Meet our Team

The Open Minds Foundation brings together a network of individuals who have an interest in coercion and coercive control, or first-hand experience of its applications. We have a Board of Trustees responsible for setting the direction and purpose of the organization, supported by advisory experts, an Executive Director and a group of volunteers.

Our board of Trustees

Jim Atack

Jim Atack

President

Jim has a personal, familial connection to coercion, having watched a family member coerced into a cult

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Patrick Haeck

Patrick Haeck

Vice President

Patrick grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, spending forty years in the high-control group.

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Richard Kelly

Richard Kelly

Secretary & Treasurer

Richard was born into and grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness. His sister was later murdered by a coercive and abusive spouse.

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Our Executive Director

Victoria Petkovic

Victoria Petkovic

Executive Director

Victoria has an innate and detailed understanding of coercion and its effects, as well as an unrivalled interest in the subject.

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Jim Atack, S.M. Engineering - President & Trustee, Open Minds USA & UK - Retired Business Executive - Rutland, England

Jim Atack

President

Jim Atack is the President of The Open Minds Foundation and his role is to oversee the Board and the Trustees. Jim has a personal, familial connection to coercion, having watched a family member coerced into a cult, and hopes to prevent others from suffering the same fate. For two decades, he has sponsored work promoting awareness of the techniques used to gain control of people’s behavior without their understanding, knowledge or consent. In 2015, Jim helped to Found the Open Minds Foundation to focus more attention on devastating effects of coercion.

Jim brings a lifetime of commercial business experience to the role after a series of successful endeavours. He grew up in the UK and studied engineering both there and in the US. He retired from the oil industry to devote his time to renewable projects in eco-housing and high technology battery storage. He is currently the chairman of Positive Homes, an eco-house builder in the UK.

Patrick Haeck - Vice President & Trustee, Open Minds USA & NL - Counselor, Educator, Activist - Gent, Belgium

Patrick Haeck

Vice President of the Board of Trustees

Patrick grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, spending forty years in that high-control group. He left with his family in 2010, when they learned that the group was protecting pedophiles from prosecution, and realized the deceptions in the doctrine, the financial abuses of the organization, and the mistreatment of members. For expressing his opinion on these issues, Patrick was disfellowshipped by the Jehovah’s Witnesses for apostasy in 2011.
Since leaving the religion he has been a strong force in helping those who leave the religion to recover from the damage and isolation inflicted by the religion. Patrick and his wife have given many lectures in schools and to interested groups, warning about the coercion used by high control, totalist groups. He also helps awakening Jehovah’s Witnesses and those still caught in the group’s thought patterns even years after leaving.
He is a successful businessman, who devotes a large proportion of his time to helping others. Patrick loves nothing more than helping people to dismantle the guilt and fears induced in them by totalist groups, and helping them take back control of their lives. Recently, his profound sense of justice led him to file a criminal complaint against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Belgium, contending that: “shunning as exercised by Jehovah’s Witnesses is a violation of both human rights and Belgian law”.

Richard "Dick" Kelly - Secretary, Treasurer & Trustee, Open Minds USA & UK - Author, Retired Business Executive - Arizona, USA

Richard “Dick” Kelly

Treasurer of the Board of Trustees

Richard Kelly is both the Secretary and Treasurer of the Open Minds Foundation. He was born into and grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, serving for two years at Watchtower’s NYC headquarters, Bethel, before he left the high-control group. Thirty four years after he left, his sister was murdered by a coercive and abusive spouse. Richard hopes to encourage personal decision making and critical thinking to prevent the abuse of established societal systems.
Richard is deeply concerned about issues of coercion. He is the managing director of the non-profit Advocates for Awareness of Watchtower Abuses (aawa.co). He is the author of three books: Growing Up in Mama’s Club, The Ghosts from Mama’s Club and Mariuca and Marilyn: Saying Goodbye to Mama’s Club.
He is the retired CEO/Owner of an international manufacturing company where he created a culture of continuous improvement.

victoria petrovic-short

Victoria Petkovic-Short

Executive Director

Having worked to help establish the Open Minds Foundation in 2015, Victoria has returned to the charity in 2020 to take up the position of Executive Director as the charity refocuses and makes adjustments in its direction. Although she has no personal experience of individual or familial coercion, she has an innate and detailed understanding of coercion and its effects, as well as an unrivalled interest in the subject.
Victoria has an extensive commercial background running entrepreneurial businesses, as well as a number of fundraising and trustee roles for charities on a voluntary basis.