Board of Trustees

At any one time the Gallery has not less than 12 and not more than 14 Trustees. One is appointed by Tate from its own Board. The others are appointed by the Prime Minister, after an open process of selection, which is conducted in accordance with the Code of the Office of the Commissioner of Public Appointments.

Currently, appointments are generally made for a term of four years, and may be renewed once for a further term of the same length.

Current Trustees

Mark Getty (Chairman)
Co-founder and Chairman of Getty Images Inc, an international leader in digital imaging. Previously worked with Kidder Peabody in New York and Hambros Bank Ltd in London. Serves on the boards of several companies and is Chairman of Getty Investments LLC.

• Appointed 6 September 1999
• Reappointed 6 September 2004
• Appointed as Chairman 11 August 2008

Simon Burke
A specialist in retail turnarounds, he has a financial background and has acted as Chairman or CEO of several well-known retailers, including Virgin, Our Price and Hamleys. Currently Chairman of Irish supermarket business Superquinn, and Majestic Wine PLC.

• Appointed 21 February 2003
• Reappointed 21 February 2007

Gautam Dalal
A senior audit partner with KPMG’s London office. From 2000 to 2003 he was Chair and Chief Executive of the firm’s practice in India, which he had helped to establish. He is also a trustee and Treasurer of AMREF UK.

• Appointed 25 March 2009

Professor David Ekserdjian
Professor of Art History at the University of Leicester, former Editor of Apollo Magazine (1997-2004), writer and journalist.

• Appointed 30 September 2005

Lady Heseltine
Previously a Trustee of both the Victoria and Albert Museum (1997-2002), where she also chaired the Development Committee, and the Imperial War Museum (1991-1998). She was on the Board of Visitors for the Ashmolean Museum (1988-2007). In 1999 she received the Distinguished Friend of Oxford Award from the University of Oxford in recognition of her fundraising; she is also a Fellow of the Museum. She is an adviser to the Oxford Philomusica and a Trustee of the Burlington Magazine.

• Appointed 6 March 2008

Professor Dame Julia Higgins
The Gallery’s Scientist Trustee, she is Emeritus Professor of Polymer Science and Senior Research Investigator in the Department of Chemical Engineering in Imperial College, London.

• Appointed 6 April 2001
• Reappointed 6 April 2006

Michael Hintze
Founded the London-based hedge fund CQS in 1999, having previously worked with Salomon Brothers, Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs. A founder of the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation he is a Trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Prince of Wales’s Foundation for the Built Environment.

• Appointed 1 April 2008

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard
A former Ambassador to the EU and USA, he was Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service from 1997-2002. He became a cross-bench Peer in 2004. He is currently Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and Chairman of the Court and Council of Imperial College, London.

• Appointed 1 March 2002
• Reappointed 1 March 2006

Patricia Lankester
By profession a teacher - works independently in the fields of education, grant making, heritage and the arts. Formerly a Director of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

• Appointed 1 October 2007

John Lessore
Artist Trustee - has work represented in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the RA and the Tate.

• Appointed 10 February 2003
• Reappointed 10 February 2007

Lady Normanby
Literary critic (currently for the Daily Telegraph and Times Literary Supplement) and author. Her first book, 'A Rage for Rock Gardening', a biography of the 19th Century gardener Reginald Farrer, was published in 2002. She is currently working on a study of Sir Thomas Wyatt.

• Appointed 2 February 2004
• Reappointed 2 February 2008

Hannah Rothschild
A freelance television and film director, writer, journalist, lecturer and broadcaster specialising in the arts. Co-founder of the Artist on Film trust she is Vice President of the Hay Literary Festival and has acted in the past as a trustee of the ICA, Serpentine and Whitechapel Galleries and judge of the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Currently she is engaged in making films for BBC Storyville and writing a biography for Virago.

• Appointed 10 March 2009

Caroline Thomson
Chief Operating Officer at the BBC since 2006, with responsibility for policy, strategy and major infrastructure projects. She is a Non-executive Director of Digital UK Ltd, The Pensions Regulator and a Trustee of the BBC Pension Fund.

• Appointed 11 August 2008