The Charity

The RPLC was endowed by a gift of land from King George III and Queen Charlotte in 1786 and reconstituted in its present form in 1968.

The RPLC's governing document is the 1991 Charity Scheme as amended periodically since that time. The Charity operates within a closely defined Benefit Area comprised of the TW9, TW10, SW13 and SW14 postcode districts.

The main purposes of the RPLC are outlined as being to further all, or any, of the following in the Benefit Area:
        •   the support of the elderly and those in need
        •   the care of people suffering ill health or hardship
        •   the provision of recreational facilities and support for leisure activities
        •   the promotion of education and helping people to undertake courses and training
        •   any other charitable purposes for the benefit of the local community

The RPLC Trustees

Three of our Trustees are appointed externally. Two by the Local Council and one by the Richmond Society. The remaining trustees are appointed directly by RPLC following recruitment through advertisements and interviews.

Carol Fletcher - Finance & HR Committee Chair
After a career in finance and strategy in the commercial sector (Carol is a qualified accountant) she is now working in the not for profit sector, initially as Bursar at Christ’s School and now at the Church of England which consists of over 12,000 individual charities. Part of her role is to advise the charities on accounting best practice and governance. Carol is experienced at presenting at a senior level, grant making and has a sound practical knowledge of charity trustee requirements. Recent sector experience has included:

•                2013 to present. Senior Financial planner Church of England Central Services
•                2004 to 2011 Christ’s School bursar
•                Member of Charity Finance Group
•                Accounting qualification FCCA

Chris Phillips - Property Committee Chair
Chris is  a long-term Richmond resident and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. (FRICS). Throughout his professional career he has specialised in real estate, including over 30 years at Global Real Estate Consultants, Cushman & Wakefield, (previously known as Healey & Baker), where his primary focus was on the development, valuation, sale, letting and acquisition of retail premises and shopping centres, including rent reviews and lease renewals.  He was Partner responsible for the Firm’s London Retail Department.  Chris is an experienced Expert Witness and past member of the Institute of Arbitrators.  From 2006-2018 he was a Property Consultant to Fenwick Ltd, dealing with a large mixed portfolio for occupation and development throughout the UK, including retail, offices, industrial and residential opportunities.  He is a Past Governor & Vice Chair Kings House School, Richmond. (8 years) and a past Governor West Buckland School, Devon. (11 years)

Claire O'Donnell
Claire’s professional life started in the investment management industry, where she worked for over twenty-five years, holding board level positions at Gartmore Investment Management and Jupiter Asset Management. A change of direction mid-career led to university teaching roles at Roehampton Business School and at the LSE. Claire has lived in Richmond since 1986 and her two daughters were born and educated in the borough. She was Chair of Governors at The Vineyard School in Richmond and more recently joined the Citizens Advice team in Sheen, advising on Universal Credit claims. Both roles were instrumental in encouraging an interest in RPLC and she became a Trustee in 2020.

David Herring
David Herring is a Chartered Surveyor, having an honours degree in Estate Management and over 35 years’ experience in the commercial and residential development sector.  After qualifying at Knight Frank, he spent a period working in the Middle East. For 10 years until 1994, he was Development Director at Speyhawk PLC where he managed the regeneration of the Old Isleworth riverside area, creating housing, leisure & workspace. He also led the team responsible for creating the 200-acre Thames Valley Business Park outside Reading.  During this period, David was active in mixed use residential development and was appointed a director of St George PLC.

In 1994, David started his own consultancy company, Woodswift Projects, which continues to advise investment funds on commercial development projects across the UK and Europe. In recent years, this work has increasingly involved the re-assessment of building design and occupational energy targets to meet the demands for sustainable development.  Linked to this, David was co-opted onto the ESG committee of client funds to assist this transformation.

David has been a resident in East Sheen since 1979 and where both his children were educated.  His wife was a staff member of Richmond Adult College for some 15 years, teaching accounts & book-keeping. David is a keen cyclist, skier and fly fisher when not walking in Richmond Park or attending his garden.  Since 2008, David has acted as Trustee of the Burma Forces Welfare Association, originally set up to assist ethnic old Burmese soldiers recruited during WW2 and living in the impoverished border regions of Myanmar, but which latterly is now focused on raising funds to alleviate poverty and drug dependency in the same communities.

