Diamond Jubilee Honorees
Text and Photos Courtesy of Rovers Magazine
Bob Burns
After earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University, Bob joined the start-up team of the-then Range Rover of North America.He started as a freelancer in the Public Relations Department to assist with the North American Media launch for the newly introduced Land Rover Range Rover, responsible for media information on the company’s off-road driving programs.
Soon after, he became a Product Specialist, determining the technical data that would appear in brochures, press releases, owner manuals, and sales training. Bob also became the Subject Matter Expert on the quickly growing SUV market. He studied all the competitive vehicles, working closely with UK sales, marketing and engineering teams to benchmark product content and capability.
Bob’s knowledge and expertise became the basis for sales training on vehicle capabilities and features, and the basis for Land Rover’s “How To Drive Off-Road” video series and well as the television and print advertising.
As Training and Development Manager, he created and delivered new model training programs for U. S and Canadian sales and service staff, including venue selection and development for multi-month programs. In addition, Bob’s responsibilities included the development of the Land Rover Driving Schools (now Land Rover Experience Centers) in Manchester, VT, Asheville, NC, Carmel, CA, and Montbello, QC. Bob developed all of the trail networks, hired and trained the instructional staff.
Bob played a major role in the design of retail demonstration courses required of all Land Rover Centres in North America. Other unique off-road course builds have been at the New York International Auto Show (under the Hi Line in Manhattan) the San Francisco Auto Show at the Moscone Center, the Los Angeles International Auto Show as well as Seattle, Houston and indoors at the Washington DC Auto Show. A course was built for the Invictus Games on Disney property in Orlando to raise awareness of wounded soldiers internationally.
Bob built permanent off-road courses at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA, as well as the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY for the 2010 FEI Equestrian World Games (still in use today.) Temporary off-road demonstration courses were built annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, Mid-Ohio and Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. Dozens of temporary off-road courses have been built by Bob on private ranches and estates including Malcom Forbes’ Colorado Ranch, and on Ford World Headquarters property in 2002 to celebrate Ford’s 100 th anniversary.
He has over 20 years of service as a volunteer firefighter. He’s also been an avid off-road motorcycle rider/racer from his teenage years and currently still competes as time allows. Growing up in a hands-on construction environment, he still operates heavy equipment and personally builds many of designed off-road courses. His engineering education, land surveyor experience, combined with his recreational off road vehicle experience, provides knowledge and insight into of proper land use and development.
Nick Dimbleby
Multi-award winning photographer Nick Dimbleby has been capturing the spirit of Land Rover since he was 11 years old; the majority of this time he has been fortunate enough to have done so professionally, and most often, for Jaguar Land Rover.
Nick began working with Land Rover in 1997. He joined the photographed the Camel Trophy for the last four of the events: 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. During this time, he has covered most of the company’s launch events, as well as the G4 Challenge, Land Rover TReK and numerous other company-sponsored trips and expeditions.
During his 30-year career, Nick has photographed every Land Rover model and travelled to 85 counties. Nick has also written seven books, the most recent of which is Camel Trophy - The Definitive History. Other books include Off Road Driving Techniques, Range Rover – The Complete Story (with James Taylor), Land Rover: A Tough 50 Years (with Chris Bennett), and Land Rover: 65 Years of Adventure.
As well as working for Land Rover, Nick takes photographs for other automotive brands, as well as several non-automotive clients. He is passionate about photography, travel and Land Rover (he’s the owner of several Range Rovers and Land Rovers. At the Diamond Jubilee, Nick will speak about his experiences over the past three decades, as well as offering a few expedition and photo tips for any budding photographers.
Nick resides with his family in Syresham, Northants, UK. You can view Nick’s work at www.nickdimbleby.com and follow him on Instagram, @nickdimbleby.
Daphne Greene
Daphne’s association with Land Rover extends over 25 years. In 1995, Daphne became the first and only woman to represent the United States in the Camel Trophy competition, held that year in five Central American nations. In 1996, she served as a support driver, assisting in the first east-west crossing of Borneo.
Daphne managed and developed Land Rover’s off-highway customer and retail programs, as well as, product and press launches, as well those of as other manufacturers. She coordinated off-road education and teaching programs, nationwide and internationally, focusing on the skills and techniques necessary for safe and responsible off-road driving.
