Introducing our Chief Executive and Trustees

Richard Leaman

Richard became Guide Dogs’ Chief Executive in April 2010. He has previously worked in the Royal Navy and left as a Rear Admiral, most recently working as Deputy Chief of Staff in a NATO strategic headquarters in America. He was awarded an OBE in 1994 for disaster relief services after Hurricane Andrew and was recently appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his leadership whilst developing and implementing NATO's new maritime strategy.

Tony Aston

Tony was elected as Chairman this year, and became a trustee back in July 2003. His association with Guide Dogs goes back to his days working for the RNIB, where he was Director of Community Services. Tony has been a guide dog owner since 1987.

Tony is the portfolio trustee for client representation, attending meetings of Guide Dogs' National Client Representatives, which provide an arena for discussing issues of national concern and interest to our clients. He also has responsibility for the policy on mobility. He has experienced at first hand the effects of change within the Association that have created a flexible response to individual needs. He supports the ongoing development of this more consultative approach.

Roy Benjamin

Roy's background is in social work and human resources in both the public and voluntary sectors. He was also a longstanding Birmingham City Councillor, chair of the local voluntary association for the blind and has been a guide dog owner for 33 years. Instead of retiring, he has moved to London and is now manager of a local carers' support organisation.

Roy is in the portfolio groups for policy and vision support services and the lead for ethical policy. He sees a particular challenge for Guide Dogs being its involvement with minority ethnic communities as a particular challenge.

Bruce Gordon

Bruce agreed to be a trustee over seven years ago because he felt that he could make a difference at a time when Guide Dogs was looking to modernise. He is a Chartered Accountant and a partner at Deloitte.

Bruce holds the position of Treasurer for the Association as well as the portfolio for finance and fundraising. He believes Guide Dogs has made real progress in terms of diversifying its funding sources through, for example, our programme of national and local raffles and the donor development strategy. Bruce enjoys being able to help a “fantastic organisation” which makes a real difference to people’s lives.

John Hilbourne

John Hilbourne JP, BSc, DSc, FRSA, HFRCSLT has taught in various universities, been an HMI for further and higher education and an Assistant Director of the Higher Education Quality Council (now the QAA). Recently he has chaired reviews of university subjects including engineering, management, medicine and social work for the QAA. He has been chairman of a Community Health Council and a member of a Health Authority. Now retired, he is a Director of the Birmingham Royal Institute for the Blind and a governor of Queen Alexandra College.

Elizabeth Hubbick

Elizabeth has been involved with Guide Dogs as a local treasurer and fundraiser for 20 years. Her background is in human resources and law, which she combined as a remuneration and benefits consultant. The main areas where she’ll be using her experience are in human resources, pensions and volunteering. She believes Guide Dogs has already made positive steps in its use of volunteers, particularly in our "boarding" scheme for trainee guide dogs. Inspiring more people to take advantage of our diverse volunteering opportunities is a priority for Elizabeth.

Norma Johnston

Norma Johnston is a communications professional with 20 years experience in commercial public relations, magazine journalism and charity/NGO communications.

Since 1990 Norma has held senior management posts in the UK international charity sector including Communications Director for Amnesty International UK.  The latter included appearing on national tv and radio and extensive public speaking.

As global Communications Director for Plan, an international children’s development agency she devised Plan’s first global advocacy campaign on Universal Birth Registration (UBR) with a successful launch at the UN New York supported by Kofi Annan and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Norma is currently running her own communications consultancy since January 2006 and her clients include the World Health Organization and a number of UK-based charities.

Neal King

Neal was a practising veterinary surgeon until his recent retirement and was also heavily involved in the governance of his profession. He has been a trustee for seven years, with portfolio responsibility for dog health and welfare, and he is currently Deputy Chairman. Neal has always been a supporter of Guide Dogs, the appeal to him being the interface between working dog and humans. He is passionately committed to achieving a secure future for the Association and to improving our services. He is also particularly involved in encouraging democratic processes and structures at all levels.

Rowena Lusty

Rowena is a qualified solicitor and specialised in various aspects of commercial property over twenty years’ practice in the City of London and latterly in Mayfair. While in practice she wrote articles for "Property Week".

Subsequently she lectured in law at City University, London, attaining the position of Deputy Course Director in which she was responsible for the teaching staff and their on-going training, as well as for ensuring delivery of the course to a high standard. She is also a qualified primary school teacher.

She has been an elected trustee since 2003 of the Covent Garden Area Trust which is a registered charity set up to conserve the historic architecture and environment in central Covent Garden, and has been a member of the Sub-Committee set up by the new chairman of the trust to review and update the Trust’s constitution.

Since 2005 she has been a volunteer at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. She is currently studying to be a notary public.

Ken McFarlane

Ken accepted the invitation to become a trustee because he was interested in the challenges and changes that Guide Dogs was facing. He is a Partner at Deloitte where he has responsibility for over 2,000 people. His work involves advising businesses and the Government on financial and tax issues and so Ken is well placed to assist Guide Dogs' Chairman with strategic planning; he is also Chairman of the Pension Trust Committee and sits on the Investment Committee.

Whilst he feels there is work still to do, Ken believes that the Association is now making progress to a much more secure future.

Alan Park

Alan is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor (FRICS), a Chartered Builder (MCIOB) with a post-graduate MBA degree specialising in property, construction and finance. Retiring after 15 years as Finance and Management Services Director of a plc architects’ practice, he now runs his own project management and safety consultancy.

Alan has a long connection with Guide Dogs, enjoying three re-homed dogs from the Association over the last 20 years. He has also been active in the dog club movement including participating as a class trainer working with beginner dogs and handlers. He is married with two adult daughters and a son-in-law, and lives in Bristol.

Miles Stanford

Miles is currently Reader in Academic Ophthalmology in the GKT Medical School, dividing his time between his clinical role as a consultant ophthalmologist, academic research and training.

With his background, it was a logical step to accept the invitation to become a Guide Dogs trustee. Ophthalmology tends to stop once a person is blind; with Guide Dogs Miles can become involved in what can be done after that point. His responsibilities cover advising the Association on eye health issues and giving guidance on the research funded by Guide Dogs.

Dr Mike Townsend

Mike has been a guide dog owner for 37 years. He has a degree in economics and accounting, a PhD in computer science and his main work is as a consultant in access technology. An ideal choice, then, for the Audit Committee and the Information Technology portfolio! Mike hopes to bring the information technology infrastructure forward so that the systems that deal with finance, mobility profiles, guide dog information, etc are up-to-date and appropriate.

A highlight of Mike’s life is running a summer camp each year for blind orphaned and abandoned children in Romania.

Jill Hill

Jill spent the majority of her career with Rolls-Royce plc, and then until recently she was an Executive Director of Remploy. Jill is a member of the Competition Commission and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) representative on the General Teaching Council.

Amos Miller

Amos is a guide dog owner and works for Microsoft in the strategy consulting practice with a focus on public sector IT infrastructure projects.

Dr David Mitchell

David has been a guide dog owner since 2004. He took early retirement after a career in the petrochemical, textile and medical industries. David is a speaker for Guide Dogs and an active member of his local branch.