The Archbishop's staff team

David Porter was appointed Chief of Staff and Strategy in 2016, having joined the senior Lambeth team as Director for Reconciliation in 2013. Before that he led Coventry Cathedral’s reconciliation ministry. David comes with experience in several Christian organisations at senior staff, CEO and board level and long experience in public affairs. He worked extensively on peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland, and was a member of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council and the Northern Ireland Civic Form.

Key responsibilities:

• Advising the Archbishop on developing policy and defining his strategic priorities; convening and co-ordinating the Lambeth Palace senior team.
• Responsible for the Archbishop’s engagement in public affairs - including relationships with Whitehall and the Royal Households - working closely with the Social and Public Affairs Adviser, the Mission and Public Affairs Division, and special representatives.
• Overseeing staff management at Lambeth Palace, and ensuring it is a supportive and hospitable environment; maintaining internal relationships with the NCI’s chief officers and the Church Commissioners. 

The Rt Revd Tim Thornton is the Bishop at Lambeth. Before arriving at Lambeth in 2017, he was Bishop of Truro, having previously been Bishop of Sherborne. A Yorkshireman by birth, Bishop Tim has been ordained for over 35 years. He has worked as a trustee of numerous organisations, and chaired conversations between Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Britain.  

Key responsibilities

• Promoting strategic development in the College and House of Bishops.
• Advising the Archbishop on key areas from safeguarding to church renewal; responsible for the preparation of the Lambeth Conference 2020.
• Overseeing ministry and pastoral care of chaplains as Bishop to Her Majesty’s Forces and Bishop for the Falkland Islands.

Ailsa Anderson-Cole LVO is the Archbishop’s Director of Communications. Before joining Lambeth in 2013, Ailsa was Communications and Press Secretary to HM The Queen, having previously been Deputy Press Secretary and Head of News at Buckingham Palace. After starting her career on regional and national newspapers, Ailsa was press secretary to two ministers of state and a cabinet minister.

Key responsibilities

• Developing strategic-level communications to support the Archbishop’s ministry.
• Advising the Archbishop on the media and acting as his primary spokesperson.
• Overseeing the Lambeth Palace press office; convening the communications heads at Lambeth Palace, Church House and Bishopthorpe.

The Revd Canon Dr Flora Winfield - Advisor for Reconciliation

The Revd Canon Dr Flora Winfield was appointed to this role in September 2019. Since 2017, Flora has been the Archbishop’s Special Representative to the Commonwealth.  Prior to that, she was the Anglican Communion Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Previously, she has served as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for Anglican Communion Relations, as a Parish Priest, as Assistant Secretary General of Religions for Peace International and as the national ecumenical officer for the Church of England. Flora was ordained to the diaconate in 1989, and to the priesthood in 1994.

Key responsibilities:

Overseeing the reconciliation initiatives that Archbishop Justin has established since taking office in 2013. These include:

• The Difference course, which aims to equip Christians to become reconcilers in their communities, with the call to reconciliation at the heart of their discipleship
• Women on the Front Line focusses on the specific contribution of women as peacebuilders in places of conflict. Offering retreats and practical training, it enables women who are leaders in their churches and communities to find solidarity in sharing their experiences of conflict, helping them access the skills they need to support their communities in rebuilding peace.
• The Peacebuilding Team works with churches in the most testing places of conflict around the world.

The Revd Canon Chris Russell is the Archbishop’s advisor for evangelism and witness. Chris works part time on the Archbishop’s staff and is also vicar of St Laurence in Reading, which has a particular mission among young people.

Key responsibilities

• Advising the Archbishop on evangelism and witness and ensuring it remains central to his ministry.
• Overseeing the evangelism and witness staff and projects, including Thy Kingdom Come.

Bishop Anthony Poggo is the Archbishop’s Adviser on Anglican Communion Affairs. Previously he spent nine years as diocesan Bishop of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan, serving as both teacher and pastor. He worked for nine years with Scripture Union in Sudan and Uganda, and obtained his Masters in Theology in 1994, before becoming Executive Director of Christian NGO ‘Across’. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate for his role in mobilising the church in service of the community.

Key responsibilities:

• Provide advice to the Archbishop on his relationship towards the provinces of the Anglican Communion.
• Develop and strengthen relationships throughout the Communion and support the Church of England’s engagement with the Communion.
• Manage and provide leadership to the Lambeth Anglican Communion team; develop closer links between Lambeth Palace and the Anglican Communion Office.

