Trustees

Richard Ormond CBE - Chairman of the Trustees

Richard Ormond was Assistant Keeper and later Deputy Director at the National Portrait Gallery. He was Head of Pictures at the National Maritime Museum from 1983 – 5 and was Director from 1986 – 2000.  He was responsible for the following exhibitions: Armada 1988, Henry VIII, 1991, Pirates 1994, Titanic 1995 and Story of Time 2000.  He completed the refurbishment of Queens House and Royal Observatory; and secured £23m lottery funding for the Neptune Court project (roofing the main courtyard of the National Maritime Museum and a complete renovation of the maritime galleries).  Richard Ormond is currently director of John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonne project. He is a member of the Council of Goldsmiths College; trustee of Mariners Museum, Newport News Virginia and Chairman of the Friends of Leighton House.

Professor Rob Dickins CBE

Rob Dickins is a Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Foundation for Youth Music and the Brit Trust (the British Phonographic Industry’s (BPI) charitable arm for youth music and education).  He is Chairman of the National Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green.   He was Chairman of the BPI for a record-breaking four terms. He has been a member of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Music Industry Forum 1999-2001. After a long career with Warner Bros he set up his own entertainment company, Instant Karma, in 1999. Rob Dickins was awarded a CBE in 2002 and was given an honorary Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) degree by Loughborough University in the same year. He was recipient of the annual Music Industry Trusts’ Award in 2003.

Richard Dorment PhD

Art critic, Daily Telegraph since 1986; Faculty Fellow, Columbia University, 1968-72; Assistant Curator, European Painting, Philadelphia Museum of Art 1973 – 76; Curator, Alfred Gilbert: Sculptor and Goldsmith, R.A, 1985 – 86; Art Critic, Country Life, 1986; Co-curator, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, 1994-95. Member: Judging Panel, Turner Prize, 1989; Advisory Committee Government Art Collection, 1996 -2004; Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, 1996 – 2002; British Council Visual Arts Advisory Committee, 1997 -;  Hawthornden Prize for art criticism in Britain, 1992; Critic of the Year, British Press Awards, 2000. Publications: (contributed) Victorian High Renaissance (exhibition catalogue), 1978; Alfred Gilbert, 1985; British Painting, 1750 – 1900: A Catalogue of the British Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1986; Alfred Gilbert Sculptor and Goldsmith, 1986; (with Margaret McDonald) James McNeill Whistler, 1994; reviews for NY Rev. of Books; has contributed to Burlington Magazine, TLS, Literary Review. Richard Dorment is Chairman of the Watts Gallery Trustees Collections Committee

Christopher Forbes- Trustee Emeritus

Christopher Forbes is an Art History graduate of Princeton University and is internationally recognised as an art collector and historian with a particular interest in the Victorian era.  He is Vice-Chairman of Forbes Inc. Forbes is a leading provider of business information for executives and affluent investors.  The company’s flagship publication, Forbes, has been among the top five magazines in America in ad pages for the last ten years, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. 
While still an undergraduate, Mr. Forbes worked as a Curator of The Forbes Magazine Collection.  Further reflecting his interest in Art History, he has written several books and catalogues, including: Victorians in Togas, Paintings by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema from the Collection of Allen Funt, Metropolitan Museum, 1973; The Royal Academy (1836-1901) Revisited, Metropolitan Museum and others, 1975; Fabergé: Imperial Eggs and Other Fantasies (with Hermione Waterfield), Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978; and Fabergé Eggs (with Dr. Armand Hammer), Harry Abrams, 1980, now in its fourteenth printing.  Mr. Forbes also edited Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé, published by Abrams in 1984.  Most recently, Mr. Forbes co-authored with Robyn Tromeur Fabergé: The Forbes Collection, published by Hugh Lauter Levin in the Fall of 1999.
From 1976 through 1978, Mr. Forbes served as Publisher of Nineteenth Century, a quarterly magazine produced by Forbes Inc. on behalf of the Victorian Society in America.

Mr. Forbes is Chairman of the American Friends of the Louvre and he also sits on the boards of The Friends of New Jersey State Museum, The New York Academy of Art and the Prince of Wales Foundation.  He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of The Princeton University Art Museum.  Mr. Forbes received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Princeton University in 1972.  In 1986, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by New Hampshire College and in 2003 was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French Government.

