OUR DIRECTORS
We are fortunate to have an extremely experienced and diverse range of Directors who all take an active part in the running of The Diverse Regeneration Company (CIC). Our Directors meet on both a monthly and a quarterly basis to support the day to day running of The DR Company and to share their knowledge and experience. We are very grateful to them all for freely giving their much valued time and expertise.
Derek Phillips
“I am proud to be Chair of the DR Management Board and to witness what a positive difference DR has made across the south west to rural businesses and communities since its start in 2005. As the small dedicated team continues to share its expertise while delivering valuable funding to businesses and individuals, the rural economy can only benefit and prosper.”
Derek undertakes a number of supportive roles across the South West region and these include; Vice Chair of South West Business Council, Vice President for Exeter Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Board Director for Greater Exeter Skills Partnership, Festival Chair & Board Director of Exeter Festival of South West Food & Drink, Secretary for Heart Of Devon Hotels & Restaurants Association and Board Director for South Devon Tourism Partnership. Derek is also the Chair of Governors at Exeter Cathedral School and also Chair for Exeter’s Phoenix Arts Centre.
Linda Emmett
Linda has been a consultant for The DR Company since 2016, supporting many community groups develop viable project plans and access funding.
Linda is passionate about information and is an expert in undertaking research, consultation and surveys to underpin project plans. She also knows that the relationship with a funder doesn’t end with the grant being awarded, and has expertise in developing the right monitoring and evaluation plans to make reporting to funders as painless as possible. In her spare time she is a charity trustee for an organisation supporting voluntary, community and public sector organisations to find volunteers, as well as a trustee for a village hall. She has a Masters in Information and Knowledge Management, and qualifications in Project Management, Education and Training and Volunteer Management.
George Coles
“DR provides a really professional service to the rural community matching funding needs with the requirements of the funders. Our growing stream of successful projects is proof of our success in unlocking finance.”
Philip Wagstaff
“Being part of DR gives the opportunity to work with colleagues in supporting rural communities across the South West through a range of diverse regeneration projects. The experience that the team at DR have gives a solid foundation for the development of community and business projects which make a real difference to the South West. As a board member I can support the team and, with other board members, can explore ways of taking DR forwards in the future.”
Tim Jones
“DR is an organisation with a high reputation which extends well beyond the Devon border. It is proof that a team of dedicated professionals can punch well above their weight. The added value to the regional (and rural) economy is significant.”
Tim Jones is Chairman of the South West Business Council (formally the Devon & Cornwall Business Council). He completed a six-year term with the Heart of the South West LEP as Board Member and its founding Chairman. Also, an 11-year term as a Board Member of Devon Chamber.
Tim is involved in a number of other organisations including being a Governor at Falmouth University, Governor at the Plymouth College of Art, Trustee at Dartington Hall, Chairman of the North Devon Biosphere Foundation and Board Member of North Devon+.
Outside business related activities, Tim is also involved in a wide range of Criminal Justice Issues being a Special Advisor to HM Prison Services. Trustee for the Outset Foundation and Trustee for Fort Bovisand. Tim also served for 22 years as Chairman of the Princes Trust for Devon & Cornwall and as a South West Regional Board Member also a Board Member of Dame Hannah Rogers Trust.
Tim has active business interests and has been involved for over 35 years in a wide range of property issues. Tim is now extensively involved in Commercial Property Development across the South West Peninsula and is a Director within Belstone Fox Project Management Ltd and Wessex Investors Ltd.
David Incoll
“DR is a highly effective initiator for Rural Economic Activity with an impressive track record of delivering real benefit for communities, businesses and residents. We attract investment and enable businesses and communities to invest such resources in benefiting the rural economy.”
David served 10 years as Chair of Citizens Advice Devon (also serving on a national Trustee Group) and is now Chair of Taunton Citizens Advice. He sits on the project management Board for the Tavistock Heritage Initiative and is a Rotarian involved in events to help young people, communities and charities.
David was a Solicitor and Chartered Secretary who worked in Local Government and as a Police Prosecutor. David was one of the first shared Chief Executives in Local Government holding the position with South Hams and West Devon. He particularly enjoyed working in the field of economic development, sitting on a SW body recommending the distribution of European funding and leading on projects delivering employment space in Devon market towns and promoting tourism.
Peter Burgess
“Our countryside is a contested landscape and is under competing demands from all sectors. Two thirds of our wildlife that makes Devon special is experiencing declines, some severe. DR plays a key role in ensuring the right balance is struck between our environment (that underpins the health of our economy) and the needs of our communities.”
