We are delighted to welcome four new members to the Cathedral Chapter, the governing body of Southwell Cathedral. These non-executive members were recruited following a wide recruitment initiative to which we attracted over 20 excellent candidates. The four people appointed bring a really useful variety of skills, depth of experience and clear love for our Minster. As you will see from their brief biographies below, their combine skills-set includes law, finance, property management and governance experience. We are very excited by these new appointments and you can view more information about our new members below.
Ann Carter-Gray MRICS
Since November, 2023 Ann has been an Independent Governor, member of Governing Council, for the University of Derby.
Until her early retirement in October 2024, Ann had worked for The Cabinet Office for 13 years; latterly as the Head of Places, encompassing: Head of Estates and Programme Director the People & Locations Programme; and previously in the Government Property Agency (GPA) where she worked as Programme Director (leading the Government Hubs and Whitehall Campus Programmes) and the Government Property Unit. Originally joining the civil service (Department for Trade and Industry) in 2000.
Ann’s early career saw 17 years in the private sector: at Great Universal Stores Plc; followed by the Boots Group Plc. Ann qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1990.
Ann runs a holiday let business with Nick, her husband, and keeps active, dog walking, gardening and cooking.
Professor Marion Oswald, MBE
Marion is a Professor of Law at Northumbria University, Newcastle. She is the chair of the West Midlands PCC and West Midlands Police Data Ethics Committee and a member of the Home Office Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group. She received an MBE in The Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours list 2022 for services to digital innovation.
David Walker
David is an experienced Finance Director keen to support the Minster as it goes through a period of change. He currently audits the local Church accounts (St. Margaret’s, Owthorpe) and was previously a member of the Parochial Church Council there and was treasurer until 2006, and continues to carry out the annual audit to support them.
David is currently a Finance Director at Designer Contracts, a £40m t/o SME, and sits on the board of Directors, taking responsibility for multiple areas across the business including Finance, Property, GDPR and governance, and special projects.
He also assists and audits the books of another local church (in Derbyshire) within the Dethick, Lea, and Holloway Parish. He is married with two daughters and is a keen tennis player and interestingly, is a Corporate Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers.
Group Captain Jonathan Wheeler OBE RAF
Jonathan obtained his BA Social Sciences degree at Leicester University, where he was a member of the Anglican Chaplaincy. After two years with Marks and Spencer PLC, he joined the Royal Air Force, where he enjoyed a rewarding career. He was privileged to command in every rank and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1996. He subsequently became an Independent School Bursar, for some eight years at Worksop College and then a series of locum roles across the East Midlands. More latterly, he has been a Pensions Trustee and the Senior Director of TPT Retirement Solutions, a major UK pension provider. He was a Social Housing Board Director in Oxfordshire for some ten years, where he was the Finance Portfolio Lead. He currently chairs a small military charity. He and his wife have lived in Bleasby since 2001. They have two grown-up children.
Southwell Cathedral, in line with all Church of England Cathedrals, is governed by a Chapter which consists of executive and non-executive members. The Dean and Residentiary Canons are the executive members. Non-executive members are appointed by Chapter in consultation with the Bishop and are unpaid; they serve for 3 years and may serve for one additional term 3 years. Two non-executive members are normally elected by the Minster congregation. Chapter is chaired by the Dean. The Bishop appoints one non-executive member as senior non-executive member; this person is vice chair of Chapter.