Biography
Dame Fiona Reynolds CBE DBE became Chair of the RAU’s Governing Council in January 2022 having served as Vice-Chair for the preceding year.
She was Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from 2012 to 2021. She joined Emmanuel after a long career in the voluntary sector, latterly as Director-General of the National Trust from 2001-2012. During her time as DG she made the Trust warmer and more welcoming, bringing the houses to life and raising the profile of the Trust’s work in the countryside.
Before joining the Trust, she was Director of the Women’s Unit in the Cabinet Office (1998 to 2000), Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (now Campaign to Protect Rural England) from 1987 to 1998, and Secretary to the Council for National Parks (now Campaign to Protect National Parks) from 1980 to 1987. She has an MA and MPhil in Geography and Land Economy from Cambridge University.
Fiona holds a number of other non-Executive roles. She is Chair of the National Audit Office, the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, the International National Trusts Organisation, the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden, and Cambridge’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
She was a Panel Member for the Glover Review of Protected Landscapes, Adviser to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and a member of the Advisory Panel for the Dasgupta Review of the Economics of Biodiversity.
In March 2026, she became the High Sherriff of Gloucestershire.
