Board of Governors

 

• Rick Haythornthwaite (Chairman)
• Robin Woodhead (Deputy-Chairman)
• Dame Vivien Duffield DBE
  
• Susan Gilchrist
• Brent Hansen
• Fionnuala Hogan
• David Kershaw
• Julian Lloyd Webber
• Cornelius Medvei
• Ursula Owen OBE
• Jamie Ritblat

 

Biographies

Rick Haythornthwaite (Chairman)

Rick has a wealth of experience in the arts and cultural sectors and was Chair of the Board of the Almeida Theatre, Chair of the Corporate Advisory Group at Tate and a board member of the British Council. He has also been a trustee of the UK National Museum of Science and Industry, Chair of the British American Arts Association and a trustee of the Whitechapel Art Gallery.

Rick is President of PSA Energy. His current non-executive positions include Chairman of Network Rail and Chairman of the Board of Mastercard Inc.

Prior to his current roles he was CEO of Invensys from 2001 to 2005, Group Chief Executive of Blue Circle Industries and Director of Corporate and Commercial at Premier Oil. He joined British Petroleum in 1978 and was there for 17 years, becoming the President of BP Venezuela.

Rick was born in 1956, and educated at The Queen’s College, Oxford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is married with two children.

 

Robin Woodhead (Deputy Chairman)

Mr Robin Woodhead is Chairman of Sotheby’s International, and Executive Vice President, Sotheby’s. Robin Woodhead's interests in the arts extend across ballet, music and the visual arts. He has served as Chairman of Rambert Dance Company and of Music Research Institute. He was Founding Director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery Foundation and Treasurer of the Contemporary Art Society and is currently Chairman of the Hofesh Shechter Company.

Before joining Sotheby's in 1998 he was Chief Executive of the London Commodity Exchange, having previously been Chairman and Chief Executive of National Investment Group plc and Chairman of International Petroleum Exchange Ltd.

 

Dame Vivien Duffield DBE

Dame Vivien Duffield is the Chairman of the Clore Foundation and created her own Foundation in 1987. The two Foundations were merged in 2000 to become the Clore Duffield Foundation. She is also Chairman of the Clore Foundation in Israel. Since 1998, the Clore Duffield Foundation has donated and pledged in excess of £10 million to museum and gallery education.

Dame Vivien's charitable work has been formally acknowledged by many institutions, both in the UK and in Israel. She was awarded the CBE in 1989, the DBE in 2000, and the Mont Blanc Arts Patronage Award in 2001. She is an Honorary Fellow of the City of Jerusalem, an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall (Oxford University) and of King's College London and is an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music. Dame Vivien is also Deputy Chair of the Board of the Weizmann Intitute of Science and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Imperial College London.

Dame Vivien is closely associated with a number of charities. She became a Director of Southbank Centre board in 2002, is currently Chairman of the Royal Opera House Endowment Fund, is on the Board of the World Monuments Fund in Britain and is a Governor of the Royal Ballet. In 2007 she was appointed Chair of the new fundraising initiative for Oxford University.

 

Susan Gilchrist

Susan Gilchrist has worked for the corporate communications company, Brunswick Group for more than a decade and is Senior Partner, UK. She is responsible for driving revenues and developing the business client base in London. Susan also sits on the Executive Committee Board, which runs the company globally. Before joining the company, Susan was a journalist specialising in business.

 

Brent Hansen

After an illustrious career at MTV Networks International, Brent Hansen retired in 2006. He joined the embryonic MTV Europe in 1987 as News Producer and, after several promotions, became President and Chief Executive of MTV Networks Europe in 1996. He became the President, Creative and Editor In Chief of MTV Networks International in 2003, responsible for overseeing Creative and Editorial for all 89 international channels, as well as branding, creative, music, programming and editorial output.

 

Fionnuala Hogan

Is a Senior Director of Hypo Real Estate Bank, focused on commercial real estate lending for Europe, the Middle East and India. Previously she has worked with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, KPMG, Xelector plc and Hay Management Consultants.

Fionnuala is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. She holds an MA in Music and Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin and her interests in the arts and arts education extend across music, dance, literature and theatre.

 

David Kershaw

David Kershaw set up M&C Saatchi together with Maurice and Charles Saatchi, Bill Muirhead and Jeremy Sinclair David in 1995 and he has been the Group CEO for 18 years. Before that, he had worked at Saatchi & Saatchi UK for more than 20 years and became its Chairman and CEO in 1994. M&C Saatchi is the third largest advertising agency in the UK. He was Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1988 to 1992 and he is currently Chairman of the Cultural Leadership Programme and a Trustee of Creative and Cultural Skills.

 

Julian Lloyd Webber

Julian Lloyd Webber is widely regarded as one of the most creative musicians of his generation who has worked with a number of leading artists including Yehudi Menuhin, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Elton John, and performed in concert halls all over the world including the Royal Festival Hall. He is also leading the Government’s In Harmony music project, a community development programme inspired by Venezuela’s ‘El Sistema’ which is using music to bring positive change to the lives of young children in some of the most deprived areas of England.

 

Cornelius Medvei

For the last 21 years Cornelius Medvei has worked at the international law firm Eversheds LLP where he has variously headed their real estate practice, been London Managing Partner and London Senior Partner and currently leads their Transport Sector Group. One. of his key responsibilities is business development. Cornelius is also a Member of the Development Group of the Gabrieli Consort & Players, one of the world’s leading early music ensembles.

 

Ursula Owen OBE

Ursula Owen is Project Director Of Free Word, a new Centre for Literature , Literacy and Free Expression. She was Editor and Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, having previously worked as Director ofthe Paul Hamlyn Fund for Culture and the Arts, and as Founder Director, Editorial and Managing Director of Virago Press. She is a Trustee of English Touring Opera, Women for Refugee Women and has also served as a Director of the New Statesman and New Society. She was awarded an OBE in 2004, for services to human rights.

 

Jamie Ritblat

Jamie Ritblat founded Delancey Real Estate Asset Management Ltd, an investment advisory company which specialises in property, in 2003. Previous roles include Director at The British Land Company Plc and Chief Executive at Delancey Estates Plc. He is also a Director of the Main Board of Maggies Cancer Caring Centres, Chairman of the Estates Strategy Committee at Kings College University London, Deputy Chairman of Tate Britain's (Millbank) development committee, and member of the development committee at the MCC.