rich 1.0 The RNIB has announced today (7 May 2026) that actor, and star of Disney+ UK’s ‘Rivals,’ Victoria Smurfit has been appointed as the charity’s new President. Victoria takes on the role as Dame Gail Ronson DBE steps down after 14 years of dedicated service. Victoria brings a personal connection to RNIB as mum to Evie age 21, who was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy as a child. Victoria also has a longstanding family connection to RNIB through her father, Dr Dermot Smurfit, an RNIB Vice-President, who has supported the charity for decades. RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Victoria to find out how she feels taking up the role of President of the RNIB following on from Dame Gail Ronson DBE, more about her family’s long-standing connection with the RNIB, a couple of areas of work around sight loss that Victoria would like to champion as President plus reflecting on watching her daughter Evie grow up with Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy. Image shows Victoria and Toby with guide dog Boston behind the mixing desk in the Connect Radio studio in London RNIB Connect https://audioboom.com/channels/4839823-rnib-connect Audioboom https://audioboom.com 480 95 https://audioboom.com/i/43631713/600x600/c 600 600 <iframe width="100%" height="95" src="https://embeds.audioboom.com/posts/8899846/embed?v=202301" style="background-color: transparent; display: block; padding: 0; width: 100%" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="allowtransparency" scrolling="no" title="Audioboom player" allow="autoplay" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>