Trustees
Chairman, Admiral the Lord Boyce KG GCB OBE DL
Lord Boyce joined the Royal Navy in 1961. He commanded three submarines and the Submarine Sea Training Squadron and was also an Anti Submarine Warfare specialist. He commanded the frigate HMS BRILLIANT, was Director of the Naval Staff and Senior Naval Officer Middle East. He was promoted to the Flag List in 1991 and was subsequently Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer Surface Flotilla, Commander in Chief Naval Home Command and Second Sea Lord and Commander in Chief Fleet. During this period he was knighted and also held a variety of senior NATO Commands. He became First Sea Lord in 1998, Chief of Defence Staff at the beginning of 2001 and retired in May 2003. He was elevated to the peerage in June 2003. Lord Boyce was appointed Lord Warden and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle in 2004; Bath King of Arms in 2009 and a Knight of the Garter in 2011. Lord Boyce is a keen sportsman, a Freeman of the City of London, an Elder Brother of Trinity House and a Knight of St John and is involved in a number of charities, organisations and associations, which includes being President of St John Ambulance (London District), Trustee of National Maritime Museum, and Colonel Commandant of the Special Boat Service.
Deputy Chairman, Ronald Neil CBERonald Neil, a retired Chief Executive of BBC Production and former Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, was the Editor of That’s Life, a weekly consumer affairs programme and Newsnight during the time of the Falklands War. He also set up and edited Europe’s first breakfast television programme Breakfast Time. It was as a BBC trainee television journalist in the North of Scotland that he was sent to cover the Longhope lifeboat disaster and he has been involved with the RNLI ever since. Ron has also provided support to the RNLI’s Annual Presentation of Awards event at the Barbican by providing the voiceover for the Review of the Year. He has served as a member of the RNLI’s Council since 1990 and has been Chairman of the Fundraising and Communications Committee since 2003. Ron and his wife Isobel live in Surrey.
Deputy Chairman, Sir Andrew Cubie CBE FRSE
Sir Andrew Cubie is a Consultant to the law firm, Fyfe Ireland WS. He has been Chairman and senior partner of that firm having specialised in Corporate law. Engaged in education issues throughout his professional career, he has been Chairman of Governance of George Watson’s College and is currently Chairman of the Court of Napier University and of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. He has held, and still holds, numerous non-executive positions. As former Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland, he was a member of the McIntosh Commission, which made recommendations for the reform of local government and working arrangements of the Scottish Parliament. He was Convenor of the Independent Committee of the Inquiry into Student Finance (“the Cubie Committee”), which brought about the abolition of tuition fees in Scotland. He is a Trustee of British Council, VSO and the Calyx. Andrew has been a member of the RNLI’s Council since 1989 and was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Fundraising and Communications Committee in 1994. He was appointed Vice Convenor of the Scottish Lifeboat Council in 1996 and Chairman in 2003. Andrew enjoys theatre, reading and sailing. He and his wife Heather live in Edinburgh and have three children.
Treasurer, Sir Alan Reid KCVO
Sir Alan is Keeper of the Privy Purse, Treasurer to the Queen and Receiver General of the Duchy of Lancaster and this involves being a Trustee of the Royal Collection Trust; Chairman of the Royal Collection Enterprises; Deputy Chairman of the Historic Royal Palaces; Governor & Treasurer of the King Edward VII Hospital Sister Agnes and Trustee of the Foundation of St George’s.
In his past career, Sir Alan was Chief Operating Officer at KPMG UK Global; European and UK Chief Financial Officer at KPMG Global and European and UK Chairman at KPMG Management Consulting.
A number of Sir Alan’s current responsibilities involve Charities and, therefore, he has a familiarity with the particular issues and legislation applying to Charities.
Mr John Coyle MEconSc
John is President of the Galway Lifeboat Station and is a member of the Fundraising and Communications Committee. He is a businessman with interests in Ireland and the UK, and amongst his other involvements, is a Commissioner of Irish Lights. His volunteer activities have included Presidency of Galway Chamber of Commerce, of Chambers Ireland, and Vice-Presidency of Eurochambres. He has also chaired the Galway Race Committee, Galway Airport and Galway Harbour Commissioners. Married to Sally, they have six children and four grandchildren. His leisure interests are sailing, horseracing and angling.
