, life support, election services and expeditionary deployments. For the last 7 years Per has operated in Africa, mainly Southern Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and Ghana. Prior to that, Per worked in Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, Denmark, Ireland, the Cayman Islands and Norway.

Per holds a Masters degree in Civil Engineering and has extensive experience in developing and operating large construction operations for governments as well as commercial and non-governmental institutions.

Andrew Bassett, CPO, CPP
Director – Risk Management

Andrew Bassett brings 20 years of extensive operational and management experience to Pax Mondial as a risk management consultant and operator in high-risk environments. Before joining Pax, Andrew was an International Security Manager for Chemonics where he handled security issues for projects in 18 countries and advised on security-related topics. Andrew is also a Board Certified Protection Professional in Security Management (CPP) with the American Society for Industrial Security International (ASIS). He is registered and licensed with the Security Industry Authority (SIA) in the United Kingdom as a Close Protection Officer, and is trained in Medicine in Remote Areas (MIRA).

Andrew previously worked as a risk management consultant with the British Security Group in Central and South Asia and the Middle East, where he performed detailed business risk assessments and audits and wrote policy regarding emergency response procedures and recommendations for risk mitigation.

Andrew also worked as a media safety consultant in Iraq for more than five years with Centurion Risk Assessment Services, where he was responsible for the countrywide management of operations as well as business risk analysis and contingency planning. Before becoming a risk management consultant, Andrew served in the British Armed Forces for more than 12 years.

Ben Remfrey, MBE
Managing Director – Mine Action

Ben Remfrey, an international expert in Mine Action & Explosive Ordnance Disposal operations, is the Managing Director of MAT Mondial, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pax Mondial. Ben has provided oversight and program management in many areas of the world dealing with unexploded ordnance, including the Falkland Islands, Northern Ireland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Eritrea, the DRC, Sudan, Angola, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, to name just a few. Most recently, Ben was pivotal in helping Rwanda reach Landmine Free Status. Ben’s past experience stems from service in the British Army (1979-1989) as an Engineer, serving with 3 Commando Brigade. Ben was made a Member of the most excellent order of the British Empire (MBE) by HM QE2 in 2007 and is also a Paul Harris Fellow.

Ged Healy
Managing Director – Medical Services

Ged Healy is the Managing Director of Exmed, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pax Mondial. He directs all business strategies and has developed Exmed from conception to becoming a global leader of medical services. Ged oversees all medical staff recruitment and operational medical deployments. A founding member of Exmed, Ged served 14 years with Defense Medical Services, including 5 years in a medical capacity with the UK Special Forces. He has provided medical care and expedition expertise on almost every continent.

Ged’s qualifications include a Diploma in Immediate Care Royal College Surgeons Edinburgh; a Diploma in Emergency & Primary Health Care; State Registered Paramedic, Health Professions Council; Director of Medicine In Remote Areas (MIRA); and Major Incident Medical Management Faculty Instructor (MIMMS).

Dai Jones
Director – Medical Services

Dai Jones is a founding member and the Training Director of Exmed, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pax Mondial. He leads Exmed’s extensive training courses in emergency care in critical and acute situations. Before joining Exmed, Dai had 18 years of service in the UK military, including eight years with UK Special Forces in a medical capacity. He has worked throughout the world, including two years in the jungles of Borneo and Malaysia.

Dai’s qualifications include State Registered Paramedic (HPC); a Diploma in Primary & Emergency Health Care; Major Incident Medical Management Faculty Instructor; Tropical Medicine course (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine); and a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching (FE).

Jayne Tynan
Director – Contracts

Jayne Tynan brings 15+ years of U.S. government, commercial, and international contract administration expertise to Pax Mondial. Jayne’s prior responsibilities included supporting General Dynamics as a Director of Contracts and Subcontracts, and she has experience with Information Technology service contracting for the U.S. Department of Defense Military and Intelligence Communities as well as Civilian Agency customers. Contracting activities for Pax Mondial include new business and proposal support, contract and subcontract negotiations, and contract implementation and close out.

