Trustees & Staff

Trustee

Jane Anderson

Trustee

Dr Helen Charman FRSA

Dr Helen Charman FRSA, MA, Dip is Director of Learning, National Programmes and Young V&A at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London where she has worked since 2018. A creative and cultural learning professional for 30 years, her specialist field is design-led museum education.  Helen’s professional portfolio encompasses schools, universities, galleries, museums, festival organizations, local authorities and charities. She was a founder member of the education team at Tate Modern in 1999 and on the directorate that mobilized the new Design Museum, London where she worked from 2007 – 2018.  She gained her Doctorate in Education and MA History of Art from the University College London: the Institute of Education and Birkbeck College.  Alongside roles in the cultural sector in the UK, US and Australia, she has a keen interest in Development Education and has volunteered overseas in this capacity.  She is a parent-governor of Forest Hill Community School in south-east London, on the Advisory Education Board for the Arts Council of England’s Durham Commission on Creativity in Education and a Trustee of the Chelsea Physic Garden. Her remit at the V&A Museum includes leadership of the £13.5 M transformation of the former V&A Museum of Childhood into Young V&A in London’s Bethnal Green, which will be the nation’s premier national museum and creative powerhouse designed with and for the young, due to re-open in 2023.  The broader scope of her role includes overall responsibility for Learning, Interpretation, V&A Academy and National Programmes.

Trustee

Lucy Clark

Lucy is an architect and museum professional who has delivered transformative capital projects in the cultural sector.

Lucy is currently Head of Public Space Programme at Natural History Museum where she leads teams to reimagine the Museum’s public spaces, supported by NHM150 which aims to raise £150m by 2031. Central to this plan are six new, iconic galleries in the Waterhouse Building which will speak to today’s issues through scientific, historic and collections lens and will bring to life the Museums’ mission to create advocates for the planet. In addition, Lucy oversees special exhibitions and other public facing design and interpretation projects, leading teams to deliver new experiences for visitors.

Between 1998 and 2020, Lucy’s architectural career saw her playing a key role in the development of capital projects including gallery, exhibition and interpretation projects – reimagining historic sites, and designing galleries, exhibitions, buildings and spaces while at ZMMA Architects. Projects included nationally important new build, restorations, refurbishments, galleries and masterplans for V&A, V&A Dundee, National Museum of Scotland, Manchester Museum, Museum of the Home, Watts Gallery, Greenwich Park and many others.

Lucy Graduated from Sheffield University, and completed a Masters of Architecture at Cambridge University, followed by the Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice in Architecture at London Metropolitan University. She has taught Architecture and Interior Design at London Metropolitan University and been a visiting lecturer and critic for other Universities.

Chair

Sarah Flannigan

Sarah Flannigan is an accomplished Chair, non-executive director, and board adviser with a diverse portfolio of expertise in the heritage sector and non-executive roles, including as Chair of Yeo Valley, Riverford Organic, Bionic, and Sawday’s. Whilst Chief Information Officer for the National Trust, she led a significant digital transformation programme. In 2017, she was awarded European CIO of the Year.  Sarah has held Trustee roles at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Holburne Museum, and National Lottery Heritage Fund.  Alongside her non-executive roles, Sarah is a Senior Advisor at OMERS Private Equity and a Board advisor on strategy, leadership, and digital transformation.  

Trustee

Will Kenney

Will Kenney is a global equities fund manager and founder at Life Cycle Investment Partners. He started his career at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and continued working with team members from that entity at Spencer House Capital Management, Waverton Investment Management, Royal London Asset Management and now Life Cycle Investment Partners. Will is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He was previously Co-Chair of governors at Westminster Cathedral Catholic Primary School and is a member of the Investment Committee at the University of Bath.

Trustee

Tony Kirkham MBE, VMH, FArbA, FICFor (Hon)

Following an apprenticeship in the forestry industry and 2 years as an arborist, in 1978 Tony started at The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew on the 3-year Diploma course, graduating in 1981 with honours.

He was the Head of the Arboretum, Gardens and Horticultural Services, responsible for the management and curation of over 14,000 trees in the collections and curated and managed the hardy shrub collections as well until July 2021 when he retired after 43 years’ service.

Since the great storm that depleted the tree collections in 1987, he has participated and led several plant collecting expeditions to Chile and the Far East of Asia, including China, Taiwan, Japan, S. Korea and the Russia Far East. he has co-authored several books on his travels including: “Plants From the Edge of the World” for Timber Press and “Wilson’s China: A Century On”, which follows the travels of Ernest Wilson in Western China.

In 2004 he completed the revision of the “Pruning of Trees Shrubs and Conifers” with Timber Press and more recently has written “Essential Pruning Techniques” and in 2019 the Haynes Workshop Manual of Trees and “Remarkable Trees” for Thames Hudson. His latest book is called “Growing Trees” and is a general guide to growing trees in the garden. Tony has also worked with Francis Lincoln on a series of games featuring trees, Match a Leaf, Tree Vision and Tree families.

He has featured on several tree related TV programmes, including “A Year at Kew”, “Kew in Bloom” and presented two series of “The Trees That made Britain” for the BBC. More recently he featured with Dame Judi Dench in “My Passion for Trees”. He represents Kew as chairman of the RHS woody plant committee and sits on the RHS awards committee, the scientific and education committee of the International Dendrology Society, Action Oak, the Queen’s Green Canopy” and is a trustee and chairman of the advisory board at the Chelsea Physic Garden and TROBI, (Tree Register of the British Isles) He was made the Vice President of the Arboricultural Society and awarded the AA Lifetime achievement award in 2019. He lectures internationally and regularly writes many popular articles and papers.

