Meet our executive team, who lead our work at The King’s Foundation.
Emily Cherrington LVO
Acting Chief Executive OfficerEmily has worked for The King’s Foundation since 2017. Prior to joining the charity Emily worked as Assistant Private Secretary to His Majesty The King when he was The Prince of Wales, based at Clarence House, where she was responsible for liaison with HM’s charitable patronages and his programme of engagements around the UK. Between 2006-2008 Emily worked as a Parliamentary Researcher for a Member of Parliament, based at Westminster. Emily is also a Trustee of HUMEN, a mental health charity in the UK.
Kieran Ferguson CFA
Chief Financial Officer February 2019 – presentPrior to his role as Chief Financial Officer at The King’s Foundation, Kieran worked at Virgin Money and spent eight years in management roles across risk, the CEO’s office, finance and treasury. Latterly, he held the role of Head of Credit Portfolio Management and was responsible for determining credit portfolio strategy for the bank’s liquid asset portfolio. Kieran was also appointed to the Virgin Stakeholder Pension Independent Governance Committee (IGC) and served on the Committee for four years overseeing fund performance and value for money for members.
Kieran started his career at Accenture where he worked with banking clients on business transformation and technology projects. Kieran holds a first-class honours degree in law and business (LLB Hons) from the University of Edinburgh. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2018 and was appointed to the board of CFA UK in 2020.
Gordon Neil
Executive Director – Estates & Operations 2015 – presentGordon joined the King’s Foundation in 2015, having held senior management positions in contracts and estate management roles in both the public and private sector. Since then, with the organisation’s rapid growth, his role and remit has expanded and he now holds strategic responsibility for all aspects of The Foundation’s Estates, Operations and Commercial activities. Gordon is also currently serving as a Non-Executive Director on the Board at Ayrshire College.
Dr Simon Sadinsky
Executive Director – Education October 2012 – presentSimon oversees The King’s Foundation’s education, health and other charitable activities. In addition to his role at The King’s Foundation, he serves on the Governing Board of the Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, sits on the Advisory Board of the Harmony Institute, is a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales, is a Research Fellow at the University of Grenoble, and sits on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Craft. Prior to joining the King’s Foundation, Simon worked within the education and community development sector in the UK, US and internationally. He holds an MSc in Population and Development from the London School of Economics, an MA Urban Policy from the University of Illinois-Chicago, a BA Political Science from Colorado College and has recently completed a PhD in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow.
Ben Bolgar MVO RIBA RIAS
Executive Director – Projects May 2002 – presentBen has led over 50 collaborative planning and design frameworks that cover city expansions, new towns, brownfield remediation, town centre regeneration, heritage, ecological and healthcare projects. He has also contributed to many Patronage projects including the Armed Forces Memoria, St. Martin in the Fields, the Royal College of Music, Tintagel Bridge and the National Gallery. Ben is an honorary fellow at the University College of Estate Management, a visiting fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford and a research fellow at Grenoble University. Outside of his role at The King’s Foundation, Ben is Design Director at the development company Stockbridge Land, promoting large mixed-use sites in Cambridge and London.
Amanda Lightstone
Executive Director ‑ Development February 2026 – presentAmanda joined The King’s Foundation from the University of Cambridge where she led the philanthropic fundraising team for the School of Arts and Humanities, seeing considerable growth in both financial support and donor engagement. She brings over 25 years of experience from her time working across globally recognised organisations in the arts and heritage sector, television, professional sport and the US government, as well as having been a trustee for a UK charity.