Trustees and Executive Committee
The Trustees of INTO are:
Simon Molesworth
Chairman of the Executive Committee
From 1980 to 2005, Simon was a councillor of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), having been its honorary chairman and then president for almost 20 years. Since 1988, he has been a board member of the Australian Council of National Trusts and was its chairman 2001 to 2006.
Simon was a Commissioner of the Australian Heritage Commission for 5 years from 1987. As one of seven commissioners, he was responsible for identifying and advising the Australian Government on Australia’s National Estate. Since 1996 he has been a member of the Australian Government’s National Cultural Heritage Committee, which is responsible for all statutory advisory functions under the Protection of Moveable Cultural Heritage Act,
In 1985 Simon helped found the Environment Institute of Australia, the institute of practitioners whose core professional discipline is environmental management. He guided its expansion into New Zealand in 2002 when it became the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand and was the Institute’s president from 1995 to 2005. Simon also founded in 1978 in Victoria and led till 1983 Australia’s first environmental law association. Then in 1983, Simon became the inaugural president of the National Environmental Law Association of Australia which he led for some years.
In 1989 Simon was awarded the Australian Environmental Law Award for being a person who has “made an outstanding contribution to the development and understanding of environmental law in Australia”. In 1994 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his “services to the community in the field of conservation and the environment in particular through the National Trust” and in 1995 he was awarded the State Environment Award by the Government of Victoria in recognition of his “significant contribution to environment protection in Victoria 1970-1995″. In 2003 the Australian Government awarded him the Centenary Medal “For service to the community through heritage and the environment” and the United Nations Association of Australia awarded him the 2003 World Environment Day Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment. In 2006 Monash University awarded Simon its Distinguished Alumni Award “for outstanding professional achievement, inspirational leadership and exceptional human qualities” essentially for his commitment to the environment.
After initially practicing as a solicitor, Simon became a barrister in Victoria in 1984 and was appointed a Queens Counsel in 1995, specialising in environmental, planning, heritage and natural resource law. In recognition of his senior work in his multi-disciplinary career, Simon has been elevated to that of fellow in five professional institutes. With an experience extending over thirty years of leadership and governance, Simon has been a director of some twenty-two boards (of which four are in the commercial sector) and chairman or president of thirteen of them. Amongst them, Simon is currently non-executive chairman of Greenearth Energy Limited, a geothermal energy company.
Simon Molesworth is currently chairman of the Executive Committee of the International National Trusts Organisation and was chair of INTO’s Steering Committee from mid 2006.
David Brown
David Brown has worked for more than three decades helping people preserve the historic places of their communities. As Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Brown led the development team for – and currently oversees the implementation of – the Next Trust Strategic Plan, a blueprint of the future of the National Trust. He also leads the creation of www.PreservationNation.org, the online virtual town square where people share proven tools, make connections, and get inspired to save historic places. Brown provided direct oversight and strategic direction to Campaign for America’s Historic Places, the comprehensive campaign for the future of the National Trust which raised more than $135 million against a $125 million goal from 1998-2003.
Prior to joining the National Trust in 1996, Brown served as the founding Executive Director of the Preservation Alliance of Virginia, a consortium of 150 preservation and conservation organisations representing more than 60,000 Virginians. In eight years, he forged the Alliance’s commitment to advocacy, capacity building for local organisations, and the study and promotion of preservation’s economic benefits. Under his direction, the Alliance successfully campaigned for state rehabilitation tax credits that since 1997 have spurred investment of over $300 million in more than 250 historic buildings. Brown also served as Director of Historic Staunton Foundation in Staunton, Virginia, where the organization’s downtown revitalization has been recognized with a National Trust Honor Award and a Great American Main Street Award.
Brown has edited and authored numerous publications including A Future for Virginia’s Past, The report of the Governor’s Commission to Study Historic Preservation on which he served as Chairman. A native of Tennessee, Brown was one of the first graduates of the Historic Preservation Program at Middle Tennessee State University and he has a Masters in Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
S.K. Misra
S.K. Misra is currently in his second term as Chairman of INTACH, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, of which he is a founding member, and serves in a voluntary capacity.
During his government career, he served in numerous positions in Haryana and the Government of India, including Director-General of the Festivals of India in the U.S. and France, Secretary of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Secretary of Agriculture, and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Before joining INTACH, he also served for six years as member, UPSC.
His lifelong interests in culture and institution-building have converged in his leadership of INTACH, where he has strengthened the funding base and administrative infrastructure and greatly expanded the scope of activities, especially by developing projects that focus on education, rural communities, and the linkage of heritage and economic development. He also helped INTACH develop a strong and influential presence both in India and the global arena, and INTACH is now ranked as one of the world’s five major national heritage trusts.
In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Simon Murray
Simon works for the National Trust where he is Director of Operations.
