ENGLISH HERITAGE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CHIEF EXECUTIVE
- Chief Executive in 2024
Nick was born and raised in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. His early interest in history and archaeology was partly inspired by collecting old bottles from Birmingham's junk stores and childhood visits to nearby castles in Kenilworth and Clun. From the age of 16 he took part in excavations at the Roman site of Wall in Staffordshire.
He studied archaeology at Cambridge University and his PhD, also at Cambridge and exploring the barriers to participation in heritage, was published as Beyond The Glass Case in 1991.
Dismantling those barriers has been the thread running throughout his career, and Nick has held roles at the Museum of London, the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, Manchester Museum, and the Horniman Museum and Gardens, where he was Chief Executive and Director of Content. Under Nick's leadership at the Horniman, the south London museum with its displays of anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, won Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022.
Nick was President of the Council for British Archaeology from 2005 to 2008. He chaired the review of the Higher Education Museums and Galleries Fund for Research England in 2023 and was Chair of the National Trust Collections and Interpretation Advisory Group from 2022 to 2024. He has been Chair of the Arts Council England Designation Panel since September 2021.
In the King's New Year Honours List 2024, Nick was awarded an OBE for services to both the arts and to heritage.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Deputy Chair of the English Heritage Board of Trustees
- Leader of Digital Transformation
Chris Michaels the Deputy Chair of the English Heritage Board of Trustees. Chris is an established leader of digital transformation of the cultural and creative sectors. He is an advisor to Bolton and Quinn, the world's premier communications agency for arts and culture; to Human Economics, a strategy consultancy; to the Haus Der Kunst in Munich and to Tesseract Icons, a digital rights company. From 2017 to 2022 Chris was an executive director at the National Gallery in London, where he founded National Gallery X, an innovation lab for the future of art and technology.
Chris was an AHRC Creative Industries Fellow in 2021-22, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King's College London and a Bloomberg Technology Fellow. He has been named a 5G Trailblazer by Ericsson as one of 25 key figures in the adoption of this critical new technology, and was named one of the ten most influential figures in the museum sector by Blooloop in 2022. He holds a PHD from the University of Bristol and an MPA from UCL.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Chairman of the English Heritage Board of Trustees
Gerard Lemos CMG CBE is the Chair of the English Heritage Board of Trustees. A social policy expert, Gerard is the author of a number of publications examining the role communities can play in our society and how to support vulnerable people. He is Chair of the Agency Board of Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service and a former Chair of the British Council.
Gerard Lemos CMG CBE is the Chair of the English Heritage Board of Trustees. He also chairs English Heritage's Nominations Committee and is a member of the Remuneration Committee. A social policy expert, Gerard is the author of a number of publications examining the role communities can play in our society and how to support vulnerable people. He is Chair of the Agency Board of His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service, the National Savings & Investments Board and the London Institute of Banking and Finance as well as a former Chair of the British Council.
Gerard has been involved in renovating historic buildings throughout his entire career, in particular during roles within the housing and community regeneration sectors. His heritage experience includes his years as a trustee at Dartington Hall in Devon, where this medieval house and listed garden became a centre for progressive learning in the arts, ecology and social justice.
He is the founding Chair of the Akram Khan dance company and chairs the Hofesh Shechter dance company. Born in India, Gerard grew up in Croydon and studied History and English at the University of York.
Just one of the adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre to feature an English Heritage property, this version (starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Jamie Bell) included Wingfield Manor as the remains of Thornfield Hall.
Job Titles:
- HISTORIC PROPERTIES DIRECTOR
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Independent Advisor and Non - Executive Director
- Member of English Heritage 's Audit and Risk Committee
Kay Boycott is an independent advisor and non-executive director, primarily in the healthcare sector. She is currently a board member for Durham University, Eakin Healthcare Group, and North Central London Integrated Care Board (NHS) and a member of London Fire Brigade's Audit and Risk Committee. Her background is consumer marketing and strategy consulting. She spent ten years in executive roles in the charity sector, including as Chief Executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation.
