Our Trustees
Heather Hancock LVO, DL
Chair, The Royal Countryside Fund
Master of St John’s College, Cambridge
Heather is the senior independent Board member for Defra and a non-executive Director of Rural Solutions Ltd.
Rob Collins
Vice Chair, The Royal Countryside Fund
Rob was Managing Director of Waitrose & Partners from 2016 to 2020 and a member of the Main Board for The John Lewis Partnership.
Stephanie Brimacombe
Global Chief Growth Officer and European CEO, VCCP
Stephanie joined VCCP, the UK’s leading creative agency group, in 2011 after starting her career in corporate and consumer PR.
David Fursdon
Chairman, The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture
David was educated at St John’s College, Oxford and at the RAU Cirencester, where he is now an honorary Fellow.
Lord Jamie Lindsay DL
Chairman, UKAS
Jamie Lindsay is currently Chairman of UKAS (the UK’s National Accreditation Body) and Berry UK Pension Trustees Ltd., and an advisor to Brockwell Energy Ltd.
Janet McCollum CBE
Janet currently serves as Non-Executive Director to several leading businesses within the agri-food industry – Tirlán, W & R Barnett and previously to Foyle Food Group.
Steve Murrells CBE
Group Chief Executive Officer, Hilton Foods
Steve is also a Non-Executive Director at Noble Foods. Steve was Co-op Group CEO having previously led the Co-op’s Food business.
Meurig Raymond CBE, DL, FRAgS
Farmer
Meurig Raymond is a farmer and an advocate of British farming. He was President of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales (NFU) until 2018.
Chris Sparrow
Founder, Recce Rural
Chris is a chartered surveyor and business owner with 27 years of experience covering predominantly rural interests.
Jonathan Warburton
Chairman, Warburtons
Jonathan is a fifth generation Warburton and has has held the position of Chairman of the family business since 2001.
Allan Wilkinson
Head of Agrifoods, HSBC Bank plc
Allan Wilkinson is a dairy farmer’s son from the North East of England, who joined Midland Bank in the late 1980’s becoming HSBC’s Head of Agriculture in 2010.
As well as quarterly meetings of the board of trustees, The Royal Countryside Fund benefits from the advice of our board through a number of subcommittees.
Grants subcommittee
Chair: Janet McCollum
Development committee
Chair: Rob Collins
The Farming Advisory Group
Chair: Allan Wilkinson
Nominations committee
Chair: Allan Wilkinson