Council members

Council is the governing body of The Zoological Society of London.

Together, our Charity Trustees form Council, the Society's governing body. Council has thirteen members and normally meets formally five times a year.

Council members serve a four-year term of office and are then replaced by elected successors.

Council is collectively responsible for ZSL’s governance and provides leadership and oversight of the strategic direction of ZSL, in line with our charitable purposes, as well as supporting the Director General and Executive Committee’s management and administration of ZSL.

How are council members chosen?

Ten members of Council are elected from and by the Fellows of the Society. Every year, the Fellows are informed of the number of vacancies on Council, the skills and experience that would best support ZSL, and are invited to stand for election. Newly elected Trustees are formally appointed at the Annual General Meeting in November.

Three members of Council are directly selected by Council based on their skills and experience in a process managed by the Nominations Committee.

Our Current Council Members

President: Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS

Jim Smith is a developmental biologist who served as Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) National Institute for Medical Research, where he helped establish the Francis Crick Institute. Most recently he was Director of Research Programmes at Wellcome. Jim was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1993 and of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998, and was knighted in 2017.

• Secretary: Position currently vacant due to Professor Sir Jim Smith being appointed as President.

Replacement being considered by Council in accordance with the rules in our Byelaws.

More about ZSL​

Treasurer: Richard Sykes

Richard, a chartered accountant and a former senior partner at PwC, was appointed as Treasurer in January 2020 and brings his accounting, risk, governance and wider business and charity expertise to his role as Chair of the Audit Finance and Risk Committee.

Dr May Chiao

May has been an editor within the Nature Portfolio for more than 20 years. She launched Nature Astronomy as Chief Editor in 2017, and moved in 2024 to Nature Reviews Physics to work part-time and pursue other interests. Her academic training was in low temperature physics at McGill University, followed by postdoctoral work at the University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich. The desire to branch out and do more outreach and communication led her to swap academia for publishing, and her growing concern for conservation brought her to ZSL.

Alex Large

Alex finished a 25-year career in investment banking at JPMorgan in 2018, where he held a variety of risk management, capital-raising, and corporate finance roles in the UK and Asia Pacific. He now runs his own business working with fast-growing companies.

Jonathan Cracknell

Jonathan became a Fellow in 2008 after completing a RCVS Residency in Zoo and Wildlife Medicine at ZSL. Jonathan is a zoo and wildlife veterinarian, has been the zoological director at a number of zoos and Safari parks, and is a zoo inspector with over thirty years of experience working with captive collections, welfare programmes and working in the field. As a member of Defra’s Zoos Expert Committee, Jonathan was closely involved with recent legislative changes including the Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain and the Irish Standards of Modern Zoo Practice.

Loraine Woodhouse

Prior to becoming a Trustee in September 2023, Loraine Woodhouse was a non-voting member of ZSL’s Audit, Finance and Risk Committee (AFRC) since October 2017. Loraine’s background is in finance with previous executive roles primarily in the retail sector, including as Finance Director of Waitrose and Chief Financial Officer of Halfords. Loraine has extensive experience working at Corporate Board level, covering all aspects of corporate governance including reporting, regulatory compliance, policy setting and strategic risk management.
 

Shruti Ajitsaria

Shruti is a partner at law firm Allen & Overy where she created and launched an initiative to build digital skills. She brings this spirit of innovation and adoption of technology in addition to her governance and fundraising experience from serving as a School Governor and sitting on a Fundraising Development Group for a Hospice, in addition to completing the FT Non-Executive Director Diploma.

David Jones

David had a Board level career at the John Lewis Partnership where he held senior roles in Retail, Commercial and Supply Chain. He brings to ZSL experience in non-executive roles, spanning retail, sport, local government, community and voluntary, charity, regulatory and trade bodies.David is the lead ZSL Trustee for diversity, inclusion and belonging.

Dr Peter Higgins

Peter has over 30 years of experience as a veterinary surgeon, including zoological advisory work, coupled with a Fellowship of the Institute of Company Directors, a passion for wildlife and conservation, and experience and achievements in fundraising strategy for charities, as well as marketing and media skills. Peter was appointed ZSL’s designated Safeguarding Trustee in September 2021 and is the Chair of ZSL's Animal Welfare and Zoo Ethics Committee.

Paul Wilson

Paul has had a lifelong interest in Zoology and conservation and has been a Fellow of ZSL for almost 30 years. Now retired, Paul was Managing Director of a large UK construction company, delivering major projects across the UK, giving him broad experience in strategic and commercial management.Paul is the lead ZSL Trustee on construction-related capital projects and is also chair of ZSL’s Library Advisory Group.

Athena Markides

Athena is a commercial barrister specialising in insurance, construction and property damage. She was an elected member of the General Council of the Bar of England and Wales between 2015 and 2021 and was elected Chair of the Young Bar in 2019, negotiating the first pay rise for publicly-funded prosecutors in 18 years. She is passionate about wildlife, conservation and science, and fostering greater public engagement with ZSL's work on these fronts. 

Richard Kimblin

Richard started out in environmental sciences: PhD, Royal Society post-doc, environmental assessment. He was then called to the bar in 1998, practicing in planning/environmental law. Richard was a Trustee of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association for ten years and its Chair for two. Richard was appointed Queens Counsel 2016 and advises in and appears in respect of development and environmental issues for government, developers, and planning authorities.