Richard was appointed to post in September 2018 after working for 15 years in inner city ministry in the Diocese of Birmingham, initially as a CMS mission partner and then as curate and parish priest in multifaith contexts. He is the author of Distinctly Welcoming: Christian Presence in a Multifaith Society (SU, 2010) and Encountering Islam: Christian-Muslim Relations in the Public Square (SCM, 2017).

Richard holds a doctorate in Christian-Muslim Relations from Heythrop College, University of London and was previously a reinsurance analyst for the French insurance group AXA before becoming a CMS mission partner in North Africa and then Birmingham.

Key responsibilities:

• Advising the Archbishop on his engagement with other religious communities, both nationally and internationally.
• Resourcing the Archbishop and the Church of England on Inter Religious relations.
• Developing national strategy for mission and ministry in multi-religious contexts.

The Revd Dr Will Adam is the Archbishop’s Ecumenical Adviser and also works in the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England at Church House, Westminster. Will was ordained in 1994 and served as a parish priest, most recently in London, before joining the senior staff at Lambeth Palace in early 2017. Throughout his ministry he has been involved in promoting reconciliation and unity between churches. Will retains a parish ministry as an honorary assistant priest in a rural parish in West Sussex.

Key responsibilities:

• Supporting and advising the Archbishop in his relations with other Christian churches and their leaders.
• Representing the Archbishop on ecumenical bodies and dialogues.
• Staff responsibility for the Church of England’s relationship with the Catholic, Orthodox, Old Catholic and Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches.

Rosemary was appointed the Archbishop’s Senior Policy Adviser for Commissions in September 2019. From November 2017 Rosemary was the Archbishop’s Adviser for Public Affairs. Prior to that she spent two decades working in international policy, advocacy and government relations roles in Westminster, as a United Nations official working for the head of a UN agency, and for foundations and non-profits.

Key responsibilities:

• Oversee the Archbishop’s Commissions, established to look at how the church responds to issues of national concern and to help generate fresh thinking and action.
• Work with sector experts, academics, grassroots organisations and senior figures within civil society, and charities relevant to the work of the Archbishop’s Commissions, as well as with Parliament and Whitehall.
• Collaborate with and advise colleagues at Lambeth Palace and the wider National Church Institutions on the work of the Commissions, particularly where it overlaps with interventions, projects and events in their areas.

Jack Palmer-White is the Anglican Communion’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Institutions, which includes acting as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Personal Representative to the UN. Previously he spent five years working for the Archbishop in several roles, most recently as Social and Public Affairs Adviser. In his current role, he works to enable better relationships and more effective communication between the provinces and dioceses of the Communion and their UN partners.

Key responsibilities:

• The Anglican Communion’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Institutions, acting as the Communion’s ambassador to the UN.
• Supporting and advising the Archbishop in his relations with the United Nations Institutions.
• Supporting the Archbishop’s membership of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation.

Bishop Precious had a 33-year career in the private sector. He was ordained a priest in 2002 and started his vocation with church-planting in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2014, he joined the Lambeth Palace team as the Archbishop’s Advisor on Anglican Communion Affairs, and came into the current position in 2017. He was consecrated Bishop of South Sudan and Sudan in 2016. Precious is involved with dialogue to end the South Sudan and other conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. He serves locally as an assistant bishop in Southwark diocese and an honorary assistant priest in Morden.

Key responsibilities: 

• Identifying areas of potential conflict, and proposing and deploying agreed strategies and plans for conflict prevention or mitigation.

• Working with individuals and groups to bring the Archbishop’s contribution for the amelioration, reduction and eventual cessation of conflict.

The Rt Revd Dr Robert Innes is the Bishop in Europe. He represents the Archbishop of Canterbury with the Institutions of the European Union. As Bishop in Europe, he looks after the Church of England’s 42nd and easily most extensive diocese.

Bishop Robert was consecrated as the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe in July 2014. Before being made Bishop, he was Chancellor of the Pro-Cathedral of Holy Trinity, Brussels. He previously worked in parish ministry and theological education in Durham, England, and was educated in Cambridge and Durham.

He has published works on theological and psychological ideas of the self, St. Augustine, work and vocation and most recently on responding to the Professional Guidelines for the Conduct of the Clergy. His pre-ordination career was in engineering and business consultancy, working mostly for the firm that is now Accenture.