Mr Charles Hunter-Pease
A businessman in the motor industry, Charles spent most of his early years in Greenock with the two obligatory hobbies of golf and sailing. He started his career as an accountant but a management trainee position led him south and abroad with AVIS Rent-a-Car. After a spell with Continental Oil, he joined Volvo in 1973 as a Business Consultant to the Scottish dealers. He became a Regional Manager in the North and subsequently the Midlands, followed by Field Operations Manager, Dealer Operations Director and then three years as Sales and Marketing Director. He was appointed Deputy Chief Executive on 1 April 1990 and UK Managing Director two years later. He became a Senior Vice President of Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg in 1993 and since 1999 has acted as the Senior Adviser to the Management Team of Volvo Car Corporation. Charles has been a member of the RNLI Council since 1996. He has served on the Fundraising Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Property Sub-Committee and has been a non-Executive Director of RNLI Sales. He has been Chairman of the Resources Committee and a member of the Trustee Committee, and rejoined as a Trustee in July 2009. He is currently Chaiman of the RNLI Pension Fund. Charles and his wife Susan have two children and live in Oxfordshire.
Rear Admiral John Tolhurst CB FRAeS
Now a consultant in defence and maritime security, joined the Royal Navy from school in 1961. After early appointments as a watch-keeping Seaman Officer, largely in the Far East, and a spell as a fixed-wing pilot, he qualified and practised at sea as a warfare specialist. He then commanded a Frigate, a Destroyer and an Aircraft Carrier. Shore appointments included heading a training faculty, working in the Naval Staff and command of a major support establishment. As an Admiral he served as Flag Officer Sea Training and as Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. Subsequently he was the senior military officer in the MoD’s Defence Export Services Organisation for five years. He is a Younger Brother of Trinity House and represented the First Sea Lord as an ex-officio member at RNLI Council meetings from 1992-97. John has served as a member of the RNLI’s Council in his own right since 1998 and has been Chairman of the Operations Committee for the past five years.
Sir Roger Vickers KCVO
Sir Roger Vickers was educated at Winchester College, Magdalen College Oxford and St Thomas’ Hospital. He has been Orthopaedic Surgeon to HM The Queen since 1992, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, St George’s Hospital since 1980 and King Edward VII Hospital for Officers since 1992 and Civilian Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon to the Army since 1992. He joined the Medical and Survival sub-Committee in 1992 and was Deputy Chairman from 1999 until 2006 when he was appointed Chairman. He is a member of the Hulingham Club, Seacourt; Hayling Island Sailing Club and Royal Yacht Squadron. Sir Roger is married to Joanna and has two sons and two daughters.
Mr Malcolm Vincent BSc (Hons) MSc CEng FIMarEST
Malcolm Vincent is a Chartered Marine Engineer and former Managing Director of P&O Three Quays Marine Services Ltd. Recently retired from British Telecommunications plc Global Services, he was responsible for the development of integrated financing solutions for major customers. He is Vice President, Member of the Council and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology and Trustee of the Institute's Pension Fund. He is a Freeman of the City of London and an Assistant of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Engineers. Malcolm was elected as a member of the RNLI Council in 2005. He has served on the Technical Committee since 1999 and became its Chairman in 2007. He and his wife Linda live in London and have two adult sons.
Ms Vicky Wright BSc MSc CCIPD
Vicky Wright became Director, Consulting Services, at Towers Watson in 2010. Previously she was at Watson Wyatt from June 2005, a partner at Ernst & Young and Managing Director of the Hay Group. Vicky has spent 20 years as a management consultant in the human resources and change management field, underpinned by 14 years in professional human resource management. She is a visiting Professor at the University of Middlesex and was President of the UK Management Consultancies Association in 1998. She is currently President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
