Emily Bohill
Chair
Emily Bohill is the Founder and Managing Partner at Bohill Partners, an executive search firm that she founded in 2008 with Alice Fontana. The business helps real asset investors build and retain best‑in‑class teams. Emily leads senior searches and complex advisory mandates and manages relationships with many of the firm’s key clients. Over the last 25 years, Emily has advised on many of the real assets market’s most prominent talent moves and she is a regular contributor to thought leadership – hosting industry roundtables, panel discussions, and podcasts.
Emily is a passionate believer in the power of social impact and community cohesion. In addition to chairing The Story of Christmas, having been closely involved with the charity since 2019, she also founded Run Kids Run; an initiative that gets children running to raise vital funds for state schools. In 2025 she established Read Kids Read, which places Little Free Libraries at school gates across London.
Emily lives in London with her husband, their three children, and the mostly good but occasionally very naughty Molly the dog.
Tony Chambers
Vice Chair
Tony has been involved with the property industry for over 40 years, qualifying as a quantity surveyor before taking a master’s degree at Reading, to be become a chartered surveyor. He is also a Fellow of the RICS.
His particular specialism is commercial and industrial development and investment. He has been a director of Countryside Properties, Which (the Consumer’s Association), Rialto Homes, Cathedral Holdings and is now the founder and chairman of the Aquila group of companies, a property and development company mainly operating in London, the home counties and south east of England.
Tony has four grown-up children and two grandchildren and, as a keen and active sportsman, when time allows, he likes fly fishing in the Seychelles, New Zealand and the UK’s chalk stream rivers, and salmon fishing in Scotland.
He has been a keen supporter of The Story of Christmas for many years, first as a guest and, more recently, as a Vice President. He is delighted to continue his role as a Trustee.
David Sleath OBE
Vice Chair
David Sleath is CEO of SEGRO plc, the UK’s largest publicly listed property company and a pan-European developer and owner of warehouses and industrial property. David was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2011 having previously been Finance Director since 2006. He is currently a board member of RS Group plc and the European Public Real Estate Association and is a former President of the British Property Federation.
David has been actively involved with The Story of Christmas for many years, more recently as a member of the Fundraising Committee and a Trustee since 2020. SEGRO is also a Foundation Partner with the charity’s aims being completely aligned with SEGRO’s ambition to make a positive impact in the communities in which it makes long term investments. He became vice chair in January 2026.
David lives in Warwick and London and is married with three grown-up children. He is a keen golfer, when time allows, and avidly follows the Formula 1 and the England rugby team.
Madeleine Cosgrave
Trustee
Madeleine is a Non-Executive Director and advisor. She is an experienced investor and board member. Her background is real estate fund management.
Madeleine is a Non-Executive Director of Shaftesbury Capital PLC, an independent member of CBRE IM’s EMEA Investment Committee and advisor to ICG Real Estate. Madeleine is former Head of Europe for GIC Real Estate (the Singapore Sovereign Wealth fund) where she spent over 20 years. Prior to GIC, Madeleine spent 10 years at JLL.
Madeleine has been involved with the Story of Christmas for many years, first attending the event in 2005. She studied Land Economy at Cambridge University.
Nick Howe
Trustee
Nick headed up the out-of-town retail team at DTZ before joining Edgerley Simpson Howe LLP in 1992, which specialises in out-of-town retail and the leisure market. He was Managing Partner for 15 years and is now a consultant to the practice.
He chairs the Old Boys’ Committee of Dulwich College and in his spare time officiates as Golf Referee at various Professional and Amateur Events.
Nick is married with three grown-up children and two grandsons, he is a regular golfer, swimmer and tennis player. He attends as many England rugby home internationals as he can at Twickenham.
He is a longterm attendee of The Story of Christmas, having attended every event since 1988, has been a Vice President since 2004 and a Trustee since 2018.
Andrew Hynard
Trustee
Andrew has been involved with The Story of Christmas for over 20 years, and is a Trustee for the second time, having previously been on the initial Board.
He is a Chartered Surveyor and studied at Oxford Brookes where he is President of its Real Estate Alumni Society (OBREMS). The majority of his professional career was at JLL, ultimately as UK Deputy Chairman. From 2016 to 2021 he was Chief Executive of The Howard de Walden Estate. Andrew fulfils senior roles with the property companies Clipstone, Howard Group, Orega and Taurus, as well as Love Ventures, which is a VC investor in tech start-ups. He is involved with several other charities including The Tim Henman Foundation.
Andrew is a former Chairman of both the Investment Property and the RICS Commercial Property Forums,
Married with 2 adult children, he lives on the Kent/East Sussex border and enjoys partaking in squash, cycling, golf and other sports. He is a keen follower of Formula 1 and the summer Olympics.
Gabi Stein
Trustee
Gabi is Head of Global Real Estate Distribution at Nuveen and is responsible for capital raising and investor relations for the firm’s real estate platform. She and her team are focused on developing and enhancing client and consultant relationships across the real estate sector, working closely alongside Nuveen’s broader sales team.
Prior to joining the firm in 2019, Gabi worked at Tishman Speyer, responsible for client relationships and capital raising activities across EMEA. Before joining Tishman Speyer, she was director of institutional business with Henderson Global Investors and worked at Jones Lang Wootton and LaSalle Investment Management.
Gabi graduated with an M.A. in Modern Languages from Oxford University. She has been involved with The Story of Christmas since joining the Fundraising Committee in 2021.
Lady Sutton (Gay)
Trustee
Gay started her career in the Clothing industry in South Africa. She then spent over 20 years in the Leisure & Hospitality industry, specialising in International Tourism.
She moved to the UK in 1999, worked in London and Somerset as a Business Consultant, returning briefly to the Leisure & Hospitality industry before retiring to spend more time with her ever expanding family.
Gay is a keen philanthropist, having been very involved in charitable work in South Africa and East Africa, and now supports Weldmar Hospice and The Story of Christmas. Having attended The Story of Christmas event since 2003, she then became a Vice President, and after several years has been appointed to the Board of Trustees.
Gay is an avid outdoors person. She spends time with her husband walking in Cumbria and along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, surfing in Cornwall, skiing in the Dolomites, enjoying her garden, and exploring new horizons abroad. Her family consists of 5 adult children – two sons and three step-daughters, and she has been blessed with two grandsons.
Robert Walker
Trustee
Robert joined PwC in 1998, becoming Partner in 2015 and he currently leads PwC’s UK Real Estate Practice. He is passionate about providing differentiated insights across the real estate sector and creating inclusive communities where everyone can work together and champion one another.
Robert has been involved with The Story of Christmas for a number of years, joined the Board in 2024 was and continues to be a passionate member of the Fundraising Committee.
At home, Robert divides his time between London and south Devon. He is married to Tina, an artist, and has a 7-year-old son, William, who keeps him very busy. Married to an artist, Robert loves all things Italian so any free time is spent in Italy, if not in Devon. He also loves the great outdoors, especially mountaineering, having climbed Mont Blanc four times, the Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua, in South America. He is also passionate about sport, playing for England U18 at football, winning five caps, but now loves rugby – so is more likely to be found at Twickenham than Wembley!
