Dame Fiona Reynolds, former Master of Emmanuel College Cambridge and former Director-General of the National Trust
Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE was Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 2012 until 2021. She came to the college from the National Trust, where she was Director-General from 2001-2012. During her time there, she made the Trust warmer and more welcoming, bringing the houses to life and raising the profile of the Trust’s work in the countryside.
Before the Trust, she was Director of the Women’s Unit in the Cabinet Office (1998-2000), Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (now Campaign to Protect Rural England) from 1987-98 and Secretary to the Council for National Parks (now Campaign to Protect National Parks) from 1980-87. She has an MA and MPhil from Cambridge University in Geography and Land Economy.
Fiona now holds a number of non-Executive roles. She is Chair of the National Audit Office, the Council of the Royal Agricultural University, the International National Trusts Organisation, the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden and its Bennett Institute for Public Policy. She is a trustee of the Grosvenor Estate, the Green Alliance and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and a non Executive Director of Wessex Water.
Her book The Fight for Beauty was published in 2016. Fiona was appointed CBE for services to the environment and conservation in 1998 and DBE in 2008.
