The Team

Esmond was born and educated in Birmingham graduating from Loughborough Colleges in 1974 as a PE teacher. He commenced his career at Hendon School Barnet until 1977 when he travelled with wife Hilary, on public transport through Europe, Asia to India and Nepal. He then returned to Birmingham as the first Sports Action Community Organiser in the UK, a role which has become a model for inner City sports developments. Es was then appointed as the original Birmingham Jewish Youth and Community Worker, moving to Richmond upon Thames as Principal Youth and Community Officer in 1984. Appointed Director of the Liverpool Jewish Youth & Community Centre in 1986 and for the next 18 years, amongst other responsibilities was elected Chair of the Liverpool Faith Network. This played a significant grass roots role in enabling Liverpool, to achieve the Award of European Capital of Culture.

On his return to London in 2004 to take up an appointment at the Board of Deputies of British Jews as Director of Community Issues where he was involved in many educational and interfaith related issues. Es was then employed as Community Development Manager of Borehamwoood Synagogue the fastest growing Jewish community in London where amongst other roles he initiated and was elected vice chair of the Hertsmere Faith Leaders Forum. He has only recently retired (December 2016) as the Regional Development Manager for Jewish Volunteering Network (JVN) a volunteering agency he helped to create whilst at the Board. He now chairs the Barnet Multi Faith Forum

Es is the editor of The Role of Righteous Muslims an educational booklet retelling “lost stories” of Muslims who saved Jews during the Holocaust – A Faith Matters Production;

Married to Hilary, with two children and 6 Grandchildren.

A lover of all sports and a lifelong Aston Villa sufferer and supporter!)

David is the North London Area Lead and Barnet Facilitator for the Federation of Small Businesses and represents this community on the Executive. David is a graphic designer with his own consultancy Exposed Design Consultants and is a Fellow of the RSA. He assists BMFForum with communication materials and strategy, including website and email updates. David is a Methodist.

Rumela Kundu is a Nichiren Buddhist, who believes in her own unique potentials, which helps her to transform challenges into opportunities.

Rumela works for a think tank called Centre for London as Development Officer. Prior to this she worked with people with special needs for 6 years and delivered projects for their social inclusion. She volunteers for Barnet Multi Faith Forum as their Environmental Sub Group Chair, tackling local environmental issues and she is a representative of Nichiren Buddhism in this forum. Various illness at an young age made her differently able, but she finds that to be her badge of honour, as she cant be lost in the crowd.

M. Akram Khan-Cheema is an Independent Education Management Consultant with over fifty years of experience within the British education system. He taught for 13 years in the City of Liverpool before spending 2 years as a Schools Inspector with the City of Birmingham Local Education Authority and 13 years with the City of Bradford Education Authority. He carried out more than a thousand schools’ inspections in England after becoming registered with Ofsted and taking early retirement in 1994. Whilst working as Course Manager for a PGCE Mathematics and Science Initial Teachers Training SCITT programme he was conferred an honorary fellowship by the University of Gloucestershire in 2000. He was awarded the Sankore University Award for Excellence in education in 2002, and an OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his contributions to Education. In 2009 Akram was persuaded out of retirement by Nord Anglia to be Director of King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness & Creativity ‘Nurturing Giftedness’ project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by Nord Anglia.

As Chairman of Executive Committee of the International Board for Educational Research and Resources (IBERR) Akram has worked in several countries around the world in a wide variety of education development and school improvement projects. His main passion is to promote interfaith and intercultural understanding by spreading peace and kindness sharing love and building bridges across cultures.