Our Trustees

John chairs the boards of the Devon County Agricultural Association, Westpoint Centre Devon Ltd, Mole Avon Trading Ltd and the Rural Youth Trust. He is past President of Devon Communities Together, Mid Devon Show, Patron of Devon and Cornwall Police Cadets and Local Heroes. He is a member of Exeter Cathedral Council and regularly chairs the Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel on behalf of the Agriculture Minister. He is a trustee of a number of organisations, including The Farmers Club in London and The High Sheriffs Association. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Devon and is a past High Sheriff of Devon, Chair of Governors of Bicton College and Chairman of Farming & Countryside Education and an EU CAP advisor.

Malcolm became Chief Executive at Visit Cornwall in January 2010 and is currently Executive Chairman. His previous appointment was as Chief Executive of South West Tourism. Prior to this he was Director of Economic Development for Devon & Cornwall. He is the Chairman and a non executive director of South West Lakes Limited and other appointments include membership of the Forestry Commission’s Regional Advisory Board and a Trustee of the Charity that oversees the Fifteen Cornwall Restaurant that helps disadvantaged youths to train to be chefs.

DINAH NICHOLS, CB – is a Governor of Plymouth University and a Trustee of the Land Trust. She was previously a non-executive director of Pennon Plc, a Commissioner of The Crown Estate, Chair of the National Forest Company and Director General (Environment) at DEFRA. She recently stepped down as Chair of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

Ed was appointed in 2017 as Director of Environment for Pennon. Prior to this he was Executive Director at the Environment Agency, responsible for their approach to water quality, water resources, industry regulation, land management, climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

Ed is a Non-Executive Director of Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, a not-for-profit company he helped set up which provides water, sanitation and hygiene services to people living in slums in the developing world.  He is also Deputy Chair of South West Water and Bournemouth Water’s Customer Challenge Group, the WaterFuture Customer Panel and Chair of South West Water’s Conservation and Recreation Forum. He chairs the Canal and River Trust Environmental Advisory Group and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Vale Academy Trust, a group of primary and secondary schools in Oxfordshire.

Chris is Emeritus Professor of Planning at Plymouth University and a member of the Supervisory Board of Ecorys b.v., a European research and policy consultancy. Until 2017 he was also Non-Executive Chairman of Hilson Moran, Consulting Engineers. A Chartered Town Planner and Surveyor, he spent much of his career in private practice becoming Managing Director of DTZ UK & Ireland. He was Chair of Basildon Renaissance Partnership and a member of the Council of Essex University. He is currently Chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute in the South West and has been Chair of the Burrator Advisory Group for the last five years.

Ashley, now retired, was the General Manager of the UK Platform within Imerys Minerals Ltd. the china clay company based in St Austell. Originally from Launceston, his career started with English China Clays (ECC) where he gained his professional qualification in accountancy. Through various roles, he travelled abroad extensively with the company and had responsibility for a business supplying UK products globally. He also served on the SW Council of the CBI for many years, as well as previously being a Governor of various schools in the St Austell area.