President

• The Rt Hon Lord Jack Ashley of Stoke CH

Vice Presidents

• Jack Shapiro

  Lady Winifred Tumim CBE

  James Strachan

Patron

• HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG, KT

Board of Trustees

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  Gerald Corbett - Chairman

  Gerald Corbett became Chairman of RNID in 2007. After studying history at Cambridge University, where he was a foundation scholar, he attended London and Harvard business schools. He joined Boston Consulting Group, which advises on corporate strategy, in the mid-1970s. In 1982 he joined electrical retailer Dixons, where he became group Financial Controller and Corporate Finance Director. Since then, he has been a director of 10 public companies and Chairman of four - including Woolworths and Britvic. He was Chief Executive of Railtrack from 1997 to 2006.

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  HRH The Countess of Wessex - Trustee

  One of the Countess of Wessex's chosen themes for her work is communication issues.  Her Royal Highness works on behalf of a number of charities and organisations which carry out work in this field. She is Patron of a variety of organisations including the Dyslexia Institute, Greater London Fund for the Blind, Mencap, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Vision 2020 UK and Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate.

• 

  The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP - Trustee

  Malcolm has been a Member of Parliament for Gordon since 1983 and is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary group on deafness. He is chairman of the International Development Select Committee and chairman of Globe UK an organisation focussed on climate change issues. 

  Malcolm has been president of the Scottish Liberal Democrats since 2000 and is also honorary vice president of the charity NDCS. 

• 

  Sir Rodney Brooke - Trustee

  Sir Rodney has a long experience in local government, culminating in service as Chief Executive of West Yorkshire County County Council, Westminster City Council and the Association of Metropolitan Authorities. He has chaired the General Social Care Council for seven years until November 2008; chaired the Bradford Health Authority and served as a non-executive director of a Primary Care Trust and a Community Trust, and on the Council of University College Hospital, London; and chaired the London Grants Review Board (2004-05) and the Commission on Governance in the Third Sector (2008). He is currently a member of the General Medical Council and the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care Records; and a director of the Internet Watch Foundation, Capacitybuilders (the Government agency designated to strengthen the capacity of the third sector) and the Tavistock Institute.

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  Ashley de Safrin - Trustee

  Ashley has a strong business background with many years working in the sales and marketing in the hospitality and tourism industries.  He has been advising businesses since 1990, especially small and medium sized businesses.  Working for Business Link in London since 2000 as a Business Adviser advising London restaurants and hotels.   He also has an MBA from Cranfield. 

  He can offer the RNID expertise especially in planning, marketing and communication.  He also believes businesses need to be able to address the needs of their deaf or hard of hearing staff in a sympathetic way. With the right support hearing loss need not be an obstacle for people in work.

• 

  Stephen Thomas - Trustee

  Stephen Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Luminar Group Holdings Plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996, and subsequently has been built into the leading UK nightclub operator. He is a dynamic leader with a wealth of over 30 years experience within the leisure industry. Prior to the founding of Luminar in 1988 his career was with Rank Group and Whitbread.

• 

  Norman Black - Trustee

  Further details to follow shortly.

• Stephen Hill - Trustee

  Further details to follow shortly.

• 

  Caroline Cousin - Trustee

  Caroline was a senior civil servant in the Department for Communities and Local Government until 2007. She was a career Civil Servant, having also worked in the Ministry of Defence, Royal Mint and the Building Research Establishment. Caroline's expertise lies in providing strategic direction on policy, financial management and all matters of governance that are key to the senior civil service.

• 

  Matthew Holley - Trustee

  Matthew is Professor of Sensory Physiology and Head of the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield. Over the past 20 years his research has focussed on the inner ear. He has served on research funding panels for The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, RNID and Deafness Research UK and chaired our Medical Advisory Panel for two years to June 2007. He has tinnitus and mild hearing loss.

• 

  Judith Langfield - Trustee

  Recently retired from a medical career, Judith was elected as an RNID Trustee in October 2006.

  Judith studied medicine at London University and qualified in 1969. Her practice was awarded our ‘Louder than Words’ Charter, and Beacon status by the Department of Health, for providing access for patients with hearing loss. Judith has also been involved with a number of medical committees, including the Council of the British Medical Association (BMA). She has chaired a BMA disability working party, the Small Practices Association, and was Secretary of Avon Local Medical Committee.

  Judith has been an examiner for the Royal College of GPs, and a British Red Cross Medical Officer. She has progressive sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus.

• 

  Jeff McWhinney - Trustee

  Jeff was the Chief Executive Officer of the British Deaf Association (BDA).

  He was involved in gaining UK government recognition of British Sign Language as an official language.

