Our Trustees

Our trustees share responsibility for governing RSBC. Read a message from Patrick Plant, Chair of Trustees, below.

A message from our Chair

Our Trustees

Our expert trustees share responsibility for governing RSBC, and use their skills and experience from other industries to guide and advise us.

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Patrick, a light-skinned man with shot white hair. He is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and striped tie. He is smiling at the camera.

Patrick Plant

Chair of Trustees

Patrick joined the Board in October 2014. He was appointed as Chair in January 2023. Patrick is a partner at global law firm Linklaters. He has been with Linklaters for over 30 years and during this time spent eight years as Global Head of the Real Estate Department. Patrick previously sat on the Board of The British Library and the Council of The Royal College of Art.

Headshot of John Miller, an RSBC Trustee. John is a light-skinned man with short white hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. John is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

John Miller

John recently retired from full-time work as the Clerk / Chief Executive of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, an established City of London Livery Company, which has supported the RSBC for many years providing John with an insight into the Charity.

Prior to that John worked in senior marketing and business development roles in both the commercial and charity sectors, more recently in local government. John has also successfully run entire businesses.

John has a strong record of teamwork, development of new ideas, communicating with different interest groups, prioritising decisions and working within a specific budget and timescale. John has a passion for the work of RSBC, and now has the time to devote his
energy, commitment, people and business skills to help the Charity.

Headshot of Val May, an RSBC Trustee. Val is a light-skinned woman with white hair in a short bob style. She is wearing a red shirt with a black cardigan and titanium grey glasses. She is smiling brightly at the camera. Behind her is a wall of green foliage.

Valerie May BA (Hons)

Val has over 30 years’ experience in education the majority in special needs. At 27 she became Deputy Head of Little Heath School in Essex. She later founded the Beth Marie Centre in Sevenoaks while working for Kent Local Education Authority.

When West Heath, the school formerly attended by Diana Princess of Wales, went into receivership in 1997 she campaigned to keep it as a school. This was successful and led to the establishment of The New School at West Heath. Val served as Principal and CEO for 10 years and Ambassador for a further year.

Val joined the Board of RSBC in 2011. She is also a Governor of Dorton College, RSBC’s Further Education College.

Peter, a light skinned man with dark hair in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie sits side-on and smiles brightly at the camera.

Peter Knott BA (Hons) FCA CF (Honorary Treasurer)

Peter is the Honorary Treasurer and joined the Royal Society for Blind Children as a Trustee in 2017. He is the Chief Risk Officer at the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director in the Green Investment Group at Macquarie Asset Management, having formerly been the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at the UK Green Investment Bank plc. He has also held senior positions in JP Morgan and Standard Chartered and has lived and worked in Asia and the USA, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte in London. He is an Advisory Board member at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School.

Callum, a light skinned man with dark hair and wearing a white open necked shirt faces the camera directly, giving a half-smile.

Callum Russell

Callum Russell has been an RSBC Trustee since May 2021. He is blind since birth and is the founder of CrystalEyes, a bespoke consultancy that helps broaden the horizons of people living with sight loss and other disabilities, allowing them to fulfil their potential in either higher education or employment. Callum previously worked for Sight for Surrey and Surrey Police championing inclusivity. He attended mainstream School before going to the University of Birmingham to read modern languages (French, Italian and Spanish). He has also travelled widely, particularly in South America, and is a keen musician and sports fan.

Callum joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Lola, a dark skinned woman directly faces the camera. She is wearing a black and white patterned top and a computer screen glows in the background in front of rows of books on shelves.

Lola Solebo IBsc, MBBS, PhD Epidemiology, FRCOphth

Lola is an NIHR Clinician Scientist within the Population, Policy and Practice department of UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her work investigates the determinants of outcome for children with, or at risk of, eye and vision disorders, and how best to translate these findings into changes in practice and policy. Lola is passionate about science communication, and promoting EDI in research.

Lola joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 24 February 2022.

Helen, a light skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a blue shirt stands in front of a dark background and laughs into the camera.

Helen Jones

Helen is an award winning Creative Director with over 20 year’s experience. She’s had an exciting career, working in top London agencies across print, TV, social, gaming and experiential. Most recently, she’s set-up an industry leading, in-house creative agency for Shelter.

Whether it’s directing TV ads for big brands or advising tech start-ups, Helen brings a positive, anything’s possible attitude. She has a track record of building and leading highly creative, effective and; most importantly, happy teams. Together, they create attention-grabbing ideas that make people take action.

Helen joined as a trustee of the Royal Society for Blind Children on 11 April 2022.

Sabira, a medium light skinned woman looks directly at the camera. She is in a field with vegetation in the background and is wearing a white cardigan with a black top underneath, a long necklace and a headscarf.

Sabira Hasham

Sabira has set up Evolve Sustainability, a consultancy helping businesses in their net-zero journey.

A chartered accountant by training, she has had experience in finance roles focused on investment appraisals, cost management and restructuring programs. Keen about social impact, Sabira has previously mentored with The Girls’ Network and worked with Bridges for Enterprise on a Healthcare system project in Ethiopia.

Sabira was appointed on 25 May 2023.

Tom, a light skinned man with grey hair and glasses wears a white shirt with blue checks and half-smiles into the camera. He is standing in front of a wall covered in green vegetation.

Tom Kelman

A Scottish Chartered Accountant, Tom qualified with leading professional services firm KPMG in 1986. He spent the sixteen years from 1989 to 2005 as a Finance Director in the private sector, and has worked in various Senior Management Finance roles in the charity sector since 2005.

Tom stepped down from full time employment in 2020 and, since then, has held various interim Finance Director roles with not-for-profit organisations. In addition to his trustee role with RSBC, he currently holds voluntary Treasurer roles with two other charities. Tom was appointed on 12 February 2024.

William, a light skinned man with grey hair wears a brown suit with an orange checked tie and stands in front of an orange background, smiling at the camera.

William Ramsay

William joined Morgan Grenfell as a graduate entrant, was with NM Rothschild for over ten years and  concurrently a UK regulator as a member of the Occupational Pensions Board, before working for twenty years in Geneva and London for EFG International, from which he has retired, though it often seems more like re-tyred. He is currently a non executive director of Capital Union Bank’s UK and Swiss operations.

He is delighted to have re-joined RSBC with which he has had a long association since the early 1990s. William was appointed on 4 April 2024.

Simon, a light skinned man with brown hair and a beard is in a studio. He's wearing blue glasses, has headphones on and is speaking into a professional microphone.

Simon Ward

Simon is a serial entrepreneur whose passion is the development of technology and innovation. He formed ITG in 2009, and today it is a global business delivering game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.

Simon’s success has been achieved through an absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. His commitment and energy have created industry-recognised culturally aligned teams and built responsible companies.

He is chair to a number of other businesses in addition to his role at ITG and also provides support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises – often local to him or close to his heart. He joined RSBC as a Trustee in April 2024.

Headshot of Narayan Iyer, an RSBC Trustee. Narayan is a dark-skinned man with short dark-grey hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a black blazer. Narayan is standing in front of a wall of green foliage, smiling brightly at the camera.

Narayan Iyer

Narayan joined the RSBC board of trustees in September 2024. He is Senior Counsel at British Investment International (BII), a UK development finance institution and impact investor, with a mission to help solve the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. Prior to BII, Narayan was in private practice at Linklaters for almost three decades, where he led the firm’s India practice.

Narayan is a committed internationalist, having lived and worked in Singapore, New York, Mumbai and London. He speaks five languages and remains hopeful of the world continuing to become a global village, despite all our differences.