The Heritage Advisory Board
Information about the Heritage Advisory Board.
The Heritage Advisory Board was established by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in May 2021 to oversee the development and drafting of a new set of guidelines on how difficult heritage assets should be dealt with, which will be underpinned by research. The guidelines will help boards make effective decisions about how best to deal with objects they own that are, or may become contested within the government’s policy framework of ‘retain and explain’.
The advisory board has seven members, and will report its recommendations directly to the Secretary of State on matters including the delivery of a sector-wide plan for dissemination and implementation of the guidelines.
The guidelines will be published in due course.
Membership:
Dr Anna Keay OBE
Dr Anna Keay OBE, Director of the Landmark Trust, is also a writer, historian and curator, with a special interest in 17th-century British history. From 1996 to 2002, Anna worked as a curator for Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and the Banqueting House in Whitehall. From 2002 until 2012, she was Properties Presentation Director of English Heritage, responsible for curating and presenting to the public 420 historic sites across England, from Stonehenge to Kenwood House.
She has been Director (CEO) of the Landmark Trust since 2012. Anna is also a Trustee of the Royal Collection Trust, a former Trustee of the Leeds Castle Foundation, Governor of Bedales School, Non-Executive Director of Big Yellow Group PLC and an Ambassador of the Weald & Downland Living Museum.
Mukesh Sharma, MBE DL
Mukesh Sharma, MBE DL, is a Northern Ireland (NI) Trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) 2020 - 2023 and Chair of the Northern Ireland committee for the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Born in England but raised in Northern Ireland, he has been in the travel and tourism industry since 1982. He has led successful initiatives across Northern Ireland to promote the arts, community cohesion and the prevention of racism, sectarianism and hate crime.
In 2016, Mukesh was appointed to the Northern Ireland Executive Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition. The commission’s work ended in 2020 with submitting a report to the First and Deputy First Minister. From 2006-2013 he was Chair of Newtownabbey Borough Council Good Relations Partnership. He is Deputy Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast and chair of Barnardo’s in Northern Ireland, a council member of the Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland and founder/board member of ArtsEkta, a multicultural arts organisation.
Sir Laurie Magnus
Sir Laurie Magnus was appointed Chairman of The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England (then known as English Heritage, but re-branded as Historic England during 2015) on 1 September 2013. Before this appointment, he had been Deputy Chairman of the National Trust from 2005 to 2013 and an elected member of its Council since 2003. He is a trustee of English Heritage Trust, All Churches Trust and Windsor Leadership Trust.
Sir Laurie is a Senior Advisor at Evercore Partners, the investment banking group, and is Chairman of two FTSE 250 listed companies within the finance sector. He has over 40 years’ experience in the corporate finance advisory business, including in South East Asia.
Trevor Phillips OBE
Trevor Phillips OBE is a writer, broadcaster and businessman. He is the Chairman of the Green Park Group, a leading interim and executive recruitment consultancy, and co-founder of the data analytics firm Webber Phillips created with Professor Richard Webber.
He was, until June 2018, the President of the John Lewis Partnership, Europe’s largest employee-owned company. He is a Times columnist, an award-winning TV producer and presenter, with three RTS journalism awards to his name, and host of Sky News’ ‘Trevor Phillips on Sunday’. Trevor is also Chairman of Index on Censorship, the international campaign group for freedom of expression, and was the founding chair of both the Greater London Authority and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Robert Tombs
Robert Tombs is Professor Emeritus of French History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College. He has published several works on modern French history, on Franco-British relations, and on English and British history.
Martha Lytton-Cobbold
Martha Lytton-Cobbold is President of Historic Houses, an association of over 1,500 privately owned/managed historic houses. She is Managing Director of Lytton Enterprises Ltd./Knebworth Estates, runs five companies and administrates the Knebworth House Education and Preservation Trust charity based at Knebworth House, her husband’s ancestral home since 1490. She is Co-chair of Visit Herts, a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Hertfordshire, and sits on boards for Stevenage Development, and the Arts, Heritage and Culture Forum. She has a lifelong interest and involvement in journalism, tourism, education, heritage, preservation and the arts, and is a dual US/UK national.
Dr Samir Shah CBE
Dr Samir Shah CBE, is the Chair of the Museum of the Home, and has served as a Trustee and Deputy Chair of the V&A. He is a current board member for the Culture Recovery Fund and is a member of the Advisory Panel on the future of Public Service Broadcasting. Samir was a Commissioner for the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
Samir is Chief Executive and Creative Director of Juniper, an independent television and radio production company. His career started at London Weekend Television in 1979. Since then, he has held positions as head of current affairs television at the BBC and, later, was responsible for the BBC’s political journalism across radio and television. Samir has been a Non-Executive Director on the BBC Board and is the current chair of One World Media.