Trustees and management

Executive Team

The team consists of senior executive staff from across the Trust’s activities and subsidiary trading companies.

Robert Fedder
Robert Fedder, Interim CEO

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.

Board of Trustees

Dartington Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees. Members of the Board have two roles: first as directors of the company in company law and secondly as trustees of the charity. It is a non-executive Board and members are unpaid.

READ MORE ABOUT OUR TRUSTEES ('OUR GOVERNANCE') AND HOW THEY ARE RECRUITED

Our governance

The Board of Trustees, acting in a voluntary capacity, has legal responsibility for the effective use of resources in meeting the Trust’s purpose; deciding policy; and for providing leadership and direction. They meet formally at least four times a year (involving the CEO, management team and other staff/advisors as appropriate) here at Dartington. The Board of Trustees has an Audit and Risk Management Committee which meets at least five times a year and reports directly to the Board. This Committee advises the Board on matters of risk (from a strategic perspective) and oversight of the audit.

Recruiting trustees

We recognise the importance of attracting and recruiting the best trustees to enable us to fulfil our aims. Trustee recruitment follows an open process and is based on the skills, experience and diversity required for the Board of Trustees to fulfil its purpose. This assessment is based on an annual skills audit of trustees against the needs of the Trust. Recruitment of new trustees is led by the Nominations Committee (a sub-committee of the Board). Trustees usually serve up to 3 terms of 3 years (maximum of 9 years). There are regular opportunities to apply for the role of trustee as natural membership rotation occurs. Please keep an eye on our website and social media or sign up to our weekly news and events e-bulletin to learn about when these opportunities arise.

Annual reporting

Dartington Trust is independently audited annually. The latest financial statements and directors reports are available to download. If you require any further information relating to our governance, please contact us at trust@dartington.org.

Lord Triesman
Lord David Triesman

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 Maw
Chris Maw

Chris was a senior 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, including advising organisations of all sizes on effective governance. He is a trustee of Transforming Education Norfolk, The Forum Trust in Norwich and the Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust. He is also chair of West London Business, the business representation body for that region, where he has acted as an advocate of business as a force for good and promoted the effective collaboration of business and the charity sector to provide a meaningful impact on the lives of people in the local community. He has a life-long interest in the power of education to allow young people to maximise their potential, whatever their background, and has a keen interest in the sustainability of agriculture at all scales of activity, given the challenges of global warming.

Rachel Watson

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 Goldsbrough
Peter Goldsbrough

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.

Sylvie Pierce

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.

Social Justice Advisors

Our Social Justice Advisors contribute to the Trusts strategy in addressing fairness and social justice issues.

Victor Adebowale
Victor Adebowale

Victor became chair of the NHS Confederation in April 2020. Before this, he was chief executive of Turning Point, a social enterprise.

He is a non-executive director of the Co-Operative Group, Collaborate CIC, Nuffield Health, Visionable and Leadership in Mind. He is also the chair of Social Enterprise UK. Victor served for six years as a non-executive director on the board of NHS England. He has chaired a number of commission reports into: policing; employment; mental health; housing and fairness for The London Fairness Commission; the Metropolitan Police; and for central and local government. He was awarded a CBE for services to the unemployed and homeless people and became a crossbench peer in 2001.

Victor is a visiting Professor and Chancellor at the University of Lincoln; an honorary member of the Institute of Psychiatry; President of The International Association of Philosophy and Psychiatry and a Governor at The London School of Economics.

Victor has an MA in Advanced Organisational Consulting from Tavistock Institute and City University.

Julia Unwin

Julia Unwin was chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust from 2007 until December 2016.

She was a member of the Housing Corporation Board for 10 years and a charity commissioner from 1998-2003. Julia was also deputy chair of the Food Standards Agency and worked as an independent consultant, for 15 years, operating within government and the voluntary and corporate sectors. She has researched and written extensively on issues relating to philanthropy, the voluntary sector, and its relationship with government and has written several books, the most recent of which is entitled “Why Fight Poverty?” which was published in November 2013.

She previously held a position as chair of the Refugee Council from 1995 until 1998, and is currently a member of the University of York’s Council, where she is a pro-chancellor and a governor of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. In 2010 Julia was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award in the Charity Awards and was awarded a Fellowship of the City and Guilds of London Institute in June 2012.

Julia chairs the Institute for Social Renewal advisory board at the University of Newcastle as well as being a member of the Advisory Board for Policy Scotland, at the University of Glasgow. Julia is also on the advisory board of the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge.

In January 2016 Julia was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Mears Group Plc. She has Honorary Doctorates from the University of South Wales and from York St John University, and in 2016 was made a provincial canonry by the Archbishop of York.

Follow Julia on Twitter @juliaunwin

Victor Adebowale
Victor Adebowale

Victor became chair of the NHS Confederation in April 2020. Before this, he was chief executive of Turning Point, a social enterprise.

He is a non-executive director of the Co-Operative Group, Collaborate CIC, Nuffield Health, Visionable and Leadership in Mind. He is also the chair of Social Enterprise UK. Victor served for six years as a non-executive director on the board of NHS England. He has chaired a number of commission reports into: policing; employment; mental health; housing and fairness for The London Fairness Commission; the Metropolitan Police; and for central and local government. He was awarded a CBE for services to the unemployed and homeless people and became a crossbench peer in 2001.

Victor is a visiting Professor and Chancellor at the University of Lincoln; an honorary member of the Institute of Psychiatry; President of The International Association of Philosophy and Psychiatry and a Governor at The London School of Economics.

Victor has an MA in Advanced Organisational Consulting from Tavistock Institute and City University.

Julia Unwin

Julia Unwin was chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust from 2007 until December 2016.

She was a member of the Housing Corporation Board for 10 years and a charity commissioner from 1998-2003. Julia was also deputy chair of the Food Standards Agency and worked as an independent consultant, for 15 years, operating within government and the voluntary and corporate sectors. She has researched and written extensively on issues relating to philanthropy, the voluntary sector, and its relationship with government and has written several books, the most recent of which is entitled “Why Fight Poverty?” which was published in November 2013.

She previously held a position as chair of the Refugee Council from 1995 until 1998, and is currently a member of the University of York’s Council, where she is a pro-chancellor and a governor of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. In 2010 Julia was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award in the Charity Awards and was awarded a Fellowship of the City and Guilds of London Institute in June 2012.

Julia chairs the Institute for Social Renewal advisory board at the University of Newcastle as well as being a member of the Advisory Board for Policy Scotland, at the University of Glasgow. Julia is also on the advisory board of the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge.

In January 2016 Julia was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Mears Group Plc. She has Honorary Doctorates from the University of South Wales and from York St John University, and in 2016 was made a provincial canonry by the Archbishop of York.

Follow Julia on Twitter @juliaunwin

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