Our trustees
Ros Kerslake CBE (Chair)
Ros Kerslake was Chief Executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund from 2016 to 2021, where she led a UK-wide team of 300 staff, responsible for the distribution of up to £400 million per annum. Her earlier roles include Chief Executive at The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, RegenCo Sandwell and Director-level roles at Railtrack, Booker PLC, and Gulf Oil, a UK subsidiary of Chevron Corporation.
Ros is currently Chair of Leeds Castle Foundation, a trustee of Re-form Heritage, a member of the Community and Voluntary Services Honours Advisory Committee and a Group Board member of Sanctuary Group. Her previous non-executive roles include Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee at U+I PLC, a regeneration-based property developer, Quintain Estates and Development PLC, Black Country Housing Association, and Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation. Ros is a qualified solicitor and holds an MBA. Ros was awarded an OBE in the 2015 and a CBE in 2020 for services to heritage and holds honorary degrees from Keele and Staffordshire Universities.
Roy Hodson (Chair Of Audit And Risk Committee)
Roy Hodson joined the Board in April 2016. He brings considerable financial expertise to the Board having been a partner at PwC for 26 years, including serving clients in the property, construction and financial services sectors. Roy is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and also Director of a number of commercial companies. He mentors at the School for Social Entrepreneurs and the University of Manchester.
Myra Barnes
Myra Barnes has forty years’ experience in property and development. She has been involved in different public and private sector redevelopments within the UK. She has also worked on many large masterplans and regeneration projects. She is a Chartered Town Planner currently working as a partner in a town planning consultancy. Myra was previously Head of Planning for National Grid Property and worked at Olympia & York and London Docklands Development Corporation.
David Hunter (Chair of Credit Panel)
David Hunter is a professional Non-executive Director and Strategic Adviser focused principally on UK and International real estate. He is currently Chairman of two UK REITs. David is an Honorary Professor of Real Estate at Heriot-Watt University and is Honorary Swedish Consul to Glasgow.
Suzanne Snowden
Suzanne is a Director at Message Consulting Limited, a marketing and communications consultancy. Previously Director of PwC’s Global Thought Leadership programme where she led the firm’s research, marketing and insights generation activities, Suzanne brings experience advising on brand positioning, thought leadership and social media marketing.
Ade Alao
Ade Alao leads on major real estate capital projects for DWP. He previously worked for the British Council and in local government with considerable expertise in project delivery, regeneration, housing and local economic development. He is on the board of Incommunities and previously held Non-Executive Director appointments as Chair of Northwards Housing and Vice-Chair of Salix Homes - both major housing associations in Greater Manchester.
Karen Latimer OBE
Karen Latimer is a library buildings consultant and Chief Adviser to UK Designing Libraries. In parallel with her professional career she has over 35 years’ experience in the architectural heritage sector in Northern Ireland and is currently on the Board of Hearth Historic Buildings Trust, The Boomhall Trust and the Irish Architectural Archive (Chair of the Collections Committee), and is Publications Editor for the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.
Graham Fisher (Chair of Grants Panel)
Graham is Chief Executive of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, a place-based foundation that is the custodian of Letchworth Garden City, the world’s first Garden City. Prior to joining the Foundation, Graham was Chief Executive of Toynbee Hall an anti-poverty charity based in the East End. Graham’s career combines leadership roles in the voluntary sector, local and national Government, including as Chief Executive of MLA London, the strategic regional development agency for museums, libraries and archives and Director of London Libraries Development Agency, the strategic regional development agency for public libraries.
James Bowdidge
James was principal of a Central London commercial and mixed-use property development and investment business, The Property Merchant Group, which undertook a wide range of projects in Central London, of which the £50 million refurbishment and reconfiguration of Sir Edwin Lutyens’s One Finsbury Circus was a particular highlight. In a voluntary capacity, he is a Vice-President of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and a former director of Theatre Delicatessen, an important meanwhile occupier of major buildings, supporting over 11,000 artists.
Neal Shasore
Neal is an architectural historian and Head of School at the London School of Architecture, based in Hackney, East London. He is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion in the built environment. He has published on architectural culture in early twentieth Britain and is also a trustee of the Twentieth Century (C20) Society
Greg Pickup
Greg is Chief Executive of the Churches Conservation Trust, a charity charged with the care of over 350 historic churches and dedicated to using these to support and regenerate communities. Previously he was the CEO of Heritage Lincolnshire, a heritage development trust with whom AHF has worked on a number of projects. Greg has also worked for the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as Fund Manager for the £20m Derby Enterprise Growth Fund, as well as on a range of projects during a period running his own consultancy, including Townscape Heritage and LGBTQ history projects. In addition to serving on the board of AHF he was formerly a Trustee of the Arkwright Society, custodians of Richard Arkwright's Cromford Mills complex in the heart of Derbyshire's Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
Esther Robinson Wild
Esther is a Historic Environment Consultant with extensive experience of working on a wide range of projects in all areas of the historic environment including listed buildings, historic buildings and places, conservation areas and archaeology. She has a background in finance and real estate having worked for over 10 years as an Analyst in various City of London-based financial institutions. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and a Trustee of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage. Esther has a MA in the Archaeology of Buildings from the University of York. She is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Audrey Carlin
Audrey Carlin is an experienced leader in the delivery of heritage and regeneration projects. A Town Planner by profession, she has over 31 years of professional experience, delivering over £50m of regeneration focused activity in Scotland in this time, while working with a number of local authorities then with two of Scotland’s first Urban Regeneration Companies – Clydebank Rebuilt and Clyde Gateway. Audrey currently leads Wasps, Scotland’s largest provider of affordable high-quality studio, office and working space to the creative sector, as Chief Executive Officer. Wasps supports 1000 artists, creative industries and cultural tenants in 20 locations across Scotland, from the cities, rural areas, and Islands. Audrey is an active supporter of the arts and was appointed to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland, in 2018. Audrey is also Chair of the Major Capital Projects Committee of this Board, overseeing nationally significant development projects.
Menna Jones
Menna Jones has worked in the social enterprise sector for the last 30 years and was Chief Executive of Antur Waunfawr, a social enterprise in North West Wales for 27 years until joining Bardsey Island Trust in her current role as Development Manager in 2022. She previously worked as Development Co-ordinator for Cymdeithas Tai Eryri housing association and for Dafydd Wigley, MP for Caernarfonshire. She has been involved with the social enterprise and community sector in Wales at all levels including voluntary roles, spearheading heritage, recycling and care projects, and contributing to Social Enterprise Strategies in Wales. Menna is passionate about the language, culture, environment and heritage in Wales, and is a Board member of Yr Urdd (National Youth Organisation of Wales), and Canolfan Iaith Nangwrtheyrn (Welsh Language Centre).