Elizabeth Peace CBE

Chair

Liz was appointed Chair of CCT's Board of Trustees in January 2022.

Liz was Chief Executive of the British Property Federation for thirteen years until her retirement in 2014. She was awarded a CBE in 2008 for services to the property industry. Liz has been a member of CCT’s Board of Trustees since October 2013, supporting and guiding the Trust through periods of change and growth. Since 2017 Liz additionally acted as Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee and Chair of CCTEL where she continues as a Director.

Liz now has a portfolio career with a range of non-executive, advisory and charity roles. She is a Board member of Howard de Walden Estates, Greencore Homes and AEW UK REIT and Chair of the University of Cambridge Property Board and Nuclear Waste Services. She is also Senior Independent Governor of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and was until recently Chair (and one of the founder members) of the property industry’s leading diversity organisation, Real Estate Balance.

Sue Wilkinson

Deputy Chair

Sue Wilkinson was appointed to the Board of Trustees in July 2017.

Sue is a Commissioner at Historic England, and a Trustee at English Heritage and the Canal & River Trust. She is also Deputy Chair at the Medical Research Foundation. Sue was a Board Director at the National Trust until the end of 2016 with responsibility for membership, fundraising, volunteering/participation and led several multi-million pound IT projects, and a successful brand review. Previously Sue was a Board director at the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), a Trustee at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and served on the Visit England Board and as a Trustee of the Institute of Fundraising.

Dr Oliver Cox

Dr Oliver Cox was appointed to the Board of Trustees in February 2022.

Oliver is Head of Academic Partnerships at the V&A, where he is responsible for building a global network of higher education partners to enable the V&A to deliver its mission to enrich people’s lives by promoting research, knowledge and enjoyment of the designed world to the widest possible audience.

He has a strong understanding of the role of church buildings at the heart of local communities and has a wealth of experience and connections in the academic sector.

William Donaldson

William Donaldson was appointed to the Board of Trustees in July 2017.

Will moved from his native Canada to read Theology at the University of Wales. He gained early-career property management experience within the Church of England. He became a founding partner of Mainstay Group growing it to be one of the largest residential management providers in the UK serving some of the UK's largest pension funds. As Chair he led it to a successful sale to Firstport in 2020. He now directs his energies into the joys and challenges of stewarding the land he farms for biodiversity and ecological restoration in the Cotswolds whilst developing his emergent practice as a garden designer. Will is delighted that his CCT trusteeship brings his love of churches and our built heritage together with the opportunity for entrepreneurial thinking.

Reverend Canon Timothy Goode

Reverend Canon Timothy Goode joined CCT’s Board of Trustees on 1st November 2020.

Tim studied Music at Huddersfield Polytechnic and trained as a secondary School teacher at the Roehampton Institute. He was Director of Music of Homefield School from 1995-2007. He trained for ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon and served his title at Croydon Minster, in the diocese of Southwark and was ordained priest in 2010.

From 2012-2018, Tim was Team Vicar of St Luke’s Whyteleafe and St Peter and St Paul, Chaldon, part of the Caterham Team ministry and until July 2023 Tim was the Rector of St Margaret’s Lee in the Southwark Diocese.

Tim was the Southwark Diocesan Disability Advisor from 2013 – 2021 and in that role served concurrently on the Southwark Diocesan Advisory Council.

Tim is a member of the National Disability Task Group, which advises the Archbishops on disability issues.

From February 2015 to September 2023 Tim represented the Southwark Clergy as a member of the General Synod and Tim represented the General Synod House of Clergy on the Archbishops’ Council from February 2021 to September 2023.

Tim was installed as Canon of Congregational Discipleship and Nurture at York Minster on the 9th of September 2023, a role that includes being a senior executive of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sir Simon Jenkins FSA FRSL

Journalist and writer Sir Simon Jenkins FSA FRSL was appointed to the Board of Trustees in January 2016.

A broadcaster, journalist and former Chair of the National Trust, Sir Simon has a keen interest and knowledge of historic churches and is the author of the popular Penguin books ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’, 'England's Cathedrals' and 'Europe’s 100 Best Cathedrals'.

Sir Simon writes for The Guardian and was previously a commentator and editor for the Evening Standard and The Times. Sir Simon was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to Journalism in 2004.

Inayat Omarji MBE

Inayat Omarji was appointed to the Board of Trustees in February 2022.

Inayat has been instrumental on leading the development of All Souls Bolton, one of the Churches Conservation Trust’s flagship projects and has been a strong advocate for the work of the Trust in the local community. He has a passionate interest in community engagement and was awarded an MBE for services to Built Heritage and the Community in Bolton. He has strong strategic leadership experience gained from his career as a senior manager in the statutory and charity sector, in particular working with Black and Minority Ethnic communities, supporting many local and national partners and organisations to make a difference at grassroots.

Inayat is also engaged with the were right here campaign as a national leader, working toward building a movement for community power, spanning places and communities across the UK as well as the political spectrum.

Dr Emma Wells

Emma Wells was appointed to the Board of Trustees in February 2023.

Emma is an author, broadcaster, a Principal Historic Buildings Consultant, and was a former Lecturer in Ecclesiastical and Architectural History at the University of York. Emma’s connection to the CCT extends back to 2015, as programme leader of the first postgraduate degree in the UK devoted to parish churches (and the MA in English Building History), and run in partnership with the Trust.

Erin Walsh

Erin Walsh was appointed to the Board of Trustees in February 2023.

Erin has over 18 years’ experience leading major programmes in the Built Environment across the not for profit, private, public and academic sectors. As a senior urban designer for Liverpool City Council, Erin developed design and place strategies for the city and neighbourhoods in collaboration with communities, including work with the conservation team on historic buildings. As the Director of Built Environment at Connected Places Catapult, Erin develops and leads programmes that innovate traditional markets and sectors such as housing, planning, net zero place making, and infrastructure. Working in partnership with central and local government, industry, academia and communities to provide more innovative and sustainable approaches to the built environment.

Tanvir Hasan

Tanvir Hasan was appointed to the Board of Trustees in February 2023.

Tanvir is a practising conservation architect, a field in which she has worked for over 25 years. She is Deputy Chairman and lead Director of Donald Insall London and is an accredited conservation architect with extensive experience of conservation and regeneration. Tanvir has worked on many restoration and regeneration projects of Grade I listed churches such as Wren’s St. Edmund King and Martyr, recently for St. Marks North Audley Street, and St. John’s Smith Square. Her projects focus on managing change and unlocking the potential of historic fabric and sensitive heritage sites, and this work has been the subject of award-winning schemes along Regent Street, and North Audley Street. Tanvir has been a trustee of the Museum of the Home, is a trustee of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and sits on the Fabric Committee of the Royal Albert Hall, and is a member of Historic England’s London Advisory Committee.