Open City is delighted to announce the appointment of Jim Minton as the new Chair of its Board of Trustees. The Open City Trustees are a group of volunteers representing a broad cross section of perspectives and backgrounds. They are the legal custodians of the charity and oversee Open City’s strategic development while supporting Open City’s staff team, led by Manijeh Verghese.

Jim succeeds Deborah Denner, who stepped down at the end of 2025 after an impactful and successful tenure, first as a Trustee, and then Chair. Jim Minton is Chief Executive of The Mayor’s Fund for London, working with a wide range of partners to create opportunities for young Londoners to shape the future of their city.

Throughout his career, Jim has worked across organisations and institutions, in the UK and overseas, to open up spaces for communities to take the lead in making much-needed and often overdue social change, across a broad range of policy areas including homelessness, health, education and youth work.

“I am hugely excited by Open City’s mission, and look forward to working with the team, trustees and partners”

— Jim Minton

In 2022, Jim and his partner founded Garage Gallery E17, a community art space in Walthamstow, and as Chief Executive of Toynbee Hall, he oversaw the redevelopment of one of East London’s iconic spaces, using the rebuilding works to reconnect and open up the space to the local community. Jim considers Toynbee Hall and Garage Gallery E17’s inclusion in the London Open House Festival (produced by Open City) part of his strong personal connection to the charity, which he hopes to build on in his role as Chair.

He said, “I am hugely excited by Open City’s mission, and look forward to working with the team, trustees and partners to open up spaces and provide skills and opportunities to young people to make careers in the built environment. Creating opportunities for young people in growth sectors is a big focus of our work at The Mayor’s Fund for London so I hope I can bring valuable experience and insights."

Manijeh Verghese, Chief Executive Officer of Open City said: “Having been so well supported by Deborah and the other Trustees throughout my first year at Open City, I am delighted to now be working closely with Jim as our new Chair. I look forward to learning from the depth of his experience as a charity chief executive and advocate for systemic change, and together developing opportunities to open up cities for those who have, too often, been excluded from conversations about their built environment.”

Selina Mason, Vice-Chair of the Open City Board of Trustees said: “The Trustees are deeply grateful for Deborah Denner’s outstanding leadership of Open City over the last 3 years. We were privileged to have had such a strong field of candidates for this role, making the selection process both humbling and inspiring. On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Jim as our new Chair, and we look forward to working with him on Open City’s important mission to make our cities more accessible, inclusive, and vibrant for all.”

Jim joins Open City’s existing Board of Trustees that include Dav Bansal (vice-chair), Selina Mason (vice-chair), Roland Oakshett (treasurer); Aretha Ahunanya, Sara Bailey, Peter Bury, Sarah Gold, Carolyn Larkin, Anna Liu, Ann Paul and Mike Saunders.