Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE has been Director-General of the National
Trust since January 2001. Before taking up the post she was Director of the Women’s Unit in the Cabinet
Office and was previously Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (now Campaign
to Protect Rural England) and Secretary to the Council for National Parks.
Fiona was involved with the Trust for many years prior to this as a member of the
Trust's Council and the Thames and Chilterns regional committee, and she chaired the local committee
for Sutton House in Hackney.
Fiona has identified three core programmes for the organisation:
- to show leadership in the countryside;
- to promote cultural heritage;
- and to integrate education and lifelong learning into all the Trust's work.
This
work is being undertaken in ways that provide more opportunities for Trust supporters to engage with
our work and what the Trust stands for. We are also embarking on exciting programmes of work to improve
conservation at our properties and to reduce our environmental footprint by promoting more efficient
use of energy and water and avoiding waste.
Fiona was awarded the CBE for services to the environment and conservation in 1998.
She is married with three daughters and lives near Cirencester. Fiona was appointed a DBE in 2008.
At a glance:
- Born in 1958
- Married with three daughters
- Husband Bob Merrill is a trained teacher and learning mentor
| Key dates
|
|
| 1958 |
Born in Alston, Cumbria |
| 1969-76 |
Went to school in Rugby, Warwickshire |
| 1976-79 |
Studied Geography and Land Economy at Cambridge University (BA Hons 1st Class) |
| 1980-81 |
MPhil in Land Economy, Cambridge University |
| 1980-87 |
Secretary to the Council for National Parks |
| 1987-92 |
Assistant Director (Policy), Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) |
| 1992-98 |
Director (CPRE) |
| 1998-2000 |
Director of the Women’s Unit, Cabinet Office (civil service post) |
| Jan 2001 - present |
Director-General, the National Trust |
| 2001-02 |
Member of the Policy Commission on the Future of Food & Farming (chaired by Sir Don Curry) |
| 2005 - present |
Member of the Commission on the Future of Volunteering |
Appearing
on Desert Island Discs in April 2002, Fiona's choice of music was the Mingulay Boat
Song, performed by Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor; the Agnus Dei from Fauré's
Requiem; Mozart's Divertimento in D Major; Mendelssohn's Octet; Robert Speaight reading from Wordsworth's
Lines composed above Tintern Abbey; The Salutation from
Gerald Finzi's Dies Natalis; Maria Tipo playing the Adagio from Bach/Busoni's
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major; and Oh! Hang at open doors the net from
Britten's opera Peter Grimes.
If she could take just one record it would be the Finzi; her book was The
Making of the English Landscape by W G Hoskins and her luxury a full set of Ordnance Survey maps
of the British Isles.
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