Greenham Common Trust Appoints New CEO

Greenham Common Trust’s Board of Directors has chosen a new Chief Executive to lead the charitable trust, its business park and other assets through its next exciting chapter.

Chris Boulton, aged 50, is a real estate professional with a career at executive and board level spanning 30 years. He lives with his wife Jennifer and his youngest child, Arthur in Highclere where he has served on the parish council and has become happily involved in village and community life for the last 15 years.

Chris takes over from Stuart Tagg who has led Greenham Common Trust from its conception in 1997, transforming a handful of former military buildings with tenants generating around £20,000 a year in charitable grants into one of the region’s primary business parks with around 150 businesses, plus other assets, generating £3.5m a year for the local community today.

Chris was chosen from 150 high calibre applicants who applied for the role for his impressive experience in commercial and residential property, having worked on major projects all around the world both as an advisor and a principal.

He has been CEO of Yoo, a branded residential and hotel design and development business since 2006 where he was responsible for the group’s business development, joint ventures and hiring licensed designers such as Dragon’s Den star Kelly Hoppen.

He has held a number of senior positions in real estate. He was CEO of UK based property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton and also Group Property Director at serviced office provider, Regus during its IPO. He was also a partner of CB Hillier Parker.

Chris is also the chairman of the Business Development Board of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. He says: “I would like to thank the Trust’s Board for giving me this exciting opportunity to continue to grow and develop what has become one of the region’s most important social investment and development charities.”

Chris is well aware of the challenges entrepreneurs face, having also set up his own flying school in Kidlington, a property business and a bike hire business.

“I have experienced first hand the hurdles that small business owners like many at Greenham Business Park face, having set up and managed several businesses myself. I am also very familiar with the different pressures national and global companies face. I am very happy to share these valuable experiences,” he adds. 
He describes himself as someone with a “social conscience” who enjoys participating in growing and developing communities.

Chris says: “I love getting involved in village life and have always taken a keen interest in the voluntary sector. I chaired the local planning committee of my parish council and have organised many charity events during my career. I’m also a volunteer cycling coach for young cyclists in at Palmer Park Velo in Reading and for Newbury Road Club.”

And it is through his incredible relationship with cycling where you begin to understand Chris’ drive and passion to achieve personal goals. Chris was a successful club rider in his teens and early twenties but like many, life and work got in the way of any aspirations to make cycling a career. But following a life changing experience – he had open heart surgery in 1998 – Chris was determined to rediscover the passion and fitness for the sport which he enjoyed so much in his youth which included tackling some of the sport’s toughest challenges.
"I have always been someone who sets myself goals and then works towards achieving them, whether in sport or in business, and will work hard to take the Trust and the Business Park forward into the next phase ”

Chris has written a book A 30-Year Cycle all about his incredible journey.
 
Greenham Common Trust Chairman Sir Peter Michael said: “The search to find a CEO capable of leading Greenham Common Trust, Greenham Business Park and its other assets through the next chapter of their exciting journey has not been an easy one. Stuart Tagg has been an integral force in growing Greenham Common Trust from the seed of an idea in 1997 into the pivotal role it plays today in West Berkshire’s business and voluntary sector communities and we thank him for his considerable contribution.

“We knew it was going to have to take an exceptional candidate to fill Stuart’s shoes but we believe we have found one in Chris Boulton.  There is no doubt Chris has the experience, over 30 years in real estate at executive and board level. But he also has the dynamism, courage and innovation that only an entrepreneur can bring to deliver new innovations that will drive this organisation forward, creating new jobs and continuing to grow the charitable income which has changed the lives of so many thousands of people in this area.”