Defra Ministers appoint three new Trustees to the Board of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Release date: 15 August 2025
- Dame Dervilla Mitchell, Dr Fiona Pathiraja and Sarah Greasley announced as three new members of the Board of Trustees of RBG Kew.
- Experience spans technology and financial services, philanthropy and engineering including large scale project development which will help Kew deliver its 10-year strategy ‘Manifesto for Change’
- The appointments will bring female representation on the Board to over 50%
Friday 15 August 2025: Dame Dervilla Mitchell, Dr Fiona Pathiraja and Sarah Greasley have been appointed by Ministers to the Board of Trustees at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to serve four-year terms. Dame Mitchell and Dr. Pathiraja started their terms on 1 July 2025 while Sarah Greasley will start on 1 October 2025. From October, over 50% of the Board will be comprised of women for the first time in RBG Kew’s history.
The Trustees will take the place of departing Trustees Krishnan Guru-Murthy, John Scanlon, and the vacancy resulting from the departure of Jantiene Klein Roseboom van der Veer in 2023. Steve Almond and Kate Priestman have been reappointed as Trustees for a second term of four years from 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2029.
Dame Amelia Fawcett, Chair of the Trustees, said: “I am delighted to welcome Dervilla, Fiona and Sarah to the Board of Trustees. They all bring strong and diverse expertise and experience to the Board, and I very much look forward to working with them. This is an important time for RBG Kew at the halfway point of our ambitious ‘Manifesto for Change’ and each of these new Trustees will have an important role to play in our mission to end the extinction crisis and help create a world where nature is protected and managed sustainably, for the benefit of humanity and our planet.”
Under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983, RBG Kew has been designated an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body with exempt charitable status and is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Due to its designation, RBG Kew’s strategies and corporate plans are overseen by a Board of Trustees comprised of the Chair and 11 other members.
The appointment of Trustees has been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments published by the Cabinet Office. All appointments to the Board of Trustees are based on merit, with political activity playing no part in the selection process.
Biographical details of the new Trustees:
Dame Dervilla Mitchell
Dervilla is an experienced engineering leader who has been involved in significant infrastructure programmes at Heathrow, Dublin and Abu Dhabi airports. She has also led the design of a range of new build and renovation projects in different sectors. She spent the majority of her career at Arup, a trust-owned organisation, latterly serving as Global Deputy Chair and Ethics Director.
Whilst a member of the Council for Science and Technology she became involved in the decarbonisation agenda and subsequently took on the role of Chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre’s decarbonisation working group. She gained her non-executive experience through Trustee roles as Vice President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and serving as a school governor at three different girls’ schools in London.
Dervilla was awarded a DBE for Services to Engineering in 2024, having previously received a CBE in 2014. She has received Honorary Doctorates from University College Dublin, as well as Imperial College London, where she now sits on the Industry Advisory Board for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Dr Fiona Pathiraja
Fiona is an investor and philanthropist. She is Managing Partner of Crista Galli Ventures, a pan-European HealthTech venture capital firm. She serves on several boards and is currently a trustee of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Art. Fiona leads philanthropic endeavours at IPQ Capital, her Family Office, and is vice-chair of London Business School’s fundraising board.
A former NHS consultant radiologist at University College London Hospital, Fiona has held a range of strategic and leadership roles across healthcare, including Clinical Advisor to the Department of Health and Social Care. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists, a Member of the Faculty of Public Health, and holds Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Health degrees. Fiona is an advocate for greater diversity in technology and investment.
Sarah Greasley
Sarah is an accomplished technology leader with more than 40 years’ expertise working in both the technology and financial services industries. She was Solutions Architecture Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Amazon Web Services, and prior to that, she was Group Chief Technology Officer at Direct Line Group and a Distinguished Engineer at IBM. She has a broad range of leadership experience across new technologies, strategy, risk and resilience. She also has a strong focus on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion.
She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and is a Chartered Fellow of the British Computing Society, as well as a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology. Sarah is a Trustee of the British Exploring Society and a Governor at Charterhouse School.
Trustees do not receive any direct remuneration for their services, although reasonable travel and subsistence expenses can be reimbursed. There is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if significant) to be declared. The appointees have declared that they have not taken part in any significant political activity in the past five years.
The new Trustees join current RBG Kew Board of Trustees that comprises of: Dame Amelia Fawcett, Steve Almond, Judith Batchelar, Fay Cooke, Professor Christopher Gilligan, Professor Ian Graham, Sir Paul Nurse, Kate Priestman and David Richardson.
Defra and RBG Kew would like to record their gratitude for the outstanding services and commitment provided by the departing Trustees Krishnan Guru Murthy and John Scanlon.
The search for a new Chair of the Board has also now commenced as Dame Amelia Fawcett will be stepping down from the role in January 2026, after more than six years of exceptional and dedicated service. RBG Kew is now seeking a visionary and outstanding leader to guide Kew into its next chapter. Full details of the role and how to apply can be found here.
ENDS
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Government announcement -Appointments to the Board of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - GOV.UK
Notes to Editors
About the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. In 2021 Kew launched its Sustainability Strategy to become climate positive by 2030. RBG Kew received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. In the first six months since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed over 100,000 visitors with £1 tickets.