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Trustees
John Lovering – Chairman
John has been involved in retail for 25 years and has been Chairman of Debenhams, Somerfield, Peacocks and Homebase during the last decade. He has also been active in the leisure industry in the last decade and has been Chairman of Fitness First, Odeon Cinemas and pub chains Mitchells and Butlers and The Laurel Pub Company.
Currently, John is Chairman of Maplin Electronics and Director of foreign companies A/S Solstra and Packlodge Limited. In addition, John is a Governor of Dulwich College and is active in the work of The Woodland Trust and the British Heart Foundation. John served as Retail Trust's President of Appeal for the charity during his time as Chairman of Peacocks.
Eddie Bentley
Eddie has been involved with the retail industry for almost 40 years, initially with Littlewoods. He then spent 27 years with Great Universal Stores, as Merchandise Director and then Managing Director of White Arrow Express. Since 2003 Eddie has run his own consultancy business, E.G.B. Associates Ltd, which specialises in assisting retailers to reduce costs.
Eddie has been involved with Retail Trust (formerly Cottage Homes) since 1982, mainly as a fundraiser and from time to time, Chairman of the Northern Ball Committee. He became a Trustee/Director of Retail Trust in November 2000.
Paul Clarke
Paul has recently retired from Barclays where he worked for 40 years. He held a variety of senior roles in Barclays Commercial Bank, most recently the National Director, Retail & Wholesale Sectors, where he had responsibility for over £5bn worth of debt within the sector.
Paul is a well established industry commentator and regularly contributes to publications such as Retail Week, Drapers and the Financial Times. He has written on a wide range of industry issues; recent examples include the winning strategies of the luxury goods retailer. In addition Paul is a regular commentator on the ONS Retail Sales Figures.
Paul’s standing within the industry has been recognised by Drapers, the trade magazine for the fashion industry, which placed Paul within the Top 100 influential people on the UK high street for two years running and voted him number 1 Deal Maker in the same survey.
Ayo Daramola-Martin
Ayo is a professional marketer with 20 years' experience with roles covering retail property marketing, professional services and industrial services marketing including positions at Grosvenor, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Lloyd’s Register. He now runs his own business, Admotus Marketing, which delivers applied marketing solutions across different business sectors.
Ayo has a BSc honours degree from Manchester University and an MBA from Warwick Business School. He is also a non-executive director (QHS Limited, a UKAS accredited certification body), a governor of Pennthorpe School, a Fellow of the Institute of Marketing, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors, a guest lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and a published author.
Avis Darzins
Avis has worked in or on behalf of the retail industry throughout her career. Firstly spending several years at the Arcadia Group being promoted through the ranks in retail operations and buying & merchandising. She spent some time working for privately-owned retail businesses before taking up senior posts at Bhs, Mothercare and Littlewoods where she extended her experience into franchising and large-scale business transformation programme management.
In 2001 she moved to the management consulting, outsourcing and technology firm, Accenture where she holds the position of Partner in their retail practice supporting UK and international retail clients plan and execute business transformation programmes. In 2009 Avis joined BSkyB as their Business Transformation Director.
Richard Newman - Honorary Treasurer
Richard qualified in 1978, and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
He has been in professional practice throughout his career during which time he also served as Finance Director of a fully quoted property company, which Richard assisted in bringing to the market. The business became one of the largest factory outlet organisations in Europe.
His practice consisting of three partners and some twenty staff is based in Fitzroy Square in Central London and the partnership services a clientele spread over a wide range of industries. Richard has considerable experience in auditing both commercial enterprises and charities and advises on both personal and corporate tax matters.
Katherine Payne
Katherine Payne qualified as a solicitor in Scotland before moving to London, where she has lived for many years. She is now Head of Charities at the Mercers’ Company, a leading livery company in the City of London. Katherine is responsible for their sheltered housing services across 6 sites and has over 20 years' experience of developing and refurbishing specialist housing and facilities for older people.
In addition, Katherine oversees the Company’s annual charitable grants budget which includes a large welfare grants programme. Katherine has been a Trustee of Barts and The London Charity since 2007 and is chairman of its grants committee.
Judith Pilkington
Judith is a graduate of London University and has more than 20 years' retail experience. She started her retail career with the Fenwick department store group and subsequently held various fashion buying positions in both Fenwick and Selfridges. She moved into general management roles within Selfridges and Harrods prior to her appointment as Managing Director of Mappin & Webb and Watches of Switzerland, both companies within the Asprey Group. Judith led the buyout of Mappin & Webb and Watches of Switzerland from Asprey in 1998, becoming CEO of the newly formed MW Group.
In 2004 she joined Space NK Ltd as CEO. Today the company operates more than 60 stores in the UK, has four wholly owned stand alone stores in the US and has recently opened nine “stores” within Bloomingdales department stores.
Chris Tideman
The early days of Chris’ 35 years in retailing were with J. Hepworth, the multiple tailors. Through the Eighties he held various posts in The Burton Group including CEO of Burton Retail and Principles for Men, and CEO of the Group’s Retail Services and Distribution Sector.
He co-authored “Retail Marketing Plans” whilst operating as a non-executive director and running his own retail consultancy prior to going to Australia to be CEO of David Jones Ltd. Chris led “DJs”, Australia’s leading group of upmarket department stores to a successful flotation on the ASX.
Since returning to the UK, he has served as a Trustee with a number of charitable organisations.
John Wilson
John has been in retailing since leaving school at 16, working in the family business, receiving his education on the shop floor. Although he is glad to see his children receiving a more formal education, he is disappointed it will probably take them out of retailing, a career which has given him a life time of enjoyment and friendships.
During all those years his respect and admiration for the people who work in all levels and aspects of retailing has grown. It is not just a matter of having been there and done that, knowing how a job should be done, it is an understanding of the commitment and dedication that so many bring to a job which is often thankless and poorly rewarded.
He is delighted to be in a position to help ensure no-one in retailing need feel neglected or forgotten. He enjoys the challenge of working with like-minded Trustees to ensure that Retail Trust will continue to meet the needs of retailing staff past and present.
Adrian Wright
Adrian has over 30 years of retail experience, both in Europe, the United States and the UK. His early years were spent with C & A, 7-Eleven, and Sears. Adrian joined BAA plc in 1989 as Group Marketing Manager and in 1995 was appointed as Managing Director of the joint venture between BAA plc and McArthur/Glen group. In 1999 Adrian joined the Australian-based property company, Lend Lease as Managing Director of Bluewater, acclaimed as the largest retail/leisure complex in Europe.
In 2002 Adrian started as Chief Executive of the ailing retail company Moss Bros Plc. Following the successful turnaround of this business Adrian left in 2004. Then in 2005 Adrian led an MBI of the Speciality Retail Group funded by Barclays Bank and Gresham LLP.
Adrian is also Chairman of Fox Kalomaski, which specialises in destination marketing for the retail and travel industries, and is one of the UK's fastest growing strategic marketing companies.
Adrian is an OPM graduate of Harvard Business School, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is also a fellow of the Guild of Marketors, and a member of the Institute of Directors and the Marketing Society.
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