Our trustees
The CGD Society's trustees bring a range of expertise to the charity. Several trustees are from families affected by CGD and so offer a personal perspective during Board discussions.
Paul Numan, Honorary President
Paul ‘Ocean’ Numan founded the CGD Society (formerly the CGD Research Trust) in 1991 with the aim of finding a cure for the disorder that affected his son. Paul was Chair of the Board for 12 years. Today, he lives in New Zealand and works as a marketing consultant. His son passed away in 2009 aged 29.
David Barlow, Chairman
David became involved with the charity in 1996 when he volunteered to prepare the annual accounts. In 2006, he became a trustee and since 2007, he has been Chair of the Board. David is the Director of Finance & Corporate Services for Greater Merseyside Connexions Partnership, a charity working with young people that he helped establish in 2001.
Michael Berry
Michael became a trustee of the charity in 2005. He is a Chartered Accountant and is currently Head of Debt Advisory & Restructuring at Oriel Securities. He has extensive experience in the financial world, including 30 years as a banker at Morgan Grenfell/Deutsche Bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank and Nomura.
Simon
Simon is affected by CGD and so brings a personal and unique perspective to the Board. He has a degree in Environmental Biology and Geography. He lives in lives in Northern Ireland and works at an integrated secondary school.
Geoff Creamer
Geoff’s two sons were born with CGD but one has had a successful bone marrow transplant. Geoff became a trustee in 1992 and since that time has seen the charity change from a small parent support group to being the leading source of information for those affected by CGD in the world. He is a Chartered Engineer and is currently the Technical Director of a manufacturing company.
Janet Fullerton
Janet became aware of CGD through an affected family and having been the mother of a very ill child herself, she understood the difficulties experienced by families in this situation. Janet has had a career in management development and training.
Alina Garcia-Lapuerta
Alina joined the charity in 2007 after her son was cured of CGD by a bone marrow transplant. Alina is currently pursuing a career in writing have previously worked with The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Chase Manhattan Bank.
Andrew Orchard
Andrew established the first UK CGD support group in 1986 and is a founder member of the charity and a lay panel member on the Research Advisory Board. He is father to a son affected by CGD and has a nephew who successfully received a bone marrow transplant in 2002 and is now deemed to be CGD free. Andrew is an IT consultant and data analyst.
Caroline Towers
Caroline Towers has over 16 years experience working in the NHS on a variety of quality and governance initiatives in both the acute and community sectors. More recently she has specialised in leading improvement projects focussed on patient safety within Leicestershire community.