Jayne has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and the Study of Complex Organizations from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts. She is glad to be a part of Pax’s Program Management, Finance, and Contract teams and to bring successful and focused solutions to our clients.

Rob Mays, CPA, PMP
Corporate Financial Controller

Rob Mays is a financial manager with more than 10 years of finance, accounting, and project management experience. His career includes progressively responsible experience in budgeting, business case analysis, cost accounting, discounted cash flow analysis, and financial project management. Rob holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication, a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. Rob is also a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Rob speaks basic conversational Mandarin.

Meg Cochran, PPS
Operations Manager

Meg Cochran brings international and administrative experience to the Pax Mondial team. Prior to joining Pax, Meg worked as the Program Coordinator for Global Investments at ACCION International, a microfinance and social investing organization where she provided project support to an investment fund focused on supporting businesses that provided innovative banking and housing solutions to impoverished people.

Prior to that, Meg spent more than two years working as a litigation and antitrust project assistant at Jones Day, a large international law firm where she was responsible for managing case files for a number of high-profile legal cases.

Meg is a graduate of the Executive Protection Institute and is a licensed Personal Protection Specialist (PPS). Additionally, Meg holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College. She is proficient in French.

Lieutenant General (Retired) Anthony Palmer, CB, CBE
Chairman

Lt. Gen. Anthony Palmer retired from the British Army in 2005. His last appointment was as Deputy to the Chief of Defence Staff, responsible for Personnel and Training Policy for all three Services. He chaired the Service Personnel Board, which had responsibility for 500,000 Service Personnel and their families. He was also directly responsible to Ministers for the delivery of three major PFI programs. During this process he dealt not only with the Treasury at senior levels, but also the Chief Executives of major Defence and Utilities Companies. He was a member of the MOD’s Audit Committee, and before that was deputy Commander Operations in Bosnia where he had control of four multi-national Divisions. During this period he gained experience working with several international agencies including the IMF and World Bank.

Lt. Gen. Palmer brings significant experience to Pax Mondial in the management of large complex organizations. As Chief Executive of The Army Training and Recruiting Agency, he managed one of the largest training organizations in Europe against tight financial targets. As Director of the Army program, he was responsible for advising Ministers on the allocation of funding for all aspects of British Army spending. During this appointment he led the Army input to the Strategic Defence Review.

Lt. Gen Palmer has also been involved with various charities dealing with the challenges facing young people and the homeless. In the latter role he chaired Compass, a charity for the homeless, and in the former he was a Board Member of the Prince’s Trust and is currently a trustee of Skillforce which seeks to help those children most in danger of exclusion. He is also Chairman of the Pakistan Society, a bilateral society that aims to increase public knowledge in Britain of the arts, history, antiquities and geography of Pakistan as well as its economic life and political institutions.

Shane Le Prevost

Shane Le Prevost is the founder and CEO of the Investment Bank Liberum Capital and was formerly the CEO of Collins Stewart (CI) Limited. Mr. Le Prevost brings a vast array of commercial experience to Pax Mondial and a global network of contacts and resources.

Julian Mounter

Julian Mounter brings a wealth of experience and expertise in strategic communications, media and public relations to Pax Mondial. During a distinguished career, Mr. Mounter was the President and CEO of Star Television Hong Kong, Group Chief Executive of Television New Zealand, and former Managing Director of the Seven Network Ltd in Australia. Mr. Mounter was also the Director of Production for Thorn EMI’s Cable and Satellite Division. His early career was spent as a journalist, reporter and producer for The Times of London and the BBC’s current affairs programs, Panorama and Tonight. Mr. Mounter is now the Chairman of his own firm, Media Consultants and Investments, serving clients in the US, Europe and Asia.

James Cole

A former British Army officer, James Cole has spent more than 20 years in the real estate business, originally for the international groups, Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman & Wakefield and latterly as an investor and developer with the Akeler Group, where he rose to be CEO. In 1996, he sold the Akeler business to Macquarie Goodman, an Australian investor and developer, and since then has advised and invested in various established and fledgling businesses. He has lived in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Lisbon, Paris and currently resides in London. His entrepreneurial ventures continue to take him around the world and his depth of knowledge of international business greatly aides the management team.

