Sue joined the RHS as Director General in August 2010 with 30 years’ of experience in the international leisure industry.
In June 2014 Sue announced the RHS’ 10-year Strategic Investment Programme of £160 million with the aim to provide even better inspiration and advice for both its members, and the British gardening public. Furthermore, the investment will enable the charity to broaden its appeal and raise the profile and impact of every aspect of horticulture through opening RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford in 2021, as well as creating new inner city gardens through campaigns such as Greening Great Britain, which aims to transform unloved grey spaces and turn them green. The £160 million investment is key in empowering the charity to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.
Sue was awarded a CBE for services to horticulture and the environment in the January 2017 New Year’s Honours List.
Sue joined Budget Holidays in London after attending Nottingham University and completing her Masters at the University of Manchester. In 1982, she began a 25-year career at Kuoni Travel, this country’s leading long-haul tour operator. She started as a Product Executive creating faraway holidays and ended with nine years as Managing Director. During this time, she was the youngest director, first female and first non-Swiss to be appointed to the Kuoni Board.
Charles Matts is a partner on the family arable and sheep farm at Creaton, Northamptonshire and Managing Director of Brixworth Farming, a joint venture arable contracting business, owned by T C Matts & Sons and four other farms, which manages 2,200 ha for its clients. He was the founding chairman of the Joint Venture Farming Group, a past chairman of both the NFU and NFU Mutual Regional Boards. He served on the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Board until March 2016 and is a trustee of the Farm Safety Foundation.
Alex has been Chief Executive of Landex ‘Land Based Colleges & Universities Aspiring to Excellence‘ since January 2021. Prior to that, Alex was the Director Of Quality Enhancement at Landex. She has an extensive background in the Land Based sector which has included managing and developing a full range of curriculum including Higher Education, as well as driving and monitoring quality improvement. She has managed a number of specialist land-based centres and associated staff and resources. Her current industry involvement in Agriculture and Equine ensures she is in touch with current developments and challenges within the sector.
Alex brings to the role a significant understanding of land based industries, in addition to her experience as a manager in further education colleges, and more recently with Landex. In her spare time she farms with her husband in Yorkshire
David is a Managing Director at City & Guilds Group, responsible for leading the City & Guilds and ILM brands. He also leads the Group’s growing End Point Assessment (EPA) business.
David has spent the majority of his career in education, working in companies that serve and partner with schools, colleges and training providers. He is passionate about working in the education and training sector and gets a real kick out of helping others develop and grow.
Prior to City & Guilds, David worked at Emap Business Communications Ltd (a large publishing and exhibition company) and RM plc (a major provider of ICT software, infrastructure and services to the UK education and training sector) before spending 10 years working at Pearson.
Richard studied Agriculture at Nottingham University Sutton Bonington followed by a spell farming in Zambia prior to returning home to run the family arable farm. The farm now also runs an outdoor pig enterprise.
Immediate past Chairman of the National Pig Association, he also currently chairs the AgriSkills Forum and the employer group developing Trailblazer Apprenticeships for Agriculture and Horticulture. He is also a Trustee and Board Member of Lantra.
Outside of farming he is involved in a property development business specialising in holiday homes.
Away from work he is very involved with and a past president of his local Rotary Club.
Russell graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in agriculture and has spent 35 years in land-based education during which time he gained a CNAA Certificate in Higher and Further Education and an MBA. Russell joined Hartpury College in September 2012 as Chief Executive and Principal after having held a similar position for 12 years at Barony College, a land-based college in South West Scotland.
Marcus is the Principal and Chief Executive of Reaseheath College and University Centre, appointed from 1st August 2018. Marcus previously spent nearly four years as Principal at Northumberland College, with another five years as Vice Principal and Head of the College’s land-based provision at Kirkley Hall. He is also a director of the College’s subsidiary company DART Limited. Marcus has a wealth of experience in further education, apprenticeships and higher education partnerships, much of it spent in land-based and rural education.
Marcus has represented land-based Colleges on a number of regional and national groups, and currently sits on the Landex board and Chairs the Land Based Learning board. Marcus is also the author of Horse Business Management.
Simon works with his family to manage a small arable farm in Lincolnshire. He holds BASIS and FACTS and does most of the agronomy on the farm. They use GPS and yield mapping to make key agronomic decisions. They are in countryside stewardship, with wild bird and nectar mixes. This year Simon is taking part in ‘tractors into school’, and thinks it is very important to educate children on the role of farmers and their importance working with environment.
Julie Milburn has an extensive professional history which includes over 20 years’ experience in further and higher education. She has previously been Vice Principal at Farnborough College of Technology (FCOT), covering both FE and HE with extensive involvement in industry partnerships, and previously Head of School at FCOT. Prior to FCOT, Julie had been at Newbury College and at East Durham & Houghall College in a variety of teaching and management roles. Whilst at East Durham and Houghall, Julie was based at Houghall campus, the specialist residential land based college campus in County Durham.
Julie has a background in Sports Science and has worked closely with sports based and many other employers and businesses. Julie has extensive professional expertise and experience in the design and delivery of curriculum for Further and Higher education and the quality improvement of the same. Julie also has extensive professional expertise of supporting and safeguarding students being the Designated Safeguarding Lead for Sparsholt and Andover Colleges.
