RHS Elections

Held annually, the RHS Elections allow the elected governing body to shape the policies, direction, and initiatives of the RHS

What are the RHS Elections?

The RHS Council is the highest decision-making body, with overall responsibility for the organisation, providing strategic direction and monitoring the delivery of the RHS Strategy with support from its Boards and Committees. Each year at the RHS Annual General Meeting, at least three RHS Council members retire, with vacancies filled by election.

When recruiting new RHS Council members, the focus is on individuals with a keen interest in gardening and specific expertise in horticulture or skills/capabilities that are under-represented among current trustees. Annual assessments of RHS Council members’ skills help anticipate future gaps due to retirements and the organisation’s evolving needs.

Nomination process for election

The RHS encourages applications from candidates with senior expertise (expected) and prior board experience. Specific areas of interest are outlined when nominations open each year. Applications are welcomed from all eligible* RHS members. The RHS is committed to providing equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practices, and encourages applications from all sectors of the community. All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process.

Information: Nominations for 2025 are closed – nominee information can be found below. Nominations for 2026 open in September 2025.

RHS Annual Report
View of the RHS Annual Report and plans for the future

RHS President Keith Weed
RHS President Keith Weed leading the RHS Annual General Meeting

Each year, candidates seeking the support of RHS Council are invited to submit an informal expression of interest, including a CV and a supporting statement of no more than 500 words, to The Secretary by October in the year of election. The RHS Governance and People Committee considers all expressions of interest. Candidates wishing to proceed directly to the election without the support of RHS Council should complete and deliver a nomination paper, supported by the signatures of eight other RHS members, to the Secretary by the 1 March in the year of election.

Please note: *Eligible candidates must have been an RHS member of the RHS for three years at the date of their nomination. However, in exceptional circumstances, RHS Council may waive this requirement.

RHS Council nominees for 2025

The 2025 RHS Council nominees bring together experience, fresh thinking, and a shared commitment to the future of horticulture. Standing uncontested and recommended by Council for election to the three RHS Council positions are Helen Cox, James Hitchmough, and Dominic Rose, offering a mix of skills across sustainability, education, and community engagement. These individuals represent the next generation of leadership, committed to guiding the RHS with integrity, inclusivity, and a clear focus on impact.

RHS Election nominees
Left to right: Helen Cox, James Hitchmough and Dominic Rose

Learn more about the candidates standing for election

Keith Weed: Nominee for RHS President

Proposed by: Liz Nicholson 
Seconded by: Sue Beesley 
Supported by: David Rae, Tony Kirkham, Wesley Kerr, Claire Austin, Tazim Essani, Nicola Spence

Supporting statement

I have had a lifelong love for gardening and spend as much time as I can in my garden which includes a productive vegetable and fruit plot.

During my career, I have gained broad experience in leading businesses in the public and charitable sectors. While my main focus is the RHS, I am also on other boards and can transfer best practice to the RHS. I have experience in the key areas of developing and implementing strategy, supporting and guiding the CEO, fundraising and business delivery to fund charitable initiatives.

Last year was particularly challenging for the RHS due to the negative impact of the M25/A3 roadworks on visitors to RHS Wisley, Surrey, and the resulting loss of income. The roadworks are continuing into 2025 and the charity needs attentive leadership until this period of disruption is behind us.

I am an RHS Member and RHS Fellow Patron and live just 7 miles from RHS Wisley. I am a regular visitor to the gardens and shows, which are powerful examples of horticultural excellence. I am also interested in the outreach of the RHS to communities, its education programme and the positive impact gardening has on health and wellbeing. Equally, the charity’s role in horticultural science, sustainability and flora diversity continues to grow in importance in an increasingly challenged world.

I would be privileged to continue to serve as RHS President to build on its considerable heritage and bring my passion for gardening and business experience to help develop its future direction.

Matthew Lindsey-Clark: Nominee for RHS Treasurer

Proposed by: Tazim Essani
Seconded by: Andrew Sibbald
Supported by: Mary Hopkins, Edward Banks, Dominic Geer, Corrinda Wakefield-Wylde, Mark Hennessy, Swagata Ganguly

Supporting statement

I have been associated with the RHS for 30 years, having been a member since 1995, a Founder Fellow since 2011, on the Finance and Commercial Board since 2014, a member of RHS Council since 2016 and RHS Treasurer since 2019. Through my involvement over recent years, I have gained a thorough understanding of the organisation, its financial affairs and its many activities.

Professionally, I have been a corporate finance adviser for 40 years, with extensive experience of helping a wide range of businesses to navigate significant strategic and organisational change. I have worked with the same team since the mid-90s, helping to build the business we founded from a handful of partners into one of the largest independent advisory firms in Europe.