Kay is a member of English Heritage's Audit and Risk Committee.
Kunle Olulode MBE is the Director of Voice4Change, an umbrella Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) organisation representing over 400 BME charity community groups across England.
He is also a curatorial, programme and audience development advisor to a wide range of cultural institutions including the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Wellcome Collection, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Catalan Institute in London. Possessing a keen interest in film, he has been part of the British Film Institute's African Odyssey programming team for several years. He was previously UK Creative Director and producer with the Catalan live entertainment company Mas i Mas in Barcelona. With wide-ranging experience of policy development in the equalities and policy field, Kunle is a valued member of the Cabinet Office's Windrush Working Group and a Commissioner for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Member of English Heritage 's Remuneration Committee
Liz Bromley worked in higher education for more than twenty years holding senior roles at the Open University, Salford University, Goldsmiths, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), and at the University Alliance, before joining NCG as Chief Executive in August 2019.
First in her family to go to university, Liz studied English Language and Literature at Worcester College, Oxford. She has been a passionate advocate for social equality and for widening access to all forms of education, in practical as well as in policy terms, throughout her career. Liz is well known across the education sector for leadership development, change management, entrepreneurial leadership, and for building organisational capability and capacity.
Liz has held a number of non-executive roles and is currently Deputy Chair of the Sir John Brunner Foundation in Cheshire and a member of the Audit Committee. She is an appointed member of E-ACT, a geographically dispersed multi academy trust, a council member of the CBI (North East), a member of the Advisory Board of the Newcastle Business School, and a member of the Advisory Board of Common Purpose.
Liz is a member of English Heritage's Remuneration Committee.
Job Titles:
- Series Director for the BBC
The English Heritage Staff at Dover Castle are people who clearly love what they do and this made our shoot day so much easier.
Job Titles:
- INTERIM CURATORIAL DIRECTOR
Job Titles:
- Supervising Location Manager for Bridgerton
English Heritage were fantastic to deal with over the filming of Coldplay at Whitby Abbey. As such an iconic site, English Heritage displayed a real ‘can do' attitude to the ever-growing production requirements to film one of the biggest bands in the world, with incredibly high production values.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Trustee
- Non - Executive Chairman at Tour Partner Group
Peter Liney is an experienced chief executive officer with over thirty years of senior leadership experience in businesses and global organisations in all sectors of the travel industry, with extensive experience of transformation, diversifying revenue streams and developing diverse and dispersed teams. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Great Rail Journeys for nine years until 2022 and before that of STA Travel, having begun his career at British Airways where he spent 11 years in strategic and sales-related roles.
Peter is currently the non-executive chairman at Tour Partner Group, a B2B tour operator and destination management company, and a non-executive director at APT Travel Group, one of Australia's largest tour operators.
Peter is chair of English Heritage's Remuneration Committee.
Job Titles:
- Head of Live Music and Events for the BBC
We had an absolutely marvellous time shooting our documentary drama inserts for BBC Studios' Countdown to Abdication series at Eltham Palace in early 2023. Thank you so much to the whole team for making it possible. Eltham really is a stunning location - an absolute gem.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Non - Executive Director of Channel 4 and of Direct Line Insurance Group Plc
- Senior Vice President, President and Managing Director of Boots UK & Republic of Ireland
Sebastian James is Senior Vice President, President and Managing Director of Boots UK & Republic of Ireland. He leads all Boots' businesses including Boots Opticians, both across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with the support of Boots' senior leaders. In December 2019, he won ‘Newcomer of the Year' at the Beauty Inc. Awards.
Before joining Boots in 2018, Sebastian was Group Chief Executive of Dixons Carphone and before that Chief Executive Officer of Synergy Insurance Services Limited. He started his career at The Boston Consulting Group.
Sebastian is also a Non-Executive Director of Channel 4 and of Direct Line Insurance Group plc. He has previously been a Trustee and Chair of the Remuneration Committee for Save the Children UK and a Trustee of Modern Art Oxford.
