Chairman

Mick Burrows

Mick has a long attachment and belief in programmes and projects that help individuals and organisations develop and fulfil their potential. His personal support has previously been to a wide range of organisations including The Princes Trust, Nottinghamshire Compact and the wider voluntary sector community. After retiring from being Chief Executive of the Nottinghamshire County Council in 2015 he joined the Board in April 2017. Mick believes the unique historical link between the County and the United States is more important today than ever before in the current climate of global turbulence.

Treasurer/Secretary

Russ Blenkinsop (1983 Scholar)

Russ has worked as Finance Director for over three decades in the private, public and third sector. Starting out as a sponsored graduate with Courtaulds plc he started work in Nottingham, remained in the Textile industry and was seconded to Liberty Fabrics Inc for six years in the beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia. He then worked for Bell Fruit Games in Lenton, Nottingham before working for two local Housing Associations (Acis Group based in Lincolnshire and Spirita based in Nottingham).
A keen sportsman, Russ was cofounder and chairman of Lowdham Colts Football Club, a thriving local junior football club. He is also a regular team player at Magdala Lawn Tennis Club and was until recently a part time sailor at Notts County Sailing Club. Russ lives in Lowdham with his wife Liz who he met through the scholarship in 1983. His children, Alex and Rhian, now both live in Boston. 

Sheridan Chilvers (2011 Scholar)

Sheridan Chilvers is currently the Big Bang Executive Officer at Learn By Design and Founder of Creative-Dimensions, a 3D printing and Scanning company.

Sheridan is a 2011 Scholar and travelled to the USA to research the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. Upon his return to Nottingham he was appointed a new post of Entrepreneur-In-Residence at New College Nottingham.

Ed is MD of Attenborough Dental a family owned lab formed 100 years ago, he is a board member of the ADDE (Association of Dental Dealers Europe), represents the dental sector for UK Trade and Investment, is on the Life Sciences Sector steering committee of Innovate UK, is past president of the BDTA, and has served on the GDC Education Committee. Ed holds a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Leeds and has over 20 years industry experience in major ICT projects. He has been responsible for the development and management of a variety of large projects in organisations throughout Europe including NATO, the European Space Agency and financial institutions. Ed pioneered CAD-CAM with the UKs first in-house scanning and manufacturing facility. He led a team which undertook R+D in the application of additive manufacturing techniques to dental technology. In 2006 Attenborough won the prestigious EMDA Medilink New Technology Award for the results of the revolutionary Daedalus Project. Ed has numerous articles published on Digital Dentistry and is a regular speaker at all the major UK dental conferences and exhibitions.

Merlita Bryan became a Trustee when she was the Lord Mayor of Nottingham in 2013. Since then she has continued in her role as Trustee while remaining a councillor for the Arboretum Ward. Merlita went to the Ellis Guilford school in Basford, now lives in Canning Circus. Merlita founded and is organising this year’s Black Achievers Awards at NTU .

Councillor John Ogle was born in the village of Headon near Retford, where he still lives with his wife Sally. They have three sons; Thomas, Henry and Alistair. He has been Nottinghamshire County Councillor for Tuxford since 2013, a District Councillor for East Markham and past Chairman of Bassetlaw Conservative Association.

Aside from his duties as a councillor, John is an arable farmer who grows wheat, barley, oilseed, and peas. He has a passion for the environment – winning the Wilkinson’s Wildlife Award in 2010, which demonstrates the highest standards achieved for environmental farming. He is a champion of sustainability, and his farm produces its own electricity from a mix of wind turbines and solar panels.

In his spare time John has a keen interest in many sports and nature.

The Chairman’s chosen charity is the NSPCC. The charity helps children who have been abused to rebuild their lives, they protect those at risk and find the best ways of preventing abuse from happening. All funds raised will go directly to helping children and young people in Nottinghamshire.

Gabriel is a director of Capatex Ltd a Nottingham based company specialising in industrial and technical textiles and medical products. Gabriel was educated at Nottingham High School followed by Nottingham University where he studied Industrial Economics.

Gabriel has spent much time in the USA both for business and leisure, and extended visits in his late teens and early 20s were formative. Whilst not having been a scholar, his experiences & fondness for the USA have given him a great affinity to the scholarship and its objective of personal development and building bridges between Nottingham and the US.

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Keith Taylor is our US based representative on the Board. He has lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the past 13 years and is the first Scholar to represent NRMTS on the ground in America. Keith was a divisional manager at Raleigh Industries and lived first, in the City (The Park) and then the County of Nottingham (Kinoulton). He spent 20 years at Board level in UK manufacturing industry, particularly global automotive components, followed by 20 years as a management consultant working primarily for Central Government Departments and Executive Agencies. For his National Service, he was commissioned into the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and served in Korea (1951) and then the Parachute Regiment (TA). He has numerous military connections and is currently Chairman of the British Army Benevolent Fund America (BABFA). His third book was published in 2009 (www.garnerbooks.com) and is the illustrated diary of his 1959 Scholarship trip, the first by car (17300 miles in 4 months!), including photographs of Mrs Roosevelt taken at Valkill Cottage, Hyde Park. Father of three adult children and grandfather of six, he met his partner, Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle, on his Scholarship in San Francisco in 1959. They will be glad to welcome and assist future Scholars to the United States.

Richard spent 18 years in communications and brand-related roles, working in management roles for Egg, Captial One, EY, and Citibank. He joined Experian in 2012 to lead the internal communications function in the UK & Ireland, with his team being awarded in-house team of the year at the 2014 Institute of Internal Communications (IOIC) awards. In 2016 Richard was given additional responsibility to lead the Corporate Responsibility agenda for the UK, and in 2018 he shed his internal communications role to combine his CR activities with leading Experian’s global Social Innovation programme.

Nottingham born and bred, Richard is an avid Notts County fan and, having previously sat on the Board of Governors at Young Enterprise East Midlands and Nottingham College, he is presently a Governor at the Nottingham Growth Board. He holds a BSc in Communication and Media Studies from Loughborough, an MBA from the University of Derby and is a qualified MBTI practitioner and level 2 football coach. Additionally he is a fellow of the IOIC.