Cogges Heritage Trust is a newly registered charity. It has been established to take operational responsibility for Cogges and ensure it has a long, viable and exciting future and continues to be a community asset. The Board of Trustees is made up of people representing different communities and offering a broad range of skills. Two of the Board members are representatives of Oxfordshire County Council* which will continue to own the site.

Trustees:

Mark Crosby works as National Volunteering Manager with the National Trust focusing on the development of and support for over 50,000 volunteers.  He has worked in the voluntary sector for over 16 years, the last 8 with the Trust.  He lives on the Cogges estate with his partner and two children, who both attend the Blake School.

David Cryer is the Head of Retail for Helen & Douglas House charity. Over the last 4 years he has developed a network of 30 shops for the charity and is a member of the Hospices' Senior Management Team. Prior to that he worked in various senior management positions for Marks & Spencer. He is Chair of the Association of Charity Shops (the umbrella origination that looks after the interests of all charity shops in the UK) and is also Chair of Governors at Uffington Primary School.

John Harwood is a retired civil servant.  From 1989-2000 he was the chief executive of Oxfordshire county council.  In 2000 he set up and ran the Learning and Skills Council and later moved on the head the Food Standards Agency, from which he retired in 2008.  He is the chair of one of the UK's largest education charities, CfBT Education Trust.  He lives at Wootton near Woodstock, and in 2009 he was appointed Vice Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

Julia Holberry runs a heritage consultancy that writes business plans,feasibility studies and audience development plans to help heritage organisations set their direction and secure external funding.  She previously worked for a local authority as head of their arts, library, museums and archives services. She is also a trustee of Oxford Inspires and of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.  

Simon Kearey* is Head of Strategy and Transformation for Social & Community Services for Oxfordshire County Council. Prior to working in local government he worked for the BBC for 12 years.  He has two young sons and lives just outside High Wycombe.

Graeme Merifield set up and is the festival director of Cheltenham’s The Wychwood Festival which has been nominated Best Family Festival every year since its launch in 2005. He previously worked on other arts events and in music sponsorship for Elton John. He is a local resident who has enjoyed Cogges with his young children for the last 8 years.

Richard Munro (Deputy Chair) has recently retired from being Head of Community Services for Oxfordshire County Council where he was responsible for overseeing a variety of local services, including libraries, museums, arts and adult learning. He worked for Oxfordshire for ten years and previously worked in local authorities in London, the Midlands and the North West. He lives in West Oxfordshire.

Judy Niner (Chair) runs a fundraising, marketing and business development consultancy specialising in museums and heritage organisations. She’s also the founder and Managing Director of online lodging service mondaytofriday.com and a Director of the Roald Dahl Museum Trading Company. She lives in North Oxfordshire.

David Robertson* is Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council and Councillor for Witney East. He is a Board member of Science Vale UK, Witney Educational Foundation and Friends of the Elms charity and Chairman of Governors for Madley Brook School in Witney. Since 2002 he has run his own specialised IT business.

Gordon Wilkins is Head of Internal Audit & Risk Management for the Midcounties Co-operative and is based in Oxford. Gordon is responsible for providing assurance to the Midcounties’  Audit Committee on internal control and risk management.