Trustees

The Trustees at Gainsborough’s House play a vital role in guiding and supporting the organisation’s mission to celebrate and preserve the legacy of Thomas Gainsborough while fostering creativity and engagement with the arts.

As stewards of this independent charity, they bring a wealth of expertise from diverse professional backgrounds, ensuring sound governance, strategic direction, and financial oversight.

Our Trustees are deeply committed to the vision of making Gainsborough’s House a thriving hub for cultural and artistic experiences. Their collective knowledge and passion underpin our efforts to safeguard the heritage of Gainsborough’s birthplace, enhance our exhibitions and programmes, and broaden access to the arts for all. Through their dedication, Gainsborough’s House continues to inspire and serve our community, visitors, and supporters.

Professor Simon Ofield-Kerr

Professor Simon Ofield-Kerr joined as the Chair of Trustees for Gainsborough’s House in November 2023. Simon is the Vice Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts and studied Fine Art at Exeter College of Art and Design, has an MA in the Social History of Art and a PhD from the University of Leeds in the UK. He started his academic career at Leeds and held a series of key leadership roles at Middlesex University and Kingston University, where he was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. Before joining Norwich University of the Arts, Simon was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at University of the Arts London (UAL). At UAL, he was closely involved in the development of its partnerships with a broad range of industry, public sector and cultural institutions and played a leading role in the development and delivery of the university’s academic strategy, which included the creation of several institutes, including UAL’s Creative Computing Institute. Prior to joining UAL in 2017, he was Vice-Chancellor at University for the Creative Arts.

Calvin Winner

Calvin Winner, Executive Director of Gainsborough’s House, leads with a passionate commitment to celebrating the legacy of Thomas Gainsborough and shaping the House’s future as a dynamic cultural and educational centre. Appointed in early 2024, Calvin impressed the Trustees with his enthusiasm for Gainsborough’s work and his vision for exploring it through innovative curation, historical investigation, and meaningful dialogue with contemporary artists.

Bringing a wealth of experience from his tenure as Head of Collections at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Calvin has a strong track record in curatorial leadership, major exhibition delivery, and fostering public engagement. Now at Gainsborough’s House, he is focused on securing a vibrant exhibition programme, expanding community connections, and realising the full potential of the museum’s award-winning spaces. With a deep-rooted appreciation of East Anglia’s artistic heritage, Calvin is dedicated to ensuring Gainsborough’s House remains a place of inspiration, discovery, and creative exchange for all.

Arabella Chandos

With over 40 years experience in the art world, having worked in the Old Master Paintings department at Sotheby’s where she was a senior director, Arabella has worked all over the UK, Europe and spent 3 years in New York before returning to the UK to continue the voyage of discovery and being part of a successful global team that witnessed many record breaking sales. With strong connections to UK collections, collectors and museums, she now continues her long involvement and interest in the arts whilst also working with some charities—including Gainsborough’s House. Arabella is also a trustee of Music for my Mind. 

Mark Harris

Mark is a chartered accountant and Senior Partner of the London firm of Chartered Accountants, Rawlinson & Hunter LLP. He first became involved with Gainsborough’s House in 2013 as a Mulberry Patron and in 2017 was invited to join the Board of Trustees to assist in the financial aspects of the charity as it prepared itself for the Capital Project, Reviving an Artist’s Birthplace. He is currently Chair of the Gainsborough’s House Finance Committee. Mark has a wide interest in the arts and holds a number of other pro-bono trustee positions with other visual arts organisations.

Nella Probert

Nella Probert lives locally in Bures and has been a passionate supporter of Gainsborough’s House for thirty years.  She was involved in organising the Art Auction to raise funds for the new gallery, acts whenever helpful to offer advice on promoting Gainsborough’s House and makes sure to direct all visiting experts and friends to the gallery.

