The charity making life better by water
Making life better by water
The executive team manage the everyday operation of the Trust.
They develop policy and strategy for approval by the trustees and are responsible for ensuring the continuing success of the waterways through the management of an expert and committed team of 1,600 employees and thousands of volunteers.
Campbell became chief executive of the Canal & River Trust in October 2025, bringing over 15 years of leadership across the charity and public sectors. He has previously led national organisations including Nacro, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Shelter, and held senior government roles including director general of the Office of the Third Sector and adviser to HM Treasury. Campbell is committed to preserving and enhancing the UK’s 2,000-mile network of navigable canals and rivers - seeing the waterways as “living monuments” that are also vital corridors for nature, heritage and wellbeing. He champions volunteering, local stewardship, and inclusive access to nature, ensuring these historic navigable waterways thrive for generations to come.
Caroline has spent more than 30 years helping organisations better understand and support their customers, with a strong track record of improving services and putting people at the centre of decision-making. Most recently, Caroline led customer strategy at Ageas UK, where she helped shape and improve the experience of customers across the business. She brings a wealth of experience, a passion for good service, and a clear focus on delivering positive outcomes for customers.
Karen joined the Canal & River Trust as people director in July 2021, with executive accountability for key areas such as human resources, organisational development, internal communications and colleague reward. Prior to joining the Trust Karen spent seven years as people director at the Co-operative Group across food, funeral care and legal services. She has also led on the people aspects of the Co-operative wide operating model programme.
Karen has extensive experience, having spent seventeen years at Sainsburys as part of the human resources team covering many roles, such as employee relations, industrial relations and organisational development. Karen is a non-executive director for the NHS Business Services Authority and is a trustee director for Reubens Retreat Charity based in Glossop, as well as being a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Laura joins from Transport for London, where over six years she held chief of staff and strategic planning roles. Her earlier career spans ethics, compliance and culture-change leadership across charities, education, energy, finance and government on three continents, including helping establish EHFCN, a cross-border not-for-profit tackling healthcare fraud in Europe. She is driven by connecting people and sectors to turn ambition into lasting, purposeful change. Laura’s role with the Trust is to support Campbell and the executive team drive delivery of new strategy (due in Spring 2027) alongside our broader transformation agenda.
Malcolm joined the Trust in March 2022 to oversee all asset management and engineering delivery. This includes the Trust's in-house construction teams, supply chain partners and programme management office. He is a chartered civil engineer, active in professional bodies such as CIWEM and the ICE.
Prior to joining the Trust, Malcolm spent 14 years at Severn Trent, most recently as Head of Water Quality and Environment, delivering environmental enhancements, as well as being accountable for all public health oversight and primary liaison with the EA, NRW and the DWI. Other roles included economic regulation, infrastructure delivery, asset management and cross-company transformation programmes. Malcolm started his career designing and installing small scale hydropower in Nepal before returning to the UK where the first half of his career was in consultancy, across multiple sectors and disciplines.
Simon joined Canal & River Trust in 2026 as chief assurance officer with responsibility for assurance, health & safety, safeguarding, governance, risk, and legal services. Prior to joining the Trust he spent 10 years as group general counsel, company secretary and director of safeguarding legal and assurance at the King’s Trust (previously the Prince’s Trust). Simon has been general counsel at WWF and deputy general counsel at Save the Children. He is a trustee of the Chelsea Physic Garden and served six years as trustee and deputy chair of YoungMinds. Simon started his legal career specialising in international finance law with a particular focus on infrastructure projects in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. He has an MA in international peace and security and the role of the UN Security Council.
Steve spent over twenty years in the private sector, most recently at GKN plc where he held several finance and general management positions with global responsibility. Prior to this, he was employed by KPMG as part of the UK audit and advisory team, where he qualified as a chartered accountant. Steve joined the Trust in 2019 and has responsibility for finance, procurement, lean and IT.
Stuart is responsible for the Trust's principal commercial income sources including the investment portfolio of property, joint ventures and diversified assets. Stuart also looks after the utilities, commercial water and direct managed moorings businesses, as well as our business boating relationships. A chartered surveyor, Stuart joined Canal & River Trust in 1990 after working in private sector property consultancy. He has worked extensively across the country in various commercial roles, before becoming a director in 2008.
Susie joined the Trust in June 2023, having held several roles in communications, strategy and government relations, including for the Crown Estate and the Atomic Weapons Establishment, part of the Ministry of Defence. Prior to that, she was a member of the Diplomatic Service and spent many years working overseas on behalf of the UK government, predominantly in central Europe and Asia. At the Trust, Susie looks after all aspects of communications and external relations. She has responsibility for shaping and delivering the communications and engagement strategy, working closely with colleagues to build and maintain the Trust's voice, and engaging with a broad range of external stakeholders.
Tim joins from the NSPCC, where he has been interim director of income generation since April 2025. Previously he was director of private sector partnerships and fundraising at the UN World Food Programme based in Rome. At WFP, he led the creation of a global digital individual giving programme to support humanitarian action around the world. Prior to that, Tim was director of fundraising at Oxfam GB, and before that spent five years in Geneva as international fundraising director at UNICEF.
Last Edited: 5 October 2026
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