Peter is Devon Wildlife Trust Director of Conservation and Development and has spent over 20 years working in the conservation and land management sector in Devon. He finds the habitats and species supported in the county infinitely inspiring.
Peter has diverse experience developing and delivering conservation and land management projects in the South West. He was involved in one of the earliest landscape scale projects – the Greater Horseshoe Bat Project in 1999 and with the Reconnecting the Culm project for Butterfly Conservation. His first role at DWT was as Project Manager of Working Wetlands in the first stages of the Trust’s landscape scale conservation of Culm grassland. Peter has a practical land management background, which means that development of DWT’s Living Landscape projects are well grounded and achievable. Peter works with and has established a wide range of partnerships with diverse stakeholders in the county – social, economic and environmental.
Peter brings his experience in strategically supporting increased productivity of land – from delivery of a wide range of ‘public goods’ such as biodiversity, climate change resilience, and flood mitigation to the production of sustainable, high quality food.
Caroline Ayre Micfor
“The forestry sector in the southwest is made up of small businesses operating in disparate supply chains. DR is in a unique position to help businesses invest to enable efficiencies that will see the many benefits that woodland creation and good woodland management can bring to the local economy.”
Caroline Ayre MICFor is a Chartered Forester and Executive Director of Evolving Forests with some 26 years of forestry and wood supply chain experience. She is a Cumbrian who, before she found her passion for forestry and settled in Devon, was set on being a hill sheep farmer.
She started her career in forestry in 1997 with the Working Woodlands Project, supporting the southwest woodland supply chain and stimulating market demand for local wood products. Until 2023 she was the England Manager for the Confederation of Forest Industries with representational and director roles at UK and national level, specialising in forestry, timber and land use policy and tree health risk and management planning. Her focus remains working with businesses to grow the home-grown timber industry through supply chain innovation and resource resilience. She is also a keen gardener and smallholder who strives towards self-sufficiency.
Caroline was delighted to have been asked to join The DR Board to bring forestry expertise to the organisation.
Mary Talbot-Rosevear
“Since 2005, DR has helped individuals and communities across the UK through its diverse range of services and vast experience concerning project funding and management. The DR team shares the burden with the client and thereby takes the stress out of funding applications.”.
Mary has served as a director of The Diverse Regeneration Company since 2006, representing the farming sector and its interests on the board. Mary has lived in the South Hams with her husband and daughter for over 25 years, where her involvement in community affairs has included the Small Farms Association, South Hams Agriculture Forum, Modbury Best Local Foods initiative, Food and Drink Devon.
Mary is also a Partner in the family’s firm, G H W Rosevear & Co, an accountancy and legal practice based in Modbury, Devon where she is currently responsible for governance and compliance. Mary has over 40 years’ experience in marketing and communication, spanning international tourism, conservation and conservation-education awareness, having served as the director of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), a registered UK charity and the umbrella organisation for over 70 zoos in Britain and Ireland also as Marketing & PR Manager at Paignton Zoo (1987-1991) and the World Parrot Trust.
Government appointments have included: the Zoos Forum (1999-2004) [an independent advisory body to the UK Government on zoo-related matters]; the UK Bushmeat Group (2001-2003), chaired by Defra Parliamentary Under-secretary, Barry Gardiner MP; and Barriers to Diversification Group (2006-2007), a time-limited group established in August 2006 by the then Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), David Miliband MP, to investigate barriers to diversification in the rural economy and make recommendations to Government, some of which have been implemented via the planning system.
Andy Wood
Andy joined the Board of The DR Company in 2022. He has 25 years of experience in the public sector in the South West supporting the delivery of economic development and regeneration. This has ranged from policy and strategy development through to the delivery of major projects and programmes. He currently heads up the Growth, Development and Prosperity Service at East Devon District Council.
Prior to joining the Council, Andy was Head of Infrastructure and Partnerships at the South West Regional Development Agency. His responsibilities included the social and community components of the Rural Development Programme for England.
Andy Wood
Nigel is a partner at Stephens Scown LLP where he specialises in Rural Property and Strategic Land. He has lived in Devon for 30 years, having spent his school years in Italy. He and his wife live next to a Duchy farm near Bradninch with their three dogs and several chickens. They are both keen supporters of Exeter Chiefs. Nigel is a Notary Public and a trustee of the Bradninch Town Trust.
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