As part of HAT’s charitable governance, Trustees may serve up to a maximum of 9 years. However, should they wish to stay involved by providing specialist advice or service, our Memorandum of Association permits them to become honorary members.

We are delighted to confirm the following roles and are grateful to the individuals concerned for their continued service:

	Rupert Earle  (Charitable Counsel) Rupert has for over 25 years specialised in media, regulatory, advertising and consumer law, contentious and non-contentious. He acts for and against newspapers, publishers and broadcasters including in defamation, data privacy, copyright and freedom of information claims.  His experience includes applying for disclosure orders in relation to social media, resisting and seeking injunctions, conducting complaints under IPSO and Ofcom codes.  He advises across the full range of advertising and consumer law, and has for many years represented the Advertising Standards Authority and Committee of Advertising Practice.  He also acts for other organisations on regulatory matters, for example in relation to airports and alcohol, and in bringing and contesting proceedings for judicial review.
	Shirley Watson  (Honorary Treasurer) After leaving university in 1977, Shirley joined one of the Big 5 accountancy firms (Ernst & Young) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. After spending 7 years in audit in 1984 she was poached by one of her clients and became Finance Director of a Marketing Consultancy Company. That company was bought by BMP Plc in 1986, and Shirley moved into the Group Company, where she stayed, until the acquisition of BMP by Omnicom in 1989. She then spent 25 years at the Advertising Agency as Chief Financial Officer, currently known as adam&eveDDB and became the longest serving Omnicom Finance Director. She retired in August 2014 and after taking some time off to travel she has started a consultancy company in order to share her financial expertise and Omnicom were quick to secure her services to help her mentor some of their younger Finance Directors. She is Honorary Treasurer & Chair of Finance and Audit Committee, Media Trust and Community Channel and Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and served for 6 years on the IPA Finance Committee.
	Stephen Woodford  (Industry Advisor) Stephen has been in advertising since the early 80's, having started his career in marketing. He's worked in agencies large and small, independents and networks and was CEO of WCRS, Engine and DDB. He has been President of the IPA and also of NABS. He is still involved with agencies and other businesses in advisory roles, amongst which is a challenger bank, called Ffrees, which he co-founded in 2011. He's been a trustee of HAT since 2014.