OMF welcomes new Chair of Trustees

The team at Olympias Music Foundation are thrilled to welcome our new Chair to the Board of Trustees, Rick Eling.

Rick has been a regular supporter of OMF in recent years; attending our community concerts and advocating for better access to music and culture for those with social and financial barriers.

Rick joins our dynamic Board of Trustees and brings a wealth of knowledge as a director and business leader, with vast experience in investment in the financial planning sector. Rick’s professional experience and personal passion for music makes him great addition to our already varied and skilful Board of Trustees.

He said: “Everybody deserves to have music-making in their life. Income, previous exposure to playing an instrument, or existing talent should not determine whether you can access the benefits that music brings. OMF’s mission to widen musical access is one that I profoundly believe in, and to serve the charity and its clients as Chairman means a great deal to me.

“Many of the things I enjoyed as a child- music lessons, choirs, orchestras- are not available to enough people. This makes us all poorer. I want to help to change that as part of OMF.” 

Jo Yee Cheung, Chief Executive at Olympias Music Foundation added: “The voluntary time, expertise and passion of our Trustees is vital to OMF’s success and we are absolutely honoured to have Rick join us as Chair.

“Rick’s belief in our mission and vision will be invaluable to help lead our work over the coming years, and our ambition to create a brave new generation of diverse young musicians and audiences in Manchester.”

About Rick

Rick attended the Hulme Grammar School in Oldham before reading English Literature at the University of Liverpool. On graduation he joined the Royal Navy as an officer and served for six years on a variety of surface warships and shore bases, including six months in the Falkland Islands where he hosted live radio shows on the forces radio station, BFBS Radio 1.  He left the navy to begin a second career in financial services and has since held senior management positions in a number of wealth management groups.  Rick is married to Heather, with whom he shares a love of motorcycles, cooking, Italy and all forms of the arts. 

Memory or experience of music

"When I was 17 I saw another boy at school playing Wonderwall on his Dad’s acoustic guitar and I instantly wanted to be able to do the same. That boy became my best friend to this very day. We never made it as rock stars- not many teenage wannabees do!- but we had the joy of playing, gigging, recording and having adventures in music together for years."