Board

Interim Chair

Paul has a wealth of experience working in the voluntary, community and public sectors in Northern Ireland.

From 1987 to 1994 he was the Director of the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust, which supported community-based self-help initiatives.

He joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) in 1994, initially on secondment, as an adviser on community development and reconciliation. Throughout his subsequent career in the NICS he held a number of senior positions including Deputy Secretary in the Office of the First and deputy First Minister, Permanent Secretary in the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure and Permanent Secretary in the Department of Education.

Since retiring from the NICS in 2017 Paul has undertaken a trustee role in a number of not-for-profit organisations involved in regeneration, culture and young people.

On 1 June 2021, Paul was appointed Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund's Northern Ireland Funding Committee.

Emma Boggis has spent over twenty years working in the public and not for profit sector.

Her early career started in the British Army where she had operational tours in Northern Ireland and Kosovo. After a brief spell in Management Consultancy she joined the Civil Service and worked at the Office for Standards in Education and had two spells in the Cabinet Office including as head of the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Unit, set up after London 2012 to support Lord Coe as the Prime Minister’s Legacy Ambassador. Prior to that she was also seconded to the Foreign Office as Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy in Madrid and served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Most recently Emma moved into sports administration and was Chief Executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance which is the umbrella organisation for the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation from 2014 to 2019. Emma is also the Senior Independent Director on the Board of the British Paralympic Association and a Trustee of the National Paralympic Heritage Trust, as well as a member of the NCVO’s Advisory Council.

Emma is a keen sportswoman – with a number of marathons and triathlons under her belt along and she also enjoys cooking, reading and travelling often under pedal power.

Richard Collier-Keywood OBE is Chair of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, Chair of Fair4All Finance, Chair of Big Education, and Chair of New Forest Care. He is also on the Board of Women of the World Foundation, St George’s House and CoGo. Previously, Richard was a Senior Adviser to DCMS (2017 to 2021), Global Vice-Chairman of PwC UK (2011 – 2017), and Managing Partner of PwC UK (2008 – 2011). Richard is a Barrister and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Dr Lowthe-Thomas is CEO of Severn-Wye Energy Agency – a sustainable energy charity working in Wales and the border counties. Before becoming CEO, she held multiple roles in the organisation, including Director for Wales and Head of Community Energy. She is also Vice-President for Energy Efficiency and Fuel Poverty at Federene (European Federation of Energy Agencies). She gained her PhD at Cardiff University, studying Energy Crops and Biomass.

Dr Lowthe-Thomas was a founding board member at Community Energy Wales and spent ten years at Cardiff University as a Research associate.

John Mothersole has held senior local government posts in UK cities including London, most recently as Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council. Since standing down from that post in December 2019 after 11 years, John has taken on a series of non-executive roles which now include Chair-Designate of The Sheffield College, trustee of a community care charity, membership of the Advisory Board of the Sheffield University Management School and Chair of Meadowhall Education Centre. Prior to being selected as Chair of the National Lottery Community Fund England Committee John was a member of that committee.

John has been heavily involved in the policy agenda for UK cities through the Core Cities network, the Northern Powerhouse initiative and with Government in securing city and city region devolution deals and participating in trade missions.

His early career was in the arts, primarily in London and the North-East, and he sees a highlight of that part of his career being the reopening of the Roundhouse in London which enabled its subsequent redevelopment.

John lives in Sheffield although his roots are in the North-West. Having only recently stood down from being Chief Executive he is still trying to work out what his hobbies are!

Peter Stewart MVO is an Executive Director at The Eden Project, with the responsibility for Eden’s charitable mission. Peter’s career started in advertising agencies in London working on major behavioural campaigns including for The Guardian, Knorr, National Dairy Council, Courage (Fosters, Courage Best and John Smiths), Proctor and Gamble, Philip Morris and Nestle. Agencies included JWT, Leo Burnett and BMP DDB. In the 1990s, Peter embarked on a new venture to run community public houses in Cornwall. A Cornishman, being immersed in the issues of local communities, this is where he started a family, marrying his wife Jane and having two children. Working with local businesses, Peter joined The Eden Project in 2003, after supplying products to the Project since its opening. Since joining he has held many roles including Joint CEO from 2013 - 2014. He leads the biggest outreach programme, The Big Lunch, which is accredited with building social capital on a mass scale. Peter was appointed to the main Eden Board in March 2012. In the same year, he was also appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) by Her Majesty The Queen for the community work driven through the Diamond Jubilee, as The Big Lunch played a major part in the celebrations.

Kate is currently conducting the Independent Review of Community Learning and Development across Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government. She was a Board member of ERSA for many years, Chair of Employment Support Scotland and a Fellow of the Institute of Employability. Kate started her career as a teacher after completing an MA (Hons) in Politics at Glasgow University.

She has over 25 years of relevant experience in delivery of education, apprenticeships, skills, employability and community enterprise and regeneration programmes across multiple sectors, including 15+ years in the Charity sector. Kate has a passionate desire to make a difference coupled with the drive to achieve impact on issues of poverty, equality and diversity and social justice. Kate has held strategic leadership roles at EU and UK levels including Management of EU aid programmes to Central and Eastern Europe. A former Board Member of Strathclyde European Partnership, she completed her MPhil in European Policy research at Strathclyde University in 2011.

Kate has held Director roles previously with the Prince’s Trust, Rathbone and Wise Group.

Danielle is the founding Director of Friends Provident Foundation. Friends Provident Foundation is an independent charity, endowed by Friends Provident plc after the de-mutalisation of Friends Provident Life Office. Under her leadership, the Foundation has an international reputation for innovative funding and investment practice and is at the forefront of rethinking the role of philanthropic resources in the UK. The mission of the Foundation is to create a fair and sustainable economy.

Danielle has had senior policy and research roles throughout the non-governmental sector such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Law Society of England and Wales. She has served as in advisory roles to HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office and the Financial Services Authority.

She is currently a board member of the National Lottery Community Fund, the Innovation Unit, a Trustee of Britain Yearly Meeting (Quakers) and advisory roles related to the Church of England, and the University of York, the School of Business and Society and the Oversight Trust.