In 2000, these experiences led to her appointment by California Governor Gray Davis as the Chair of its Off Highway Motor Vehicle Commission for three years. In 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to the Deputy Directorship her state’s Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, the nation’s largest off-highway vehicle programs. Her responsibilities ranged from environmental compliance to law enforcement of the State Vehicular Recreation Areas. Her expertise would be called upon by local, state and national programs; from 2007 – 2012, she served on the Board of Directors of Tread Lightly.
Upon completing her position at the State of California, Daphne continued to work with Land Rover as she joined the Global Driving Team for new product launches such as the Defender at the 4XFar Festival and the 2022 Range Rover.
Kim McCullough
Kim McCullough’s automotive enthusiasm arose early in her life as her father, Edward McNeilly, participated in the landmark VW Beetle advertising campaign of Doyle Dane Bernbach (recognized by Advertising Age as “changing the industry forever”).
A genuine auto aficionado, Kim already owned a ’56 Series I when she took her first position at Land Rover (1997-2001) where she helped launch the Discovery II. When Ford moved Jaguar Land Rover’s corporate headquarters to Irvine, CA, Kim remained on the East Coast working with Mazda, Nissan and Toyota (where she helped launch the Lexus). Her second stint with Jaguar Land Rover, ran from 2011-2020, during which she became the Brand Manager for Land Rover, and later, Vice-President of Marketing, for both Land Rover and Jaguar. In that role, she oversaw the successful launches of the Discovery Sport, Range Rover Velar, as well as Jaguar’s F-Pace, XE and XF sedans.
In 2015, Automotive News recognized Kim as one of “100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry.” Throughout her 35-year career in the automotive world she has received multiple awards for the impact and effectiveness of her marketing campaigns.
Kim is currently focused on bringing more women into the automotive industry through her work on the Board of Directors of the TechForce Foundation and as a founding member of Women in Motorsports North America.
A lifelong auto enthusiast Kim has judged and participated in concours d’elegance throughout the US including Pebble Beach and Amelia. With her husband Mitch, an auto journalist, she’s competed and participated in international events such as the East African Safari Classic, Mille Miglia, and London to Brighton. Most recently, Kim competed in her “Pacific Gun Sight Special ”1932 Ford and won a class award at the Grand National Roadster Show, at the Flabob Airstrip, Riverside, in The Race of Gentlemen California Drags.
Nick Rogers
Nick Rogers’ passion for Land Rovers started during his childhood in the UK, where he grew up on a dairy farm and learned to drive in the family’s Series II – sitting on a bag of straw to see over the steering wheel as he drove around the farm. Starting early at age 16, Nick was initially a body engineering technician apprentice for the Rover Group and quickly specialised in whole vehicle layout, crash safety, and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) computer simulation and testing. As such, it was great to not only work on Rover cars, but also Freelander CB40 and Discovery II in the early years.
During his career, Nick experienced the various changes of the UK automotive industry, from Rover to Honda, living in Munich with BMW, Ford, and of course Tata. He was especially proud to ultimately lead the engineering and delivery of the T5 platform, which included the reincarnation of Discovery into Discovery 3 (LR 3), as well as the first Range Rover Sport. After launching these vehicles, he went on to run manufacturing to launch the 07MY Puma Diesel upgrade to Defender, in addition to leading the 06MY and 07MY major vehicle and driveline launches at Solihull.
After this Nick enjoyed the exciting role to lead the business strategy and engineering delivery of the new D7u platform from a blank sheet of paper, which included L405 Range Rover and L494 Range Rover Sport. He is incredibly proud of the global success of these vehicles and the regrowth that they gave to the Land Rover business.
Most recently, Nick was responsible for Jaguar Land Rover’s global engineering operations as Board Member and Executive Director for Product Engineering. During the seven years in this role, he was honoured to lead a pioneering team to engineer and launch some of the most desirable vehicles in the world, which included achieving his childhood dream of creating a modern interpretation of the iconic Series Land Rover – the All-New Defender, with all new electrical architecture to reset the breadth of capability. In addition to the All-New Defender, Nick led the fifth generation Range Rover and third generation Range Rover Sport, as technology disrupters with incredible on-road and off-road capability, which were unbelievably special projects to him.
Nick’s love of Land Rovers continues to this day and has resulted in his prized car collection, which includes his beloved 1948 Series 1, known as “Fern”, and a beautiful Series 2 called “Poppy”, which once belonged to Queen Elizabeth II.