I am a keen gardener and nature lover. I am passionate about the charitable aims and vision of the RHS and believe that the organisation has never been more relevant. By helping people to connect with plants, gardens and the natural world, the RHS can play a vital role in improving both the environment and people’s wellbeing and quality of life. It would be a great privilege to serve a further term as Treasurer of the RHS. 

Helen Cox: Nominee for RHS Council

Proposed by: Anthony Hutchings
Seconded by: James Maple
Supported by: Andrew White, Caroline White, Alison Clarke, Norman Dickinson, Keith Hine, Sally Readings

Supporting statement

As an extremely keen horticulturist and RHS Member, I’ve spent many years attending shows, talks and gardens, and exploring the world of plants. The RHS plays a vital role in fostering a greener future and inspiring people to connect with nature, and I truly believe the organisation is more important now than ever.  
 
I am excited to bring my unique blend of skills to the RHS Council to help continue and further this work. 
 
With a professional background of over a decade in finance, sustainability and corporate reporting, alongside hands-on horticultural experience, I hope I am well-equipped to support the charity’s mission of engaging and inspiring more people to grow, while also helping to protect the future of the planet.

In my professional life, I currently lead a large team in sustainability reporting and assurance for a world-leading professional services firm, working with major global companies to drive genuinely impactful change. I’m also a chartered accountant with expertise in financial reporting, auditing and governance. 
 
My voluntary work for another horticultural society has allowed me to modernise processes and contribute to the society’s growth by reaching new audiences. As a garden writer and content creator, I inspire others to embrace sustainable gardening practices. My diverse experience, combined with my deep love for horticulture, enables me to offer a range of expertise to the Council.  
 
I am eager to support the RHS and its goals of education, engagement, and environmental leadership, helping the charity thrive for future generations. 

James Hitchmough: Nominee for RHS Council

Proposed by: Tom Stuart-Smith
Seconded by: Andrew Wilson
Supported by: Annie Guilfoyle, Harry Watkins, Hannah Fox, Maggie Haynes, Sarah Wain, Tom Freeth

Supporting statement

I have a life-long interest in plants and their use in landscapes both private and public. My career has involved working as a researcher and teacher in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at universities.

As a researcher, I am known for my work in creating ecologically based horticultural meadow-like vegetation and understanding the human psychological response. In the latter part of my career, I shifted focus to the response of woody plants to climate change, and how ‘fitness’ for a given site might be predicted.

In parallel with my academic work, I have extensive experience working as a planting designer on major landscape projects in the UK and around the world, and this practice has contributed to the questions I have tried to answer in my research.

I have written seven books and many academic and professional journal articles on plants and their use. Dissemination of my work and ideas has been achieved by frequent speaking engagements around the world at academic, professional and amateur gardening conferences and workshops.

This experience over almost 50 years has given me a passion for exploring how to provide higher quality information on plants that is readily accessible to home gardeners and professional plant users, on their plant capacity to grow well in a given site, to be able to compete with their neighbours in a given climatic environment, and deliver the ‘ecosystem’ and human services that we desire.

I hope this understanding will be a useful contribution to the evolution of the RHS.

Photo by Phoebe Powell

Dominic Rose: Nominee for RHS Council

Proposed by: Sarah Raven
Seconded by: Robert Sedgley
Supported by: Leanne Shirley, Alison Doherty, Noel Brock, Stephen Head, Janet Rapp, Hilary Armstrong

Supporting statement

Gardening is transformative – to adults, to children, to our local and global environment, to our health and to our communities. That is my firm belief, rooted in my hands-on experience as an active, if amateur gardener; my professional experience as Chair of Sarah Raven; and in my experience of setting up and leading local biodiversity projects and kids gardening clubs. Gardeners are not just hobbyists, or horticulturists, but are increasingly custodians of our environment and ecosystems reflecting the outsize impact gardening has.
 
No organisation is better aligned with those core beliefs and values, nor has wider reach and authority than the RHS, and the possibility to be able to join its governing council excites me greatly. This is the greatest gardening charity in the world, with a long and veritable history and a capability and ambition to ensure that gardening is recognised with the modern, inclusive, fun, fascinating and vital reputation that it deserves.

I hope that my experience – in commercial, operational and strategic leadership roles at digitally driven consumer brands and platforms; in non-executive roles at the forefront of digitally enabled horticulture; as a huge advocate for the role gardens can play in encouraging biodiversity (as founder of Britains Biggest Living Garden) and in engaging new audiences in gardening through kids gardening clubs – is highly relevant to the skills sought by the RHS, and can bring a unique perspective and skill set to the council. 

Additional information

Have a question?

For more information about RHS Elections, please see the Charter and bye-laws and associated regulations. For further queries, write to RHS, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE; email secretary@rhs.org.uk or telephone 020 3176 5800.
 

Email

secretary@rhs.org.uk

Explore more with the RHS

Get involved

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.