Board Directors and Trustees
Joanna Davidson has a background of senior leadership in the public and voluntary sectors, having previously been Chief Executive of two local authorities and a national charity. She spent ten years as Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council and has a love of the county’s heritage and tourism offer. She is now an independent consultant and coach specialising in change management in the third sector, and regularly chairs cross sector leadership programmes in a voluntary capacity.
Her professional background is in housing and regeneration and she has been an advisor to the Local Government Association and a member of a range of government advisory groups on housing.
Joanna previously chaired the Board of Oxford Brookes University and has been a trustee or non-executive director of a range of organisations including the former Government Office for the South East. She was awarded the CBE for services to local government in 2011 and an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2014.
Miranda joined the Operations team at SBM, an oil company in Monaco in 1980. She took up the role of Operations Manager at Ingram Tampimex Oil brokers in Monaco in 1983. On her return to the UK, she ran the French property desk for Prudential International in London from 1986 to 1989, before setting up her own business selling property in France to UK residents. She joined French retail company Everstyl in 1992 as their UK Manager and established their operations in the UK.
Miranda joined Value Retail in 1995 as Deputy Centre Manager at the inception of Bicester Village. For the last decade, Miranda’s primary focus has been as Community Relations Director for Bicester Village, developing a CSR programme, handling regional PR and assisting with planning and development projects, including the most recent expansion of Bicester Village.
She represents Bicester Village on a number of committees and steering groups as well as being a member of the Executive Board of Bicester Vision and Bicester Chamber of Commerce. She has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire since 2008. More recently, she has become a Director of the boards of two Destination Management Offices, Experience Oxfordshire and Shakespeare’s England as well as a Trustee of Oxford Brookes Student Union.
Miranda lives in Oxfordshire and is married with two children. In her spare time, Miranda is an oil and watercolour artist.
Stuart divides his time between the Wellers offices in Thame, Oxford and London. He holds his Professional ACA Qualification and a degree in Maths and Accounting from Oxford Brookes University and has been with Wellers since 1999.
Born at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and raised in Headington, Stuart has a natural understanding of the issues and opportunities that face Oxfordshire based businesses. He is keen to support the board by providing valuable input on the strategic side of running a business as well as financial processes. This will involve working with both the staff and fellow board members, analysing future opportunities and areas for growth of the Oxfordshire brand.
Although Stuart works with a broad range of businesses, he has extensive experience in the hospitality, technology and construction industries.
Dominic Hare was born in Liverpool but at 18 came up to Oxford to read Jurisprudence at New College. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, he spent the next ten years in corporate finance and investment banking, specialising in the media and telecoms sector. He is proud to have helped DJ Chris Evans buy Virgin Radio but also to have helped Bob the Builder buy both Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney the Purple Dinosaur.
For the last 13 years, he has served as Finance Director at Blenheim Palace and is now the Chief Executive Officer. He is also a governor of two local schools
A degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College was followed by qualification as a Chartered Accountant in London with what is now KPMG. Auditing the American University and Hospital in Beirut in 1977 was a particular highlight. Moving into industry Chris joined the head office of EMI in 1978 in the heydey of the CT scanner and Kate Bush.
Leaving EMI after it was taken over by Thorn led to a 25-year career as a Finance Director in the construction services, construction and facilities management sectors. Hire, sale and contract supply of equipment internationally with SGB; Group Finance Director of Eve Group plc, a specialist contractor in telecoms and power networks, listed on the London Stock Exchange; facilities management with Balfour Beatty plc involving public and private sector clients, and including the operation of PFI contracts.
In 2006 Chris joined St Anne’s College at the University of Oxford as Treasurer and Finance Director and steered the College through significant change leading to improved financial performance and successful building projects. He retired in 2016 and is now an Emeritus Fellow.
Chris was born in Lincoln and includes wood and wine in his interests.
Former Mayor of Witney and current Deputy Leader at West Oxfordshire District Council, Cllr Enright is Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Travel & Development Strategy. This portfolio encompasses many services essential to a thriving visitor economy including infrastructure, digital connectivity, broadband, connecting Oxford (travel hubs, rail, waterways) and economic development. He runs his own award-winning specialist publishing company and is Director of a leadership development organisation.
Nicola Poole’s background is in family law, but after 25 years delivering legal services she moved to a solely management role, holding the Managing Director title at Hedges Law for over ten years. She currently holds the position of Director of Innovation and Culture at the 233 year old law firm, based in Oxfordshire, responsible for driving the values-led culture both internally and externally, and ensuring the business adopts the very best technology to improve the service delivery to clients.
In the 20 years since joining Hedges, Nicola has developed, grown and elevated the firm ‘from high street to high end’ tripling its revenue and expanding it from its original historic roots in Wallingford, to Oxford city centre and now into the Cotswolds. Hedges Law is one of only a handful of law firms in the country that are employee owned and has recently announced its newly-appointed all female board.
Nicola serves as an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust ‘Women Supporting Women’ initiative and is passionate about the outdoors; she cycled from Delhi to Jaipur in 2019 and loves nothing more than taking on new challenges and adventures, and where possible, raising charitable funds whilst doing so.
