Richard Stephenson

Richard has been involved in charitable and political life since he was at school and became the Chairman of Kids Count in 2006. He studied for a BA(Hons) in politics and international relations at Coventry University , before taking a postgraduate course in journalism at Cardiff Journalism School . After spending some time in the press office at British Airways, Richard moved to Citigate Dewe Rogerson, one of the worlds leading communications and public relations firms. After seven years, Richard moved to become a Board Director at Smithfield , a leading City corporate and financial public relations agency. Richard is also a Freeman of the City of London , a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Richard has worked overseas on American Presidential campaigns and has undertaken lecture tours of Estonia and Uganda on behalf of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, a Foreign Office funded project to promote democracy in the developing world.

In the summer of 2004, Richard was invited to participate on the prestigious ‘Young European Leaders’ programme by the United States Government and spent a month travelling around the USA with 15 young parliamentarians and journalists from across Europe.

He has served as a school governor and a board member of two London based charities and he is a prolific charity fundraiser. He raised thousands of pounds for the Cancer Research Campaign by trekking along the Great Wall of China in 2000 and then for The Children’s Society by trekking across New Zealand and then by climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak.

In 2006, Richard founded ‘Westminster Challenge’, a charity which aims to bring politics and charity closer together. Richard then led a team of 15 people, including five Members of Parliament and senior charity representatives, on a ten day expedition as they travelled across the Arctic Circle by husky dog sled in aid of numerous national and local charities.