Trustees and management

Robert’s career has spanned 30 years, with senior roles in a broad range of industries with major multinationals and Small/Medium Enterprises (SMEs) alike. His focus is on performance improvement and business turnarounds, focussing on operational and supply-chain efficiency and with a sales and marketing innovation perspective.

Robert has previously been Vice President of 02 Germany, Chief Marketing Officer and Deputy CEO at Compaq Computer Ltd, and Director at KPMG.

Passionate about photography, food, Bowie and music generally, Robert is based locally near Exeter. He is a graduate of LSE and Vienna University.

Lord Triesman’s outstanding career in politics, finance, education, publishing and fine art and his unwavering commitment to public service equip him singularly well to lead the Dartington Trust as we approach our centenary celebrations in 2025. 

He is a co-founder of the Clean Growth Network, and has chaired and served on boards of a number of charities and companies, including as trustee of the children’s charity Bounce Forward, Governor of the Capital Colleges Group and Chair of the Football Association. He is currently Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Cambridge University. He has considerable financial expertise, being Group Director of Salamanca Group and having served on the Boards of Havin Bank, Templewood Merchant Bank and the UBS Advisory Board. In political life, he was responsible for the Prime Minister’s political organisation under Tony Blair, and subsequently served as Under Secretary of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, and has held ministerial roles in Energy, Business, Higher Education and Europe. He was also General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers.

Lord Triesman said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to chair the Dartington Trust. Dartington is truly unique. It brings together excellent art and design and, increasingly, innovative holistic work in social and environmental sciences and ecology. Its contribution to a just and sustainable future is legendary.”

Chris was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers prior to retiring from that firm in December 2019. Whilst at PwC, he was office senior partner for the Norwich and then the West London offices and led for many years the firm’s private business practice across the south east. He is a trustee of various other organisations in the fields of education, science and conservation. He was previously also chair of West London Business, the business representation body for that region, where he acted as an advocate of business as a force for good and promoted the effective collaboration of business and the charity sector.

Rachel has over 30 years of experience in marketing and communications.  She has spent the last 15 years leading the brand and marketing at Riverford Organic Farmers, a highly successful and values-driven organisation a few fields away from the Dartington estate.

Brand and customer insight have always been the area of marketing closest to Rachel’s heart and she knows the importance of understanding an organisation’s brand, sharing a sense of it with all stakeholders, internal and external, and remaining true to it through thick and thin.

Before joining Riverford, Rachel spent 20 years at a London-based agency specialising in customer insight, brand and marketing.

Responding to her appointment, Rachel said: “Dartington has been a part of my life since I was a child. It has shaped the character of the community I live in.  It has provided a rich and beautiful backdrop – both natural and cultural – which I, along with many other locals, have enjoyed and probably taken too much for granted.  I look forward to playing a part in helping Dartington thrive for coming generations”

Peter is a senior leader experienced in the private, public and charitable sectors. Peter was a managing director at The Boston Consulting Group and is now a senior advisor to the firm. He is a non-executive director of Imperial College Healthcare Trust, and a trustee of the Fidelity UK Foundation. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Education Endowment Foundation and a visiting professor at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College.

Peter advises senior leaders of major organisations in a variety of sectors on strategic direction and operational performance. He has specialised in the leadership of large-scale operational and organisational change. His geographic experience covers the UK, Europe, the US, Asia and Australasia.

He was educated at Cambridge University and the Harvard Business School.

Peter has a long standing family connection with South Devon.

Appointed as a Trustee in December 2014, Sylvie Pierce had a successful career in local government, leading two large local authorities. She has a great interest in education and the arts. Post-government, Sylvie moved into the private sector, leading a property development company working with communities in economically deprived areas in a collaborative way to achieve high quality regeneration schemes.Sylvie will strengthen the board’s expertise in developing creative partnerships with like-minded organisations and with its communities to make the best use of its land and property for the future. Sylvie is currently chair of the Mossbourne Federation of Schools, four schools in Hackney; and chair of governors at Mossbourne Community Academy, a school started by Sir Clive Bourne, to demonstrate his passionate belief in the ability of Hackney children. She has also been on a number of boards previously, including the Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme and Shoreditch Trust.