Part 3: Adviser’s contacts helped fill management vacuum
The insolvency expert David Buchler has emerged as a key influence at Dartington Hall Trust since he was taken on as a senior adviser last year.
Quiet power
Not the least of his contributions has been to play a big – if sometimes indirect – part in helping the trust recruit four top managers, two of whom were needed to fill a sudden vacuum caused by the departure of its previous chief executive and finance director.
The new managers at Dartington have been part of the changes at the charity as it has pushed through a sweeping recovery plan to ward off possible bankruptcy.
David Buchler is chairman and founder of Buchler Phillips, a leading London-based restructuring and insolvency firm.
He was called in to help on a rescue effort ordered by Lord David Triesman, a long-time business contact who had taken over in March 2023 as the trust’s chair, replacing Greg Parston, who had announced his departure several months earlier.
Sudden exodus
March last year also saw the resignations of Alan Boldon as Dartington chief executive and Ian Trisk-Grove as finance director. Boldon cited personal reasons for his leaving. Trisk-Grove provided no public explanation, with others linked to the trust also professing puzzlement as to why he left.
There is no suggestion that Boldon and Trisk-Grove’s respective exits were related to Triesman’s declaration soon after his arrival that the trust was in a disastrous financial position. Nonetheless the departure of two senior managers – within weeks of Dartington having parted with its experienced chair – was viewed by outsiders as unfortunate on the grounds that it robbed the organisation of operational know-how and history at a time when it was experiencing problems.
Mind the gap
Such was the hiatus at the top that Buchler’s extensive list of contacts – drawn up over a business career of some 40 years -undoubtedly came in useful when it came to filling in the gaps.
On top of the chief executive and finance director vacancies, another was for the post of creative director, following the departure around mid-2023 of the previous person in this role.
Mark Stone – an opera singer who is a contact of Buchler – was appointed to this position later in 2023. A big opera fan, Buchler has had a favourable view of Stone’s abilities – at least where singing is concerned – for some time. Five years ago he described the baritone on his personal opera website as “undoubtedly destined for a bigger stage”.
Explaining how Stone came to the attention of the trust, Robert Fedder, interim chief executive, said the initial introduction was down to Buchler and that Stone was an “excellent person”.
Fedder’s own job at the charity comes through his association with Buchler, whose insolvency firm lists Fedder on its website as an “affiliate director”. Fedder is an experienced manager who has worked in technology and telecommunications. His title at Buchler Phillips does not involve payment from the company, Fedder has explained, but means he is part of a “network” that businesses linked to the consultancy can hire for projects.
Another person prominent at the trust is chief marketing officer Stephen Benzikie, who until recently had the role of communications director at Buchler Phillips, although his position has now been changed to “communications adviser”.
Separately Benzikie is director of a public relations consultancy Hydra Strategy, where a co-founder is Philip Owen, recently appointed as Dartington’s interim chief financial officer.
There is nothing untoward about an adviser helping an organisation such as Dartington to fill gaps in its management. One outside business expert said: “Especially if the organisation is in difficulty, then it is often a good idea for a suitable adviser to introduce experienced and effective people who can help put the operation on a better footing.”
Despite this, the links between Buchler and the newly installed senior people at Dartington raise questions about the extent of the adviser’s influence. The connections also suggest it might be a good idea – assuming the trust’s recovery plans work out – for the charity to cast its net wider for senior people when it next has such posts to fill.