1978 – 1987 Commissioned in Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Included Falkland Islands Campaign and 2 tours in Northern Ireland and Staff role in the Ministry of Defence.
1987 – 1997 Director of 2 underwriting agencies in the Lloyds of London insurance market with much time spent working across the USA.
1997 – 2004 Director of various investment management companies including Mercury Asset Management (acquired by Merrill Lynch), Atlantic Trust & Sandaire Family Office.
2004 – 2020 Managing Director and one of 4 founders of MTM Capital Partners – we established the first clean energy fund in China building projects using coalmine methane to generate electricity and advised or instigated many infrastructure type transactions in several African and Middle Eastern countries. We also set up a cyber security joint venture with a German technology company.
Also for 17 years to 2016 as a Trustee of King George’s Fund for Sailors (Seafarers UK) overseeing their finance and investments and currently Deputy Chairman of Mountbatten Hospice Group and CPRE (The Countryside Charity) in the Isle of Wight.
Mr Attrill comes from a longstanding Isle of Wight farming family. Schooled on the Island he then graduated from Wye College, London University. Having worked for 20 years in the southern counties, latterly as a partner in a national land agency firm, he is now Island based where he heads up a rural surveying and planning practice. He holds partnerships in the family farm as well as a renewable energy project and a property business.
Currently president of the Isle of Wight Country Landowners Business Association he also holds trusteeships with the Daisie Rich Trust and the Shanklin Chine Trust.
Married to Nicky they have two daughters. He enjoys all things rural and the occasional bicycle ride.
Son of a Somerset dairy farmer, Mr Biss moved to the Island in 2006, back to his wife Sue’s home. After a career in banking and consultancy Graham is now the Managing Director of Natural Enterprise, an Island based charity delivering support for the rural economy and the Island’s natural environment. He is a strong advocate for the rural sector. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Royal Isle of Wight Agricultural Society and Chairman of the County Show, President of Island’s Young Farmers Club, and Member of the IW Rural Fund Local Action Group.
Graham and Sue have four boys.
Mrs Mary Case was born and brought up on the Island. Apart from 3 years in London, she has lived and worked on the Island all her life.
She has been member of the Isle of Wight beekeepers Association since 1984, during that time she has been hon. Secretary, committee member and president. Her beekeeping hobby grew into a business, she is now a bee farmer. Mary is a founder member of the Island Farmer’s Market and at present is Treasurer and co-ordinator. A former High Sheriff, she recently became President of the Community Action IW Awards
Mary is married to Geoff, a farmer, they have two grown up children.
Mrs Collins was appointed Deputy Lieutenant in July 2017.
She is Trustee of IW Sports Foundation, and is a committee member for EM Hospice Christmas Fair, the Isle of Wight Literary Festival and Young People on the Island.
After studying physics at Oxford, Dr England taught at Wellington College where he became head of department and a housemaster. Following Wellington he became Headmaster of Ryde School for 16 years. Dr England is an experienced school governor, having been Chair of the Education Committee at King Edward’s Southampton and Chair of Governors at the Isle of Wight College. He spent 20 years as a school inspector alongside his other duties as a headteacher and governor. Dr England has written numerous physics textbooks for GCSE and A level courses. Dr England is one of the Island’s local assessors for the King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
He is a trustee of the charity Aspire Ryde.
Gill’s working career was in the NHS where she worked as a nurse, a midwife and an Associate Director. Gill is Chairman of Carisbrooke Castle Museum Trust and West Wight Sports and Community Centre Trust, and a non – executive director of Two Saints, a not for profit Housing Association providing accommodation, help and support to homeless people across the South of England.
Gill is a Freshwater Parish Councilor and her family have been based in the West Wight for several generations.
Mrs Haig-Thomas has lived in Whippingham on the Isle of Wight since 2012. She read Politics and History at Manchester University before starting her career in management consultancy. After living and working in India, she moved into international development before stepping back to raise her children on the Isle of Wight. Since arriving on the Island, Dawn has served as Vice Chair of the Board of UKSA (a sailing charity), Vice Chair of CPRE (the Countryside Charity) and as a Governor to Ryde School.
A former High Sheriff for the Isle of Wight, Dawn has retained her shrieval focus on improving childhood literacy. She is the Schoolreaders Lead for the Island, reads in her local primary school weekly, and leads the Childrens’ Programme for the Literary Festival. She is also a Trustee of the Daisie Rich Trust.
Dawn is married to Alex and they have three teenage children.
Mrs Locke’s background is in business and enterprise and in 2016 she won The Queens Award for Enterprise Promotion.
A former High Sheriff of the Island she is now active in The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Fellowship and is a Trustee of various foundations including the 1851 Marine Trust in Portsmouth.
Mrs Longford has three sons and four grandchildren.
She is retired with a nursing background and was a Trustee of the WI both locally and nationally for over forty years and recently served two terms of ten years as County Chairman. She is currently a Trustee of Carisbrooke Castle Museum Trust.
Jonathan has lifelong connections with the Island, being baptised and married in Bembridge, where his family always retained a home.
After studying Medicine at Lincoln College, Oxford and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, he served eleven years, worldwide, in the Royal Army Medical Corps including Gulf War 1.
For twenty eight rewarding years he was a ’traditional’ GP and GP Trainer in a very rural isolated two partner practice based on Middleton-in-Teesdale, Co Durham. The area was the same size as the Isle of Wight but atop the Pennines. Responding to an epidemic of suicides in 1991, he was involved with establishing the charity “UTASS” to support the isolated farming and village community, serving as chair for ten years and resigning in 2021. He was a trustee of St Teresa’s Hospice, Darlington for seven
years, and a trustee of “AVF Launchpad”, a national charity that provides accommodation and support to help veterans make a successful transition from military to civilian life.
