Wild Frontiers Foundation Trustees

Jonny Bealby | Chairman

Having strutted the boards as a rock singer in the latter half of the 80s, in 1991 Jonny ditched the music industry for the open road and set off on what turned out to be a decade of travels, through Africa and South and Central Asia which resulted in three highly acclaimed travel books, one TV film and Wild Frontiers. As a writer and traveller Jonny has visited more than 90 countries and, in addition to his books, has had articles featured in a variety of publications including the Daily Telegraph, The Times, Observer, The Guardian and Wanderlust. He has lectured to the Royal Geographical Society on a number of occasions in both London and Hong Kong. In 2002 he took his small sole-trader business, called Wild Frontiers (named after Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier), and expanded. Taking the same ethical approach to trips that served them so well in Pakistan – namely, ‘off the beaten track-meet the locals-get beneath the surface’ kind of tourism – business boomed. In 2002 Wild Frontiers took 19 clients to 2 destinations; in 2014 they took over 1350 clients to around 50 destinations.

‘The Wild Frontiers Foundation was a natural step on the journey of Wild Frontiers,’ says Jonny. ‘As by having this dedicated charitable arm we are much more energised to help those living in the lands we are fortunate enough to visit.’

John Brown | Panel Chair

John Brown began his career working for a number of book publishing companies before becoming managing director of Virgin Books in 1982.

In 1987 John established John Brown Publishing and produced Hot Air the inflight magazine for the fledgling Virgin Atlantic Airways and Viz Comic. He expanded the John Brown Publishing consumer titles with Fortean Times and launched Gardens Illustrated. On the contract side there were more inflight clients and magazines for Classic FM, Waitrose, Nat West and Sky. John sold the Company in 2004.

Since then John has managed the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, has been chairman of the Wisden Group and has launched Bob Books, a digital photo-book website. He is also chairman of the travel company Wild Frontiers, and a director of Punk Publishing, The Oldie and Pippa Small Jewellery. He is the co-owner of The Watch House, a restaurant in St Mawes, Cornwall. He is a trustee of the School of Social Entrepreneurs and Chairman of Camara UK, a charity that distributes refurbished computers and teacher training to African schools.

Johnny Paterson | Trustee

Johnny has spent over 20 years in adventure travel, working extensively in Asia, Africa and South America. He began his career leading treks, safaris, and expeditions for the renowned London-based Encounter Overland before returning to the UK to run their worldwide operations. He has led groups to the North Face of Everest, crossed Africa from Cape Town to London through Zaire and from Cairo to the Cape, journeyed overland thrice between Kathmandu and London, and spent many months on the Indian subcontinent and throughout eastern and southern Africa on safari. His private expeditions range from parts of Western Tibet closed to foreigners, the Oodnadatta Track in Australia, and rafting the Sun Kosi River from foothills to plain, among others. From London he supervised about 500 journeys to areas as diverse as the Darien Gap, the Karakoram, Kalimantan and Mauritania and later managed an adventure travel office in Nepal. In 2001, he crossed the Sahara by camel from Lake Chad to Tripoli on a three month expedition sponsored by the RGS, National Geographic, and the Explorers Club of America, and explored the Seguta valley in preparation for a BBC film.

He joined Jonny Bealby at Wild Frontiers just after its inception and was a director there until 2011. His experience gives him insight into and practical knowledge of the diverse socio-political issues of the developing world and the need for sustainability. He has also been studying facilitation techniques for personal growth and psychotherapy and is a master practitioner in NLP, Hypnotherapy and Time line Therapy.

Jeremy Sheldon | Treasurer & Trustee

Jeremy is a corporate partner at the city law firm Stephenson Harwood specialising in advising on mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector.

His experience includes advising on oil and gas (upstream and downstream) and power related transactions, as well as advising on infrastructure projects in the energy sector, both in the UK and internationally. He has also advised on petrochemical matters and energy from waste.

Nardia Sullivan | Foundation Manager & Trustee

Nardia joined Wild Frontiers in the summer of 2007 and is one of the longest serving members of staff. After roles within marketing, event management and business development with a focus on responsible tourism, she is now the Head of Sustainable Travel. Along with her role as a trustee, Nardia manages the operations of the Wild Frontiers Foundation, including administration, fundraising and working with charity partners to develop high impact and successful projects.

 
Nardia spent five years as a primary school governor from 2012 - 2017 and since 2020 regularly volunteers with the Felix Project, a surplus food redistribution charity that helps Londoners in need.