Structure & governance

Professor Tom Welton OBE CChem FRSC

President-elect 2019-2020

Tom Welton is Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London.

He works with ionic liquids in order to develop sustainable solvent technologies. The central academic aim of his research is to understand how different chemical environments influence reaction processes, and to use this understanding to provide more effective chemical processes by the matching of the reaction with its optimum solvent environment.

Tom is the author of over 100 papers, primarily on the structures and chemistry of ionic liquids and their solutes.

Dr Paul W Satchell CChem FRSC

Honorary Treasurer, retires 2021

Following a Ph.D. in Gas Kinetics with Howard Purnell, Paul joined BP at Sunbury in 1980. He continued to work in the chemical industry until 1996, latterly as a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand. Since then, Paul has been an equity analyst, specialising in pan-European chemicals, with advisory work in M&A and lending being recurrent themes throughout. Paul is frequently invited to present at global industry events, such as the World Aromatics Conference. He sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of ICIS Chemical Business and has served on the Investment Committee of the RSC for six years, latterly as Chair.

Professor Andrew Bell CChem FRSC

Elected Trustee, retires 2021

Following a degree in chemistry at Oxford, a PhD at Southampton and postdocs in Japan, France and Southampton, Andy started at the then CBDE in Chemical and Biological detection in 1994.  In 2005 Andy became the Chief Scientist for CBRN in the Home Office. After two years he returned as Chief Scientist in the Physical Sciences Department to Dstl.  In 2011 Andy took the role of Dstl CTO and in late 2015, Andy was appointed the Head of the Centre for Applied Science and Technology in the Home Office.  

Ms Julia Hatto BEM CSci CChem FRSC

Elected Trustee, retires 2021

Julia Hatto was born in Somerset and graduated from the University of Exeter. Following a long career in the pharmaceutical industry, she is now a consultant.

In addition to her research contribution, Julia has also been a passionate advocate for mentoring and training. She has inspired and supported the next generation of young scientists by establishing industry education partnerships for students from 8-18. She has nurtured the career development of apprentices and graduates to enable them to fulfil their potential. This resulted in a positive business impact on creativity and diversity in the talent pipeline. 

Julia was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2016 for service to the chemical sciences. 

Dr Elizabeth Rowsell FRSC

Elected Trustee, retires 2021

Dr Louise Armstrong-Denby CChem FRSC

Elected Trustee, retires 2023

Louise Armstrong-Denby has two decades of imaging and analysis experience and has successfully commercialized cellular and tissue imaging systems, software and services, building commercial teams and strategic partnerships across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Louise is Chief Commercial Officer of Visiopharm, and leads the global commercial organisation in cancer research and diagnostics. She has previously held a number of senior global sales and product management positions in PerkinElmer and Andor Technology.

Louise is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), a Chartered Chemist (CChem) and has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry. She served as Chair of the Chemist's Community Fund Grants Committee for four years and was an RSC Volunteer Visitor for Kent for more than ten years.

Dr Claire Gallery-Strong CSci CChem FRSC

Elected Trustee, retires 2023

Claire Gallery-Strong has developed her chemistry career working across a variety of sectors including pharm, environmental and nuclear. Today, she is responsible for an enterprise role at Sellafield, the most complex nuclear decommissioning site in the world. Graduating from NUI Galway, Ireland, she moved to the UK to develop in the field of environmental chemistry. Following an interest in analytical chemistry, she studied an MSc at Kings College London in Forensic Science specialising in chromatography. She moved into pharma and from there into the nuclear sector. Over a variety of roles directing engineering project and programmes, she has brought a scientific understanding to solve problems and deliver change.

Claire is an active chemist, mentoring for MRSC and CChem candidates. She is Senior Co-ordinator for the Sellafield RSC scheme which has over 60 candidates progressing for registrations. She recently graduated from Henley Business College with an MBA and has used this to establish portfolio management thinking in her business.

Professor Annie Powell CChem FRSC

Elected Trustee, retires 2023

Annie Powell is a Professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany. A major research focus is on "Coordination Clusters" and their relevance to chemistry, physics and biology. She obtained her PhD from the University of Manchester in 1985, spent 2.5 years as a postdoc in the group of Prof Heinrich Vahrenkamp at the University of Freiburg where she learned how to handle organometallic compounds, X-ray crystallography and the German academic system. After moving through the ranks to Professor at UEA in 1998, she opted for the adventure of becoming a pioneering female and foreign professor within the German system. Subsequently she has been active in many International and local projects, acted as advisor and panel member on assessment boards and committees and supervised and mentored students from all over the world.

Professor Geoffrey Maitland CChem CEng FRSC FIChemE FREng CBE

Appointed Member, Chair of Publishing Board, retires 2020

Geoff Maitland is Professor of Energy Engineering at Imperial College London. He studied chemistry at Oxford University, obtaining his DPhil in physical chemistry in 1972, and was a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at Imperial from 1974 to 1986 before moving to work in the oil and gas industry for Schlumberger. There, he became Research Director for Chemistry and Biology before returning to Imperial to take up his current position in 2005.

Geoff has had a long-standing association with RSC Publishing, being a founder member of the Soft Matter Editorial Board 2004–2008, and a member of Publishing Board and its Science and Publications subcommittee since 2010. He sat on Faraday Division Council 2011–2014. Amongst his awards, Geoff received the Rideal Lecture Award of the RSC Colloid and Interface Science Group in 2012. He was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers 2014–2015.

Jonathan Oxley CChem FRSC CMgr FCMI

Appointed Member, Chair of Member Communities Board, retires 2022

Jonathan Oxley graduated from Heriot Watt University with a degree in Chemistry, joining BP for a career of 24 years, latterly across the sustainable energy sector, including a secondment to the Energy Technologies Institute where he co-led a bioenergy project to underpin 2008 UK Climate Act.  Jonathan was most recently at the World Energy Council, where he led their member, government and institutional engagement. 

A Chartered Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Chartered Management Institute, Jonathan has a passion for sustainability in business and for engaging communities in a common endeavour.  He is a Tallow Chandler gold medal winner, and was previously a member of the NERC Innovation Advisory Board.

Dr Andy Rudge CSci CChem FRSC

Appointed Member, Chair of Professional Standards Board, retires 2022

Andy Rudge is the Chief Chemist at EDF Energy, responsible for governance and oversight of chemistry across the UK’s fleet of operating civil nuclear power plants. After work on electrochemical capacitors for electric vehicles at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Andy joined the UK electricity industry to specialise in power plant chemistry and corrosion, before moving into chemistry leadership roles for the Hinkley Point C project and the operating fleet. Andy is the Chemistry Discipline Chair for EDF Energy, overseeing EDF Energy’s accredited scheme with RSC for the development of chemistry professionals to MRSC and CChem. Andy has been a member of the RSC Membership and Qualifications Board and the Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Council, before joining the Professional Standards Board where he is now Chair.

Professor Marina Resmini FRSC

Appointed Member, Chair of Inclusion and Diversity Committee, retires 2022

Marina Resmini was born in Milan, Italy, where she grew up and studied Chemistry at the University of Milan. Following her PhD (1994) she moved first to the University of Amsterdam and then to London, following the award of a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship. She developed her academic career at Queen Mary University of London, where she is now Professor of Materials Chemistry and current Head of the Chemistry Department, part of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. Her research interests are focused in the area of functional nano materials with applications at the interface between physical and bio/medical sciences, particularly as enzyme-mimics, sensors and drug delivery systems.

She has a strong interest in inclusion and diversity, in particular supporting young female researchers at the very early stages of their careers; she is now Chair of the RSC Inclusion and Diversity Committee.