Sir Hugo is a former Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, and is a sterling proponent of our work. An enthusiastic supporter of the installation of blue plaques throughout Oxfordshire, his family home was Greys Court in south Oxfordshire and he now lives in North Oxford. He enjoys hill walking and has used his hobby to raise money for charity.
For over 30 years Jane has either chaired or been a member of grant-making committees for a diverse range of charitable organisations, including The Wates Foundation and The National Lottery. She has been involved with Oxfordshire Community Foundation since it was established in 1995. In 1999 she was awarded the OBE for her charitable work in the community.
Tim Stevenson has been President of Oxfordshire Community Foundation since 2008, when he was appointed Lord Lieutenant. He has an MA in Jurisprudence from Worcester College Oxford, was called to the Bar in 1971 and is a member of the Inner Temple. He has worked in senior positions at Castrol International, Burmah Castrol, Travis Perkins, Morgan Crucible and Johnson Matthey. His interests include hill walking, modern art, music and reading.
John was CEO of the Austrian based international plastics and petrochemical company Borealis AG until his retirement in 2007. During this time he successfully led a major company transformation, including establishing it as a leader in safety performance. This involved championing fundamental changes to company and asset strategy, and driving operational excellence across the full range of business functions. Previously, John was CEO of British Nuclear Fuels PLC, and worked at Exxon Chemical for 26 years in the UK, Belgium and the USA. Today he is Vice Chairman of The Friends of Dorchester Abbey, a trustee of Response Organisation, an Oxfordshire Charity Mentor and a Chemical Industry Advisor for CVC Capital Partners.
Glyn is a trained midwife and has been involved in the community for 20 years as a Citizens Advice Bureau advisor. She is a trustee of both Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital Charity and Family Mediation. She has also been a member of the Appeals Tribunal Service for over 25 years.
Nick is a chartered accountant who qualified with KPMG and has worked in the United States, Hong Kong and the UK as a corporate finance advisor. He has since worked in a venture capital business, investing in early-stage companies in the finance sector, and with a number of young biotech and web-based companies. Most recently he has become involved in the voluntary sector, and has taken responsibility for finance at a local charity that assists the lonely and isolated across the Cotswolds. As part of his role he has championed a project aimed at improving their befriending service through the use of tablet computers.
Laura was Chief Executive of the Freemasons’ Grand Charity for 16 years. During that time, she oversaw a grant-making programme with an annual expenditure of approximately £5m. In her earlier career, she headed up BT’s award-winning Community Affairs Programme, responsible for the evaluation and selection of economic development, social welfare and cultural projects. Laura has worked as a freelance consultant for Business in the Community and CSR activities, and in the evaluation of public policy initiatives primarily in urban regeneration and community development.
Anne is a senior IT professional with international experience at large multi-national corporations. She thrives on sorting out difficult situations and delivering business transformation and value through technological innovation across all areas of a business, including content and intellectual management, business analysis, supply chain management, financials, sales and distribution. After a 26-year career delivering IT systems for a series of high-profile publishing houses, she now works as an independent consultant, and is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences.
Paul’s early career was with Mars, Coca-Cola and Schweppes before entering the tech sector in senior roles at Apple Computer, BT, and Cable and Wireless. He was Regional CEO at Vodafone for five years, followed by further CEO roles at Irish telecomms company Eir, and Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group. He is currently a director of Arqiva Group, and CEO of Parktown Consulting. Paul is a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bradford. He is Commercial Fellow and advisor at The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, where until recently he was COO. He has lived in Oxfordshire since 2004.
Kate is an experienced finance professional with over 15 years’ of experience in privately held businesses, with a strong track record in strategy, corporate planning and structuring. She holds a degree in Chemistry from Oxford University, and for nine years worked in the Private Equity Department at the Royal Bank of Scotland, co-leading the management and disposal of assets up to £3.6bn enterprise value. Since 2013 she has run her own property development and project management business, and enjoys triathlons, bridge and keeping her own pigs.
Neil is an advisor and marketing consultant to several innovative companies and start-ups in marketing data and research. Previously he was Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Oxford-based marketing measurement company Nielsen. Neil began his career with Nielsen in Client Service in the UK and subsequently held responsibilities for a number of different areas of the business, including SVP for Strategic Initiatives for Nielsen in New York, and VP Marketing for Nielsen Europe in Wavre, Belgium.
David has had a long civil service career overseeing corporate governance, finance, strategy and policy in a variety of government departments. He held senior positions in the Ministry of Agriculture, helping address the BSE and foot and mouth crises, before moving to the Department for Communities and Local Government, where he worked on empowering communities, finance and corporate change. There he became Finance Director (and a qualified accountant) and acting Director General, and later took on similar roles in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, where he was the lead director for the 2015 Spending Review, and reformed the finance function; and led the Office for Civil Society, and a major cultural project. He is now undertaking a variety of paid and unpaid roles in addition to his work at OCF, including as a trustee of the Earth Trust, and of a charity that houses vulnerable veterans.
Chris is a Cyber Security Analyst Apprentice at Nominet, the .UK registry. Currently at the beginning of his career in the cyber security industry, he hopes to develop further to ensure businesses operate securely in the growing digital landscape. Previously working in the advertising and marketing industry, he has supported international clients, delivering campaigns in the business and consumer space. Chris joins OCF as part of the Oxford Hub Young Trustee programme, which gives students and young professionals Board-level volunteering placements, accompanied by training and support in governance and trusteeship.
If you would like to find out more about giving your time and expertise as a trustee, take a look at the job description below or contact us.
“I really must thank the team for helping me during the application process and for having such faith in our work.”
“We like to find strategic solutions, not provide sticking plasters.”
“It is so uplifting to meet so many people blessed with generous hearts and a deep sense of community.”
“It’s so good to think about the bigger picture aside from the week working at the coalface. It keeps me focused about what messages we needed to get across about ourselves as a charity.”
“I really appreciate your work on what for my parents is such an important project. I am glad that the fund has been developing so positively and swiftly.”
“The huge satisfaction to be gained from spending one’s time in giving in your later years far outweighs any pleasures that you can possibly gain on the golf course, on the beach or on the back of the yacht in the Mediterranean sipping martinis.”
“I like to have something worthwhile to get up for each morning… I find that the larger and more strategic the gift, the more pleasure I get out of it.”
“I can’t get over it; I’m still shaking when I talk about it. It’s just incredible… I feel a bit guilty about getting so much pleasure out of giving!”
“Generosity is the best investment.”
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
“It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.”
“I would never have known about many of the causes I’ve helped if the community foundation hadn’t told me about them. They are doing vital work and they need our support.”
The Ark T Centre is an arts project in East Oxford, and is situated in a high-risk area for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). Ark T is an open and inclusive community, where people, art, and powerful ideas come together, using the transformative powers of creativity to change lives.
SOFEA alleviates multiple social problems: the need for jobs and training for disadvantaged young people; the demand for nutritious food for vulnerable people; and the danger of supplies from the food industry going to waste.
Good Food Oxford supports the existing work of many organisations in and around the city working to make our food system more nourishing, less wasteful and more sustainable.
