NewsOCFJulia Iball and Neil Preddy

Julia, who has a background as a solicitor and is currently Chair of the Institute of Directors, is joining OCF as a new staff member responsible for philanthropy and partnerships, whilst Neil, who is Senior VP of Product Marketing at Nielsen, has joined our trustee Board.

Julia Iball joins Oxfordshire Community Foundation following a career as a lawyer, where she worked as a specialist litigator in personal injury and clinical negligence. She later became the managing partner of her firm, eventually giving up her legal work to run the practice. Having decided not to return to litigation at the end of her time as managing partner, she chose to work as a business coach and mentor and extended that to personal coaching for professionals. She also took the opportunity to volunteer with Young Enterprise and other local charities, and is now Chair of Trustees of Creation Theatre and the IoD.

Having applied her coaching skills to herself, Julia realised that the desire to help people, which led her to the law originally, was still a strong driving force, and she began to look for opportunities in charities that would enable her to use the benefit of her abilities and experience. Having known OCF for many years, the chance to work with it to increase its endowment and expand its social impact came at an opportune moment.

Julia has two grown-up children and lives in Kirtlington. She sings in a choir and does some occasional am-dram. She loves walking in the countryside and visiting historic places. She is a guide in the Ashmolean, where she indulges her passion for ancient history. Julia says: “I’m looking forward to this new role, as it represents a new challenge for me and I enjoy change! The work that OCF does and its ambitions for the future are increasingly important in a society where inequality remains a significant issue. I hope that I will be able to support the existing team to raise the profile of OCF and widen its impact.”

Neil Preddy is responsible for Product Marketing for Nielsen’s data platforms and data delivery capabilities. Prior to this role, Neil has worked in various roles across the business, including SVP for Strategic Initiatives for Nielsen in New York. In this role he established Nielsen Answers as the global client portal, led an initiative to move the business to a single Business Intelligence platform and led the acquisition of Decisions Made Easy. Previously he was VP Marketing for Nielsen Europe in Wavre, Belgium. In this role he developed a new growth strategy for the business that led to significant growth in market share and revenue.

Neil began his career with Nielsen in Client Service in the UK and subsequently held responsibilities for a number of different areas of the UK business including marketing, the Homescan Consumer Panel, Modeling and Analytics and Advertising Expenditure Measurement. He is based in Oxford.

Find out more about our trustee board