Matthew Westerman
Chair

Appointed by the Prime Minister, April 2015. Reappointed for a second term in April 2019. One year extension granted in July 2022. 

Elected Vice-President and Chair by the Board with effect from 14 December 2019, Matthew Westerman is a Director of MW&L Capital Partners, a private investment vehicle. Prior to the establishment of MW&L Capital Partners, Matthew had been a banker throughout his career most recently at HSBC where he was co-head of Global Banking and at Goldman Sachs where he led its investment banking business in Australasia ex-Japan and in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is a Foundation Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.

Sherin Aminossehe

Appointed by the Secretary of State for Defence, March 2022

Sherin’s most recent role is the Ministry of Defence's first Director of Infrastructure, responsible for the strategic oversight for both global and domestic infrastructure and the SRO for Defence Estate Optimisation Portfolio worth over £5bn. She is also the MoD Race Champion. Previously she was Head of Commercial Office business at Lendlease, she was responsible for a range of regeneration projects, including the £2.4bn International Quarter London in Stratford, Silvertown and Euston, with a gross development value of over £5bn. She also led the company’s social impact strategy. Also in Whitehall, she held the dual role of Executive Director of Government Property Unit and Head of Property Profession and Function for the Civil Service. She led, devised and executed the property strategy for government, looking at how they could use their portfolios effectively to create growth as well as saving over £1bn in running costs and £3.6bn in capital receipts. Through the creation of the One Public Estate programme, she also been a strong part of the Government’s social change agenda with a particular focus on creating more homes and jobs. Until recently, Sherin was also a trustee of the Design Council and has won the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in the inaugural Real Estate, Infrastructure and Construction Category. She has been in the Property Week Power 100, 40 under 40 and Bisnow’s 51 Most Influential Women in UK Real Estate. In 2019, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from UCEM for her contributions to the built environment. 

Hugh Bullock

Appointed by the Prime Minister, February 2018. Reappointed June 2022

Hugh Bullock was Chairman of Gerald Eve LLP until 2020 with a career in real estate over 35 years. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He currently serves as a Member of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster, as a Trustee of the Imperial War Museums (including as Chair of the Estates Advisory Committee) and as a Trustee of the William Robinson Gravetye Charity. Other activities include supporting the University of Crete. His former external appointments include:  Member of the Mayor of London’s Homes for Londoners Board; Advisor to the Westminster Property Association; Member of the Cambridge University Land Economy Advisory Board; Member of the Board of Trustees of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA); Member of the Property Advisory Group of The Passage; Commissioner on the Mayor of London’s West End Commission; Chairman of London First’s Planning and Development Advisory Forum; Member of the Mayor of London’s London Electricity High-Level Working Group; Member of the London Regional Council of the CBI; and Visiting Lecturer to the University of Reading. Hugh chairs IWM's Estates Advisory Committee. 

Lieutenant General Andrew Figgures CB CBE

Appointed by the Prime Minister, February 2018. Reappointed June 2022

Lt General Andrew Figgures was educated at Loughborough Grammar School, Welbeck College and St Catharine’s College Cambridge where he read Engineering. He was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He has served in Germany and the United Kingdom and on operations in Northern Ireland, the Former Republic of Yugoslavia and Iraq in 2003-4 where he was Senior British Military Representative and deputy to the US Commander. He has been on the directing staff at the Royal Military College of Science responsible for the instruction of  Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Aerial Vehicles’ Guided Weapons and Emerging Technology. In 2004 he became Technical Director of the Defence Procurement Agency and Defence Logistic Organisation, Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Army Board. On promotion to Lieutenant General in 2006 he became Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff responsible for the Defence Equipment Plan for all three services. In 2010 on leaving the Army he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive of the British Transport Police Authority with the responsibility for policing the railways in Great Britain until 2016. General Figgures chairs IWM’s Audit Committee.

Jill Gallard CMG CVO 

Appointed by the Foreign Secretaty, November 2023. 

Jill Gallard has been British Ambassador to Germany since November 2020. Prior to that, she was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCDO) Deputy Political Director (2018-2020) and Director of Human Resources and FCDO Board Member (2014-2018). From 2011 to 2014 Jill served as British Ambassador to Portugal.  

Professor Margaret MacMillan CC CH DPhil

Appointed by the Prime Minister, February 2019. Reappointed July 2023 

Professor Margaret MacMillan (Toronto and Oxford) is an emeritus professor of History at the University of Toronto and emeritus professor of International History at Oxford University.  She was Provost of Trinity College, Toronto from 2002-7 and Warden of St Antony’s College, Oxford from 2007-2017. Her research specialises in British imperial history and the international history of the 19th and 20th centuries.  Her latest book is War: How Conflict Shaped Us and other publications include Paris, 1919, and The War that Ended Peace. She gave the CBC’s Massey lectures in 2015 and the BBC’s Reith Lectures in 2018.  Awards include the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction and the Governor-General’s literary award.  She has honorary degrees from several universities and is an honorary Fellow of the British Academy.  She is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, a Companion of Honour (UK) and Member of the Order of Merit. 

Tim Marlow OBE

Appointed by the Prime Minister, March 2016. Reappointed November 2020
Deputy Chair of Trustees with effect from December 2019

Tim Marlow is Chief Executive and Director of the Design Museum in London. Formerly Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts and Director of Exhibitions at White Cube, Marlow has been involved in the contemporary art world for the past 30 years as a curator, writer and broadcaster. He has worked with many of the most important and influential artists of our time to deliver wide-ranging and popular programmes and brings a commitment to diverse and engaging exhibitions to his new role showcasing the transformational capability of design. Marlow sits on the Board of Trustees for Art on the Underground Advisory Board, the Design Age Institute and Cultureshock Media. Marlow was awarded an OBE in 2019. Tim is Chair of the IWM Art Commissions Committee. 

