OUR

TEAM

No Strings reaches children, families and communities through local facilitators, teachers and partner teams.
We train and support them, but they are the face of the work on the ground, bringing the method to life in their own settings.

We have been fortunate to work with extraordinary people, many of whom appear in photographs on pages across this website.

Here, we introduce key No Strings staff and artists based in the UK and USA, along with our trustees and patrons.

  • Johnie McGlade

    Director

    Johnie has spent more than 35 years working in humanitarian intervention all over the world. Before founding No Strings International in 2003, he was a key player with WarChild and the Irish NGO GOAL.

  • Rosie Waller

    Programme Design Lead

    Rosie heads our outreach design and delivery team. She joined in 2008 from a background in training, and in newspaper and radio journalism. Rosie has an MSc in Disasters and Development Studies.

  • Kathy Mullen

    Creative Director

    A former lead puppeteer in numerous Jim Henson productions and co-puppeteer of Yoda with Frank Oz, Kathy is an all-round puppet genius who writes No Strings film scripts and oversees film development.

  • Michael Frith

    Co-creative Director

    Former executive vice president, art director and head of creative services with the Jim Henson Company, creating characters like Fozzie Bear and Animal, Michael designs our film puppets and sets.

  • Lisa Buckley

    Lisa has supported NSI workshops all over the world, bringing unique insights into puppeteering and wellbeing to facilitators in her fun yet highly sensitive training work.

  • Ron Binion

    What Ron doesn’t know about puppetry isn’t worth knowing. Immensely creative, hugely giving, Ron is another core member of our outreach training team.

  • Sharon Lerner

    Script Development, Editor. Sharon is children’s book producer and an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer whose career dates back to the magical early days of Sesame Street.

Patrons

  • Georgie Hurford-Jones

    Georgie is a huge force in the TV world as former executive producer on X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Now Senior Vice President of Programming at Endemol Shine.

  • Neil Morrissey

    He of Men Behaving Badly, Bob the Builder and an ever-growing plethora of TV and stage credits, Neil has been with No Strings since day one and is a much-loved supporter and ambassador. Seen here in Herat, Afghanistan.

  • Hugo Speer

    Like Neil, actor Hugo has visited numerous emergency zones around the world, and has played a major part in our landmine awareness programme in Afghanistan. Shown here with children in Kabul and puppet Hamish.

Trustees

  • Jane Pikett

    Jane is a journalist, editor, and publisher. Her career is centred on shaping stories and communicating complex ideas across diverse audiences, alongside extensive experience in leadership and organisational development.

  • Phil Veal

    Phil is an author, speaker, owner of Silbo Ltd, design thinker, innovation champion, CSR 1.0 Advocate, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator, and fellow of the RSA.

FIND OUT MORE

OUR STORY‍ ‍
How an old puppet called Seamus led to an international creative collaboration

OUR PUPPETRY
Why puppets create space for difficult conversations and behaviour change

OUR FILMS‍ ‍
Developed with leading members of the original Muppet Show creative team

OUR TEAM
The artists, trainers, and trustees behind the work

OUR METHODOLOGY ‍
The No Strings Method: how film, puppetry and participation come together