James Grierson – YMT Chair

James Grierson is a Chartered Surveyor with more than 35 years’ experience in private practice. After qualifying with Knight Frank in London, James moved to York in the early 1980s to focus on retail-led town centre regeneration schemes across the North. He built and led the UK’s largest specialist public sector real estate advisory practice and has worked on large and complex property-related projects across the central government, local authority, health and education sectors and for international companies. James was an Equity Partner and Board Member of Donaldsons, a 1,000 strong international practice, and, following the sale of the firm in 2007, was Head of Consultancy & Public Sector with DTZ Plc. He now has a portfolio of non executive, consultancy and trustee roles in the commercial, regulatory, government, charitable, heritage and university sectors . James is an habitual art gallery and museum visitor and loves finding endless new treasures in collections he feels he knows well; James became a trustee in 2014 and board Chairman in 2018. He is married to Liz, lives in Copmanthorpe and has four grown up daughters.

David Andrews

David has worked in the UK’s tourism sector for more than 30 years. He was CEO of Yorkshire Tourist Board before establishing the customer service training company Welcometraining and the marketing consultancy Andrews Associates, in 2008. He is a Director of Redkite Innovations which trains in leadership and management. Born in Vancouver, Canada, David is award-winning in his professional field and in his personal interests, receiving The Queen Mother Award in 2000, and the Offshore Sailing Award by the Blue Water Sailing Association. His previous careers include being a lumberjack, pizza chef and ski instructor. In his spare time he rows and coaches football and is undertaking a PhD at Leeds Beckett University researching what makes Destination Management Organisations sustainable and the role of trust in partnership and collaboration. David became a trustee of YMT in 2014. He loves York Museum Gardens, and walks through it early every morning with his dog.

Philip Ashton

Philip is a native of Hull who graduated from Oxford University in Modern Languages. His experience as a Chartered Accountant in the Audit and Advisory Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers included managing client relationships and leading a number of projects relating to working practices and technology. In the 1990s Philip was a founder member of the UK Auditing Practices Board, developing professional standards. In December 2007 he became a non-executive director of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, chairing the audit committee and becoming the Senior Independent Director. Philip was a founder Governor of the Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull, of which he is now a Member, and he is a director of the Diocese of York Education Trust. Philip sits on the Finance and Audit Committees of York Minster and on the York Diocesan Finance Sub-Committee. At the end of his term as a director at York Teaching Hospital Philip was appointed as a Trustee of York Museums Trust in 2017 and chairs its audit committee. He loves experiencing the sights, sounds (and smells!) of Kirkgate in the Castle Museum – including the excited reactions of visiting children.

Sita Brand

Sita Brand is a performer, writer, producer and consultant in arts and heritage. She is the founder and director of Settle Stories, where she collaborates with with communities and artists to create transformative experiences that ignite curiosity and reimagine storytelling. Passionate about diversity and access she set up the Asian Theatre Initiative in Leicester, was Rich Mix’s first Artistic Director and established decibel for Arts Council England. In her role at Settle Stories she runs a Learning Programme at Settle Stories that reaches over 6,000 young people in every year. Sita established the W.R Mitchell Archive, a collection of oral history recordings and images collected by the late Dr Bill Mitchell MBE to record the past history of Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire. She regularly runs retreats using story and mindfulness to enable participants to develop their creativity. Sita is a Zen and mindfulness practitioner and teaches meditation in prisons. Sita became a trustee in 2017 and loves the Castle Museum. She fell in love with museums visiting the castle as a child.

Dr Angela Dean

Angela Dean spent 25 years in international finance, mainly as a Managing Director with the American investment bank, Morgan Stanley, where she ran global technology research. Angela now has a portfolio of non-executive and trustee roles in the heritage, education and communications sectors. She is a former trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund and of the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, and a member of the Postal Museum’s Audit and Finance Committee. She chairs International House, one of the largest independent organisations for language teaching and training, and is a member of Council for King’s College London. She is a non-executive board member of Ofcom. Hailing from York, Angela has a degree in Modern History and a doctorate in 17th-century English politics from Oxford University. She remains fascinated by the early modern and medieval periods, and is keen to help increase appreciation of the ways people lived in earlier times. Angela joined the trust in 2017 and chairs its Castle Capital Project board; she loves the carved faces of the 15th century church roof bosses in the Yorkshire Museum, reminders of our vibrant pre-Reformation everyday art.

Sarah Drummond

Sarah Drummond is a multi-media journalist, and leadership consultant in the cultural sector. She works with national portfolio organisations in England and Wales, consulting and advising on change and development. She is programme director for the humanitarian think tank, The Everyone Foundation. Sarah began her career in print, then joined the BBC to work in radio, television and online. She co-ran the BBC’s experimental digital news hub in Birmingham, and is a former editor of BBC radio stations Newcastle and York – award-winning for their journalism, presentation, and community outreach. She became a BBC trainer and creative facilitator working across the organisation’s content and leadership units on community projects with under-served audiences. After 23 years as a broadcaster Sarah became a regional director for the RIBA, before establishing her consultancy and being invited to teach post-graduate journalism at Newcastle University. Sarah has a degree in the history of art and architecture from the University of East Anglia, and a passion for 17th Century still life painting; she is vice-chair of Skimstone Arts. She joined the board of YMT in 2014 and loves family visits to York Art Gallery and the Artists Garden.

