We are delighted that OPT trustee Carole Souter CBE has been appointed as chair of the Heritage Alliance.

Carole is a passionate advocate for culture and heritage, with an outstanding record of achievement in the sector. She has been a Trustee of Oxford Preservation Trust since 2017 and chairs the Planning Committee. She led the Heritage Lottery Fund (now the National Lottery Heritage Fund) as Chief Executive from 2003-2016, overseeing the distribution of billions of pounds of investment in culture, heritage and the environment.  She has recently stepped down as interim chair of Historic Royal Palaces, having served in that role during the period of mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla, and the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed in Hillsborough Castle.

Carole served from 2016-2022 as Master of St Cross College at the University of Oxford, a graduate College with students from all over the world. She also chaired the Board of Visitors of the University Museum of Natural History. She was an advocate for equality and diversity across the University, focusing particularly on the importance of supporting those with no prior connection to the University.

She chairs the Sulgrave Manor Trust, which cares for the ancestral home of George Washington in Northamptonshire, is currently a trustee of the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Oxford Preservation Trust, and is a lay canon of Salisbury Cathedral.  From 2001 to 2003 she was Director of Planning and Development for English Heritage, joining that organisation after more than 20 years as a civil servant, during which she worked in the Departments of Health and Social Security and the Cabinet Office.