MISSION
	FARMER-CONTROLLED BUSINESSES
	RURAL SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
	RURAL PARTNERSHIPS

PLUNKETT FOUNDATION TRUSTEES

Peter Couchman is the Chairman of the Plunkett Foundation and was elected by the Trustees in July 2006, following the stepping down of David Button. Peter is the Group General Manager – Membership & Corporate Marketing at the Midcounties Co-operative, the fourth largest retail consumer co-operative in the UK. He heads the team responsible for keeping the Society at the forefront of promoting membership and co-operation in the Co-operative Movement. He is also involved nationally and internationally including roles on the Co-operative Brand Panel and the International Co-operative Alliance’s Communications Committee. He chairs the Oxford Strategic Partnership, which is responsible for the City’s community strategy. He helped to create Local Harvest, Midcounties’ local food sourcing scheme.

Helen Seymour is the National Strategy Co-ordinator at Co-operativesUK - which represents the spectrum of co-operative enterprise throughout the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Its purpose is to develop and extend the co-operative sector.

Helen's role in the Policy and Strategy Unit at Co-operativesUK is to promote co-operative solutions to government and elsewhere, to broker fruitful synergies across the wider co-operative movement, and support and promote co-operative development. She services the New Ventures Panel, is chair of the management board of Co-operative Action and manages some of the externally funded projects run by Co-operativesUK, including the Growing Rural Businesses through Collaborative Solutions project, and another on co-operative options to public service provision.

She is on the editorial board of New Sector magazine, on the management board of the Wales Co-operative Centre and is a trustee of the Plunkett Foundation. Previously she was with the Co-operative Group and before that spent ten years at ICOM, the federation of worker co-operatives and employee owned businesses, in a number of different roles.

John Tyrrell comes from a farming background in County Dublin and is a graduate of University College Dublin with an Honours Degree in Agricultural Science, specialising in Animal Production.
Between 1975 and 1978, he worked with ADAS in the UK as a Dairy Husbandry Advisor. In 1978 he joined the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the umbrella organisation for agricultural co-operatives in Ireland. In 1990, he was appointed Director General of ICOS. He has been deeply involved in the major structural changes which have occurred in the Irish co-operative sector since 1990 including the mergers of co-operatives. This has included chairing of merger negotiations. He has also played an active role in the development of the Irish position on the Common Agricultural Policy, and is on a number of expert groups which the Irish Government has set up to advise an food and agriculture policy.

ICOS advises co-operatives on policy issues, including sectoral policy, co-operative structures and representation of co-operatives' interests at national and international level. It also provides a wide range of services for co-operatives and has long been involved in facilitating the re-organisation of the Irish dairy sector.

He was Vice President of COGECA, the European Association of Agricultural and Fishing Co-operatives from 1996-99. He is also a member of a number of European Advisory Committees including the Common Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee.

Diane Montague has been involved in journalism and publishing for all her working life. She began her career in journalism working on local newspapers. Having decided to specialise in agriculture she worked for several magazines including Farmers Weekly before moving to The Agricultural Merchant first as deputy editor and then editor. In 1971 in association with the late John Ashby she founded Agricultural Supply Industry a weekly news letter for management in the agribusiness industry and took over as owner, editor and publisher in 1973. Over the next 15 years she also launched Farming Industry, a weekly newsletter for large-scale farmers and Country Store, a quarterly magazine aimed at the developing country retailing sector.

In 1987 she became the first woman to be awarded the Netherthorpe Award for outstanding services to agricultural journalism. She sold ASI in 1992 and since then has worked as a freelance writer and public relations consultant. Between 1997 and 2000 she researched and wrote the book Farming, Food and Politics - The Merchant's Tale, the first book on the history of agribusiness.

In 2002 she was appointed OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to agricultural journalism.

Tina Heathcote is a qualified consultant and trainer, specialising in management development and in stimulating rural business growth. She undertakes both UK and overseas assignments, including projects to develop rural tourism in Eastern Europe. Clients include Regional Tourist Boards of England, the Wales Tourist Board, Learning and Skills Councils, Countryside Agency, Local Authorities, ELWA and European funded rural development programmes. Tina also runs practical training workshops which cover a range of aspects of business development for small operations. She facilitates marketing groups in the development of marketing strategies and business planning and advises on good business practice and quality standards for small businesses.

Tina is Vice Chair of the Governors of Leek College of Further Education & School of Art, a director of the Heart of England Tourist Board, a steering group member of the Peak District Sustainable Tourism Forum and Buxton Partnership. Formerly Chief Executive of the Farm Holiday Bureau (now Farm Stay UK), a Secretary of State appointee to the Peak District National Park Authority and Chair of the East Midlands Development Agency 'People in Tourism' project.

John Don, who in partnership with his wife Elizabeth farms 650 hectares-cereals, beef and sheep-in central Aberdeenshire, has a long pedigree in agricultural co-operation, having been President of SAOS and chaired Aberdeen Grain (cereals) and Aberdeen and Moray Growers (veg). He also remains a Director of the ANM Group, the large multi purposed livestock Co-op that serves the North East of Scotland's faming community. He recently (June 2005) stood down from the Chair of the S.R.P.B.A., the Scottish organisation representing and promoting the land-based interests of its members and their communities. He is also about to complete (Dec. 2005) a nine year term as a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, where he chaired two working groups that reported on the implications of Farm Assurance Schemes on Animal Welfare.

He remains deeply committed to the well being of U.K. agriculture, especially the cooperative sector, and also to the rural communities of his native Scotland.

John has been a Plunkett Trustee since 1999 and was recently invited to become a founder Trustee of the Farm Animal Welfare Trust.

Susan Knox has been chairman of ViRSA – The Village Retail Services Association since 1999. She is also UK Alternate Member to the European Consumers Consultative Group and a member of the Veterinary Residues Committee, a committee of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, DEFRA.

As Chairman of Foodaware, The Consumers Food Group, she participates in the FSA Meat Hygiene Policy Forum, Enforcement Liaison Group, Stakeholders Forum and TSE Testing and Market Issues Group. A long time Member of the Women’s Institutes, Susan became a trustee of the Plunkett Foundation following its merge with ViRSA in December 2004.

Peter Cleasby is a director of small consultancy based in a Buckinghamshire village. He advises on aspects of business change and on solutions to policy questions, with a particular interest in rural development. His clients have included central government departments, local authorities and NGOs. He is a member of CPRE's national policy committee and serves as secretary of his village’s community association.

A career civil servant until 2006, Peter most recently held a series of senior posts in Defra - the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. His policy responsibilities there included: the interface between agriculture and the environment, organic farming, and business and skills support for land management and other rural businesses. As Defra's social enterprise champion, he worked closely with the then Rural Affairs Minister, Alun Michael, to promote the role of social enterprise approaches in delivering Defra objectives.