Meet our Team
Richard Soffe - Head of the Rural Business School
Head of the Rural Business School, Director of Rural Business Research and formerly Director of Professional Development at the University of Plymouth.
Stephanie Holman - Admin Manager and PA
Steph is the PA for Richard Soffe, Head of Rural Business School and Director of Rural Business Research.
Natalie Berry - Training Leader
Natalie joined the Rural Business School in February 2009 and is now a Training Leader for the Healthy Livestock Project.
Jamie Blake - FBS Research Officer
After working and studying in Wales for six years I left University with a degree in Agriculture with Agricultural Economics.
Eileen Bull - Administrator
Eileen joined the Admin team for the Rural Business School in December 2010.
Alison Bunkum - Training Leader
Ali’s main duties involve assisting in the finances of the Rural Business School.
Janie Caldbeck - Resource Management Training Co-Ordinator
Janie Caldbeck has been recruited as Training Co-ordinator within the Rural Business School working as part of both the SWARM and Skills projects.
Eve Clist - Training Coordinator
Eve Clist joined the Rural Business School in 2010 working on the VTS Project. She continues to work as Training Co-ordinator based in Somerset on the current Skills Programme.
Mark Dingle
Mark is a beef and sheep farmer and has been employed as a training co ordinator since 2002.
Catherine Ede - Graduate Trainee Sheep Specialist
After studying the National Diploma and FdSc in Agriculture here at Duchy College, Cat is now employed by the Rural Business School working on the Healthy Livestock project as a Graduate Trainee Sheep Specialist.
Kelly Evans - Training Development Coordinator
Kelly started working with the RBS in Jan 2008 as a YFC Skills Training co-ordinator based in the YFC office at Wadebridge.
Mark Fogerty - FBS Research Officer
After leaving university with a degree in agricultural sciences I worked for ADAS as an agricultural advisor before joining the FBS team over 20 years ago.
Polly Gilbert - Training Leader
Polly works on the South West Vocational Skills Training Programme as Training Leader and works closely with the Training Coordinators to approve vocational training events and courses for the benefit of people employed within farming and forestry.
Jenny Goldsack - Training Coordinator
Jenny Goldsack BSc Hons in Agric and Agri bot is based in Dorset at Kingston Maurward College in the Agriculture department with Dr Nick Bell of the Royal Veterinary College.
Lorna Harris - Training Co-ordinator & Events and Marketing Co-ordinator
Based in the Stoke Climsland office, Lorna is a Training Co-ordinator for the SKILLS Programme covering parts of Devon.
Sue James - Training Co-ordinator
Sue has vast experience of the agricultural industry. Sue has worked for the college within the Vocational Training Scheme (VTS) and as a Liaison Officer for a nuber of years.
Morwenna Kinver - Training Coordinator
Morwenna joined the team in May 2011, and is based at the Cornwall Young Farmers Office at Wadebridge.
Linda Lawrance - Research Officer
Linda joined the team as a Research Officer on the Farm Business Survey, early in 2010.
Alex Lindsay MA (Management) MAPM - Programme Manager
Alex is a Higher Education Programme Manager for the Rural Business School, formerly Senior Business Consultant with Promar International.
Clare Maggs - Training Co-ordinator
Clare works as a training coordinator for the Rural Business School on the Healthy Livestock project, covering the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire area.
Peter McGregor - Reader in Applied Zoology
Peter is project manager for SME Skills in Applied Zoology and for Agri-environmental Management for Organic and Low Input Agriculture based at the Organic Study Centre at Rosewarne.
Olivia Philp - Training Co-ordinator
Olivia joined the Healthy Livestock project in December 2010 as a training coordinator based in Cornwall.
Kristen Pitman
Kristen joined the Rural Business School in December 2010 as a Training Co-ordinator for the South West Vocational Skills Training Programme and The Healthy Livestock Project.
Helen Polglase - Database Co-Ordinator
Helen is responsible for developing and designing the internal databases within the Rural Business School.
Chel Rapson - Finance Co-ordinator
Chel's main duties are looking after the finances of the Rural Business School.
Sophie Rapson - Animal Health and Welfare Communications Specialist
Sophie joined the Rural Business School in October 2011 as the communication specialist for the SWHLI Knowledge Exchange (KE) Project.
Veronica Retallack - Sn Training Co-ordinator
She joined the Rural Business School in 2007 working on the RESIS project (Rural Emotional Support and Information Service)
Jeanette Ring
As a part of the Rural Business School administration team my responsibilities including marketing and administrative support for the South West Layers & Game Birds Initiative; admin support for the RBS Skills project and the Organic Studies Centre.
Dr Stephen Roderick
Dr Stephen Roderick is project manager for the SWARM Hub and SWHLI Knowledge Exchange projects and is responsible for the RBS’s organic farming research programme.
Anouska Sedgwick - Training Co-ordinator
Anouska completed a Masters in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter in 2004 through which she developed a specific interest in farm animal welfare.
Faye Shepherd - Training coordinator & Technical Specialist
Faye joined us initially in January 2010 on the graduate trainee programme.
Wayne Simmons - Project/Contract Manager
Wayne joined Duchy College in December 2004 and in August 2006 was appointed as the Rural Business School Business Management Specialist at our Rosewarne site.
Kath Strang - Vocational Liaison Officer
Based in the East of the County Kath has been working for the college for many years as a Liaison Officer.
Morwenna Tregellas - Training Leader
Morwenna joined the Rural Business School in December 2010 as Training Leader for the Healthy Livestock project.
Lorraine Turnbull
Lorraine is Skills Coordinator with an interest in rural planning issues, sustainable and renewable practices and smallholding.
Susanne Vanstone - Administration Co-ordinator
Sue has been with Duchy College for 5 1/2 years and joined the Rural Business School in March 2006.
Paul Ward - Healthy Livestock Project Manager
BSc MSc CBiol MIBiol - Paul's current role within the Rural Business School is as Manager of Healthy Livestock, an innovative Rural development Programme for England (RDPE) funded initiative to improve the profitability of livestock farmers across the South West.
Rachel Watkins - Training Co-ordinator
Rachel is a Training Co-ordinator for the Rural Business School.
Jax Woolterton - Administrator
I joined the Rosewarne office of the Rural Business School in December 2010.
Part of the Cornwall College Group
