Charles & Rita
Field – Marsham
Foundation

Rita Field-Marsham – Founder

Rita Field-Marsham is a Kenyan born lawyer. She worked in the private sector as a lawyer and founder of Field-Marsham & co advocates, worked in the executive arm of government as prosecuting counsel at the State Law Office in Kenya and in the in legal aid sector as a pro bono lawyer for the high court and court of appeal in Kenya. From 2005-2010 she served on the board of Young Patron’s Circle (YPC) at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2009, she founded Knowledge Empowering Youth (KEY), a charitable program that provides turn-key libraries in Africa of which she remains the CEO. In 2011, she co-founded Glorious&Free Foundation and Glorious&Free Group Inc., a Canadian based for-profit social venture.

Charles Field-Marsham – Co-Chair of The Charles and Rita Field-Marsham Foundation

Charles Field-Marsham is a Canadian entrepreneur and businessman with over 25 years of experience building businesses. In 1991, he joined investment bank, Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, then while living and working in Kenya between 1993 and 2003 built several businesses, and he founded Kestrel Capital Management Capital (KCMC) in 2004, when he returned to Canada. Kestrel Capital Management Capital (KCMC) provides strategic, investment and management consulting services to businesses in and outside Canada. Charles also owns and is chairman of the following businesses: Kestrel Capital East Africa, Panafrican Equipment Group, and Kenya Fluorspar, a fluorspar mine he purchased in 1997 but closed in 2017. Collectively, the companies employ approximately 400 people with operations in Canada, Dubai, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In January 2020, Charles invested in and became a board member of Slingshot Sports LLC, a world leading brand of kiteboarding equipment, headquartered in Hood River, Oregon.

Charles is dedicated to fostering strong communities where he lives and works and is involved with a number of not-for-profit organizations. Additionally, Charles has sat on the boards of The Foundation of the Hospital for Sick Children, Next Canada, Grand Challenges Canada, and the African Medical Research Foundation Canada (AMREF). He and his wife Rita founded The Charles and Rita Field-Marsham Foundation in 2009. Charles is the principal benefactor and chairman of the Kenya Scholar Access Program (KENSAP), an initiative that since 2004 has helped secure full scholarships for more than 215 Kenyan students at top-tier American universities.

Marilyn Field-Marsham

Marilyn Field-Marsham practiced commercial law for over 20 years at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt in Toronto. She was a director of AIM Canada Fund Inc., AIM Global Fund Inc. and AIM Trimark Funds Advisory Board. She has served on the boards of several not-for-profit and public companies over the past 15 years and also on their governance, human resources, finance and audit and investment committees. She is the chair of the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries in Toronto and the incoming chair of the governance committee of the Mount Pleasant Memorial Services. She served as a committee chair at the American Bar Association. She served on the editorial board to the Intellectual Property Law Quarterly, Corporate Lawyer Series, Federated Press. She is also author of numerous articles on developments in legislation and jurisprudence. She has been actively involved with Massey College University of Toronto, Toronto Trees and Parks Foundation, and supported Trails Youth Initiative. She is currently a volunteer for the aboriginal governance and strategic planning projects, CESO (Canadian Executive Services Organization).

Wandia Gichuru

Wandia Gichuru has over 15 years’ experience in international assistance gained at DFID (the British Government Department of International Development) and the World Bank. She has expertise in strategy development and policy analysis, institutional analysis and Capacity Building, public sector management, aid effectiveness and harmonization and program management, monitoring and evaluation. She has 10 years as a governance adviser with the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). She held policy roles for DFID in London, the United Nations in New York, and worked on long-term assignments in Kenya, Uganda and in Sudan, where she provided advice on bilateral and multilateral projects designed to strengthen the accountability, transparency and efficiency of governance systems. Previously, she worked at the World Bank, City Bank and Kenya Wildlife Services in Kenya. She currently runs a coaching and consulting practice in Nairobi, Kenya.