We The Curious CEO Phil Winfield to leave at the end of March

After six successful years Phil Winfield has decided to stand down from his position as Chief Executive of educational charity, We The Curious.

During Phil’s tenure as CEO, visitor numbers have grown by more than 35% and a wide range of popular new initiatives have become part of the regular programming schedule, such as: ‘Hello Weekends’, ‘After Hours’ evenings, ‘Planetarium Nights’ and ‘Planetarium Sounds’ events, all aimed at developing new audiences.

In 2015 Phil secured funding for the installation of the UK’s only 3D digital Planetarium which now welcomes over 122,000 visitors a year. Further funding success came last summer with the announcement that We The Curious had been successful in securing a £3million grant from the BEIS/Wellcome sponsored ‘Inspiring Science Fund’ which will partially fund a complete redesign of the ground floor exhibition over the next two years.

The Board have discussed the future structure and decided that, due to the strength of the existing team and the clarity of direction recently developed, two new strategic leadership positions will be created, Chief Creative Officer (CCO), and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The CCO position will be filled by Anna Starkey, currently Creative Director and the COO position will be filled by Donna Speed, currently Commercial and Operations Director.  Working alongside Phil, Anna and Donna have been a positive driving force behind the transition from At-Bristol to We The Curious and are the logical successors to lead the organisation into its next exciting phase as the Inspiring Science fund takes shape

Phil said “I am delighted that I will be leaving We The Curious in a strong position with a very clear direction and purpose that can be applied to all future projects and programmes. I am particularly proud of the fact that We The Curious is now much more open and collaborative, playing a key part in many City initiatives. Having worked closely with Anna and Donna over the past few years, I’m pleased to be passing the reins over to them for the next evolution of We The Curious; the foundations are now in place to ensure the ongoing success of the organisation in delivering an outstanding visitor experience aligned with its charitable objectives.”

Chris Sims, Chair for We The Curious, thanked Phil for his contribution on behalf of the Trustees. “Phil’s work in securing the Inspiring Science Fund has helped to give We The Curious the financial strength and stability to focus on creating a culture of curiosity. His work over the last six years has helped to build on relationships both within Bristol and further afield, and has enhanced our status as one of the leading visitor destinations in the UK. We thank Phil for his hard work, and wish him every success and fulfilment for the future.”

Phil will leave We The Curious on 23 March, and will use his knowledge of the sector to provide consultancy to organisations that would benefit from strategic support.

ENDS

Editor’s Notes:
For any further information, please contact Jen Forster – PR Manager, 0117 9157 152 or email jen.forster@wethecurious.org.uk

We The Curious was previously known as At-Bristol Science Centre; an educational charity with an aim to “make science accessible to all”, it opened in 2000, and welcomed over 5 million visitors in the past 17 years. At-Bristol relaunched as We The Curious in September 2017, with a new vision that is committed to creating a culture of curiosity.