Antony Goldman CB

Tony Goldman is a retired senior civil servant. His time in the Civil Service included a period at the Treasury when he was responsible for public expenditure on the arts, and in the Department of Transport where he was Director General of Civil Aviation. A Cambridge graduate, Tony Goldman has been awarded the Hon Companion of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Companion of the Bath and is recipient of the European Regional Aviation Award. His current interests include serving as an adviser at the Citizens Advice Bureau.  He is a keen amateur musician, Chairman of the Haslemere Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and acts as a tour leader to European music festivals.
Antony Goldman is Chairman of the Watts Gallery Trustees Finance and Buildings Committee

Isabel Goldsmith

Isabel Goldsmith has been a collector of  G F Watts and other Victorian artists for over fifteen years.  Isabel has supported an exhibition of Leighton’s work at the Royal Academy and is an avid patron of the arts in general.  As well as managing her highly sought after hotel/retreat in Mexico, Isabel dedicates herself to artistic and environmental projects.
Isabel Goldsmith is patron of the Watts Gallery Hope Appeal

Perdita Hunt DL, Director , Watts Gallery

Perdita Hunt is a trained arts administrator. She has worked in senior positions at the Arts Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and WWF-UK. In addition Perdita served as theatre projects co-ordinator at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, Marketing and Development Director at the Aldeburgh Foundation in Suffolk and Press Advisor to Suffolk Crafts Society. She is a Trustee of Baynards Zambia Trust ,a member of the Development Committee of Guildford Cathedral and a tutor on The Recess College which provides leadership development to senior executives in Europe. Perdita was appointed Director of Watts Gallery to lead the £10m Watts Gallery Hope Project to save the future of Watts Gallery and its collection. She is now leading the campaign to rescue Watts's house and studio for the nation. 

Robert Napier

Robert Napier is Chairman of English Partnerships and the Meteorological Office. He served as Chief Executive of WWF-UK from February 1999 to 2006.  Formerly he was Chief Executive of Redland plc.  Robert was educated at Sedbergh School, he studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge, leading to an MA, and also attended the Harvard Business School.

For over 10 years Robert Napier has been active in the charitable sector.  From 1986-1988 he was a Trustee of World in Need, which led to his becoming a founding Trustee of ACET, the Aids Charity, in 1988.  He was Chairman of the Trustees of the construction industry charity CRASH. In 1997 he established a charitable Trust to fund self-help projects in rural Zambia, many of which have conservation objectives.

Robert is a non-executive Director of Anglian Water Services. He is Chairman of Governors of Sedbergh School. His interests are hill walking, escaping to Scotland and the works of John Buchan. Robert Napier is Watts Gallery Trustees’ Treasurer

Professor Leonée Ormond

Leonée Ormond is Professor Emerita of Victorian Studies at King's College, London and a Fellow of King's College. She has written widely on subjects associated with Victorian literature and painting, and is the author of books on George Du Maurier, Frederic, Lord Leighton (with Richard Ormond), J.M. Barrie and Tennyson. Her biography of the Punch artist Linley Sambourne was published in 2010. She was President of the International Dickens Fellowship from 2007-2009 and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Tennyson Society and Vice Chairman of the Kipling Society. She was one of the curators of the Frederic Leighton centenary exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1996. She became a trustee of the Watts Gallery in 1995 and has published a study of Watts's relationship with Tennyson.

Emma Verey

Emma Verey is an Oxford graduate who spent her early career at Mander Portman and Woodward. She has a passion for art, opera and gardening and secured a diploma in plants and plantsmanship. Her voluntary work has included serving on the committee of the Friends of Moorfields Eye Hospital, being Central London representative of the National League of Hospital Friends, and serving on the committee of the Friends of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Emma Verey is a member of the development board of the Bodleian Library and a member of the Gala Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. Together with her husband, David Verey, former Chairman of the Tate, Emma has hosted innumerable events for the Tate over the past six years.

Christopher Satterthwaite

Christopher Satterthwaite is Chief Executive of Chime Communications. He began his commercial career as a graduate trainee at H.J Heinz. Since his grounding on the client side, he has been part of three different kind of marketing communication agencies: IMP (1981-1993), then the UK’s largest Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing agency; HHCL & Partners (1993-2000) - Campaign’s Advertising Agency of the Decade; Bell Pottinger (2000-2002) - the UK’s leading Public Relations agency.
He is Senior Independent Director of Centaur Media, Chairman of The Roundhouse and a member of the Government’s Professional and Business Services Group. He is former Chairman of the Marketing Society. Christopher Satterthwaite lives in Godalming.

Deborah Brice

Debby Brice is an art collector and patron of the Arts.  She has supported many of the major art institutions in the UK and is a generous benefactor to Watts Gallery. A member of the International Council of MoMA, the vice chairman of the Tate International Council, The Chairman of the I Tatti Council and a Trustee of the Institute of Fine Arts in New York City, Debby Brice is enthusiastic to support organisations which show leadership and have an impact on people’s lives.  A US citizen, Debby Brice is resident in the UK.  Debby is a member of the Finance and Buildings Committee of Watts Gallery.