In 2009 he was awarded the Associate of Honour by the RHS for distinguished service to horticulture, the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour in 2019 and an MBE in 2019 for services to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Arboriculture and made an Honorary Lifetime fellow of the Arboricultural Association in 2015.

Trustee

Simon Major

Simon is Chair of the Nominations Committee and sits of the Finance & Operations Committee. He serves on the Executive Leadership Team at The King’s Trust as the General Counsel and Director of the Safeguarding, Legal and Assurance Functions. Previously Simon held senior roles at WWF and Save the Children and served six years as Deputy Chair of YoungMinds, the UK’s leading charity championing the wellbeing and mental health of young people. Simon started his legal career specialising in international finance law with a particular focus on infrastructure projects in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. He has a MA in International Peace and Security and the role of the UN Security Council.

Trustee

David Mathers

David Mathers has 35 years’ experience in banking and finance and is co-founder of The Mathers Foundation, a plant conservation charity caring for over 20,000 orchids and six National Plant Collections. He is Vice Chair of the RHS Orchid Expert Group and a Trustee of Plant Heritage.

Trustee

Bernadette O’Sullivan

Bernadette O’Sullivan has held leadership roles in the museums and heritage sector including the Tate, The National Portrait Gallery and the National Trust. She was part of the Tate Modern opening team and led transformational change at the National Trust as a key member of the commercial team. Her expertise is supporting teams to maximise both charitable and commercial income streams.

As Director of Development Bernadette led the 150 million pound capital campaign for a proposed new Dan Pearson designed garden bridge across the Thames. Whilst Deputy Director at Harewood House and Commercial Director at Compton Verney Gallery, both in historic landscapes, she grew visitor numbers welcoming many ‘first time’ visitors through a broader cultural programming.

Bernadette is currently a strategic advisor to a number of clients in the arts, heritage and charitable sectors. She loves to explore gardens around the UK for inspiration and is constantly in awe of the knowledge and skill of horticulturists.

Trustee

Matthew Pottage

Matthew is currently the Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy for The Royal Parks in London, and former Curator of RHS Garden Wisley. He has authored his first book, ‘How To Garden When you Rent’ and is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time. He is a board member for Fulham Palace, sits on the Advisory Committee for the Chelsea Physic Garden and is part of the RHS Woody Plant Expert Group.

Trustee

Dr Phillipa Simpson

Trustee

Anna Valle

Anna Valle is a global business leader who has lived in six countries working for FMCG and startups across emerging and developed markets, different sectors, and diverse cultures. After developing marketing strategies for iconic brands like Johnnie Walker, Durex and Liz Earle, Anna has recently co-founded Seeds of Colour, a green biotech beauty company that developed a cutting-edge extraction technology to recover colour pigment from fruits and vegetables to create 100% plant-based makeup. Anna completed an Executive Programme in Corporate Strategy from the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Leadership Programme at IMD and the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Programme. Channelling her passion for arts and the will to give back to society, Anna joined a trustee position at Visiting Arts, a London based arts organisation, and in 2017 she moved on to the Liverpool Biennial Board, where she currently is a member of the board of trustees.

Deputy Chair

Andrew Woodward

Andrew Woodward became a trustee of the Garden in July 2021, following a long career in marketing and commercial development roles across retail, financial services, ecommerce and digital businesses.   He was Marketing Director at Austin Reed Group, John Lewis and Selfridges, SVP at MasterCard and CMO at Hush.   A keen gardener, Andrew is also a trustee of the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust, a non-executive director of Digital Boost and a Board Advisor to consumer-focused scale-ups.

Trustee

Jennie Younger

Jennie has held senior executive positions in world-leading, global organisations with forty years of experience in Philanthropy, Investor Relations, Corporate Affairs, Communications and Corporate Responsibility in the Healthcare, Financial Services, Higher Education and NHS Charities. She now has a portfolio of Chairman and Non-Executive roles in charity and commercial organisations.

Until 2024 Jennie was Executive Director of Philanthropy and Alumni Relations at King’s College and a member of the University’s leadership team, a role she held from 2017. During her time, Jennie led a team to deliver an integrated fundraising and Alumni relations programme across King’s College London, King’s Health Partners and Guy’s & St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust Hospital, raising over £250m in philanthropic income in support of strategic priorities. She is a Fellow of King’s College London.

Prior to joining King’s, Jennie was Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Affairs at AstraZeneca. Before that, Jennie was Senior Managing Director at management consultants, FTI Consulting, and Global Head of Communications and Client Marketing for Corporate and Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank. Prior to this, Jennie was Global Head of Corporate Communications, Corporate Responsibility and Community Partnerships at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). In 2004 Jennie won the “European Women of Achievement Award for Business” in 20024 for her achievements at GSK and for women in business.

Jennie started her career as an Investment Analyst at Kleinwort Benson and Barclays de Zoete Wedd. She graduated from Exeter University in the UK, where she gained an honours degree in Psychology.
Jennie is also Non-Executive Chair the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI); Non-Executive Chair of Helen & Douglas House, the world’s first children’s hospice; and a member of the Funding & Development Committee of the Royal Academy of Dance.