YouthNet’s Trustees are collectively responsible for setting our strategic direction. They make sure were operating within legal and financial guidelines, and meeting our key objectives.
This talented team work with our senior management defining overall policy, setting targets and monitoring performance.
Martyn Lewis, CBE
Martyn is the Founder and Chairman of YouthNet. Over 32 years as a television journalist he presented every mainstream national news programme on BBC and ITV before moving into business in 1999 when he co-founded – and is now European Chairman of – Teliris Inc., the global technology pioneer in a new “realtime” communications business space known as telepresence. He is also Chairman of NICE TV, which works with ITN to deliver high quality news videos for industry-wide conferences, exhibitions and events.
Other charity work includes: Chairman of the Awards Committee of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (the equivalent of an MBE for groups); Trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust, helping to develop the leaders of tomorrow; President of United Response, helping people with learning disabilities; Deputy Chair of the Lord Mayor of London’s Dragon Awards, honouring companies for the work they and their employees do to help disadvantaged areas of our community; and Vice-President of all three main national Hospice charities.
Martyn holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster and is a Freeman of the City of London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Garrick Club and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He was awarded a CBE for “services to young people and the Hospice movement” in 1997.
Peter Cowley
Peter Cowley is a well known digital media executive. Until recently he was the MD of Digital Media for Endemol UK and Chief Executive of Victoria Real, a leading digital agency.
Previous to Endemol, Peter worked in the media, marketing and advertising industries at Freeserve, Cable & Wireless, Videotron and Bartle Bogle Hegarty.
Julie Dawson
A marketing professional with over 20 years experience in the technology sector, Julie managed B2B marketing for leading IT services company, Computer Science Corporation and an IT strategy team at Barclays.
After working as a consultant to eBay, Julie founded the first auction management company in the UK, to enable brands, artists and charities to use eBay for promotional marketing, running online auction campaigns.
Julie read BA Hons Modern Languages in the UK, International Business Studies at ESCP (Paris), did an Executive MBA at the London Business School and holds the CIM Diploma.
Rupert Grey
Rupert has balanced life in the law courts with long periods in the wild places of the earth and creating, with his wife Jan and three daughters, a thriving and happy family life in their remote cottage in the South Downs.
As a lawyer he has represented, and fought libel actions for and against national papers and policitians, leading photographers and publishers, businessmen and explorers.
As an outdoorsman he has travelled on foot, by boat, dog sledge and camel in many different countries, including Papa New Guinea, Alaska and the Orient. He is frequently accompanied by his children, who grew up believing it is perfectly normal to go on expeditions in a dugout canoe in the heart of Borneo by way of a summer holiday.
Rupert serves on the board of a number of front line charities in the fields of performing arts, education, photography and conservation. After a legal career which commenced at 35 and culminated as partner at Farrers, a leading city firm, he now combines a consultancy with Swan Turton, a specialist intellectual property and entertainment practice in Covent Garden, with lecturing, photographic exhibitions and time in the wilderness.
John Henry
John has several years experience within the digital and business intelligence fields. Starting off in strategy development with MSN (Microsoft), he ended up leading research and analytics at the online fundraising site, JustGiving – involved in everything from user experience analysis to marketing campaign planning to research into economic drivers of charitable giving. More recently John has specialised in operations and business intelligence, with a strong interest in information design and data visualisation.
Passionate about social problems – and seeking solutions through social entrepreneurship – John also sits on the board of Developing Technologies, a small social enterprise which works to relieve poverty in developing countries through the design and manufacture of sustainable and appropriate engineering solutions.
John holds an MSci in Physics from Imperial College London and a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology from the University of Oxford. He can often be found in the mountains, whether back home in Ireland or as far afield as Tajikistan. He is studying Spanish and enjoys singing in the local choir.
Roger Martin
Roger Martin retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2000. He was a senior practice partner in London looking after major clients. He also had responsibility for worldwide business development and business links between North America and the UK.
He now sits on several Boards as a non executive, and is the honorary Treasurer of the Wimbledon Club. He has been a Trustee in the charitable sector for over 15 years.
Gary Pugh
Gary is Vice President of Marketing for Oracle Corporation in EMEA. He has worked in the IT industry for over 25 years starting out as a systems programmer on ICL mainframes and has witnessed the many changes that have occurred in the IT industry first hand. During his career at Oracle he has had a variety of roles covering consulting to business development and has run the marketing operation in Eastern Europe.Gary is also a self professed ‘sporting nut’, who has tried his hand at most activities including hang-gliding and American football but now prefers to spend his time on the golf course or walking the dog!
James Scroggs
James is a Marketer with rich experience in Entertainment, Youth and Technology, having led award-winning marketing programmes for ITV Digital, MTV and SpinVox. He has recently founded a Strategic Marketing Hub, HΩΩPLONDON, and a Music and Live Arts enterprise, Theartre. He sits on the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Arts and is patron of C.A.L.M a charity campaigning to reduce suicide rates amongst young men.
Aesha Zafar
Aesha Zafar has been involved in leading volunteer programmes and working with or for young people in a number of her previous positions and has worked primarily across the media, arts and charity sectors. She currently works at the BBC on attracting and recruiting people to the vacancies in the departments moving to Salford Quays in 2011.
Some of her previous roles include working at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, with the responsibility for co-ordinating the talent initiatives, schemes and events and managing the youth marketing strategy and delivery at CSV for the national campaign Make a Difference Day. Aesha has also ventured into the working worlds of film festivals, universities and journalism.
