COMMITTED TO SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Our Team

Tony Zahra
Tony started in Tourism in the early 70’s when tourist arrival numbers were counted in thousands of yearly arrivals - when connectivity was counted in single digit civil aircraft arrivals daily. He has seen many mainly ups and and some serious downs of tourism industry over the many years. Tony has held investment interests in most sectors of the hospitality industry in Malta and some interest abroad as well as significant interests in Maltese financial services. Tony has held the Presidency of MHRA for the last number of years.
He is Malta rep on the EU hospitality lobby group HOTREC. He was Hon Consul for the Republic of Lithuania in Malta for 25 years until he retired in 2018. Tony was awarded Malta’s order of merit in 2018.
Tony’s upbringing and eventual life experience has made him passionate about safeguarding of children and young adults and together with his nephew Winston and Profs. Lauri and Profs. Sollars was instrumental in setting up the Lisa Maria foundation.

Winston Zahra
Winston has over 30 years of experience in the Hospitality industry both as an investor and an operator in Malta and Internationally. He is currently a consultant at GG Hospitality and the founder and CEO of TROO Hospitality.
During 1990 and 2015 he was extensively involved in the growth and development of Island Hotels Group Holdings plc in Malta. In 2009 he headed up the effort of Island Hotels Group to become a public company and in 2015 concluded the sale of the Group to IHI plc. He is married to Gaby and has three children, Kari, Alix and Sam.
Winston Co-founded the Lisa Maria Foundation in Malta with his uncle, Tony Zahra, in 2015 after the untimely and tragic death of his younger cousin, with the objective of safeguarding children and youth. Winston has been closely involved in the initiatives driven by the foundation over the years and is very passionate about making a difference to the way children and youth are protected by having the right laws and processes in place on the Island.
Winston has been quoted as saying that, “on the Island we have much stricter rules to protect our money and financial services than we do to protect our children and this has to change and change fast”. His contribution within the Foundation is geared precisely towards achieving this, with the objective of safeguarding children and youth.

Mary-Anne Lauri
Studied Psychology at the University of Malta and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Joined the University of Malta in 1992 as a member of the Department of Psychology. For ten years, between 2006 and 2016, was Pro-Rector at the University of Malta in charge of Students’ and Institutional Affairs.
Authored several works published in both Maltese and international journals.
On a national level, has served on the Editorial Board of the Public Broadcasting Services, the National Bio-Ethics Consultative Committee, the National Commission for the Family and the Adoptions Board. Presently actively involved in The Lisa Maria Foundation with the aim of helping to increase awareness about safeguarding of children and young people.

Kerry Hermitage
Kerry is a warranted social worker with vast experience in working with various client groups including those who have experienced homelessness, domestic violence, childhood abuse, substance abuse, migration amongst others. The majority of her experience is in social work management where she was responsible for a number of residential settings within the social field. Kerry is very dedicated to social justice and echoing the voice of those service users that she has had the privilege to work with. “When someone is willing to share a part of their journey with you and very often the darkest moments of their life, this is a privilege. As professionals we have a larger obligation to echo the barriers that exist in the system and those barriers which are causing many of the vulnerabilities we encounter, in order to minimise harm as much as possible.”
Kerry joined The Lisa Maria Foundation is 2023 as the CEO of the Foundation and as someone who is very passionate about the safeguarding of children and youth, she is fully aligned with the mission of the Foundation and through this role hopes to raise awareness and create safer spaces and organisations for children and youth.

Valerie Sollars
Valerie started her academic studies in Education at the University of Malta and subsequently continued her post-graduate and doctoral research at McGill University in Montreal and the Royal Victoria University of Manchester respectively. She joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta in 1991 and became the first female Dean in the history of the institution in 2007. Her research and teaching career have focused on early childhood education and care. She has recently been appointed Pro-Rector for Strategic Planning and Sustainability at the University of Malta. Valerie believes that children and young people are an integral part of society and as such, they should be actively supported in becoming key contributors and collaborators to decision-making. To ensure that children's voices, agency and participation do not merely be a form of manipulation or tokenism, successful participation must be nurtured through relationships with sensitive, trusting adults. This openness to trust should not be taken advantage of and safeguarding and protecting vulnerable children and young people is imperative.

Joe Borg
Holds a Master in Business and Strategic Management by the Maastricht Business School. He spent his working career in the Private Services sector, initially as an Accountant and then in General Management and Director roles.
He is currently retired but dedicates his time to the Voluntary sector assisting, amongst other areas in the welfare and safety of children. Following the setting up of The Lisa Maria Foundation, after some months Joe took over the CEO role which he held until 2022. He is a member of the Board of the Foundation.
I consider the childhood/growing up phase of the child as being the formative period and depending on his/her experience during childhood, the kind of adult they develop/ grow up into.

Andrew Azzopardi
Andrew is a seasoned senior manager with 15 years experience working with victims, survivors and perpetrators of abuse in NGOs, iNGOs, faith-based and sport settings. He specialises in safeguarding investigations and prevention in organisations.
He received his BA Social Work from the University of Malta and his MA in International Politics & Human Rights from City University (London). Previously worked for the Football Association (England), NSPCC (England) the Safeguarding Commission (Malta), the Vatican Safeguarding Taskforce and Caritas Internationalis. Andrew is a senior associate with Proteknon Foundation and is currently the Director of Safeguarding at ATP Tour.
Alpine House, Naxxar Road, San Gwann
E: info@lisamaria-foundation.org
FB - TheLisaMariaFoundation
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Beneficiary: The Lisa Maria Foundation
Bank Name: Bank of Valletta plc
Account Number: 40022689883
IBAN Number: MT42VALL22013000000040022689883
Swift Code: VALLMTMT