The Team
Rod Bloom
Founder & Chairman of the Board
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Rod Bloom established the Rohan Bloom Foundation in memory of his son Rohan, who lost his battle to cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma at the tender age of 14.
Michelle Meiring
Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
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Dr Michelle Meiring is a Palliative Care Paediatrician who has worked in this field for over 20 years. She is the founder and outgoing CEO of Paedspal, an NGO that provides a consultative paediatric palliative care service to public and private hospitals in Cape Town. Michelle has just moved into a fulltime Academic post at the University of Cape Town where she heads up the Division of Paediatric Palliative Care overseeing under and postgraduate training and research in PPC. A long-standing child health and palliative care advocate since her “Paeds HIV-days”, Dr Meiring is on the advocacy portfolio for the SA Children’s Palliative care network known as PatchSA. She is also involved at provincial, national and hospital levels in policy-making for Paediatric Palliative Care in South Africa. Michelle is a mom of 2, an artist & a keen crafter.
Martin Nortier
Treasurer
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Martin is a qualified CA with experience in & provides strategic fiscal oversight. He is married to Terika who is a Medical Social Worker, working in Palliative Care. Cyclist.
Terri Marks
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Terri, a qualified lawyer, has over a decade of experience networking & fundraising for NGO work across South Africa. She has been working alongside Rod, our founder, serving the Rohan Bloom Foundation since its inception. Terri is also a mom of 2, a wife and a sports fan
Ben van Stormbroek
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Ben is a dedicated paediatrician committed to caring for children and their families. His key interests include clinical paediatrics, community child health, medical education, and strengthening the primary healthcare platform. Ben is a husband, a dad to 3 girls, a surfer, runner & an apiarist.
Shirley Emms
Marketing and Fundraising Manager
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Shirley leads our brand strategy and donor engagement, with over eight years of expertise in marketing and campaign development. Her commitment to the foundation is profoundly personal; having experienced the loss of her own child in 2024, Shirley brings a lived understanding and deep empathy to the mission of paediatric palliative care. She is a firm believer in the power of storytelling to mobilise communities, ensuring that every family feels seen and supported during their most difficult moments. Shirley is a wife, mom, photographer & committed to fitness.
Tessa Tuttle
Administrator
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Tessa brings over two decades of administrative and project management expertise to the team. With a background spanning the NGO, education, and private sectors, she is the behind-the-scenes of many of our operations. When she isn’t managing our logistics, Tessa is a wife and mom of two who always has some type of craft project on the go.