  He left the BDA in 2004 to become Managing Director of Significan't Ltd, which is an international sign language interpreting agency run completely by sign language users. Mr McWhinney established the SignVideo Contact Centre, a centre that provides instant access to sign language interpreting through video conferencing.

• 

  Enid Rowlands - Trustee

  Enid is a director of the company she set up in 1997. Over the past 10 years she has lead a range of assignments in economic regeneration, change management and organisational development across the UK in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
   
  In addition she is currently a UK Board member of Consumer Focus and the North Wales Police Authority as well as RNID's Trustee for Wales. In addition to a long executive career in Education Training and Economics, she has held a number of other Board and Advisory appointments including Chair of North Wales Health Authority and of Education Learning Wales and board member of S4C, BBC, BT Advisory Board for Wales, UK Training Standards Council, Equal Opportunities Commission's Committee for Wales and The Prince's Trust Council for Wales.
   
  Enid is currently a Lay Member of the General Medical Council as from January 2009.

  Enid lives in North Wales and is a fluent Welsh speaker.

• 

  Vanessa Whitehouse - Trustee

  Vanessa was a vice president of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), responsible for their offshore investment funds in Dublin and Cayman.  She designed and put into place new products for the Dublin and Cayman fund ranges. Before this she worked at a large Swiss private bank. She now runs her own business.

  Vanessa is a governor of the Mary Hare School and sits on the diversity committee at BGI.  Vanessa has also founded a disabled work experience scheme to help disabled sixth formers get work experience before deciding on university and a career path.

  ---

RNID Executive Directors

• 

  Jackie Ballard - Chief Executive

  Jackie was born in Scotland and moved to South Wales when she was 10 years old.   She studied social psychology at the London School of Economics and went on to work in Social Work and Further Education from 1974 to1992. She was elected as a Councillor for the South Somerset District Council (1987-1991) and Somerset County Council (1993-1997).

  In 1997 to 2001 Jackie was the elected Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Taunton. She was spokesperson on Women’s Issues and Local Government and Deputy Home Affairs Spokesman with special responsibility for the voluntary sector.
    
  In 2001 to 2002 Jackie spent nine months studying in Iran. She then became Director General of the RSPCA in September 2002 where she stayed for 5 years.  

  She has been Chief Executive of RNID since 22 October 2007.

• 

  Brian Lamb OBE - Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy

  Brian worked for Scope in a number of roles before joining RNID. He is Chair of the Special Educational Needs Consortium and was a member of the Government's Disability Rights Task Force. Brian is the author of the "Good Campaigns Guide", published by NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations).

• 

  Paul Breckell - Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources

  Paul joined RNID in July 2007 from Church Mission Society where he was Director of Finance and Corporate Services. Previously he worked for Mildmay Mission Hospital and the Audit Commission. He is a member of the Charted Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and is also on their Voluntary Sector Panel. Since 2003, Paul has been Chair of Charity Finance Directors Group.

• 

  Vicky Hemming - Director of People and Development

  Vicky joined RNID in 2002 from The Prince's Trust where she was Director of HR. Previously she worked for Granada TV, Arthur Anderson and United Biscuits. She is a fellow of the Charted Institute of Personnel and Development and also a member of the Employment Tribunal Service.

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  Mike Adamson - Director of Individual Services

  Mike has a mix of senior level experience from the public, voluntary and private sectors. Prior to joining RNID as Director of Individual Services, he spent three years as Director of Commissioning for a Primary Care Trust (PCT). Before that he spent 10 years working with the British Red Cross, latterly as Director of Strategy. He has also worked as a management consultant and is on the board of the Nelson Trust, a charity focused on supporting clients recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

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  Dr Mark Downs - Executive Director of Science and Enterprise

  Mark has a diverse background across the government, private and academic sectors. Before joining RNID in 2004, Mark was the UK's lead policy official for EU business related environmental legislation at the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) responsible for negotiation and implementation of a range of complex legislation. Following full-time Japanese language training, Mark previously spent five years at the British Embassy in Tokyo as First Secretary (Trade Policy) covering bilateral and multilateral trade issues and environmental policy following a range of Research and Development and innovation policy related positions including the establishment of new translational research centres. He originally trained as a Biotechnologist and has a PhD in DNA technology and Biosensors from Cranfield University.

• 

  John Trampleasure - Executive Director of Fundraising

  John joined the RNID in March 2009 and has previously worked at a senior level in large, medium and small charities spanning homelessness, sustainable development, child cancer and animal welfare/overseas development. John is a Trustee for a charity working with children in the developing world and has undertaken a variety of voluntary advisory and coaching roles to help a range of other charities to develop their fundraising and improve their strategic planning and management.

• The Royal National Institute for Deaf People. Registered Office: 19-23 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8SL. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No. 454169, Registered Charity Numbers 207720 (England and Wales) and SC038926 (Scotland)