Nella’s background is in book publishing where she was Book Buyer for Past Times, Editor at Red House Books and Publicity Director at Hamish Hamilton and Macmillan.  Since moving to Suffolk she has been a fundraiser for Marie Curie of which she is a Patron and the Teenage Cancer Trust to build a new unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.  She currently sits on the Dedham Vale Society committee and the Friends of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

James Hardie

James Hardie brings a wealth of experience from across the arts, music and festivals. As of January 2025, James is Chief Executive of Scottish Ensemble, a pioneering string orchestra based in Glasgow and performing across Scotland, the UK and internationally.

Prior to this James held roles as Music Programmer with Norfolk & Norwich Festival, and Executive Director of The Marian Consort. Across five editions of the Festival, James worked with leading artists and ensembles to bring extraordinary musical experiences to the East of England, including the Hallé, Jonny Greenwood, Caroline Shaw and Arooj Aftab. He developed long-running relationships with a host of local and national partners, andintroduced a distinctive Artist in Residence strand. Under James’ leadership The Marian Consort enjoyed significant growth in reputation and reach, with debuts at the BBC Proms, Miller Theatre New York and Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall Tokyo, as well as delivering projects engaging with the visuals arts at V&A London and Staatsgallerie Stuttgart. The ensemble established itself as a champion of new music and introduced a talent development programme for emerging composers.

James became a Trustee of Gainsborough’s House in late 2024, and has long had an interest in the work of Thomas Gainsborough and his contemporaries, and eighteenth-century cultural history.

Sally Bevan

Sally Bevan is an art and history enthusiast living locally in Long Melford and is a frequent visitor to Gainsborough’s House. Sally is a lawyer by day specialising in the technology sector and in her spare time is a keen fundraiser for the restoration of the medieval windows in Holy Trinity Long Melford, where she is also a member of the PCC and a church guide. She is also involved in arranging village events in Long Melford and is on the board of the Nethergate Brewery. She is passionate about community engagement with the arts.

Lee Rodwell

Lee Rodwell is a fundraising professional with over 20 years of experience across a variety of sectors, including the arts, health, human rights, and international development, and extensive experience as a Board member for a number of charities.

Lee is currently Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of the world’s leading universities in public and global health research and education.

Previously he served as Director of Development at University of the Arts London (UAL), the second-ranked university for art and design globally, and has also fundraised for the Art Fund, the Serpentine Gallery, Liberty, and Sightsavers. He has been a Trustee of four charities prior to joining Gainsborough’s House, with a combined experience of over 17 years as a Board member.

Jo Warr

Jo Warr is an experienced museum professional and has spent all her career working in the arts, culture and heritage sectors. As Head of Development at Norfolk Museums Service she contributes to the leadership of one of the largest county museum services in the UK with ten museums, including its flagship site Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. Her expertise is in fundraising, programming, strategic planning, and partnership brokerage. Jo has good knowledge of charity governance having previously served as Chair of Governors of a high school and sixth form and currently as Vice Chair of The Garage Trust, a performing arts charity with venues in Norwich and King’s Lynn.

Nicola Gooch

Nicola Gooch is an award-winning television producer, former CEO of Alchemy TV and a BAFTA Film Awards judge. After an early career as a newspaper journalist, Nicola joined London Weekend Television, where she became Series Editor of the weekly current affairs series, The London Programme and Metro, a London arts show executive produced by Melvyn Bragg.

Nicola left LWT to become part of the original Planet 24 team that devised The Big Breakfast for Channel 4 and was the show’s Deputy Editor. As BBC Commissioning Executive for Daytime and Features, she was responsible for BBC output from independent production companies.

For Jamie Oliver’s company Fresh, she produced many of Jamie’s shows for Channel 4 and created Two Greedy Italians for BBC2. In 2011, with her business partner Charlie Parsons, she set Alchemy TV specialising in food programmes such as How to Cook Like Heston and Spice Trip for Channel 4 and The Incredible Spice Men for BBC2. She retired from television and moved to Suffolk to write, paint and run around with dogs in 2017.