Sir Jonathan Marsden was Director of the Royal Collection and Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art from 2010 to 2017, having previously served as Deputy Surveyor since 1996. Prior to this, he worked for the National Trust for 11 years as a Historic Buildings Representative in North Wales and Oxfordshire.
He is a Commissioner of Historic England and has served as a trustee of several arts and heritage organisations including Historic Royal Palaces, the Georgian Group, the Art Fund and the City & Guilds of London Art School.
He has published and lectured widely on sculpture and the decorative arts and is the author of the forthcoming catalogue of European Sculpture in the Royal Collection.
Sue Wilkinson was an executive board director at the National Trust until the end of 2016 and the executive lead on tourism. During her time at the Trust Sue oversaw the growth of membership to nearly five million members, ran a number of successful fundraising campaigns, delivered several million pound IT projects and led a major brand review.
Sue is currently a Commissioner of Historic England, deputy chair of the Churches Conservation Trust, a trustee of the Canal & River Trust and vice chair of the Medical Research Foundation.
Previously she was a trustee of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and served on the boards of Visit England and the Institute of Fundraising.
Sue is a member of English Heritage's Nominations Committee.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Managing Director for Retail Strategy and Innovation at the NatWest Group
- Member of English Heritage 's Audit and Risk Committee
Tanvi Gokhale is Managing Director for Retail Strategy and Innovation at the NatWest Group. Prior to this, she held senior roles within Lloyds' Banking Group spanning retail, consumer finance, wealth management and international businesses.
In both 2020 and 2021 Tanvi was recognised in the EMPower Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models List for her work in championing inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Before joining Lloyds, Tanvi was a strategy consultant at Booz & Co (now PWC Strategy&), where she worked with financial services clients across the UK, Europe and North America, whilst also chairing Booz's Women's Network.
Tanvi is a member of English Heritage's Audit and Risk Committee, she also chaired our Investment Committee until March 2023.
Tilbury Fort is a newly discovered site where filming is concerned and in a short space of time has become hugely popular. With a large area of cobbled hard standing it is the perfect place for large scale set builds and housing unit bases. It also houses its own moat and bridge along with a run of Georgian style terrace houses known as the officers' quarters.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Member of the Board
- Trustee
- Vice Chair
Tony Cates is a chartered accountant and was until 2021 a Vice Chair and Board Member of KPMG including Chair of its Audit and Risk Committees (ARC). He has also held positions as KPMG's Head of Audit and Chief Operating Officer, as well as Chair of the KPMG Foundation. He is now Non-Executive Chair of KPMG Lower Gulf.
An advocate of diversity in business, Tony sponsored KPMG's BeMindful Network and was a founder of the City Mental Health Alliance. He was also a member of the Disability Confident leaders' group at the Department for Work & Pensions. His non-executive roles include chair of The Counselling Foundation (a charity which provides counselling services and trains counselling professionals) and in 2022 he was aboard member of the Platinum Pageant Company (responsible for organising Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee Pageant). He is also Chair of the Audit and Risk Commitee's at Addleshaw Goddard LLP and Cycle Group Holdings Ltd (Cycle Pharma Group), as well as the Chair of the Board at Create (Arts).
Tony chairs English Heritage's Audit and Risk Committee, which oversees risk management at English Heritage and reviews in particular our financial accounting process and our anti-fraud, whistleblowing and safeguarding arrangements. He is also a member of the Board's Nominations Committee and a Director of English Heritage Trading Limited.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Professor of Social and Architectural History at St John 's College
William Whyte is a distinguished architectural historian and Professor of Social and Architectural History at St John's College, Oxford. At Oxford, he is currently serving as Senior Responsible Owner and Chair of the Project Board for the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, the university's largest ever capital project.
Outside the university, William is Chair of the Oxford Preservation Trust, the Oxford Historical Society, and the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire and a member of the Fabric Commission of Westminster Abbey, and serves on the International Commission for the History of Universities.
William chairs the Blue Plaques Panel which advises and supports staff working on the English Heritage London blue plaques scheme. This is the panel that considers the public's suggestions for commemorative plaques.