Meet us

Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund Board of Trustees

The Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund is an independent charity managed by a board of trustees that support the governance and operations of the charity. Trustees are supported by the Global Community Engagement team at Lloyd’s.

Ed Butler CBE DSO, Chair

Ed is Chief Resilience Officer at Pool Re, the Government backed terrorism reinsurance scheme, as well a Senior Independent Advisor to the Board of EDF Energy Generation, the operating company for the UK’s nuclear industry.

He has extensive experience spanning nearly 40 years of international relations, counter terrorism, intelligence, security and risk management much of which was gained during 24 years on front line service with the British Army. He was privileged to command 22 SAS over 9/11 and was Commander of British Forces Afghanistan in 2006, before retiring as a Brigadier in 2008. He has an Honours degree in Politics and International Relations from Exeter University and an MA in Military Technology and Defence Studies from Cranfield University. Ed has been formally recognised by Her Majesty's Government on six occasions for his service to the nation.

William Roscoe

Will Roscoe undertook a Short Service Commission in the British Army between 1998 – 2003, having trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. During this time, he rose to the rank of Captain and served in the UK, France, Germany, Kuwait and Iraq. After his time in service, Will worked at Willis Ltd, holding the roles of Divisional Director, Executive Director and Director of Broking. Since 2019, he has been Head of Alternative Portfolio Underwriting at Beazley Group, having previously held a number of managerial roles at the same firm including Head of Broker Relations for UK & Europe, and Property underwriting manager based in Atlanta, GA.

Michelle Alston

Michelle Alston joined Forces in Mind Trust as their Chief Executive in October 2023, having previously worked as the Policy and Research Director at the Army Families Federation, where she engaged with policy makers within the chain of command and Government to raise issues faced by Army families.

She has two decades experience in analysis, policy, and communication in the public sector. She began her career working as a political press officer, followed by a role as a civil servant in the Ministry of Defence, working on parliamentary and policy issues. Michelle has also worked in the higher education sector, in roles encompassing policy, quality assurance and administration, at the University of Leeds and Kingston University.

She is a Cobseo Clore Social Fellow 2019; a member of the Cobseo Executive Committee; and a former trustee of SSAFA. Michelle understands first-hand the challenges and benefits of military life, as her husband is a currently serving Army officer.

Neil Maidment

Neil Maidment has worked in the Lloyd’s market for over 35 years. He was previously a Director and was Chief Underwriting Officer of Beazley plc and was an Active Underwriter for its Lloyd’s syndicates from 2008 to 2018. He was Chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association from 2016 to 2018 and served as a working member of the Council of Lloyd’s during the same period. He is a Non-Executive Director of Ecclesiastical Insurance Group plc.

Wendy Rothery

Air Commodore Wendy Rothery joined the Royal Air Force in 1991 in the Personnel (Support) Branch. Throughout her career she has commanded teams of up to 350 personnel and worked in operational support and policy appointments ranging from HR to Executive Support, Media and Communications, to Welfare policy. She has established a reputation for managing change and delivering results and completed operational deployments in Gioia del Colle, Al Udeid and Afghanistan. A History graduate of the University of York, she holds Masters degrees in Business Administration, Defence Studies, and Strategic Human Resource Management. She assumed her current appointment as Head of Strategic Communications at the Ministry of Defence in 2020, where she leads the development of Defence Communication Strategies and Plans, ensuring coherence with Government and MOD Policy and Plans. She has been a Trustee of the Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund since 2016.

Caroline Sandeman-Allen

Caroline Sandeman-Allen has been Head of Secretariat and Governance at Lloyd’s since 2016. After training and working as a commercial dispute resolution solicitor specialising in marine insurance first with Ince & Co LLP (now Ince Gordon Dabbs) and then with Curtis Davis Garrard LLP, Caroline joined Lloyd’s as in-house lawyer in where she worked for 9 years, specialising in regulatory enforcement cases and corporate law and governance. As a member of the Lloyd’s Senior Leadership Team, she works closely with the Chairman and the Executive Team and is responsible for the maintenance of the governance framework of the Society of Lloyd’s, as well as the provision of legal advice to the Executive and members of Lloyd’s governing bodies.

Duncan Welham

Duncan Welham served for 27 years in the Royal Air Force as a helicopter pilot and officer. He held the position of Station Commander of Royal Air Force Benson and worked alongside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the British Embassy in Washington DC. As well as this, he commanded 72 Squadron in Northern Ireland and worked in the Ministry of Defence. After retiring from the military in 2007, Duncan worked for a year at Network Rail as Customer Relationship Executive to Virgin Trains before moving to Aon Inpoint, where he became Managing Director in 2011. In 2016, he became Head of Insurer Relationship Management at JLT Specialty. Following Marsh’s acquisition of JLT in 2019 he assumed the role of Global Insurer Consulting Leader at Marsh.

Richard Williams

Richard Williams MC formally served in the British Army (Welsh Guards) for 14 years where he rose to the rank of Major an was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. After leaving the army, Richard ran his own IT Digitalisation consulting company, providing services to the Financial Services Sector and has worked in the public sector for the Cabinet Office and for Ofsted. He was also Chief Information Officer at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and held Programme Director roles at the Beazley Group and Willis Ltd, where he delivered a number of technology enabled change project. Richard currently is the Managing Director of IT at EBRD.

Dr Paul Hughes MBBS MBA FRCGP DRCOG DFFP

Dr Paul Hughes is qualified in Medicine from St Thomas’s Hospital, London in 1985. A qualified General Practitioner and Trainer he served as commissioned officer in the Royal Navy for 31 years leaving in the rank of Surgeon Commodore. He has worked as a MRCGP Examiner and as an Examination Development Adviser for the MRCGP International. He joined We Are With You (formerly Addaction), a leading UK charity providing Drugs and Alcohol services across the UK as the Executive Medical Director in 2017, and was responsible for clinical leadership, clinical governance and the development of clinical services. His current role is with the Operose Health as the National Medical Director. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, he obtained an MBA in Health Services Management, with Distinction.

Simon Maxwell

Simon Maxwell formally served as an officer in the Royal Marines. In 2011, whilst deployed as a Troop Commander to Helmand Province (Afghanistan), he was seriously injured after standing on an improvised explosive device. Simon used sport as a vehicle throughout his rehabilitation process; completing a full Ironman triathlon as well as a solo swim across the English Channel. In 2013 he received the ‘Millie’ award for ‘Overcoming Adversity’. Having since qualified as a solicitor, Simon is a member of HFW's global Complex Environments and Admiralty teams. He specialises in advising those working within hostile environments and in handling major marine casualties.