Paul Bishop

Paul is an Enterprise and Business Manager with a local authority. He worked in the theatre for ten years, and the arts remain a major interest. He has contributed reviews to many of the county's papers and writes for the theatre, with plays produced in London and at Colchester’s Mercury Theatre. Paul has served as a Primary and Secondary School Governor and is an Independent Member of Essex Police Authority.

Moira Collett

Moira started her career in retail management with Marks & Spencer before moving into university administration, first at the University of London and then at the University of Essex, where she held a number of roles, retiring from the post of Academic Registrar in 2008.

Moira has lived in Wivenhoe for 24 years. She is a Community Governor at Colchester Sixth Form College and since retirement has become actively involved in various Wivenhoe organisations.

Tony Fisher

Tony is a solicitor and senior partner at Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP, in Colchester. He is a member of the Human Rights Committee at the Law Society, and a Fellow of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex.

Tony undertakes commercial work in practice and is recommended by the Legal 500 guide for corporate work. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and the International Division of the Law Society. Tony is also a Board member of Colchester Institute.

Nick Gerrard

Nick has worked as an accountant in the public sector for 27 years and is currently Director of Finance at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford. He has worked previously for the NHS in Hertfordshire, Essex, London, on the south coast and in the West Midlands, for the Department of Health, and has run his own management consultancy. He has recently been selected onto the NHS Top Managers Programme. Nick has lived in Colchester for 20 years.

Monica Greenwood

Monica has lived in Colchester for more than 35 years. An active supporter of the performing and visual arts regionally and nationally, she has been a member of Colchester Folk Club and has served on the board of the Mercury Theatre. Her work has required her to liaise regularly with arts organisations in the north-east of England and locally. Monica has a background in marketing and communications and is a board member of Waterwise, a UK NGO focused on water efficiency.

John Hume

John has worked for a number of UK and US firms, developing expertise in people management, particularly concerning acquisitions and change management. He was Chief Executive of EAR Ltd before joining Royal London in 1998, where he was Group HR Director until 2007. 

Previous voluntary work included six years as a trustee of the successful Stevenage Community Trust. John is a Non-Executive Director of the Suffolk Mental Health Partnership Trust, where he is Chair of the Remuneration Committee. 

Vincent Jones

Vincent is a Senior Partner with Baker Chapman & Bussey Chartered Accountants, specialising in tax advice for private and corporate clients, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Tax Faculty. He has experience of voluntary sector organisations in an executive role as well as the audit of several major local charities.

Other roles include: Finance Director, Colchester Business Enterprise Agency; Governor of St Benedict's College and Chairman of the Finance Committee; Finance Officer for Colchester Catholic Church.

Kate Merriweather

Kate has lived and worked in Colchester for 35 years. After training in librarianship, Kate went on to study for an Open University degree and then an MA at the University of Essex. She developed a career in education, first as a qualified teacher, as a lecturer and then as Director of her own English Language Training Company.

Public responsibilities include: School Governor for several years, running literary events for Colchester and now a member of the University of Essex Court.

Andrew Nightingale

Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Currently Director of Estate Management, University of Essex, he is responsible for the campuses in Colchester, Southend and Loughton.

Andrew has served on a number of RICS Committees, was instrumental in developing the UUK ACoP for the Management of Student Residences and has been on various committees and working groups for HEFCE and UUK.

From 2002 – 2004 he was Chair of AUDE (the Association of University Directors of Estates) and a member of its Executive Committee from 2000 – 2008.

Jeremy Theophilus

Jeremy is a partner in A Fine Line, a cultural practice specialising in international residency programmes, arts consultancy and project management. After running independent galleries in Wales and East Anglia (including the Minories and University of Essex Gallery) and working as a freelance curator and writer, he joined the Arts Council in 1993 where he was Senior Visual Arts Officer until 2003. 

Jeremy is co-Director of the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent, and Chair of Stour Valley Arts in Kent. He is also a Fellow of the RSA and continues to write about the visual arts.