The Trustee of The Donkey Sanctuary is The Donkey Sanctuary Trustee Limited. It is ultimately responsible, in law, for the charity, its assets and activities. It has seven directors who (prior to 1st January 2011) were the trustees of The Donkey Sanctuary.
The Trustee of The Donkey Sanctuary is The Donkey Sanctuary Trustee Limited. It is ultimately responsible, in law, for the charity, its assets and activities. It has seven directors who (prior to 1st January 2011) were the trustees of The Donkey Sanctuary.
The Donkey Sanctuary is a large and complex charity and the experience and skills of the seven directors enables them to undertake their responsibilities.
Robert Crawford
Robert is Principal of Crawford Service Management, developing and implementing private, public and third sector strategies for increased sales and retention including leading-edge solutions in service measurement, reward and recognition, complaint handling, training and communication. He is also Chief Executive of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Europe, Europe's oldest professional body for customer service and consumer affairs. It is a not for profit membership organisation for customer service professionals throughout Europe, run by and for its members.
He is widely known as a leading Customer Service Professional and has been:
- Head of Service Quality with two of the UK’s top brands
- Executive Director at the Institute of Customer Service, the national professional body for customer service
- Non-executive Director at the Financial Ombudsman Service
He has developed two nationally-recognised initiatives in customer service:
- UKCSI (UK Customer Satisfaction Index): a methodology for gauging customer satisfaction and benchmarking against the best
- ServiceMark: the UK’s national customer service standard
Robert has spoken at major events around the globe and appeared on numerous radio and TV business programmes. He has been a visiting lecturer to MBA students at Edinburgh and Strathclyde Universities and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.
In his ‘spare time’, he has served as Convener and Trustee of the Scottish Kennel Club and Chair of the Donkey Breed Society Finance Committee as well as being groom and horsebox driver for his wife’s show donkeys.
Robert became a Trustee in February 2010.
Emeritus Professor Jim Duncan
Graduating in veterinary medicine from Glasgow University Veterinary School in 1964 and after a period in clinical work in UK and Nairobi, Kenya, Jim returned to Glasgow in 1970 to a Research Fellowship in equine parasitic disease. Awarded a PhD in 1973, he remained in Glasgow and was appointed to a personal chair in clinical veterinary parasitology in 1987. During an academic career spanning over 30 years, Jim’s research interests included important parasites of horses including the equine lungworm, Dictyocaulus arnfieldi. Infection with the latter parasite was extremely prevalent in donkeys in the early 1970s and it was at this time he met Dr Elisabeth Svendsen and subsequently was invited to become a Trustee of The International Donkey Protection Trust. On official university visits to the Veterinary Faculty of Addis Ababa, he became aware of many welfare issues in Ethiopian working donkeys. This led, through Dr Svendsen’s interest and enthusiasm, to the establishment of many successful projects in Ethiopia which have greatly improved donkey welfare there and which continue to the present day.
He has held various positions within national and international veterinary and parasitological associations and is author/co-author of numerous scientific papers and textbooks. He was awarded Honorary Membership of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology in 2001 and the European Veterinary Parasitology College in 2003 and is currently Chairman of the European Scientific Counsel for Companion Animal Parasites.
Jim became a Trustee in 2008.
Rosemary Gillespie
Originally from Bakewell in Derbyshire, Rosemary trained as a nurse in Sheffield and held a number of senior nursing roles before becoming senior lecturer in medical sociology and health policy at the University of Portsmouth (1991-2001). She then led the King’s Fund Patient Involvement Project (2001-2002). Following this Rosemary moved to the NHS Modernisation Agency as Associate Director of Education with the National Clinical Governance Support Team; and in 2005 set up and was the first Head of South West London, NHS Improvement and Training Academy.
Rosemary moved to the voluntary sector in 2006 and became Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Policy and Research for the national charity Breast Cancer Care; and subsequently became Chief Executive of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation until 2011.
Currently running a successful consultancy business supporting organisations in leadership, development and strategic planning; clients have included Sandwell and Dudley Primary Care Trust, Friends of the Earth and Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Rosemary lives in London with her husband, enjoys reading, walking, good food and wine and is a lifelong animal lover and passionate about donkeys.
She became a Trustee in November 2012.
David Howarth BEd(Hons) MSc
Following an early career as a teacher of children with additional needs, David has extensive experience leading organisations providing services in the not for profit sector. During the past 20 years David’s career and motivation have been solely focused upon projects and initiatives – both in UK and overseas – which help those individuals and groups most in need – particularly disadvantaged and disabled groups and those who are most at risk in today’s society.
After gaining his BEd(Hons) in English and PE at London University, followed by MSc Management at Loughborough University, David led a number of charities providing support for young people, seriously ill, disabled and young carer groups in a variety of settings. David has recently stepped down as Director of Royal National Children’s Foundation, but is retained to introduce an innovative respite break programme for children in care.
During the course of his professional life, David has come to understand the strong bond that can develop between a vulnerable person and an animal, and to appreciate the positive influence this bond may have, particularly with people who have additional needs.
