Richard Deverell will succeed professor Steve Hopper as director of Kew taking up his post in September.
Richard Ceverell, a natural sciences graduate from Cambridge university, is joining Kew after nearly 20 years at the BBC where he managed new initiatives such as BBC News where he ran the news and sport websites and BBC Children’s where he was responsible for CBBC and CBeebies.
He was also the Chief Operating Officer for BBC North and thus contributed to the delivery of one of the BBC’s most important new capital projects: the creation of Media City in Salford.
Commenting, Richard Deverell said “My years as a Trustee reinforced my deep love for Kew as an institution and my belief in the role it can and must play in understanding plants and explaining their importance. Kew has a wealth of scientific expertise, possesses a number of the largest and most important botanical collections in the world and has, through its gardens at Kew and Wakehurst Place and its website, the means to showcase and explain the importance of plants and their sustainable use to the world.
I know what an enormous knowledge base Kew represents and just how many clever, hardworking and dedicated people work there. It is an honour and humbling to follow in the footsteps of Steve Hopper and the other giants who have been directors before him. I am full of ideas and commitment and have as my simple ambition that Kew will sustain and, ideally, improve upon its reputation as the world’s premier centre of excellence for botanical knowledge and further develop the care of its significant collections and heritage assets. I look forward to working with Kew’s staff, its trustees, Defra, other scientific institutions in the UK and overseas, our local neighbours, our visitors and all Kew’s other stakeholders.”
Commenting Marcus Agius, Chairman of the Kew Trustees said “Changes at the top of an organisation such as this occur only infrequently, so the trustees, with professional advisers and supported by Defra, have been totally focussed on identifying the best individual to succeed Steve Hopper. We are confident that we have found the person we are looking for in Richard Deverell. He will be an outstanding new leader for Kew and we greatly look forward to working with him on developing his vision for Kew in the years to come.
After six years in the post, Steve Hopper is returning to Australia where he will take up a new role as professor of biodiversity at the university of Western Australia.”
Lord Taylor of Holbeach, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Defra, commented “I would like to congratulate Richard Deverell on his new role. Kew plays a vital part in promoting the importance of plants and providing expertise that’s used all over the world. I look forward to working with him in the future as Kew continues its good work.”
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