Board Members

Michael has been a farmer all his life and is a renowned breeder of Limousin cattle and regularly judges the breed at livestock events.  Michael was appointed to the Group Board in 2005 and was elected Chairman in 2018.

Richard joined what became Deloittes, qualified as a Chartered Accountant before moving into Corporate Finance and involved in transactions from small management buyouts to multi-national corporate acquisitions.

He moved to Cumbria, was made Corporate Finance Partner in 2006 running his own teams and offices; along the way advising a multitude of businesses - working with Boards of Directors and business owners to develop strategies through to making life changing decisions.

Richard commenced his CEO position in July 2018, enjoying the many challenges this presents.

Dawn is one of the original Harrison family and became a member of the Board in 1998.  Her day job is lecturing within Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire in Preston.  Dawn is also the Chair of the H&H Employee’s Trust.

Will joined the H&H Group Board in October 2018 and is a highly respected farmer and businessman, farming 2,000 acres at Eyemouth, Scottish Borders.  He is the third generation of Hamilton’s to use the St Boswell’s Auction Mart, which he first attended as a young child; Will aims to sell most of his cattle through the mart still to supply local butchers.

Will is also a member/chair of a number of UK and Scottish farming societies and committees.

John joined the H&H Group Board in May 2019 with over 40 years’ experience in the Building Society industry, joining Cumberland Building Society in 1997 before being appointed Deputy Chief Executive in 2002.

John was delighted when asked to become a Group Board Member as H&H is well known to him, is extremely well respected and a successful business.

John is a former Governor of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith and is a volunteer driver for the Fellrunner Community Bus service.

Lynne grew up on a mixed livestock farm and is married to a dairy farmer and is currently working as a business growth consultant for food and drink businesses.

Starting out as a bank cashier, Lynne became a bank manager at just 22, to become one of the country’s youngest female bank managers.  She went on to set up and run for almost two decades, her own multi award-winning business – Country Puddings Ltd – setting up her business from her farmhouse kitchen.

Margaret hails from West Cumbria and with a previous background in accountancy joined H&H in 1995 as part of the finance team.

To enable her to fulfil the personnel role on behalf of H&H, Margaret undertook a post-graduate diploma in Human Resource Management and is a fully qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.  She is also the Group’s Company Secretary and a Trustee of the Employee's Trust.

Margaret has two grown up daughters and lives on a smallholding in Houghton with her husband and their black Labrador – Siddy.

Entrepreneur, farmer and businessman, Toby Mounsey-Heysham was born and bred in Cumbria.  He farms Castletown, near Rockcliffe, Carlisle, a mixed farm with store cattle, suckler cows, sheep and an arable enterprise. He has also created a pod building and wedding/event business, Castletown Woodland Weddings, in partnership with Kirkup Butchers of Longtown.

From a strong commercial business background, Toby has founded and run a variety of enterprises across the UK. Currently Managing Director of Pinnacle Power, which designs, builds, operates, and finances low carbon energy networks, he also jointly founded Solway Construction and was a non-executive director of a Cumbrian Fibre Broadband company, Grain Connect.

Toby was honoured to be invited to join the Board and is look forward to working with the Board team members to help drive the H&H Group to an even more successful future.

A physicist by training, Neil Hannah, from Penrith, was managing director with over 30 years’ experience in the management of public, private and foundation businesses, in both the manufacturing and service sectors.

Neil brings an in-depth understanding of business and corporate governance in particular and is keen to support and advise the Board in three main areas; legal compliance, strategy, and to bring an external expert eye to the decision-making process.

Neil is also Chairman of the Board of the Network Rail Certification Body and a Non-Executive Director of the British Board of Agrement (which certifies construction products) and is on the board of the Fellrunner Village Bus community bus service.

Neil was delighted to join the Board of H&H as he feels Cumbria faces a number of challenges and it will be exciting to contribute to a local company that influences so much that we do - from the food that we eat, the environment we live in and the places we stay.

Steve started work with H&H at Borderway in 1986, working in the yard. This ended with the onset of FMD in 2001, when he took over running the family farm Kinkry Hill, just south of the Scottish border. 

Steve has a family dairy unit with a pedigree British Blue herd, and also sits on the British Blue national council.

Craig has been involved in farming for most of his life and after completing his degree in Business and Economics at Durham University, he returned to Cumbria to join the family business. The farm is in the region of 400 acres, has a noted pedigree herd of Limousin cattle and is also in the business of egg production, being home to 64,000 free range hens.

Craig and his family have been involved with H&H Group for many years and he is looking forward to being involved with such a large and diverse business. Craig commented that with so many changes, especially within the agri-sectors, it is more important than ever to keep abreast of the latest developments.  The new green agenda and digital developments will provide huge challenges and opportunities, and he is aiming to do all he can to help the H&H Group of Companies, customers and shareholders strengthen the position of the company and maximise potential.