Mr Pierre N Rolin - Chairman
Pierre Rolin is the Chairman, Chief Executive and founder of Strategic Real Estate Advisors Limited, a London-based private client real estate investment advisory firm with £6.5 billion in assets under management globally. He was formerly head of international real estate at Credit Suisse Private Banking. Mr Rolin is active in fund-raising for philanthropic causes in the community, and is particularly interested in questions of social responsibility. He was a board member and trustee of beso and was in charge of fund-raising there until they merged with VSO in 2005. He is a Patron of The Prince's Foundation for Children & the Arts, Foundation for UNESCO – Education for Children in Need, and Learning Through the Arts UK. Mr Rolin is a Canadian citizen.
Mrs Annette Beaumont Ellis
Annette Beaumont Ellis has been involved in the musical education of children for over 30 years. For over 20 years she was a faculty member and examiner of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She has also produced a number of CDs with Sony Music and has run her own music management company. Throughout her career she has been involved in charitable initiatives, both in her own musical field and in healthcare. This has involved sponsorship and assistance to such programmes as Learning Through the Arts, The Leeds International Piano Competition, Arts & Kids, The Wigmore Hall and Sunnybrook Health Science Centre. She has also lived and worked with children in Nicaragua. Mrs Ellis is a British citizen.
Mrs Montserrat Riquelme Torres
Montserrat Riquelme Torres has been involved in charity programmes for children in need for more than 15 years, primarily in Spain, the UK, the Dominican Republic and Latin America. In the Dominican Republic she has been particularly involved in the founding and expansion of several leading foundations, assisting underprivileged orphaned children with AIDS by providing and establishing an orphanage with medical volunteers, aid workers and vocational training. Mrs Riquelme Torres is a Spanish citizen.
Mr. Nicholas Selbie
Nicholas Selbie holds a number of non executive roles in the commercial and charitable sectors. He is Chairman of Aureos, the leading SME private equity fund manager in emerging markets with $500m funds under management, Chairman of the CDC Pension Fund, an adviser to the $100m Actis Africa Agribusiness Fund, Chairman of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, Chairman of Students Partnership Worldwide, Trustee of Practical Action, Member of the VSO UK Committee and Treasurer of the Royal Africa Society. He retired in 2005 from Actis where he was a Managing Partner, and has wide experience of investing in and working with a variety of businesses in Latin America, Africa and East Asia. Previously he worked in corporate finance in London and New York with Kleinwort Benson and BZW. He was educated at Oxford and London Business School, and spent a year with VSO teaching in Malawi. Mr Selbie is a British Citizen.
Sir Tom Shebbeare
Sir Tom Shebbeare was appointed by the Prince of Wales to be the first full time Director of The Prince’s Trust in 1988, becoming its Chief Executive in 1999 on its incorporation by Royal Charter. In 2004, he took up the new position of Director of Charities to HRH The Prince of Wales (now TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall) with particular responsibility for the development and good governance of the sixteen operational charities of which HRH is Founder or President. He was knighted in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2003, and is a Non-Executive Director of In Kind Direct (UK), UK Skills, Queens College (London) and The Nations Trust (South Africa). Sir Tom is a British Citizen.
Dr Peter Simon
Dr Peter Simon has been the energetic and innovative President of The Royal
Conservatory of Music in Toronto since 1991, founding Learning Through the
Arts in 1994. He has been president of the Manhattan School of Music in
New York City, a member of the Faculty of the University of Western Ontario,
a performer, artistic director of concert series and a music editor. Dr
Simon firmly believes that the arts are unmatched in their power to address
socioeconomic issues, and are essential for the personal, intellectual and
social development of young people. Dr Simon is a Canadian citizen.