Ampleforth Abbey Trust appoints Chief Executive Officer

Paul Hackwood has been announced as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Ampleforth Abbey Trust.

The Benedictine monastic community has been at Ampleforth since 1802, over time developing a range of education and commercial pursuits that are now run in partnership with lay people. The campus includes a monastery, abbey church, a retreat centre, and a school governed by the St Laurence Education Trust, as well as significant land and property.

As Chief Executive of the Abbey Trust, Paul is responsible for the “business” of Ampleforth, overseeing and growing its commercial activity without compromising the needs and ambitions of monastic community. This is an incredibly important role for Ampleforth, not least because the Chief Executive is responsible for ensuring the future sustainability of the estate and unique monastic community.

Society was briefed to seek a capable and considerate leader, someone with excellent ambassadorial skills, sound financial acumen and ability to work closely with the Trust Board, senior members of Ampleforth College, the monastic community, with regulatory bodies, as well as the wider Ampleforth community. Our search was national in scale and focussed specifically on the not-for-profit and heritage sector, private estates, religious institutions, as well as the health and social care sector.

In February 2020, the Trust appointed Paul Hackwood, an experienced not-for-profit chief executive who most recently had been leading the Church Urban Fund. Importantly, Paul showed respect and empathy for the monastic way of life and fully embraced the importance of the Trust to its beneficiaries and the wider community.

Jenny Share, Director of Governance at Ampleforth said:

“Megan and Conor really took the time to understand our organisation and what we wanted and gave the panel confidence that they had thought carefully about this when bringing forward candidates for longlisting. Working with Megan is easy – she is approachable, flexible and delivers as she promises.  Communication was good throughout the process and we have got a great candidate. I have worked with many firms of search consultants but none have been as collaborative as Society – it feels like a real partnership.”