Duncan Richford
Duncan is currently running a consultancy company working for financial institutions. Having previously worked in investment banking for over 20 years, with significant time spent in finance, trading, structuring, sales, risk management and in leadership positions. He graduated in Mathematics from Durham University in 1994 and moved to Richmond in 1999, where he is married with two children. Hobbies include gardening, running and walking his dogs in Richmond Park.

Jerome Misso - RPLC Chair
Jerome was born and lives in Richmond. He was a senior Partner at one of Europe's leading technology venture capital firms, Balderton Capital, for 20 years before stepping back into a consultancy role in late 2021. Until 2001 he had been a Partner at City law firms, Eversheds and then Nabarro, specialising in corporate/investment work. He became a Trustee of RPLC in 2018 and Chair in 2022. He was previously Vice Chair of The Fore, a non profit seed funder of start up UK charities. Since early 2022 he has been a Trustee of Mental Health Innovations, the digital mental health charity behind the Shout 85258 text support app, and a Practitioner in Residence at the London School of Economics, Marshall Institute. He is a Governor of the Board at The Southbank Centre, London, as well as Chair of Earth Security, a think tank identifying opportunities for global finance to invest in the protection of the Earth's natural assets.

Dr Joanna Nakielny
Joanna trained as a doctor in Sheffield, and after qualifying she specialised in psychiatry.  Following several years working as a psychiatrist in the NHS, including in Richmond, Joanna left full time clinical practice to work in the pharmaceutical industry, where she was initially involved in research on medicines for psychiatric illnesses.  During her career in Pharma she held increasingly senior leadership roles in the UK, EU and globally, in the medical and regulatory functions, culminating as Senior Vice President for Global Clinical Safety at GSK, from which she retired in 2018.  As well as her medical, psychiatry and pharmaceutical medicine qualifications, Joanna has a Masters degree in Organisational Behaviour and is a trained business coach.
Joanna has had the good fortune to live in Richmond since 1991, and in her spare time enjoys cycling, sailing, golf (possibly slightly addicted), music and reading.

Owen Carew-Jones - Grants Committee Chair
Owen has worked throughout his career either in the public sector or with charitable and other publicly funded organisations.  He has varied work experience in residential social work, as a teacher and now as a lawyer. He is currently Head of Department with responsibility for education and charities at Winckworth Sherwood LLP.

Councillor Richard Pyne
Richard has lived with his family in the North Richmond and Sheen areas for over 25 years. He runs his own consulting firm specialising in change management and HR function redesign consulting. He is also a Principal Consultant at Glowinkowski International which specialises in behaviour change to create high performing organisations - advising foreign companies on how to set up businesses in the UK. A former Governor of Christs School, Richard cares passionately about proper funding of schools in the Borough. For many years he has served as a horticultural volunteer at Kew Gardens.  He is Chair of the Council's Finance and Performance Scrutiny Committee.

Ruth Scott
Ruth and her family have lived in Richmond Borough for the past ten years. She has spent her career in the charitable sector. Past roles include Manager Community Investment at HSBC, Director of London Catalyst, and Director of the Ashley Family Foundation (interim). In a volunteer capacity, Ruth has served on several committees and panels including three years on the Grants Committee of BBC Children in Need.  She is an affiliate member of ICSA and her most recent experience has focused on charity governance including four years as Governance & Policy Officer/Board Clerk at Westway Trust. She is currently Board Secretary of the EY Foundation.

Stephen Speak
Stephen Speak moved to Richmond in 1988 and, with his wife, brought up three sons here.  His working career covers audit, international finance and technology.  He was co-opted as a Richmond Society  trustee in July 2018 to oversee infrastructure and transport issues.  Stephen served as a councillor for North Richmond for six years from 2021-2018.  He has been a non-executive director of Richmond Housing Partnership since 2012, is  a Trustee of The Kew Society and is currently Treasurer of the London Forum (an umbrella organisation representing London's civic and amenity groups).

The Office Team

Philip Barron - CEO
Amy Vogel - Education Grants Manager 
Sarah Wilkins - Grants Director
Elizabeth Oliva-Hauxwell - Finance Director
Stephen Johnson - Property Director
Rebecca McLoughlin - Development Director (oneRichmond)
Cally Ballack-Naude - Grants Officer

History of the Charity