James Stephenson

James Stephenson is a retired senior Foreign Service Officer with 28 years of experience in rebuilding states at war or states recovering from war or conflict. Mr. Stephenson was USAID Mission Director in Lebanon and in Serbia and Montenegro prior to assuming the high-profile Mission Director role for USAID in Iraq. He has also served in Egypt, Grenada and El Salvador. A decorated Vietnam War Veteran, Mr. Stephenson is a recognized expert on post-conflict transition, civilian-military cooperation and counter-insurgency. In addition to his role with Pax Mondial he is currently a senior adviser for a US development firm.

Ambassador Michael Ussery

Ambassador Michael Ussery has led major investments, humanitarian initiatives, and political projects in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa since 1992. He has served as an advisor to eight countries and to more than 70 major corporations and non-profit organizations, working in 35 countries. He is also a founder of eight companies and four non-profit organizations.

Amb. Ussery served at the US Department of State from 1981 to 1992, and was appointed US Ambassador to Morocco in 1988. During the Gulf War, Amb. Ussery directed the emergency evacuation of 600 Americans and led Embassy Rabat through the intense challenges posed by the war. Other US Department of State positions he has held include Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs; Chairman of the 12-agency Libya Task Force during the U.S.-Libya confrontation; White House Liaison; and Director for Congress and the Media in the International Organizations Bureau.

In the field of education, Amb. Ussery was President of the Coordinating Council for International Universities from 2003-2006, planning the American University of Afghanistan. Today, he serves as the Chairman and President of the Council for American Universities Abroad.

Amb. Ussery began his career as a professional campaign consultant and in 1979 became Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Carroll Campbell. He graduated with a BA degree from Newberry College.

Jeff Fahey

Jeff Fahey is a longtime humanitarian advocate who has traveled, lived, and worked extensively throughout the developing world for over 38 years. While Mr. Fahey’s interests are worldwide in scope, for the last decade he has focused particular attention on helping the people of Afghanistan and the Western Sahara.

In Afghanistan, Mr. Fahey has used his nearly four decades of experience with that country to help his partners and friends there plan and carry out numerous successful development projects. He helped found orphanages in Kabul and an agricultural development initiative for poor farmers in Wardak Province; helped start a Sewing and Training Factory for Afghan war widows which now employs over 400 women; worked closely with the Afghan Ministry of Culture, Youth and Information; and launched a training program for young Afghan filmmakers. Mr. Fahey’s efforts were also crucial to the continuation of U.S. Government support for the International School of Kabul and to the founding of the American University of Afghanistan. As part of his ongoing commitment to Afghanistan, Mr. Fahey serves on the Afghan Womens Council with former First Lady Laura Bush and former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky.

Mr. Fahey has also worked tirelessly to draw attention to the plight of the world’s 14 million refugees, focusing particularly on the fact that some eight million of those refugees are now the victims of forgotten or frozen crises, and have been “warehoused” around the world in places like Thailand and Algeria. His work has specifically addressed the subject of warehoused Sahrawi refugees in Algeria. His advocacy recently helped convince the Moroccan and Algerian governments to allow those refugees significantly greater communications with and more frequent visits to their relatives in Morocco. In recognition of his efforts, in 2010 Mr. Fahey was designated as The Global Ambassador of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).

Mr. Fahey is also a member of the Advisory Board of Friends Forever. Friends Forever promotes trust and understanding among cultures in conflict on both local and international levels, with over 1,000 graduates from Northern Ireland and Israel as well as a growing Immigrant Integration initiative in the United States that involves youth from the Sudan, Congo, Dominican Republic, and Albania. In 2011, the organization is positioned to apply its 25 years of experience in conflict management to work with communities in the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uganda, among others.

In all his work, Mr. Fahey has been a consistent and serious voice for those who have no voice, an advocate for those who have been forgotten, and a vigorous crusader against injustice.

When not in the field, Mr. Fahey pursues another successful career as an actor and producer of theater, television, and film. He is a veteran of 110+ films and a number of television series.