About Us
The launch of British Georgian Society in July 2004, was attended by a few hundred guests including President Mikheil Saakashvili. British Georgian singer Keti Melua welcomed the Society’s birth with a Georgian song (photo coming soon) and Stephen Nash CMG, first British Ambassador to Georgia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, became our first chair.
BGS now has charitable status and is run by a board of directors (below) with strong business, cultural and diplomatic connections. A wide variety of Georgia-related events have been organised on art, music, film, literature, archaeology, history, contemporary events and two major BGS Georgian film festivals have been held in London, 2005 and 2010.
In its networking role, BGS focuses on Georgian culture, business development, diplomatic links, architectural heritage, humanitarian aid and human rights. An adviser from both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Georgian Embassy are ex officio members of the board and the UK Ambassador in Georgia and the Georgian Ambassador here in the UK are our honorary presidents. Membership is open to all.
Board of Directors
Jason Osborn (Chair) is a composer and filmmaker who first visited Georgia in 1975 with his Georgian grandmother. He has scored over 200 TV documentaries including the first 10 series of Unreported World. His first film Songs of Georgia, was premiered at the Tbilisi International Film Festival, 2009.
Robert Scallon (Secretary) retired in 2007 from a career in banking and finance, which took him to many parts of the CIS, including Georgia. In addition to the British Georgian Society he is involved with other charities working in the region – FarRiG and HealthProm - as well as industry organisations London Countertrade Roundtable and British Exporters.
Sally White (Treasurer) is a financial and marketing analyst and writer who has a communication company in Georgia and is on the board of a stock broking company there. She has been involved with a wide variety of projects in Georgia since 1993, including commercial development and organised and led a number of British Trade Missions there.
David Mamatsashvili (Vice-Chair) worked for the Georgian Foreign Service for over ten years including a posting to London at the Embassy of Georgia. He was also a member of the OSCE mission to Kosovo. He currently lives in the UK and works for a hi-tech company.
Anthony Anderson, MA Oxon. Lived and worked in Italy & Greece, in Somerset for last 30 years. Worked in theatre in education. Author of documentaries for TV, biogs, oral histories etc. Much editing. Worked with Young Rustaveli Theatre Co. in Tbilisi. Edited Conflict in the Caucasus 1994. Author of Bread & Ashes, A Walk through the Mountains of Georgia (Jonathan Cape, 2003). On board of Farig (Friends of Academic Research in Georgia) and BGS ( British Georgian Society). Has taken groups to Georgia to look at Georgian Churches and explore the country.
Denis Corboy is Director of the Caucasus Policy Institute at King’s College, University of London. He was EU Ambassador to Georgia and Armenia 1994-1999, and returned to Georgia as EU Special Envoy in 2002. Before then he was political adviser in the EU’s Directorate General for Development with responsibility for Human Rights and Democracy in developing countries.
David Gigauri (New Membership) was born in Georgia and has spent over 17 years living and working in the UK. After graduating from University College London he worked for BP and other companies in the oil industry in Moscow, New-York and London. In 2007 he continued his education by completing a master’s degree at London School of Economics and has been in the investment banking sector since - first at JPMorgan and now at Gryphon Emerging Markets covering Eastern Europe including projects in Georgia. He is actively involved in numerous Georgia related organisations and initiatives in the UK.
Keti Japaridze (Communications) is an art historian. Born in and educated in Tbilisi she was closely associated with the generation of artists who emerged at perestroika (the meate sartuli), writing essays, articles and catalogues and assisting with exhibitions. With her husband she wrote the Georgia section of the first edition of the Lonely Planet Guide to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 2000 she did postgraduate studies in London at Goldsmiths College and has been actively involved in organising Georgian cultural events in London, in particular as co-director of the 2010 London Georgian Film Festival, "Life through Cinema".
Keti Kalandadze was born in Georgia, but has been a UK resident for the last fifteen years. She has taught Georgian at SOAS and the Ministry of Defence School of Languages, she also works as a translator and interpreter. Keti is chair of the charitable group Georgians Abroad Project (GAP), providing support to Georgians in need in Georgia or abroad. Her publications include 'Georgia through its Folktales' and 'Georgia through its Legends, Folklore and People'.
Tamara Lordkipanidze set up two non-profit organisations in Georgia. In London she managed a charity, Consumer Unity Trust Society International, was on the board of British Overseas NGOs for Development), a member of an International Steering Committee of the 21st Century Trust (UK) and has been a CEO of Lambeth Savings and Credit Union. From 1984 to 1988 Tamara was on a national basketball team of Georgia. She provides consultancy services in financial services and economic development and is a founder of London’s Georgian Restaurant Tamada.
Donald MacLaren was HM Ambassador to Georgia from 2004 to 2007, his previous postings were Berlin, Moscow, Havana, Caracas and Kiev. He left the FCO in 2008 and has established a partnership, Perfect Pitch, teaching professionals how to speak persuasively.
Peter Nasmyth is author of "Georgia, in the Mountains of Poetry", "Walking in the Caucasus, Georgia" and a co-founder of Prospero’s Bookshop on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. He spends several months of each year in Georgia.
Roberto Pirani is a Chartered Engineer with more than 30 years experience in the design and construction of onshore and offshore pipelines worldwide. He is currently Managing Director of Pipeline Systems Engineering Limited and Chairman of the White Stream Consortium which is developing a major gas pipeline system to take Caspian gas to Europe across Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Black Sea.
Craig Oliphant is Senior Adviser on Europe/Central Asia at the NGO Saferworld. Previously, worked for many years at the FCO where he was latterly Head, Eastern Research Group, working on Russia and Eastern European countries, with a particular focus on Georgia and South Caucasus. Other posts included that of Adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, based in The Hague. Before that, Craig was senior lecturer at the Conflict Studies Research Centre, RMA Sandhurst.
Anthony Stobart is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser. He has been visiting Georgia since 2000, has a Georgian wife and speaks Georgian.
Ex-Officio members of the board:
Peter Dodge (Honorary Legal Adviser) is a barrister in independent practice and a member of Radcliffe Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn. Formerly an investment manager, he specialises in commercial Chancery work (in particular, matters involving property and finance). He travels regularly to Georgia and has visited many parts of the country including Adjara and Tusheti. He is especially interested in cultural and artistic links between the United Kingdom and Georgia.
David Foster adviser to BGS on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Irine Dakhundaridze adviser to BGS on behalf of the Georgian Embassy.