TRUSTEE / CO-CHAIRMAN

Jason Charalambous is the Trust’s founding Chairman, a role he currently shares with Lord Cholmondeley.

He is a Solicitor-Advocate specialising in Commercial Law in the City of London. In 2014 he founded the campaign to save Trent Park, which led to the establishment of the Trust.

He is involved in a number of charitable organisations, including serving as a Trustee of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and on the fundraising board of a leading national disabled children’s charity. He brings his legal and business experience, together with his passion for history and architecture to the project.

TRUSTEE / CO-CHAIRMAN

Lord Cholmondeley is the Trust’s Co-Chairman, and is the great-nephew of Sir Philip Sassoon, who owned and restored Trent Park between 1912 and 1939.

He currently manages Houghton Hall in Norfolk, his family’s ancestral house, which is open to the public. He also runs estates in Norfolk and Cheshire, and until recently served as the Lord Great Chamberlain of the United Kingdom.

TRUSTEE / TREASURER

John Elkins is a qualified accountant with over thirty years’ experience working in a wide range of organisations in both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors. He has held senior positions working with executive management teams and Boards, developing planning and reporting, supporting business development, the delivery of strategy and implementing financial systems and controls.

Since stepping back from full time work, he has supported a number of smaller organisations, business owners and individuals, providing direction in financial management and planning.

John has a keen interest in local history and for many years has been a regular visitor to Trent Park for exercise and to enjoy it with his family. He brings a wealth of expertise to the Trust as its Treasurer.

TRUSTEE

Andrew Kafkaris holds a long-held passion for country houses and historic buildings that influenced his career choice as a chartered surveyor.

In his professional career he is responsible for the estate management of many historic buildings across central London, many of which are prominent listed buildings.

His particular interest in country houses is exemplified by his thesis subject ‘The Survival of the English Country House’. Andrew offers his skills and passion to the Trent Park Museum Trust.

TRUSTEE / CHAIR OF DIGITAL MUSEUM STEERING SUB-COMMITTEEE

Helen Lederer is the granddaughter of Ernst Lederer, who served as a Secret Listener at Trent Park during World War II.

She is an accomplished comedian, writer and actress, and brings considerable media expertise to the Trust.

TRUSTEE

Francesca Mendes joins the team having worked at some of the largest and most popular museums and visitor attractions, including the Natural History Museum, Churchill War Rooms and the National Army Museum. She brings to the Board her experiences in visitor operations and commercial services and is delighted to be supporting the development of this unique historic house and sharing its incredible story.

TRUSTEE

Winston Newman is an architect (retd) who has designed and built a range of residential and commercial projects throughout London and Hertfordshire. He has been a consultant architect to the pharmaceutical industry, working with them to develop innovatory flexible laboratory space to speed research.

TRUSTEE / DEPUTY CHAIRMAN

Alan Perkin is a chemical engineer (retd) who has worked for major and smaller contracting, consulting and software companies and held senior roles for business development in the oil and gas industry. His international experience included driving and growing business from strategy development, opportunity identification, through pre-qualification, proposal creation and management, to contract negotiation, closure and handover. He has lived in close proximity to Trent Park for over 30 years.

TRUSTEE

Azadi Sheridan is the founder of a small business supporting not-for-profits worldwide to best use customer relationship software.

Earlier in his career he worked in fundraising roles at the V&A and the Tate, before spending several years working globally consulting on or developing software for historic venues, educational institutes and charities. He and his family live locally, enjoying Trent Park as visitors.

Programme Manager

Chezzy Brownen has worked for the National Trust, where she was registrar for over 300 houses across the country, as well as the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. More recently, she has been working with the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in London as collections decant project manager and was the consultant registrar for Harewood House Trust on a museum Accreditation project. Chezzy was previously the museum development officer for Bath and North East Somerset representing 38 museums and heritage organisations. In addition, she worked on a project to provide recommendations for Bath in response to a UNESCO World Heritage Site report on the city.

Administrative Support

Kate Francis is an experienced administrator with a background in project management, organisational development, human resources and marketing in the UK public and charitable sectors.

Senior Historic Advisor

Dr Alex Henry is the Trust’s historical advisor. He is a historian of the Second World War with particular expertise on the ‘Secret Listeners’ and the conflict fought between the Allies and Fascist Italy, 1940-1943.

He is currently employed as a Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, where he also completed his PhD, MA and BA in the Department of History between 2010 and 2018.

Historic Decor Advisor

David Mlinaric is a leading interior designer who has worked with the National Gallery, London, the National Portrait Gallery, London and Victoria and Albert museum among them – as well as many buildings belonging to the National Trust.

He has designed or decorated interiors from all over the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and is advising the Trust on historic decor.

Exhibition Designer & Curator

Tori Reeve is responsible for the Trust’s collections. Until 2016 she was the Chief Curator at Leeds Castle, Kent one of the Treasure Houses of England. Before that she was the Principal of Interior Design and Furnishing at the Palace of Westminster and Curator of Collections and Special projects at English Heritage. As well as masterminding new displays at Leeds Castle Tori led the major Charles Darwin Exhibition at Down House and a ground-breaking presentation project at Kenilworth castle.

Trustee Emeritus

Lord Sassoon is a banker and former Commercial Secretary to the Treasury. He is the Chairman of the Soane Museum, President of the China-Britain Business Council, and a former trustee of the British Museum.

He served as the Trust’s Treasurer until March 2023.

Senior Design and Business Planning Advisor

Dr Simon Thurley is a leading architectural historian and is the Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

He has extensive experience in the heritage sector, having previously served as the Chief Executive of English Heritage, Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, and Director of the Museum of London.