Nowadays at home in Kingston on Thames with wife Jo and growing family, David has more time to enjoy a variety of sporting and outdoor interests, particularly cycling, sailing and skiing.
He became a Trustee in November 2012.
Stuart W. J. Reid BVMS PhD DVM DipECVPH FRSE MRCVS
Graduating from the University of Glasgow as a veterinary surgeon in 1987, Stuart is Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Informatics holding the unique, joint chair between the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde since 1997. His research expertise in quantitative epidemiology applied to human and animal health issues, at all levels of resolution, and has over 130 publications and over £15m in competitive grants to his name. Until December 2010, Stuart was the Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Glasgow, however on 1 January 2011, he took up post as Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, one of the world’s premier veterinary schools with a commitment to education, research and clinical care.
A vet with experience of the private and public sector, he has worked in Africa, the USA, is a Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney, is senior vice president of the European College of Veterinary Public Health and a member of the UK Veterinary Products Committee. He currently serves on the Scottish Science Advisory Committee and, until recently, was a member of the international scientific steering group of the Danish EpiLab. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy, and sat on the Society's inquiries into Foot and Mouth Disease and Infectious Salmon Anaemia.
Stuart has been a Trustee since 1996 and has been Chair since 2007.
John Sewell-Rutter MSc BSc(Econ)
John Rutter's early career was in marketing in companies including Nabisco, Cadbury's and a leading international advertising agency. Then followed managing director roles in two manufacturing companies over a 20 years span, with extensive overseas business activity.
As a lifelong animal lover, John delighted in ending his career with 7 years as chief executive of The Blue Cross animal welfare charity, during which time relationships were fostered with many charities including The Donkey Sanctuary.
In 'retirement', John is a Prince's Trust volunteer in a mentor role to prospective young entrepreneurs, and a trustee of the charities Dogs for the Disabled and Mountains Animal Sanctuary. He and Jean have had donkey companions for over 40 years (current friends Titch, aged 31, and Lulu, aged 27) and regards donkeys as "the kings and queens of the equine world".
John became a Trustee in October 2008.
Bill Tetlow
Born in Halifax West Yorkshire Bill now resides in Bedale, North Yorkshire with his wife Carol. He was educated at Clare Hall School and Bradford Polytechnic, where he took an HNC in Business Studies.
After leaving school Bill ran his own farming business up until joining the Donkey Sanctuary as a Regional Welfare Officer in 1991. Since 1976 he has owned and shown donkeys for a hobby and has bred several British Champions. He was Chair of the Donkey Breed Society in 1998/1999 and some of his other hobbies include photography, walking his Labradors in the Dales and after dinner speaking.
In 2007 Bill retired from The Donkey Sanctuary but, so as to not lose his tremendous knowledge on care and welfare of donkeys, he became a Trustee in February 2008.
Cathy Thompson
Cathy has been a Trustee since January 2006. Her working life started in the hotel industry on reception and then in sales. She moved into the business travel industry working for Expotel, one of the UK's leading independent hotel booking agents, for 28 years. Her initial role was as a conference co-ordinator and she then managed this business division for 9 years, moving to set up and run the rates negotiation department for 4 years and finally into account management at a national level. In 2009 Cathy decided to downsize work pressure and now works locally in sales administration. She brings many years of practical business experience to The Donkey Sanctuary.
She has been an ardent supporter of the Sanctuary for 'Donkey's Years', has been coming to Donkey Week since 1991 and has a real passion and love for these beautiful and often misunderstood animals.
A particular interest is the continual expansion of the Sanctuary's work in developing countries. In 2007 she visited our project in India, seeing firsthand the difference we make to the donkey and consequently to the life of some of their poorest people. It was a very humbling experience.
A keen animal welfare supporter, Cathy lives in the High Peak and enjoys walking and bird watching amongst her hobbies, the High Peak being an ideal location for these types of pursuits.
The Donkey Sanctuary - appointment of new trustee
It was previously announced that the Donkey Sanctuary was considering different options for incorporating the charity. The trustees have now agreed to incorporate the Donkey Sanctuary's trustee body more fully (effectively to turn it into a company limited by guarantee), because of the benefits of having a trustee which is a company rather than a group of individual trustees which is 'incorporated' under part VII of the Charities Act 1993, as it is now.
Changing the trustee body in this way is achieved by setting up a company and then appointing it as a trustee of the Donkey Sanctuary, in place of the current trustee body incorporated under the Charities Act. The new trustee will be called "The Donkey Sanctuary Trustee Limited" (company number 07328588). The Charity Commission will make the appointment and will 'dissolve' the current body of trustees, so it will then cease to exist as a body. The underlying charity, The Donkey Sanctuary, will be unaffected and will simply be administered by the new trustee company instead of the current trustee body. This will not affect our operations in any way and staff, supporters, volunteers and other stakeholders will not be affected by the changes either.
If you have any questions about the change of trustee then please do not hesitate to contact John Akers (Director/Solicitor)