Our team

Barend Petersen 

Barend is an ordained minister of religion who co-founded the Institute for Committed Action in South Africa with Archbishop Makgoba, which brings together the government, mining industry, labour and civil society to provide safe space for Courageous Conversations between the parties. He represents Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa on the Investor Commission.

Barend is a director of the De Beers Group and the Executive Chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines.

James Megoran 

James Megoran is Director of Peacebuilding for the Church of England. Prior to this, he was the Director of Peacebuilding for the Archbishop of Canterbury, a role which specialised in visiting conflict contexts around the world to provide support and advocacy for the Church’s peacebuilders.  Previously he worked for the British Government as an international relations and security analyst, policy advisor and team leader in the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He holds accredited mediation training from the London School of Mediation, as well as from the UN in Ceasefire Mediation.  He is a senior Advisor to the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030.

Martha Jarvis 

Martha Jarvis is the Anglican Communion’s Director of International Advocacy and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Personal Representative to the United Nations. With a small team, she works with churches globally as they respond to situations of conflict, refugee movements and environmental destruction, enabling them to speak into international negotiations and develop trusted partnerships with international organisations. She previously worked in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s reconciliation ministry, supporting peace mediation in South Sudan and Mozambique, and managing the international growth of an initiative born of the ministry – the Difference course – which aims to mobilise a generation of peacemakers. This followed her early career in business development in Moldova, the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Dr Stephen Barrie

Dr. Stephen Barrie is Deputy Chief Responsible Investment Officer at the Church of England Pensions Board. With a special interest in systemic stewardship, he is a board member of the Transition Pathway Initiative, a trustee director of the Church Investors Group, Senior Advisor to Mining 2030, and co-Chair of the Global Tailings Registry Working Group. Previously he served as Secretary to the Ethical Investment Advisory Group advising the Church of England National Investing Bodies; as a Fellow of the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology; and on the staff of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford. 

Zak Wood 

Zak is one half of the secretariat that coordinates Courageous Conversations in South Africa, a multiyear programme that convenes mining executives, faith leaders, labour, and civil society in pursuit of greater co-accountability and shared vision. He is also the co-chair of the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030’s workstream on the Legacy of Mining.

Zak is the founder of Thoreau Consulting and IMGNRM, platforms that support innovative thinking and collaborative action on issues ranging from responsible sourcing to stakeholder dialogue. He advises c-suites and boards on ethical leadership and approaches to long-term whole value, particularly in complex environments.
Outside of that he is a senior advisor and strategist working primarily in extractives, conflict, development, and societal trust.

Catherine Matlock

Catherine is an ordained Pioneer Minister in the Church of England working with the Reconciling Leaders Network charity since October 2024. She is committed to the development of reconciliation and peacebuilding as a missional imperative within church and community settings and has piloted the much-acclaimed Difference resources in parishes and schools. She has extensive management experience of working with and in NGOs both in the UK and overseas including Rwanda, Cambodia, South Africa and Israel-Palestine.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba 

Archbishop Makgoba is the President of the Global Centre for Peacebuilding & Business (GCPB). Since 2008, He took up his current role as Anglican Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa: encompassing 28 dioceses across Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, and the island of St. Helena.
He is the Chair of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, and Former Commissioner of the Press Freedom Commission.

Cardinal Stephen Breslin  

Cardinal Stephen Brislin is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Johannesburg in the Roman Catholic Church. He was installed on 25 January 2025 after being appointed by Pope Francis in October 2024.

In his role leading Johannesburg’s Catholic community, Brislin has been vocal on social justice and human dignity, particularly addressing poverty, ethical leadership, and corruption in society. He champions the Church’s engagement with wider societal issues and emphasizes the need for compassion and fairness in public life.

Rev Canon Angus Aagaard 

Canon is currently in post as Vicar of St Marys, Collegiate Church Warwick, one of GCPB’s corner stone churches and Team Rector of Warwick Anglican Churches.

In 1993 Canon Aagaard went to study to become a priest training at Ripon college, Cuddesdon, gaining a BTH Oxon.  On ordination his first post was as Curate in Taunton where he set up a project for the homeless, was chaplain to a sixth form college, and gained experience of being a priest in the parish of St Andrew.  On leaving this post he was appointed as Team Vicar in Southampton City centre where his ministry focused on growing the Mother church of Southampton and setting up a variety of community projects centred on caring for the marginalised and young people, he was chaplain to the Mayor of Southampton and elected board member for a multi-million pound inner city regeneration project.

Rev Dr David Bagnall 

David is the Rector and leads St Johns Edinburgh, one of GCPB Coner stone church. He was Senior Choral Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, where he read English Literature for his undergraduate degree, and Development Studies for his M.Phil. Prior to ordination, David was an English teacher before working as a youth minister for North Lambeth Parish in South London. Having trained at Westcott House, David served his curacy at Great St Mary’s Church, Cambridge. Prior to joining St John’s, he was Assistant Chaplain at Emmanuel College where he also completed a PhD researching the collision of discourses within the Anglican Communion.

Rev Simon Cansdale 

Simon is the Vicar of Christ Church Winchester, one of GCPB’s Cornerstone churches. Simon studied Theology at Keble College Oxford before working as Assistant to the Anglican Bishop of the Far Northern Transvaal in the early 90’s. Returning to the UK, he worked for The British Red Cross Society, and having completed his theological training Simon has worked in churches in Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Nottingham, Chesham and now Winchester.