Simon’s interest in heritage began when working on a PhD at Cambridge University on ‘The Literary Image of the Country House in the 18th Century’. He joined the Trust as Property Manager at Upton House in Warwickshire in 1987 and then, in 1990, was appointed Historic Buildings Representative in East Midlands where he worked on the large restoration projects at Hardwick and Kedleston, both in Derbyshire. At this time he became interested in the Trust’s role in broadening our understanding of the meaning of what constitutes historical importance. As a result he played a leading role in the acquisition of Mr Straw’s House in Worksop, a semi-detached tradesman’s house; Monksthorpe Baptist Chapel in Lincolnshire and the Workhouse in Nottinghamshire. This theme continued when he became Regional Director for the Mercia Region in 1997 with the acquisition of Sunnycroft, a suburban villa in Wellington, Shropshire; Edward Chambre Hardman’s house and studio and Mendips, John Lennon’s childhood home, both in Liverpool. Simon has also developed a strategy of greater involvement by the National Trust in urban areas.
Since becoming Director of Operations Simon has led a review of the Trust’s approach to the interpretation of its properties. He also sits on the Council of Europa Nostra and has a particular interest in heritage preservation in eastern and central Europe.
Martin Scicluna
Martin Scicluna is the Director General of the Today Public Policy Institute. He is a member of the Council of Europa Nostra and of the Board of the International National Trusts Organisation. He is a Vice President of Din l-Art Helwa. He was the Executive President of Din l-Art Helwa from 2001 to 2005. He is also currently the Adviser to the government of Malta on illegal immigration.
He retired to Malta in 1996 at the end of a career spent first in the British Army and then for 23 years as a civil servant in the Ministry of Defence in London, serving in various policy secretariat appointments before being appointed as the Assistant Under Secretary of State for Army Personnel matters.
He was subsequently Adviser to two Prime Ministers of Malta on defence policy matters until 1999 and Malta’s Ambassador to NATO in 1996. He was educated at St Edward’s College, at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, at the Army Staff College, Camberley and at the Royal College of Defence Studies, London.
Bill Turner
Bill Turner is the Executive Director of TLC The Land Conservancy of British Columbia.TLC is British Columbia’s only ‘National Trust’ type organization and the 3rd largest land trust in Canada. Bill came to this role from a career in commercial real estate and business. He is also a member of the board of the American Friends of Canadian Land Trust, the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia, the Pacific Coast Joint Venture, the Canadian Intermountain Joint Venture and the BC Conservation Lands Forum. Bill is a member of the Citizens Conservation Council on Climate Action (a council that advises the government of British Columbia on issues relating to Climate Change.
Bill has assisted the Federal Minister of Environment as a member of the Ministers Roundtable on Parks Canada and on the proposal to create a National Trust for Canada. Bill is a member of the Order of Canada (Canada’s highest civilian honour) and in 2007 was given an honourary L.L.D. by the University of Victoria.
Robin Yarrow
Robin Yarrow is a Fiji national and has a degree in veterinary science from Sydney University. A retired career civil servant, he has lived in Fiji all his life apart from undertaking degree study overseas and two Foreign Service postings.
He served as Permanent Secretary in four Ministries over a 30 year career, including Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, National Planning and Tourism, before retiring in 1999.
In addition, has served on many Boards and is currently a Board member of the Fiji Reserve Bank and the National Trust of Fiji. Is a Trustee of Fiji’s only NGO dedicated to natural heritage protection, NatureFiji. Is also involved in community activities and serves on the Fiji Red Cross National Council, Neighbourhood Watch and the Fiji SPCA.
Awarded the Fiji Civil Service Medal and also presented the Order of Agricultural Merit by the French Government.
Michaela Kubikova (National Trust of Slovakia)
INTO is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association, signed on 7 October 2008, and referenced by the INTO Charter, signed by its founding member organisations in Delhi on 3 December 2007. These documents are available here.
Our Trustees are appointed by the INTO Congress/Annual General Meeting in an individual capacity but represent the original founding members of INTO. The above appointments were confirmed by the INTO Annual General Meeting on 16 September 2009 in Dublin.
INTO Executive Committee
The Trustees are supported in the day-to-day running of INTO by a wider group, called the Execuive Commitee, made up of the above Trustees together with:
Emily Drani (Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda)
John Ducie
John Ducie while a student became a member of An Taisce The National Trust for Ireland in 1979 due to his realisation of the ecological cost of development. He has served the Trust in numerous roles ever since, becoming Vice Chairman in 1999 -2003, Company Director 1999-2004 and a Hon. Vice President in 2003. He has served on the Council and Board of Management from 1995 – 2008, stepping down to take up the part time post of Properties & Conservation Officer and Principal Organiser of the 13th International Conference of National Trusts at short notice due to an unexpected vacancy.
He is an advocate of a further provision in law for An Taisce, serving as Chairman of its National Trust Legislation Drafting Committee for successive terms. He became President of the European Network of National Heritage Organisations in 2006 at its General Assembly held in Dublin that was attended by representatives from 35 organisations from 17 countries. Among the conservation achievements that he is proudest of is being a founder of The Tree Council of Ireland in 1983, The Irish Garden Plant Society in 1982 and proposer of the Plastic Bag Levy in 1997, an environmental tax which resulted in a 90% reduction in the consumption of plastic bags.
A professional horticulturist, garden historian and landscape designer he has a busy private practice. He is Chairman of The Heritage Gardens and Designed Landscapes Committee for Ireland since 1999 and is a member of The Steering Committee of the government funded National Inventory of Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes, now on its third phase since its inception.
Jeanine Perryck (The Gelderland Trust)
Catrini Pratihari Kubontubuh (Indonesian Heritage Trust)
Sangkoo Yun (National Trust of Korea)