Malcolm Ketley A.C.I.B. Chairman of KAB's Board of Trustees

Malcolm was appointed Chairman of the Board in August 2010. He has been a KAB Trustee since 2002 and was Treasurer from 2004 to 2010. Malcolm has also been Chairman of Bexley Victim Support, and Chairman of the Pochabradski Trust - a charity set-up to provide financial help to young people from the Chislehurst and Sidcup area, to enable them to take part in educational and cultural activities.

Q: How long have you been a KAB Trustee?
A: I have been treasurer for a couple of months short of 5 years. Prior to that I was a trustee for two years, and for several years before that I was a local authority representative for Bexley.

Q: Tell us a bit about your background.
A: I'm a retired manager of a major clearing bank, having taken early retirement after nearly 35 years service. I also served for over 21 years as a councillor for Bexley during which time I spent a year as Deputy Mayor and the following year as Mayor.

Q: How much of your time do you give?
A: No set amount of time, but I like to think I give as much as is needed to ensure the job is done properly.

Q: Should Trustees be paid for what they do?
A: Definitely ‘NO!'

"Advice to a new Trustee: be prepared to learn about the charity and do not expect to change the world overnight. Make full use of your background knowledge but also be prepared to listen to the views of your fellow trustees". Malcolm Ketley; KAB's Chairman

Q: How long have you been a KAB Trustee, and how did you get involved?
A: Since 2008. I heard about this opportunity through a charity called ‘Reach' which matches volunteers with volunteering opportunities in the community.

Q: Do you have any personal experience of sight impairment?
A: Only that my grandmother, who lived to be 96, suffered from age related macular degeneration in the last ten years of her life.

Q: Tell us a bit about your background, and what you think KAB should look for in new Trustees?
A: I am a retired government lawyer; I think a trustee board is always strengthened by having trustees from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Jim was appointed Treasurer to the Charity in August 2010. He has been a Trustee since 2007. Jim is also a Trustee & chair of the Audit Committee of ICAN a Charity for children & young adults with communication difficulties. He serves as a visitor on the committee of the RBS Pensioners Association visiting elderly Pensioners in the Kent area. He also co-edits The Quill a magazine for retired Coutts & Co pensioners.

Q: Tell us a bit about your background.
A: I am a retired Senior Executive of Coutts & Co having retired in 2002 after 36 years service. A Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers and a Freeman of the City Of London.

Q: How much time do you give to the Charity?
A: As with my fellow Trustees there is no fixed amount of time but I like to feel that I contribute freely of my time as and when my duties as Treasure and Trustee require.

Q: Do you have any personal experience of sight impairment?
A: Sadly my sister has lost the sight in one eye and is partially sighted in the other due to Diabetic problems.

"Having been a totally blind service user of KAB since birth, I thought being a Trustee would be a wonderful opportunity to put something back into KAB.

"Already, I have been privileged to be involved in the input in the appointment of our Chief Executive, and humbled to choose who would win the Betty Betts Award for the last two years.Being a Trustee doesn't involve just sitting there and saying nothing! It's important to speak up if I don't agree with something ... I believe in thinking about things and constructing well-reasoned arguments and suggestions.

"The meetings I attend are not paid and that's fine, but any expenses incurred in travelling to meetings are reimbursed.

"I would like to see more representation from those either with no sight, or those who through their work or social links have a good understanding of the issues affecting blind people. Ideally, I would like 40% of the board to consist of those with sight difficulties, either partially sighted or totally blind."

Following his retirement, Ivan became a KAB Trustee in 1992. He went on to serve for 10 years as Chair and Vice Chair.

His involvement with KAB however goes back to the late 1960s when he was working as Chief Welfare Officer for the London Borough of Bexley. Ivan subsequently worked for over 20 years as Director of Social Services for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, where he had a special interest in services for elderly and disabled people.

As a KAB Trustee, Ivan finds that playing an active role in the improvement of services for sight impaired people has been a rewarding experience. His particular fields of interest are general policy, finance, service delivery.

Greg has been a Trustee of KAB for 11 years. He was Chairman of the Board from 2005 to 2010.

He has a background in medicine, and worked as Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon to Maidstone and Medway Group of Hospitals between 1967 and 1996, so many of KAB's users are Greg's ex-patients.

Greg is also a former Chairman of the South East Thames Regional Specialist Committee in Ophthalmology.

Other serving Board members are John Daffarn, Tim Harris, Sheila Burley, Janet Rivers, Dennis Lewis, Lynne Martindale and Aaron Ross.