Rod joined Historic Royal Palaces in 2003, as Palaces Group Director for Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace, with Queen Charlotte’s Cottage. He is responsible for all visitor services and front of house operations, management and maintenance of palaces, grounds and estates, events and functions, commercial development, income generation, partnerships, security, and facilities management.
From 1996, he worked at English Heritage starting as Regional Operations Manager, supervising over 100 properties from Wash to the Welsh border, until promotion one year later to Regional Director, responsible for property management, all visitor services, marketing, education, development and conservation projects, maintenance, conservation advice, statutory casework and grants. During this time he was also a member of the Regional Cultural Consortium, advisor to the Regional Assembly, and established the first Regional Heritage forum, a report on the region’s historical environment, Viewpoints on the Historic Environment of the East Midlands.
Rod spent many years working in local government. In 1986, he was Principal Administration and Tourism Officer with Gillingham Borough Council, responsible for establishing the North Kent Tourism Association and the first motorway TIC on the M2. In 1989 at Wycombe District Council he was involved in establishing the first Customer Panels and won a Charter Mark for the Sports Centre. He led the team that won the national Local Government Management Award in 1995. He is a qualified in public administration and as a company secretary, also working through his career at Oxford, West Suffolk, and South Wight Borough Council on the Isle of Wight.
His hobbies include Buddhism, industrial archaeology, travel, railways and architectural history.