He acts as the Trust’s senior consultant and advisor.

Fundraising Consultant

Cynthia Wainwright is the Trust’s fundraising consultant and has worked for leading institutions including Tate, the British Library and the Hepworth Wakefield. She has also served as a National Heritage Lottery Fund Committee Member for the Yorkshire & the Humber region.

With an expertise in fundraising and developing relationships for arts and cultural organisations, she brings a wealth of experience to the Trust.

Steering Committee Member

Dr Carla Brain is a professional with experience in education and the voluntary sector. She holds a PhD in Archaeology, and is an experienced researcher, teacher, public speaker, and manager. Carla currently manages a children’s project for a local charity and is Vice-Chair of Governors at a local primary school. She is passionate about history, museums, and education and sharing those passions with others.

Oral History Project Lead

Rib Davis has been actively involved in the collection and dissemination of oral history for over 40 years, on projects ranging from books, exhibitions, websites and plays. He has worked with many organisations, including Age Exchange, Living Archive, The Lightbox and the BBC. As an accredited Oral History Trainer for the British Library and Oral History Society he trains others on collection and use of oral histories, mainly on behalf of the British Library and the Oral History Society as well as many community organisations and major bodies in England, including The Imperial War Museum, Dover Castle and Oxford University Press, as well as organisations around the world.

Rib was Goodison Fellow at National Life Stories, leading to his writing the play Safe, which took as its starting point the Holocaust testimonies held at the British Library. He is also a playwright, author and scriptwriter.

Steering Committee Member

David Hay is a career archivist, records manager and heritage professional with over 35 years’ experience in the public and business sectors. Until retirement in 2020 he led BT Heritage and Archives, developing the function into a leading business archive recognised by UNESCO as a significant part of the UK’s cultural heritage, and one of the few corporate archives to be awarded Designated Collection status by Arts Council England and Archives Service Accreditation by The National Archives. He has worked with many museum and university partners on numerous heritage projects, often with external funding, and is experienced in generating commercial income from archive collections. David is also a trustee and board member of The National Library of Wales and a trustee director of the Sainsbury Archive.

Schools Manager

A qualified teacher, Catherine Holden worked for 9 years in schools in South London. Moving into the museum learning sector she developed school and family programmes as the Learning Manager at Bletchley Park. Since 2020, Catherine has worked as a learning and engagement consultant on a variety of projects, with organisations including The National Archives, Leicester Museums and Galleries, Sheffield Museums Trust and University of Nottingham. In January 2022 she completed an MA in Second World War Studies. 

Audience Development Consultant

A highly experienced consultant, Anna Husband has been working in the cultural and heritage sector for over twenty-five years, with a diverse range of organisations including Royal Museums Greenwich, the National Portrait Gallery, The V&A, Wellcome Collection, Arts Council England, Culture24 and The House of Mandela. With expertise in audience development and strategy, learning, interpretation, access and inclusion, she is particularly well-known for forging and managing strategic partnerships, digital approaches to engagement and curriculum-focused provision.

Steering Committee Member

Dorian Knight is Cultural Heritage Development Officer at Enfield Council. He has an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester and has worked in the heritage sector abroad at the National Museum of Iceland and within the UK. He has supported the Horniman Museum and Gardens to deliver their anthropology redisplay in 2018 and has led on community heritage engagement projects in the London Boroughs of Brent and Merton. At Enfield Council he has recently delivered the Stories of Enfield project – a National Heritage Lottery Funded heritage capacity building programme. He currently works on a range of cultural projects, including the NLHF bid for improvements to Broomfield House and Park as well as Untold Edmonton, a major cultural engagement initiative with communities in Edmonton.

Steering Committee Member

Dr Matthew Laban is a headteacher and historian who grew up in Enfield. Matthew trained to be a teacher at Trent Park during the Middlesex University years and he has gone on to become a headteacher. His first two headships were in Enfield and he is now a headteacher of a secondary school in Hertfordshire. Matthew holds a PhD in History from the University of London and he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He also serves on the primary committee of The Historical Association.

Communications Manager

Victoria Sanderson has over seventeen years experience working in the cultural and heritage sector and has worked for a wide range of organisations including Cumbria Museum Consortium, Unfolding Theatre, Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books, The Campaign for Drawing and the London Borough of Enfield Cultural Services team. 

With a background in Arts Management and Policy, Victoria brings to her role expertise in audience development, business development, digital, marketing and communications.

Project Architects

London based Architects, Kennedy O’Callaghan, are leading specialists in museum design and building conservation and are the Trust’s appointed architects.

The practice specialises in Heritage Lottery funded projects, museums, historic building conservation and designing within sensitive settings. Their work has been illustrated in newspapers, magazines, exhibited at the RIBA galleries and has won awards.

Quantity Surveyors

Andrew Morton Associates are Quantity Surveyors with a special interest in historic building conservation. The practice is particularly interested in the re-purposing of historic buildings for new uses including cultural or community use and has significant experience on Heritage Lottery funded projects.

Services Engineers

MCA is a Horsham-based practice of Building Services Consulting Engineers.

Building services engineering systems are the collective name for the mechanical and electrical services within a building. Such services are usually conveyed around the building using pipes, ducts and cables and might include, for example, heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, small power, security systems, fire safety and telecommunications. These systems are a significant element of the design for every building, ensuring that the indoor environment is healthy, safe and comfortable.

MCA work creatively and collaboratively alongside clients, architects, and other professionals to design tailored building services systems, with a view to ensuring that buildings meet the needs of the people who use them.

MCA has been associated with several award-shortlisted and award-winning developments and buildings.