Mary Haworth

Mary is the Director of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni at the University of York. She brings 15 years’ fundraising experience to the YMT Board since she joined in 2015 and a range of skills, including fundraising strategy and governance, and campaign development. Since 2011, Mary has led the expansion of philanthropic giving to the University of York. Always keen to innovate, she introduced the UK’s first university crowd-funding platform. She has led a number of capital fundraising campaigns, devised legacy programmes, and worked across all forms of philanthropy. Awards include a CASE Crystal Apple in 2018 for her training on major gift fundraising and the Times Higher Education Award for Leadership and Management in Fundraising in 2015. Mary has an MSc in Charity Fundraising and Marketing from the Centre for Charity Effectiveness, Cass Business School. Mary is married to Matthew, Dean of Research and Innovation at the University of Newcastle. Between them they juggle their twin sons who, like their parents, are avid museum-goers. Many weekends are also spent running around the much-loved Museum Gardens.

Richard Jagger

Richard has a degree in Economics and an MBA, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He has significant experience in senior positions in commercial, sales, marketing and general management in the UK; he spent several years living in Brussels working in international business-to-business and consumer markets. Richard was a Trustee of the Bowes Museum from 2000 to 2011 and sat on the sub-committee which led the redevelopment of the Grade I listed building and galleries. Richard is currently a Trustee of York Citizens Theatre Trust and Chairman of their Estates Working Group, and also a Trustee of The Rowntree Society. Richard has a lifelong interest in historic buildings and gardens through his own property investment business. Richard became a trustee in 2015 and chairs the Nominations Committee of York Museums Trust and is a non-executive director of York Museums Enterprises Limited, the trading subsidiary of York Museums Trust. He loves living by the riverside and experiencing the changing seasons and gains particular pleasure from the city’s architecture and green spaces and the many festivals which he enjoys with his wife Denise and two grown up sons.

Stephen Lusty

Stephen is the director of Yorktour Ltd, a guided-walking tour company which he acquired in 2010. Stephen graduated from Nottingham University with a degree in Modern Languages; after an engineering apprenticeship he became an export sales engineer in Leicester. His subsequent career in industry included seven years in Germany, and culminated in senior posts managing SME’s for European multi-nationals, the most recent one being as MD of Airmaster Engineering Ltd in Leeds. In the 1990’s he chaired the Environmental Industries Commission, lobbying government on issues affecting environmental legislation on behalf of environmental equipment suppliers. Stephen is a trustee of York Civic Trust, and is honorary vice-president of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society which stimulates public understanding of the natural sciences and archaeology. He is married to Sharon and they have four children. Stephen joined the trust in 2014 and is frequently to be seen in YMT’s historic Museum Gardens, guiding groups of visitors through their fantastic history, before encouraging them to learn more about it in the Yorkshire Museum.

Professor Dianne Willcocks

Dianne Willcocks is former Vice-Chancellor of York St John University; a professor of social gerontology; and a lifetime advocate for cultural industries and access to the arts. In the university sector in London and Yorkshire, Dianne promoted cultural diversity and regional engagement, creating opportunities for the wider community and helping define the modern university. In the City of York she chaired York Theatre Royal Board for 10 years; she is ViceChair of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and was a board member of the Great Exhibition of the North 2018. Dianne presently chairs the biennial York Mediale Festival – giving visibility to York’s UNESCO designation as City of Media Arts. Dianne’s continuing work in the field of ageing includes being patron for Older Citizens’ Advocacy York, health champion for York Older People’s Assembly, and from February 2019 the chair of the Wilf Ward Family Trust. Dianne travels widely, visiting age-appropriate living environments as well as galleries and museums. Dianne joined the Trust in 2017 and became its Senior Independent Trustee in 2019; she is a devotee of York Art Gallery and its constantly delighting exhibitions.

Miranda Lowe

Miranda is Museum Scientist and Principal Curator at the Natural History Museum where she has worked for 30 years.  She has impressive public engagement as well as curatorial experience and is the founder of the Museum Detox network of BAME museum professionals.  She is the London representative of the Museums Association, has been a very hands-on and enthusiastic fund-raiser and is the NHM Branch Rep for the Prospect Union.

Scott Furlong

Scott has a curatorial/collections background at the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, Royal Museums Greenwich and Chatham Historic Dockyard and most recently as Director, Collections & Cultural Property at Arts Council England.  He has excellent capital projects experience, is an acknowledged collections expert and his 8 years at ACE have given him huge insight into museums and cultural policy and very extensive connections across the sector.

Councillor Simon Daubeney

Simon Daubeney is an elected councillor for the City of York, serving the Westfield ward. With a long career in economic development, Simon has worked across a broad range of activities seeking to develop skills, investment, training and opportunities in York, such as managing the city’s youth enterprise centre for those starting their own businesses, and working in partnership with businesses to develop activities and a joint ethos. Simon was active in the voluntary sector while Regional Director for Young Enterprise, giving young people a taste of running their own business while still at school, as a Business Mentor with the Prince’s Trust, and as a Panel Chair helping young people with the city’s Youth Offending Team. Simon has a wide range of interests, from economics and current affairs to architecture, history, culture and literature. A keen traveller when the opportunity presents itself, Simon never misses the chance to peruse a UK or European Art Gallery, especially the gems of the Dutch School to be found Amsterdam. As a keen observer of all things Victorian, Simon’s favourite spot in the Castle Museum is Kirkgate where he loves the various Victorian shops and artefacts on display.

Councillor Danny Myers

Councillor Danny Myers Elected as a Labour Councillor for Clifton Ward on City of York Council, Danny lives in Clifton with his young family and is an active member of the community.

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