French-British Anthony Bates has just been hired as Senior Finance Manager in Mission East.

Anthony Bates was born and raised in the cosmopolitan French city of Marseille. His mother is French and his father British.

And yet. His mother has a refugee background, as her grandparents fled the Spanish dictatorship under Franco. And his father has roots in Germany because his grandfather fled to England shortly before World War I broke out.

Experience from the UN

Thus, it is no wonder that 45-year-old Anthony Bates feels cosmopolitan. For the same reason, it was right up his alley to get involved internationally – first at the French Embassy, later in the UN organizations UNHCR and UNICEF, and now in the Danish aid organization Mission East, where he is currently employed as Senior Finance Manager.

Anthony Bates holds an M.Sc. in Business Performance and Management from Aarhus University. His flair for financial management then unfolded in the Danish companies Grundfos and Bestseller before he was engaged at the embassy and later at the UN.

Schooled in tolerance

In addition to the multicultural family relationships, he grew up with a taste for international involvement at a Catholic primary school in Marseille. Here he went to class with Christians, Jews, Muslims and comrades with other backgrounds in a city characterized by many countries and cultures.

There, the students were regularly engaged in social events where the profits went to humanitarian aid work around the world.

Short distance from giver to recipient

And that attitude – giving of himself and his profits to others – has characterized Anthony’s life ever since and is also the reason why he has applied for a job at Mission East:

– At school we learned that there must be only a short distance from thought to action. I like that at Mission East, too. We make a difference and closely follow the path of money from giver to recipient and to concrete results, he says.

Anthony Bates came to Denmark 15 years ago. He lives with Tina in Copenhagen, and the couple have a daughter together.