Gerald Lewis – Chairman  

Gerald is a recently retired Social Services Manager who worked in the New Forest and neighbouring Boroughs for more than 30 years. Qualified to MBA level, he has extensive professional experience of project and financial management in both the public and private sectors, and has undertaken local consultancy work in Tourism and Catering. A long term resident of Ripley in the SW New Forest, Gerald is a former Parish Councillor and Chairman who currently represents Sopley Parish on the New Forest Consultative Panel.

John Durnell – Vice Chairman

John is Head of Estates and Enterprise for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. He lives in the New Forest and is particularly interested in land management issues.

Barry Olorenshaw – Vice Chairman

A former Merchant Banker and commercial property developer, Barry has lived in Minstead for more than 30 years. Co-founder of the New Forest Business Partnership in 2000 and subsequently its Chair, he also sits on Hampshire Chamber of Commerce’s Planning and Transport Committee and is involved in a number of charitable and community-related organisations.

Cllr Barry Rickman

Barry sits on the Local Action Group as Leader of New Forest District Council and as the elected member whose Portfolio covers the Employment and Tourism Service at the Authority. Representing the Boldre and Sway Ward, Barry has run a photography business in the New Forest for 34 years and has been involved in local government for over 29 years.

Jenna Bessant

Jenna is involved in the running of one of the well known pubs in the New Forest, The Royal Oak at Fritham where she has implemented an apprenticeship programme to train several school leavers. She is also assists her husband in running his forestry business. Jenna was a founder member of the New Forest Young Commoners Group.

Matt Callaghan

In his role as Economic Development Manager, Matt is responsible for creating conditions for local businesses to grow, providing support for start-up enterprises and encouraging new investment into the district where appropriate. He works alongside a variety of business support organisations including both Local Enterprise Partnerships, Enterprise First as well as the New Forest Business Partnership.

Ben Dolbear    

Ben grew up on his family’s farm in the New Forest. He has experience in running a farm and is also involved in the business management aspect of the farm. Ben graduated from the Royal Agricultural University and is currently developing his skills working for a seed merchant. His main interests are agriculture and commoning. Ben is a member of Young Farmers, Young Commoners and the Commoners Defence Association.

Denis Dooley

Denis is the Show Secretary for the New Forest Agricultural Show Society. His primary role is the day to day running of the Charity and staging the annual New Forest & Hampshire County Show (average attendance of 95,000 people), overseeing Longmeadow Campsite (100 pitch campsite) and the management of the 250 acre site. The Show is the largest event in Hampshire and rated amongst the top ten in the country and in 2012 welcomed The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh for the final visit of their Diamond Jubilee tour.

Sam Dovey

Sam is involved in both commoning and farming and has worked for the National Farmers Union since 1999 where he is currently Senior Agent. He is a committee member of the Commoners Defense Association, New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society and the New Forest Livestock Society. Sam is also a trustee of the New Forest Trust, sits on the New Forest Consultative Panel and is a Magistrate.

Debbie Grace

Debbie is a Community Development worker with the local Council of Voluntary Service. Debbie’s role is to support voluntary and community groups across the Forest through the provision of advice on funding and sustainability.

Anji Hill

Anji a full time farmer in the New Forest farming cattle and sheep. Her farm has a livery of over 25 horses. Anji is a practising commoner, a Parish Councillor and is Chair of the NFU New Forest.

Linda Palmer

Linda, a former Bank Manager enjoyed a 32 year career with HSBC. Linda was involved in many initiatives for the bank ranging from mentoring business start-ups, managing technical teams to strategic planning roles at HSBC Global Head Office. A resident of Whiteparish, Linda is a Parish Councillor. She most recently managed the development of the new community building at Whiteparish.

Rachel Pearson

Rachel Pearson is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and is Resident Agent on the Beaulieu Estate, which has a number of visitor attractions as well as significant forestry interests and tennant farms. Rachel is a stakeholder member of the New Forest Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy and the New Forest Access Forum

Andrew Tolfts

Andrew is a professional forester who lives in Romsey. Since 2001 he has worked in the wood-fuel sector in London then helping to establish South East Wood Fuels.  Since 2010 he has worked for West Sussex County Council initially as Wood Fuel Development Office but now  with a wider remit covering energy efficiency in buildings and the full range of renewable energy technologies as part of the team supporting the Your Energy Sussex partnership of Sussex councils.

Paul Walton

Paul is the Head of Environment and Rural Economy with the New Forest National Park Authority. He has previously worked as a General Manager for the National Trust in Cornwall and managed the Cornwall AONB Partnership. He has experience of working with European funding programmes, including Interreg and Objective One (Cornwall) and establishing Local Development Groups.

Rob Dewing

Rob Dewing runs a business based in Lyndhurst, building and maintaining websites for local businesses. He has lived in the New Forest for over 10 years and is active in business lobbying as Chair of the New Forest branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, representing over 800 FSB members in the area. Rob is also a past Chair of New Forest Business Partnership. As chair of Lyndhurst Community Centre, Rob was involved in the successful application for LEADER funds from the 2008-13 programme.