Trustees

Peter Innes – Chair of the John Innes Foundation

After serving in the army, Peter worked for a time in Hong Kong; then in the financial services sector in Edinburgh.

He maintains an unbroken line of Innes family members (John Innes was his great-grandfather’s brother) who have been trustees of the Foundation.

Now retired, he has recently completed an MSc with distinction at Lincoln College, Oxford.


Professor Tina Barsby

Tina is a plant geneticist well-known for her scientific achievements and significant experience in the agricultural crop sector.

CEO of NIAB since 2008, her strong leadership skills and supportive staff have enable Tina to position NIAB to where it is today as an internationally recognised and innovative organisation.

Tina has a first degree in Agricultural Botany from the University of Wales at Bangor, and a PhD from the University of Nottingham.  She spent a postdoctoral period at Kansas State University, and worked at Allelix Inc, Ontario, Canada for several years before returning to the UK in 1989.

She joined Nickerson UK (now part of the Limagrain Group) where she remained until joining NIAB in 2006.

As well as being a Trustee of the John Innes Foundation, Tina is a Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology; a Trustee of the Lawes Agricultural Trust; a member of the Board of Agrimetrics; a member of the Agri-Food Technology Council; and an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies.


David Hill DL

David was born in Norwich in 1957 and grew up in Norfolk. He trained as a Solicitor and worked in the Banking department of a law firm in the City of London. In 1987, with two colleagues, he set up an investment Banking business, Triton Capital Limited, advising airlines, aircraft manufacturers and banks.

David, his wife and three children, returned to Norfolk in 1995 and he is now Executive Chairman of Jarrold & Sons Ltd, a family owned Retail, Property and Business Services Company in Norwich founded in 1770.

He is also a Director of Archant Ltd, a Governor of the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library and a Trustee of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association. He also serves as a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk.

David has held various other roles in Norfolk; he was Deputy Chair of the UEA Council, Chair of Norwich HEART and Chair of the Norwich Playhouse Theatre.


Dr  David Lawrence 

David Lawrence was Head of Research & Development at Syngenta from 2002 to 2009. Prior to that, David was Head of Research & Technology Projects (2000–2002) for Syngenta, after working as the Head for International R&D Projects for Zeneca Agrochemicals, having previously held several senior scientific roles. Having retired from this Syngenta position, David became a non-Exective Director of Syngenta from 2009 until its sale to ChemChina in 2015.

David was on the Advisory Committee to UKI2S, a public-sector venture fund, and until 2019 was the Chair of the UK Knowledge Transfer Network Ltd. Currently he is the Chair of Agrimetrics Ltd, a publicly funded agricultural data start-up, and is a non-Executive Director of Tropic Biosciences Ltd and MoA Technology Ltd, both venture funded biotechnology start-ups, as well as having advisory roles to several other start-up and established companies.

David graduated in Chemistry from Oxford University with an MA and DPhil in Chemical Pharmacology.


Keith Norman

Keith graduated in 1981 from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with an Honours degree in Agriculture, specialising in crop production. He then followed a career in practical farm management for 6 years, before changing to a more technically based role as Velcourt’s Technical Director. This role supported the team of 45 farm managers in crop production technology on the 54,000has of commercial crops.  He was also responsible for all aspects of the company’s  Research portfolio and Knowledge Transfer, with a focus on Agrochemicals, Seed, Crop Nutrition and Precision Farming methods.

Keith has also worked on various overseas technical projects for Velcourt in Spain, France, Germany, Zambia, Russia and the Ukraine.

Keith has managed and led many publicly funded, Collaborative research projects funded by Innovate UK, DEFRA, and AHDB

in 2018 Keith set up his own independent consultancy business after an industry career spanning 40 years.


Professor Dame Melanie Welham

Melanie served as Executive Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), between April 2018 – June 2023, having been interim Chief Executive for two years prior to this. At BBSRC she was responsible for £420M annual public investment in bioscience research, training and infrastructures at UK Universities and Institutes. Melanie also held pan-disciplinary responsibilities at UKRI, including delivery of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and more latterly as UKRI Executive Champion for People, Culture and Talent, overseeing, among other activities, development and publication of the organisation’s first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

Melanie is a graduate of Imperial College (Biochemistry). She completed her PhD at University College London and spent six years as a post-doctoral researcher at The University of British Columbia, Canada. On returning to the UK she established an independent research group at the University of Bath, focussed on molecular signalling and stem cell science, becoming the first female professor in her department.

Melanie was awarded a DBE for her services to bioscience in the 2023 King’s birthday Honours list. She is currently an independent Trustee of The University of Bristol, The Royal Society of Biology and The John Innes Foundation and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy