The Board

The teams at Eden report to the Board, who report to the Trustees, who ensure we meet our charitable aims. Eden Project Limited is managed by a Board of Executive and Non-Executive Directors who remain ultimately responsible to the Eden Trust, a UK Registered Charity (number 1093070). On the executive side, Tim Smit is the Chief Executive and heads up the board. Gaynor Coley is Managing Director, Tony Kendle is Foundation Director, Peter Cox is Finance Director and George Elworthy is Operations Director. Ken Hill is the Chairman of the Board, and the non-executive directors are Richard Eyre, Peter Hardaker, Peter Newey, Julie Hill, Dr. Alan Stanhope and Cullum McAlpine.

Tim Smit
Tim was born in Holland on 25 September 1954, and was educated in Britain at Vinehall and Cranbrook Schools. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University and subsequently worked as an archaeologist for two years in the Northeast of England. Following this Tim worked for ten years in the music industry as composer/producer in both rock music and opera, during which his ventures received 7 platinum and gold discs. In 1987 Tim moved to Cornwall and oversaw the restoration of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, which is the most visited private garden in the UK with 400,000 visitors a year. Tim remains a Director of the gardens to the present day. Tim is Chief Executive of the Eden Project. His awards include an Honorary CBE in January 2002, and he has written books about Heligan and Eden. Tim lives in Fowey, Cornwall. He is a regular speaker at conferences, dinners and other events. In his free time he enjoys reading, film, music and art.

Gaynor Coley
Gaynor joined the Eden Project as Finance Director in 1997, having been Director of Corporate Finance at the University of Plymouth. She describes the move as like 'stepping from an oil tanker on to a small, fast-moving speedboat with little petrol'. Her first job at the Project was to make it financially and commercially secure and she led the development and delivery of the £86m public and private sector funding package that allowed the Project to be delivered on time and on budget. This provided a template that has been used by many other projects throughout the UK. Her Finance Team was recognised as the Accountancy Age team of the year in 2001.
In May 2001 she became the Eden Project Managing Director and steered the team through their first full season and a record-breaking 1.8m visitors. She then oversaw the process that has brought the current phase of the project to fruition. Gaynor grew up in Wales, graduated in Economics from University College London in 1979, and has a postgraduate certificate in Education from London’s Institute of Education. She trained in the City of London with Touche Ross, moving to Cornwall in 1987 with KPMG. She moved into the food industry with her first Financial Directorship in 1990. Her role model in life is Mary Poppins: 'Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to snap your fingers and have all the chores done.'

Tony Kendle
Tony was part of the Development Team from 1996 but joined Eden full time in September 2000 and was appointed Foundation Director in October 2001. As Foundation Director his responsibilities include strategic development of the meaning of the project, overseeing the education programme (schools and public), science outreach and horticulture. Prior to joining Eden he was a staff member at the University of Reading School of Plant Sciences. He has worked as a researcher and consultant both in the UK and overseas specialising in nature conservation, horticulture and restoration of degraded lands.

Peter Cox
Peter Cox joined the Eden Project in June 2002 and was appointed to the Board as Finance Director and Company Secretary in November 2002. As part of his role, Peter also has responsibility for fundraising and IT. Prior to joining Eden he was a partner at Ernst & Young in London where he specialised in corporate finance and restructuring.

George Elworthy
George Elworthy joined Eden in July 2000 as a Duty Manager. He was promoted to Operations Manager in Sept 2000. In conjunction with others he set up the full operational teams and oversaw the full opening of the site in March 2001. In November 2002 he became Project Manager for Phase 4 (the improvement, expansion and creation of facilities including the Core) and was promoted to Assistant Project Director a year later. In March 2005 he was asked to head up the operations team and was appointed Operations Director in February 2007. Before joining Eden George had worked for a number of years at a senior level in the hospitality industry in London and Cornwall including running his own hotel. A lifelong passion has been traveling, extensively round the world, meeting and meeting and learning from other cultures.