Management Committee

Dominic first encountered Surrey Docks Farm in 1984 when he organised holiday playschemes for local school children.

After a long career in the charity sector, he retired in 2019 and started volunteering with four organisations, international, national and local.

Moving away from the area and recently moving back his priority was to get involved with the farm again which happily came about.

Kate leads a sales team at a software technology company based in London. With extensive experience in business development, she began her career working in her parents’ bakery at the age of 13 and has since led multiple commercial teams across Europe and North America over the past 14 years.

Matthew is a partner at law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. He is Managing Partner of the Real Estate team and has more than 25 years of experience advising public and private sector organisations on all aspects of planning and development law. Matthew is a Legal Associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives with his wife and three children in Camberwell and loves everything that south London has to offer. In his spare time, Matthew enjoys cycling, travel, photography and The Archers.

Rosemary worked for sixteen years as cabin crew, opened a delicatessen and outside catering business, and lived in Egypt And Venezuela. When returning home she and her husband moved to Rotherhithe in 2001 and worked for a few years in Canary Wharf.

While strolling through the Farm one day she met Barry Mason who was manager at the time, and began volunteering, working on his admin.

Rosemary has seen so many changes in the Farm, and the recent work on the Tower very exciting. She loves volunteering in the shop, giving her opinion on the management committee and being involved in a very important part of the community.

Brett works in the financial services sector where he leads on IT Delivery projects. His career spans 20 years of roles in IT with a background in leading teams, project management, and business analysis roles. Brett holds a CIM Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing & an MSc in Computer Science. He is also currently studying for a Senior Leadership Postgraduate Diploma. Brett has been in voluntary committee roles since university.

Brett moved to Rotherhithe in 2006 and is passionate about the local area and community values. Brett became involved with Surrey Docks Farm in early 2013 where he joined as the Farm’s Secretary after wishing to volunteer for the Farm because he was living locally, but in a way that did not mean having to always be on site when working away from home. Brett became the Chair in September 2015.

Mary Budd has been involved with the Farm for the last decade, mainly as a member of the MC. She is a freelance HR consultant, advising companies on everything to do with people from employment law to management development. She has also spent many years in various NHS Non-Exec roles in London and Sussex. In her spare time she creates quilts, which raise money at Farm fairs. She has two grandchildren who are passionate fans of the goats.

Jolin popped in to the Farm while out for a run in 2010 and saw a small notice asking for a Treasurer: “As an accountant and program manager I thought my skills might suit and many grey hairs later I’m still proud to be helping and guiding our small finance team and management committee.”

Trained as a development economist, Allison has worked in the environmental space since the start of her career. Over the past 20 years, she has focused on the intersection between economic development and environmental protection through a variety of roles in the NGO, government and commercial sectors. Most recently she has worked in the advisory and philanthropic space, heading up the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation and at Zennström Philanthropies, and has provided strategic advice to foundations based in Europe, the US and the Middle East. She was the Senior Policy Advisor for Climate Change at The Elders Foundation and as well as the Executive Director of the Bulb Foundation. Allison sits on a number of advisory boards and juries at the intersection of environment, innovation and entrepreneurship, and is currently the Global Head of Climate for Comic Relief. She holds an BSFS from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an Msc from the London School of Economics.

Born and raised in São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil, Fabiana moved to London in 2016.
Since her first year in London, she has been working for Royal Museums Greenwich, currently holding the post of Visitor and Sales Manager at the Queen’s House art gallery, managing its daily operation and commercial activities and offering an outstanding visitor experience to a broad audience.
Back in Brazil, she worked for eight years in the charity sector, being responsible for social projects that focused on improving the quality of the school meals offered to students enrolled in public schools and on improving the health and nutrition of children under the age of five years old.
Fabiana’s involvement with Surrey Docks Farm started when she moved to Rotherhithe in early 2023. She is a regular customer in the shop and café, attends the yoga classes offered on Mondays and volunteers in the farm gym sessions and festivals.

Alan spent all his spare time while at Secondary school on a nearby farm in Essex. He trained in Agricultural Engineering, then Agriculture then teaching. Alan taught in farm colleges in Zambia and Suffolk and spent other years in Africa serving small farmers, especially with ox and donkey power. The Salmon Youth Centre brought him to Bermondsey in 1985 when Alan began to appreciate Surrey Docks Farm as a place for relaxation. A spell in Africa intervened, but grand-child care brought Alan and his wife back here, and Anne’s been volunteering with New Leaf project ever since. Alan joined the Management Committee in 2007 and was Chair for 5 years.

I have lived in Deptford for over 10 years and have been a regular visitor to the farm during that time.

I am currently a Chief Risk Officer in mutual insurance associations having previously worked in financial services regulation.

Aware of the community work the farm delivers and the importance of that role in the local area to all walks of life; whilst meeting the needs of a working farm. Utilising my skills in governance, risk and compliance and experience of volunteering in the past, I believe I can assist in supporting the farm continue with its success.