Board of Trustees Archives - The Beacon Collaborative

Richard Meredith

Board Member

Richard Meredith is a former member of H.M. Diplomatic Service. His public career encompassed positions in the Treasury and Cabinet Office, as well as overseas assignments in Central America and the US, in Germany and in Africa. He was closely engaged in South Africa during South Africa’s democratisation process and in the Zimbabwe crisis. He also led the cross-government terrorist finance team in the aftermath of 9/11. He served as director of communications for national security.

Following his public service career, Richard spent 7 years as partner with Brunswick Group, the global communications firm, leading their corporate crisis management team, and building their family business and foundations practice. He led the communications team supporting the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation worldwide and was an advisor to a number of global companies and business families. He also led the communications for Saudi Aramco’s IPO. Richard also spent three years as senior advisor to Larry Ellison in building his philanthropic vision, and to Michael Milken, in building his Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington D.C. Richard continues to advise a series of philanthropists in S.E. Asia, Africa and the US on their communications and philanthropic strategies. He has been on the board and chair of a number of UK charities.

He was educated at Trinity Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar, and at Rice University Texas. He has four children and lives in Oxfordshire.

Alison Gowman

Board Member

Alison Gowman is a consultant with the international law firm, DLA Piper UK LLP, specialising in real estate.

Over a 30-year career, she has acted on numerous major commercial property transactions, specialising in landlord and tenant matters and waste management.

She is an elected Alderman of the City of London representing Dowgate Ward. She served in the office of Sheriff of the City of London in 2021/22.

She is a member of the Bridge House Estates Board and its funding committee that operates as City Bridge Trust. She has chaired and taken leadership roles at City Bridge Trust over 7 years and now leads on its sustainability agenda.

She is a Governor of the Museum of London and Museum of London Archaeology.

Alison has worked on the sustainability agenda for many years and was a founder NED of the Green Finance Institute, promoting green finance with a particular engagement in Latin America.

She chairs the Active City Network, a business network that encourages safe walking and cycling in the City to create healthy streets and promote wellbeing. She is also the Chair of London Road Safety Council.

Cath Dovey CBE

Co-founder

Cath is a co-founder of the Beacon Collaborative and is the lead coordinator for a number of the activities. Formerly a co-founder of Scorpio Partnership, the global wealth management strategy and research firm, she led the firm’s high-net-worth and strategy research capabilities for two decades. In the field of philanthropy, Cath headed Scorpio Partnership’s global research work with major donors, family givers and family foundations. Cath chairs Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls, and is a trustee of Philanthropy Impact.

Catherine Grum

Board Member

Catherine is head of Family Office Services at BDO. She advises families and family offices around family office establishment, family governance and philanthropy. She believes that when families understand their values and the purpose of their wealth, they can build on much stronger foundations and, by aligning their structures and activities with this, create sustainable long-term solutions.

She has worked with enterprising families for over 15 years, gaining a unique perspective from the combination of roles she has held. This has included heading a private office and sitting on the board of three international trust companies (Salamanca Group) and coordinating wealth structuring with investment management (Barclays Wealth). This all built on her training as a private client lawyer at Allen & Overy.

Recognized as a thought-leader in the family office industry, Catherine has previously been named as one of EPrivate Client’s 50 Most Influential and is one of Family Capital’s Top 100 Family Influencers 2020. She has written, spoken and been interviewed on topics ranging from next generation planning to impact and sustainable investing.

Catherine has an MA in Jurisprudence from Oxford University, is a Trust & Estates Practitioner and holds an Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising (STEP).

Leonie Taylor

Board Member

Leonie is a co-founder of Resource Justice, a UK group that organises young people with access to wealth and class privilege to redistribute their resources to social justice movements. She is part of the Facilitation Team at LEAP, a pan-European collective that funds activists and social entrepreneurs to create systemic change in society. She is also a co-founder of the Feminist Men Project, which curates workshops and events to engage men on feminism and gender equality. Her work background has been in academia and the charity sector, working on a variety of roles in the domestic violence sector and for women’s rights. She has a MSc in Gender Studies from the London School of Economics and a BA in Politics from Cambridge.