Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund, Blondel Cluff CBE, welcomes four new Board members

As Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund, I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to our newly appointed Board members, Richard Collier-Keywood, Stuart Hobley, Helen Stephenson, and Peter Stewart.

They are joining at an important time for the Fund and the UK’s diverse communities. Each brings a wealth of experience that will support our ambition to ensure our grant making is impactful and life-changing during this challenging time, and will reach communities in need across the UK.

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, Global, Vice-Chairman of PwC UK, and Managing Partner of PwC UK. Richard is a Barrister and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Stuart Hobley is Director of The Linbury Trust and a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board that has included supporting and advising on the development and delivery of the acclaimed London Borough of Culture programme. Stuart is an experienced grant-maker, having worked for the National Lottery Heritage Fund in a number of roles over several years – most recently as the Director for London and the South of England. In the last two years, he has been on the judging panel for BAFTA Video Games Awards, as well as helping to decide the Kids in Museums prestigious Family Friendly Museum of the Year award.

Helen Stephenson CBE is Chief Executive of the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Before, Helen was a Board member of the Big Society Trust and the Advisory Group for NCVO, Chair of National Childbirth Trust, and Director of Early Years and Child Care at the Department for Education. Previously she worked in the Cabinet Office as Director of the Office for Civil Society and Government Innovation Group, as well as The National Lottery Community Fund where she was Head of Strategic Policy and Partnerships. Helen has a PhD from Bristol University and was awarded a CBE in 2014 for services to civil society.

Peter Stewart MVO is an Executive Director at The Eden Project, leading the biggest outreach programme, The Big Lunch, that is accredited with building social capital on a mass scale. Peter’s career started in advertising agencies in London working on major behavioural campaigns including for The Guardian, Knorr, National Dairy Council, Courage, Proctor and Gamble, Philip Morris and Nestle. Peter joined The Eden Project in 2003 and has held various roles including Joint CEO from 2013 to 2014, being appointed to the main Eden Board in March 2012. In the same year, Peter was also appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) by Her Majesty The Queen for his community work driven through the Diamond Jubilee, which has continued in the recent Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

I look forward to working closely with them all as we continue to ensure that National Lottery funding continues to change people’s lives for the better and supports the UK’s communities to thrive and prosper. In the last five years alone, The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded £3.4 billion in 72,000 grants supporting the communities of the UK to achieve great things - all thanks to National Lottery players who raise over £30 million each week for good causes.