Suzanne Raine

Appointed by The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, January 2018. Reappointed December 2022

Suzanne Raine is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London and works at the Centre for Geopolitics, Cambridge University. She writes and speaks on terrorism, analysis and risk. She served for 24 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues. This included postings in Poland, Iraq and Pakistan. She specialised in counter-terrorism, holding a number of senior domestic appointments including Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre from 2015-2017. Suzanne is also a Trustee at the Royal United Services Institute, at Stop The Traffik, and at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincolnshire.  

Rachel Smith

Appointed by the Prime Minister, November 2023

Rachel is UK & Middle East Managing Director at SQLI Digital Experience, a digital and commerce agency, part of SQLI Group; she advises on digital, customer experience and transformation strategies. Rachel has a breadth of digital & tech expertise across multiple sectors, with a record of delivering growth, decreasing operational costs, and improving financial bottom line. 
An expert at cross functional advisory, building effective teams and stakeholder engagement in multiple geographies, Rachel is known for her ability to combine multiple lenses (business, experience & tech) to drive solutions and growth. Prior to 2010, she has experience in the museums and cultural sector in digital, marketing, fundraising and communications. 
Rachel was an advisory board member of Youth Dance England (now One Dance UK). 

Air Marshal Edward Stringer CB CBE

Appointed by The Prime Minister, November 2020

Air Marshal Edward Stringer is the Director General of Joint Force Development, and DG Defence Academy, within Joint Forces Command. In this capacity, he owns the conceptual element of UK fighting power: concepts & doctrine, training & education, exercise & experimentation, lessons learned & innovation. Before that he was Assistant CDS (Operations) in the MOD in Whitehall, essentially the MOD’s operations director – from UK flood-relief to the Deterrent. Previously he had been ACAS, the RAF’s Assistant Chief, responsible for all policy interaction with MOD and for the RAF Board’s business. He arrived there from seeing the inside of the Pentagon as CDS’ Liaison Officer to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. A previous Commandant Air Warfare Centre and head of RAF Intelligence he has had operational commands in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans. A one time Jaguar pilot and weapons instructor (QWI) he first saw action in the Gulf War in ’91 and in the no-fly zone (NFZ) operations that followed. 

Mark Urban

Appointed by The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, March 2018. Reappointed June 2022

Mark Urban is the Diplomatic Editor and occasional presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight programme for whom he has covered many of the key international events of the past 30 years. He is also a prolific military historian, writing about conflicts involving the British Army from the 18th Century to the present day. He served on the board of the Royal Armouries 2012-2018. Mark held a short service limited commission (1979) and territorial commission in the Royal Tank Regiment (1980-1983).

Vice Admiral Mike Utley CB OBE

Appointed by The Prime Minister, November 2020

Vice Admiral Utley joined the Royal Navy in 1988 as a Warfare Officer, spending his early years on global operations at sea. Commands at various ranks include a Patrol Boat, two Offshore Patrol Vessels, the Type 23 frigate HMS PORTLAND and the amphibious aircraft carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS, during which he was awarded an Operational OBE for service in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in The Philippines. He commanded NATO’s at sea high readiness Task Group in the Mediterranean then assumed command of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, driving the operational training programme and integration between HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and the F35-B. As Commander UK Strike Force, he is the Royal Navy’s deployable 2* operational commander at five days’ notice to command operations. He is a graduate of Advanced and Higher Command and Staff Courses and a member of the Royal College of Defence Studies. Shore appointments have focused on the MOD, including Deputy Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of Defence Staff, maritime staff officer within Defence Operational Capability and Deputy Head of the NATO and European Policy Team. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Companies of Shipwrights and Lightmongers.  

Sir Guy Weston

Appointed by the Prime Minister, 4 November 2019. Reappointed July 2023

Guy is Chairman of the Garfield Weston Foundation and Wittington Investments Limited.  A grandson of Garfield Weston and son of the late Garry Weston, Guy studied at Oxford University and INSEAD. Guy’s career began in investment banking, Morgan Grenfell & Co Ltd, before he moved to Associated British Foods plc where he became the Managing Director of Jacksons of Piccadilly and The Ryvita Co Ltd. He is Chairman of the Garfield Weston Trust for Westminster Abbey, and former Chairman of the Westminster Abbey Development Appeal and of the Bodleian Library Development Committee and is a trustee of the Imperial War Museum, the Thrombosis Research Institute, and a member of the Council of Royal College of Music. Guy is Chair of the IWM Trading Company Ltd.

His Excellency Stephen Smith

Ex Officio appointment as Australian High Commissioner. For biographical details please visit the Australian High Commission website.

His Excellency Ralph Goodale 

Ex Officio appointment as Canadian High Commissioner. For biographical details please visit the Canadian High Commission website.

His Excellency Mr. Vikram K. Doraiswami

Ex Officio appointment as Indian High Commissioner. For biographical details please visit the Indian High Commission website.

His Excellency The Honourable Phil Goff

Ex Officio appointment as High Commissioner for New Zealand. For biographical details please visit the New Zealand High Commission website.

His Excellency Dr Mohammad Faisal

Ex Officio appointment as High Commissioner for Pakistan. For biographical details please visit the Pakistan High Commission website.

His Excellency Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo

Ex Officio appointment as High Commissioner for South Africa. For biographical details please visit the South African High Commission website. 

Her Excellency Saroja Sirisena

Ex Officio appointment as Sri Lankan High Commissioner.  For biographical details please visit the Sri Lankan High Commission website.