The Trustees

Emma Shuckburgh

Director for Wales

Emma Shuckburgh (nee Ashley) is Laura and Bernard’s daughter. Born in Wales, Emma contributed as a teenager to her mother’s company, designing a special collection of clothes for teenage girls. She has a BA in Graphic Design from Camberwell School of Art. After a career as a freelance illustrator and textile designer, she became a director of textile printing and fabric manufacturer Elanbach. In 2010 she founded the antique business Rosebud and Violet. She is married to Ben and they have two children, Sam and Rose. Emma has been a trustee since 1999.

Jeremy McIlroy

Chair of Finance Committee

Jeremy is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser. He spent his career with Ernst & Young, one of ‘The Big Four’ accountancy firms, and recently retired from the firm having completed 20 years as a partner.

Over recent years Jeremy has been working increasingly with charities and other similar organisations. His roles include Treasurer of a regulated Housing Society, and a member of Council of Royal Holloway, University of London.

His interests include most sports, especially golf, his garden, travel, and most importantly his three increasingly grown up children.

Anita George

Chair of Trustees

Anita is a lawyer who has worked within international business environments in London and Hong Kong across several sectors, most recently in private equity and financial services. She is a former director of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and a former trustee of Westside School and The Photographer’s Gallery in London. Anita is a native Welsh speaker and is delighted that The Ashley Family Foundation continues the family’s close links with Wales. In addition to her support of The Ashley Family Foundation, Anita is also a director of the Welsh television channel S4C and a member of its Audit and Risk Committee.

Alexis Ashley Korner

Chair of Cefndryd Committee

Following graduation from the University of Sussex, where he completed an undergraduate degree in English and Film, Alexis undertook apprenticeships at Human Rights Watch and the Rock and Roll Public Library. Travelling extensively afterwards, he has worked at an inner-city school and collaborated with affiliate organisations to support local refugee communities. He counts music and sport among other interests.

As a second generation trustee, Alexis wants to support and promote shared community values as well as arts and educational projects.

Julian Ashley

Director for England

After graduating from Bristol University, Julian has spent his career in the advertising industry working for a number of international agency networks and creating campaigns for clients such as Procter and Gamble, Kellogg’s, Unilever and the British government. He lives with his wife Kate and their two children in East Sussex and joined the Foundation as a trustee in 2020.

Mandy Williams-Davies

Trustee

Mandy has a strong background in design and community regeneration. She has taught textiles and fashion in a range of colleges, and worked as a self-employed fashion designer. For a number of years Mandy was a member of Gwynedd County Council and its Cabinet for Economy, Communities (including arts and tourism) and Procurement.  She is also an experienced Trustee and previous Chair of the ‘Storiel’ Art Gallery and Museum in Bangor, Gwynedd. Mandy is a fluent Welsh speaker and lives in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, where she has played an integral part in the local community’s post-industrial regeneration.

Meirion Rees

Trustee

Meirion is a chartered accountant who has worked in finance director roles since 2015 and is currently Chief Financial Officer of Phastar, a London-based data business which has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. His experience of the charity sector covers fundraising for various causes, being the founding treasurer for Now-U (an app that links individuals with causes they care about) and treasurer for his local branch of RNLI. He is a native Welsh speaker, and having grown up in a rural part of North Wales he has seen first-hand the impact that financial support can make in growing and developing arts and community involvement.