Our work is bolstered by a strong experienced board of Trustees
Alumni
We are sincerely grateful to former Trustees who have provided us with the necessary and long term support, to help us establish the Trust and our programmes.
Dean Orgill
Former Chair of Trustees for the South Downs Trust. Dean is now Chair of The Living Coast UNESCO Biosphere in Sussex.
Dean is Chief Executive Partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter alongside Chair of the Brighton & Hove Growth Board and a member of the Greater Brighton Economic Board. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and Royal Society of Arts and was Sussex Business Person of the Year in 2024.
Dan Montagnani
Former Vice Chair of Trustees for the South Downs Trust. Dan has been with Groundsure since 2005 and assumed his current role leading the business since 2009. Dan has worked in environmental risk for over 20 years including 2.5 years in Barclays Bank Environmental Risk Management Unit. The Business “Groundsure” was started in 2001, as a start-up formed by a handful of people with ideas and ambitions but no customers and no data, today it provides over 100 different products and hundreds of different data sets.
Vance Russell
Former Trustee for the South Downs Trust. Vance is a Wildlands and Climate Change Adaptation Consultant and is one of the founding members of the Wild Farm Alliance, which promotes agriculture that helps to protect and restore wild nature, and currently serves on the organization’s board of directors as the treasurer. He has over 30 years of experience working in agriculture and natural resources management.
Tim Burr
Former Trustee for the South Downs Trust and with a strong commitment to the National Park, is currently a Government Member for the South Downs National Park Authority.
Janet Duncton
Former Trustee for the South Downs Trust, Janet Duncton is from Petworth in the National Park. She is heavily involved in the National Park being a District Councillor at Chichester District Council as well a West Sussex County Councillor. Janet is also a Member for the South Downs National Park Authority.
Robert Robson
Former Trustee for the South Downs Trust. Robert has a strong naval background with a career since in banking alongside naval and military charities and trusteeships.
Julie Fawcett
Former Chair of Trustees for the South Downs Trust. Julie is Managing Director of QBic, an environmentally conscious and award winning hotel chain. She has had an extensive career working in the Private Equity Sector as an “Entrepreneur in Residence”, for herself through the set up and sale of a retail ecommerce business and the Third Sector, as Managing Director of Llamau Housing Association. Julie is a keen sailor and walker and lives in East Meon, Hampshire.
Greg Mahon
Former Treasurer for the South Downs Trust. Greg joined Rathbones in 2002 as an investment director before becoming regional director in 2010. With nearly 30 years investment management behind him, Greg has worked for SNC (now Merrill Lynch), Murray Johnstone Private Investors and Premier Asset Management. He’s a Chartered Wealth Manager and Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, as well as an IMC member of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society of the UK. Greg enjoys the many benefits of the South Downs living in Petworth, West Sussex.
Toni Shaw
In 2007, Toni become CEO at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation where, with the support of the Board of Trustees, she established the Foundation and built an endowment of nearly £11 million for the long term support of communities across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Toni is a keen walker, having walked extensive sections of the South Downs Way and lives in Basingstoke.
Richard Waring
Richard from Lewes, East Sussex, has recently retired from teaching to return to his previous profession as an actor and writer. He is also a Volunteer Ranger for the SDNP, has an honours degree in Zoology and is an award winning children’s book writer.