PIP WOOD—Term commenced 5 October 2021/Chair 1 September 2022
Pip Wood is an experienced Chair of Trustees. She has strong educational governance experience and brings a pragmatic, calm, committed and enthusiastic approach. A senior communications specialist, Pip has nearly 40 years’ experience in developing and delivering communication and media strategies in high profile FTSE100 companies and dynamic consumer-facing organisations. Working at Board level, she has a broad range of business experience and a particular skill in business transformation and change management. She is also an accredited coach who can support and challenge people and teams, empowering them to improve performance and deliver results.
LOUISA CHRISTOFIDOU—Term commenced 26 July 2022
Louisa Christofidou is a qualified solicitor with 15+ years of experience in the retail and luxury brands sector gained at Capri Holdings Limited (Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors), Burberry and Slaughter and May. She has expertise in commercial, corporate, governance and compliance, IT/digital technology, privacy, intellectual property, HR, and D&I, acting as a trusted advisor to the executive leadership team. Louisa graduated from Oxford University with a BA in Jurisprudence and a Master’s Degree in Bachelor of Civil Law.
PATSY CULLEN, Emeritus Professor—Term commenced 23 June 2020
Patsy has been a RSN Council member since 2020 and chairs the Education Committee. She has spent her working life as a teacher, senior manager and consultant in higher education and is now Chair of Governors at Leeds Arts University. She is also a member of the advisory committee of the National Arts Education Archive at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and a Director of the Sunny Bank Mills Museum and Archive. Patsy is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA).
VICTORIA FARROW—Term commenced 23 June 2020
Victoria has worked in the voluntary sector for many years. Her expertise includes most aspects of fundraising, including corporate development, trusts and foundations, community, national promotions, events, and sponsorship. She has held key roles at the RNIB, Macmillan Cancer Relief, Action Research, and as a director of Cancer Research UK. Victoria was also Chief Executive at the Garden Museum. For many years, Victoria has specialised in conducting in depth strategic reviews for arts and heritage organisations.
Victoria originally trained and practiced as a designer, specifically in furniture, textiles, graphics, and interiors, working on wide-ranging projects in the UK and overseas. In recent years, Victoria was a director of textile design company
PAULA LEFTWICH, Ph.D.—Term commenced 4 May 2023
Paula Leftwich is retired from a multi-faceted professional life. The largest portion of her career was in education, where she served as teacher, training manager, college/university instructor, degree program director, and senior director of PreK-12 curriculum for one of the largest public school districts in the US. She served as member and chair of the Florida Education Standards Commission. She holds Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of South Florida. Her dissertation probed social justice issues related to diverse populations’ achievement of national board teacher certification. Dr. Leftwich has significant experience in teacher education, strategic planning, grant writing, and grant-funded program administration. She values the opportunity to apply her experience in service to the Royal School of Needlework to advance its work to preserve and promote the needle arts heritage that has been lifetime activity and interest for her.
ELERI LYNN—Term commenced 5 October 2021
Eleri Lynn is a fashion and textiles historian, curator, and author. She is a senior museum professional with expertise in collections, archives, research, and exhibitions. She gained her Curatorial experience within the Textiles and Fashion department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and as Curator of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Historic Royal Palaces. More recently she was Head of Exhibitions at National Museum Wales. She is an award-winning author and has published several academic monographs on the history of fashion and textiles, including Tudor Fashion, Tudor Textiles and Fashion in Detail: Underwear.
SARAH MUMFORD—Term commenced 4 May 2023
Sarah Mumford is a practising commercial lawyer specialising in legal risk and governance. Sarah has a long-standing interest in education and has been a governor of several schools at primary and secondary level. She has experience as a charity trustee in English ecclesiastical charities and a Scottish literary charity. An enthusiastic, if amateur, stitcher and crafter, Sarah enjoys playing her part in the RSN’s future.
PETER MILA—Term commences 9 October 2024
Peter is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience in guiding and developing technology departments to deliver measurable benefits and operational efficiencies. He has a proven track record of collaborating with board members and senior stakeholders to ensure that technology strategies and processes align seamlessly with organisational goals.
Peter brings a wealth of experience across diverse industries, including Retail, Distribution, Digital, and Financial Services. He has a demonstrated history of building, developing, and inspiring high-performing teams to deliver impactful solutions that drive meaningful change.
DOMINIC TWEDDLE, BA, PhD, FSA, FSA, Scot, MCIfA—Term commenced 4 May 2023
Dominic began his career as an archaeologist and historian first with the British Museum and then with the York Archaeological Trust where he was an Assistant Director. He was a noted Anglo-Saxon and Viking specialist publishing, among many other things, on Anglo-Saxon embroideries. In York, Dominic was one of the team that developed the ground-breaking Jorvik Viking Centre, and from there he developed his own successful business which designed, built, owned and operated visitor attractions in the cultural heritage field. Having decided to return to the charitable sector, Dominic sold his share of the business. He was appointed the first Director General of the new National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in 2008. In his time with the museum, he merged the four constituent museums into a coherent whole. He brought HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, HMS M33, HMS Caroline and HMS Trincomalee into the group and acquired the Museum of Naval Firepower. He built the turnover of the business from £6.5m to £24m a year and attracted £180m in investment into the group over some 15 years. Dominic retired in late 2023 and is now Chairman of the Wellington Trust which cares for the last surviving World War II convoy escort. He is also a Trustee of the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust and the Marcantile Marine Memorial Collection. Dominic is working on a book on the Spanish Armada of 1588.
KEITH PICKARD—Term commenced 1 February2023/Treasurer 18 April 2023
Keith is a chartered accountant with over than 30 years’ experience in finance roles, including 14 years as CFO for HICL Infrastructure plc, a £3bn FTSE-250 company. He has expertise in investment management, corporate finance, project finance and financial management. He is a Council member and Fellow of the ICAEW as well as a Treasurer for Farm Africa and a Magistrate. Keith qualified at PriceWaterhouse Coopers having graduated with a first-class honours BSc in mathematics from Durham University.
CLARA POON—Term commenced 5 October 2023
Clara Poon has over 10 years of international banking experience gained in Asia and the UK, specialising in leading global cross-functional transformation projects, including Sustainability Risk Management, and Retail Banking and Wholesale Banking policy streamlining. As a strong executor, she has excellent communication, analytical and problem solving skills, with a collaborative leadership style. She was the committee member of the HSBC Women’s Network in Hong Kong where she started her career.
Clara is a candidate of Masters in Sustainability Leadership at Cambridge, where she has developed in-dept knowledge across the key ESG issues and the relevant levers for change, and the sustainability leadership toolkit or implementing the system changes required to achieve sustainability in a timely manner. As a passionate embroiderer with over 10 years of embroidery experience in Hong Kong and the UK, Clara started serving as a Trustee at the Royal School of Needlework since October 2023.
JULIE RICHARDS—Term commenced 28 July 2022
Julie worked in a range of HR roles in Telecom Australia (now Telstra) in Brisbane for 10 years before joining a team in Canberra to set up Medicare in 1984, specialising in recruitment, training, policy, and equal employment opportunity. She then transferred to the Australian Government where she worked on social justice issues and multicultural programs for the Minister for Health, Housing & Community Services, and the Prime Minister. In 1993, Julie returned to Brisbane to work for the Queensland State Government on state recruitment policy, ethnic affairs, training, and industrial relations. In 1999/2000 Julie worked as Venue Staffing Manager for the Sydney Olympic Games before moving to London and undertaking various roles as Head of HR for Selfridges, Head of HR for Kaplan International and finally Global HR Director for Thomas Pink (LVMH Group) before her retirement in 2007.