Geoffrey Matthews has spent four decades working at the intersection of strategy, leadership and creative ambition — helping organisations understand what they stand for and express it more clearly through what they do and how they communicate it.

He began his career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Co before serving as an Army officer — commanding a platoon with the Irish Guards and serving as a Company Operations Officer with the Black Watch in South Armagh. The combination of analytical rigour and practical leadership under pressure has shaped his approach since.

After reading Classics at Trinity College Cambridge — where he held an Open Scholarship and a Senior Scholarship — Geoffrey moved through a series of roles that defied easy categorisation: strategic consultancy, commercial management, creative direction and executive leadership, often in the same breath. At The National Gallery he led a complete restructuring of the trading operation, realigning it with the Gallery’s core purpose while substantially improving profitability. At The Prince’s Charities he was the founding chief executive of Sentebale, the charity established by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso to support orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho.

As Producer of the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in 2007 — watched by 500 million people worldwide and raising over £2m for charity — and of a succession of major public events, he developed a reputation for delivering extremely high profile, ambitious, values-driven projects in the most demanding circumstances. That reputation led to his appointment as Creative Director of the Foreign Office’s worldwide public diplomacy programme in the run-up to the London Olympics, and of the National Theatre’s Summer 2012 Festival.

In 2013 he became the first Chief Executive of the Chelsea Arts Club. Over a decade he led the Club’s most ambitious transformation in a century: a new leadership team, a complete restoration of the Clubhouse, a new 125-year lease — as well as navigating eight and a half months of Covid lockdown with every member of staff retained.

Throughout, the consistent thread has been a belief that organisations perform best when their values are genuinely lived — not stated on a website or buried in a strategy document, but expressed in every aspect of operations, every project and every relationship. That conviction is the foundation of Marsh Harrier’s work.

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Public service and pro bono – current

Alongside his professional work, Geoffrey has always maintained a substantial commitment to public and charitable life. He is currently serving in the following capacities…

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Public service and pro bono – previous