The Poppa Guttmann Trust

MICHAEL MACKENZIE
Hon. LL.D, Chairman

Spinal cord injured in 1993 whilst working for an aid agency in Bosnia. Founding President of SIT (Spinal Injuries Together).  Director of Motorsport Endeavour. Referral Panel Leader for Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service. Trustee of Dive-Able.

After a 21 year career in the wine trade he made the unlikely but worthwhile move to become The Director of Operations for Scottish European Aid, an aid agency specialising in Eastern Europe. A bit of a bump curtailed this new occupation earlier than planned.

See www.mikemackenzie.eu

PHILIP LEWIS MBE, Trustee

 In 1962, aged twenty four, he broke his neck in a car accident in Oxford (Level C6/7 later lowering to C8/T1 complete).  As a patient of Sir Ludwig Guttmann he spent ten months undergoing treatment and rehabilitation at The National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville.

In business before accident and studied law afterwards becoming a solicitor. He took up Table Tennis and participated in numerous Paraplegic Games including Japan (1964 Paralympics), Jamaica (1966 Commonwealth), Germany (1972 Paralympics), New Zealand (1974 Commonwealth) and has gold, silver and bronze medals to prove it!
Member of the National Sports Council for six years. 
Honorary member of the Sports & Recreation Alliance (formerly the CCPR)
Formerly Chairman of The British Sports Association for the Disabled (BSAD) for many years.
Vice President of the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA)
President of the British Table Tennis Association for the Disabled (BTTAD)
In 1981 honoured by the Queen with MBE for Services to Sport.

CLAUDIA ZIMMERMANN, Trustee

Claudia Zimmermann's joined the Poppa Guttmann Trust in 2012, after working as an Intern for the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA).

During her time at CARA, she was responsible for organising a joint project with the Poppa Guttmann Trust to celebrate the return of the Paralympic Games to Great Britain in 2012. Fascinated by Poppa's story and impressed by the assistance given to him and his family by CARA's predecessor (the Academic Assistance Council), she evntually became project director for the Poppa Guttmann Recognition and Celebration Project.

Claudia has now returned to Austria where she works as a lecturer associate at the University of Graz.

SANDY MACKENZIE, Trustee

Sandy Mackenzie is a ‘cellist and a Fellow of Trinity College, London. She was The Director of Music at an independent school in the Cotswolds for many years and now continues to teach the ‘cello and piano freelance as well as playing with a number of string quartets and orchestras.

She has been a great and inspirational supporter of charities and has raised awareness and funding for these. She became engaged to Mike Mackenzie and learnt of the brilliant work and legacy of Poppa Guttmann and wanted to become involved in the project. She married Mike in March 2013.