Trustee
Robert Robson joined the Royal Navy as a General List Seaman Officer in 1981, before going to London University to read History at Royal Holloway College. He saw duty in HMS GLASGOW, YARNTON, BRAZEN and FIFE in various different theatres.
In 1987 he joined Barclays plc where, after a three year business training, he moved into general management roles in branch banking, Regional Sales, Group Personnel and as Chief Operating Officer of the Large Corporate Banking team. He became Deputy Managing Director of European Business Banking in 1999 and then moved to the Group Strategy team.
In 2002 he moved to Barclays Private Bank, working In London as Global Head of Banking and Credit and Geneva, as Head of European Offshore Banking, before returning to the UK as COO of the International Private Bank.
Robert was CEO of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity from 2008-2018, established in 2007 as an independent military charity tasked with being a focus for fundraising and grant making to the naval service and naval charities, developing and delivering a unifying agenda for naval charity.
In 2020 Robert became Executive Director of CHIRP, providing a confidential reporting process for concerns about human safety, where he oversaw the delivery of the Maritime and Aviation programmes and managed a wholesale governance update of the Charity before leaving in 2023.
He is a consultant with the Cranfield Trust, providing pro bono support to welfare charities.
He has held trusteeships of The Royal Star and Garter Homes, The Officers’ Association, COBSEO – the Confederation of Service Charities, the Forces in Mind Trust, Veterans Scotland and he was a Member of the Mary Rose Trust, and is currently Treasurer of the ADVANCE Charity. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights and a Younger Brother of Trinity House.
Robert has lived on the South Downs with his wife Amanda, a specialist dyslexia and English tutor, since 1997 and has explored much of the western end of the Park with their dogs Phoebe, Jess and Lira (and numerous visiting furries!) over the years.