Our trustees

Howard has spent 30 years working in the advertising business in a variety of UK and international roles. He has extensive experience managing clients and leading teams to deliver commercial and marketing excellence, as well as mentoring talent at work and for an industry body focused on ensuring women have equal opportunities in the communications industry. Calibre is his first Trustee role. Outside of work he has a family, is a Patron of the Royal Shakespeare Company and an Arsenal season ticket holder.

David held senior financial positions in public UK companies over 20 years. He led flotations on both the UK and US stock markets and international acquisitions as CFO.

He has an M.A. from Oxford, is a Chartered Management Accountant, and has been involved in charity finance for almost 20 years.

Richard's career spanned over 25 years as an editor and publisher in educational and academic book publishing, including spells at Macmillan and Heinemann, before he embarked on a further 20 years as a trainer and consultant to the same industry in the field of copyright, intellectual property, and rights management. Author of thirteen books on subjects as diverse as railways and Tudor food and feasts, his interests include choral singing, cooking, travel and spending time with his eleven grandchildren.

John is totally blind and first became a Calibre member in 1985. His professional background is in marketing, talking books, technology and product development. He has a post-graduate diploma in voluntary sector management from City University.

He set up Share the Vision, a charity to enable public libraries and organisations for the blind to co-operate to improve services.

Rob has over 25 years of fundraising experience working for or advising medical research and healthcare charities. Currently responsible for the operational management of Kingston Hospital Charity, he previously had a 14-year association with Moorfields Eye Hospital, initially as a consultant advising on a major campaign for a new children’s eye hospital and latterly as its first director of development. Rob is a member of the income generation advisory board at Princess Alice Hospice in Esher and has previously supported the Chartered Institute of Fundraising's London mentoring programme. He has also served as a trustee of Elephant Family and as a school governor at two local schools in Surrey.

Fraser Hutchinson has over 15 years of publishing experience, from children’s books to academic and adult educational publishing. He has worked in marketing roles at Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Wiley and Pearson Education.

More recently he worked as Head of Publisher Partnerships at The Reading Agency, working to connect the publishing world with libraries and readers. He currently works as Head of Partnerships at Creative Access, helping under-represented communities to enter the creative industries.

Rebecca is an English teacher with a Masters Degree in Education and over 15 years’ experience working in senior school leadership positions and as a SENCO in several inner-city schools. Her areas of expertise include SEND, SEND legislation, creating an inclusive classroom/quality first teaching, inclusion, SEMH (including ADHD) and emotional related school refusal (attendance). In her current role as Director of Inclusion for Every Child, Every Day Multi Academy Trust she works with Headteachers, senior leaders and SENCOs in developing a person-centred approach to inclusion. Rebecca also works as a Deputy SEND Leader for East of England and North East London (WSS/ NASEN). In addition, she is a NASENCO trainer/ tutor (Real Group/Middlesex University).

Miles has worked in a variety of different categories of Publishing over the last 25 years. He has extensive experience of running businesses, operating in different international markets and leading growth strategies.

Miles is Managing Director of RBmedia’s international businesses, the world’s largest audiobook publisher, and has a deep understanding of the audiobook industry.

Dagmara has a background in organisational strategy, governance, resource and people management, data & insight and risk management. She is a qualified coach and mentor and also a Mental Health First Aider. She currently works in the largest operational student-facing unit of The Open University as Associate Director, Strategy, Planning & Resources, where she is a member of the Executive Team and an executive co-lead for People Strategy.

Dagmara served for 4 years as a governor at her local primary school, where she had responsibility for overseeing SEND provision. She also served as a governor at a Further Educational college, providing critical support and expert advice on strategy, student fees, KPIs and risk management.

Jack is a certified Financial Advisor who began his career in engineering. In his roles to date, Jack has developed excellent skills in business strategy and growth, identifying new opportunities and developing innovative solutions that drive growth and improve efficiency.

Jack is also adept at building and maintaining relationships and has an extensive network of contacts in the industry. These skills along with a genuine passion for charity work, mean that he brings a unique combination of experience to the Board of Trustees. He is looking forward to working with the other Trustees to help the Board achieve its goals and drive the organisation forward.