In a recent development, Daniel Valentine has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board of Trustees for STAND, a charity that was founded as Legs4Africa in 2014. Valentine, who has 30 years of experience in public relations and organisational leadership, succeeds Steve Whitlock who served as Chair from June 2022 to April 2025.
Valentine’s immediate responsibilities include providing strong leadership to the Board and ensuring that the organisation effectively achieves its charitable objectives. He will also play a crucial role in helping STAND fulfill its mission of providing mobility to thousands of amputees in sub-Saharan Africa who do not have access to prosthetic legs or rehabilitation.
This appointment comes at a crucial time for STAND, as the charity opens its new headquarters in The Gambia, West Africa, and prepares to deliver a record number of prosthetic legs across the region.
Expressing his gratitude, Valentine stated, “STAND is a wonderful charity and I am deeply honoured to be joining the team as Chair. I look forward to working with our CEO, my fellow trustees, and the wider organisation to deliver STAND’s mission of changing the lives of amputees in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Valentine, who studied at the University of St. Andrews, Hertford College, Oxford, and King’s College London, has a strong background in public relations and organisational leadership. Apart from his role as Chair of STAND, he also serves as Chair of Lovey Foundation UK. In September 2025, he was named Trustee of the Year at the Kent Charity Awards for his work in helping child labourers in Ghana, West Africa, access full-time education. He was also shortlisted for Charity Chair of the Year at the Third Sector Charity Awards 2025.
Tom Williams OBE, the founder of STAND, expressed his confidence in Valentine’s leadership, saying, “A charity is only as good as its trustees, and we have a great opportunity to really shape a strong Board. The challenge ahead of us is big, and we need skillful, values-led leadership to match it. The combined experience of Daniel and our other trustees will help us scale responsibly and stay true to our mission.”
STAND is a unique charity that works to ensure amputees across sub-Saharan Africa can access high-quality prosthetic limbs and holistic rehabilitation. The organisation collects prosthetic legs, refurbishes their components, and delivers them to rehabilitation partners to fit amputees in need.