Jonathan is currently chair of Newport Grammar School Charity and Worsley’s Almshouses. His interests include his dogs, sailing, gardening and all rural pursuits.
Jonathan married Sarah in 2015 and has three adult sons.
After many years living abroad in the USA, Spain, and Brazil, with careers in publishing and the travel industry, Didi returned to live in the family home in the Isle of Wight in 2014.
She is a trustee of The Island Careers Partnership and The Royal Yacht Squadron Foundation, running three highly successful Maritime careers fairs for local Island young people. She served four years as chair of governors of a local primary school and is churchwarden.
Didi is married to Edward and has three children. She is a keen sailor and in 2021 sailed two-handed around Great Britain in her 26-foot sailing boat.
Mr Oulton grew up on the Isle of Wight and now lives in Ningwood with his wife Claire. He read History at Oriel College, Oxford and served with the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers before the inevitable post-Army stint in the City. After teaching Latin and Greek for 10 years in both prep and senior schools, he set up an educational publishing business and now continues to publish books for schools from his home in the West Wight.
Mr Oulton is a Trustee of Brading Roman Villa and Churchwarden at Shalfleet, where he is heavily involved in fundraising and repairs programmes.
Richard was born in Lake, and met his wife Jane, when Lake Middle School was first opened in 1971, and they live in Shanklin: they have a Son Adam, Daughter-in-Law Jennie, and grandchildren Benjamin and Isabelle.
From 1995 to 2015 Richard managed the Riverside Centre in Newport, as well as being Chair of Medina Housing Association, a School Governor, and actively involved locally and nationally with Charities such as Community Action (IW) & Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
Richard remains involved with town councils on the Island, as well as with Shanklin Voluntary Youth & Community Centre, and his interests include Football and Cricket, sports writing and making local history films.
Shirley Robertson, Double Olympic Gold Medallist was born in Dundee, Scotland. She currently lives in Cowes with her two children. She started sailing in a kit boat built by her father at Loch Ard Sailing Club, Trossachs.
Shirley won her first Olympic medal in Sydney 2000 (Europe Class) and then Athens in 2004 (Yngling Class).
She was named female World Sailor of the Year by the International Sailing Federation in 2000 and was awarded an MBE in 2000 and OBE in 2005.
In 2006 she became the main presenter of Mainsail, a CNN Monthly programme devoted to sailing world. She has also presented for BBC South TV and has hosted Scotland’s sports Saturday programme and presented Grandstand.
She also enjoys dancing, films, cycling and being with friends.
Patrick is the younger son of the late 4th Baron Mottistone, who was Lord-Lieutenant (1986-1995) and Governor (1992-1995) of the Isle of Wight.
Patrick spent much of his early childhood on the Island visiting his grandmother and family and then coming to live here full-time with his parents from 1975. He bought his first house in 1989 in Brook and in 1998 Dunsbury Farm which he ran together with his wife Susannah. Their three children went to school initially on the Island and have been brought up with the Island as their home.
Patrick and Susannah have passionately supported a range of activities in their local community including the local Church, the RNLI, farming, horse-riding, and sailing. Patrick has been a Governor of Hordle Walhampton School, a Director of Cowes Week Limited, and was a founder Director of the Royal Yacht Squadron Isle of Wight Foundation. He retains an active interest in yachting and education.
Patrick was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (MA in History) and INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France (MBA).
After initially training as an Industrial Engineer for Schweppes Limited he went into the City and over time specialised as a corporate finance adviser to technology companies. He is currently Managing Partner and a co-founder of a US-based firm called Mooreland Partners which specialises in mergers and acquisitions for technology companies.
Patrick is using his financial and City expertise to advise the Isle of Wight Council’s Infrastructure Transport Group.
Col Snagge was brought up in Cowes and is a keen sailor.
He served in the Army for 36 years, all over the world and then spent 10 years working in support of reserve and cadet forces in Greater London and Yorkshire, before moving back to his family home in Cowes.
His interests include ex-service welfare, support to reserves and cadets, and sailing training. He is President of Cowes Sea Cadets and Chairman of the RYS Isle of Wight Foundation and SSAFA IW Branch.
He is married to Jenny, an Australian, and has four grown up children and a growing number of grand-children.
B
orn on the Isle of Wight, Geoff is founder and CEO of IFPL Group, which designs and manufactures equipment for Inflight Entertainment Systems.
IFPL is proud to have received The Queen’s Award for Enterprise on five occasions.
Active in the business community, he was President of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce and founded The Isle of Wight Technology Group.
Geoff was High Sheriff 2019/20, setting up and chairing the local Covid Crisis Appeal Committee. He is also the Founder of The WightAid Foundation which is focused on channeling business giving to local causes.
He is married to Amy, and between them have four grown up children.
Andrew has lived on the Island since 2018. He was married in Bembridge in 1991 – he and his family have a strong attachment to the Island and its communities.
Andrew has represented the charity fundraising community for nearly 30 years. During that time, he has worked in Brussels, Westminster, on the Hill in Washington and Ottawa, and with communities around the globe.
Andrew was deputy CEO of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising until he moved to the US in 2006; President & CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals from 2011-2016 and latterly President & CEO of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
Andrew has served as a member of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT); a Board member of National Philanthropic Trust – UK; and is a founding Board member and past Chair of the American Friends of Winchester College. He has been active in establishing the Isle of Wight Cultural Investment Company (now known as Venture South, funded by the Arts Council), supports the Foundation of the Royal Yacht Squadron, is an adviser to the Development Committee of Winchester College and sits on the board of the recently established American Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.