We’re excited to welcome another team member to our growing CTP family. Richard Fowler, our new Project and Finance Administrator, will be looking after CTP’s admin and finance needs and projects, supporting both the team and our clients. In his welcome blog he outlines his pathway to this role and his interest in wellbeing as a guiding principle for people and planet.

I’m thrilled to join the Centre for Thriving Places team. I studied town and country planning at Manchester University and the University of Amsterdam way back in the early 1990s, specialising in sustainable transport planning because of my interest in people-centred urban environments. Unfortunately, the reality of being a planning graduate working in a central London local authority meant taking action against residents with unauthorised satellite dishes (remember them?), so it wasn’t long before I was looking for a different path.

After a spell as a Senior Investment Manager with the National Lottery Heritage Fund in north west England, I moved into freelance project consultancy in the arts and heritage sectors, where I was able to indulge my passion for supporting and empowering organisations and communities seeking to create positive change.

I’ve also been teaching yoga for over a decade, which I now do in north west Wales, where I moved during the pandemic. In my free time, and when I’m not teaching yoga, workshops and retreats, I’m practising my Welsh or enjoying the sea and mountains that drew me to this part of the world.

‘CTP’s vision resonates with my longstanding interest in liveable cities’

CTP’s focus on putting the interests and wellbeing of people, place and planet centre stage is what initially caught my attention when I saw this role. This vision really resonates with my longstanding interest in liveable cities, while supporting and empowering individuals to enhance their own wellbeing is what inspires me as a yoga teacher.

I’m excited to be part of an organisation that is contributing something positive towards redressing the imbalances, inequities and damage caused by our current economic system, and looking forward to playing my part in supporting CTP in continuing to deliver its vision.

Richard Fowler, Project and Finance Administrator

If you’d like practical support to help shift your organisation, community or region to a Wellbeing Economy approach, get in touch at hello@centreforthrivingplaces.org