Minutes of a meeting of the Board held on Thursday 25 September 2025 on the sixth floor of the Hub
Present
John Booth CVO FSA (Chair)
Diana Berry
James Lambert OBE
David Marks
Andrew Marr
Dounia Nadar
Rosalind Nashashibi
Tonya Nelson
Stuart Roden
Professor Patricia Rubin
Professor Dame Molly Stevens DBE FRS FREng
Apologies
Catherine Goodman CBE LVO
Sir John Kingman KCB FRS
In attendance
Paul Gray - Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer
Victoria Hayes - Secretary to the Board and Head of Governance (Minutes)
Andy Hibbert - Chief Financial Officer
Anh Nguyen - Director of Development
Susan Noonan - Chief Commercial Officer, National Gallery Global Ltd
Christine Riding - Director of Collections and Research
John Stack - Director of Digital Innovation and Technology
Larry Keith - Keeper and Head of Conservation for item 1
Per Rumberg - The Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department for items 1–5
Jill Dunkerton - Restorer for item 1
Dr Laura Llewellyn - Curator of Italian Paintings before 1500 for item 1
Alexandra Kavanagh - Head of Exhibitions for item 6
Katherine Peever - Environment and Sustainability Manager for item 7
Jessica Francourt - Head of HR for item 8
1. Pictures for treatment:
1.1. In the conservation studio, the Head of Conservation and Keeper showed the Board, following treatment, Mattia Preti’s The Marriage at Cana (NG6372) and Jacob Ruisdael’s A Landscape with a Waterfall and a Castle on a Hill (NG737).
1.2. The Board approved the paintings as being ready to go back on display.
1.3. Trustees were shown Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio’s Portrait of a Man in Profile (NG 3916), Caspar Netscher’s Portrait of a Lady and a Girl (NG2953), Giulio Licinio’s The Rape of the Sabines (NG644.1) and The Intervention of the Sabine Women (NG644.2), The Story of Cimon and Efigenia (NG4037) by a Venetian artist and Jacopo di Antonio’s (Master of Pratovecchio?) Pratovecchio Altarpiece (NG584.1-6), for all of which they had examination reports. The Board approved the treatments proposed.
2. Declarations of Interest:
2.1. A Trustee made a general declaration, that with the launch of the Architectural Competition for St Vincent House, owing to the nature of his business, it was likely he would know some of the architects applying.
3. Minutes from the meeting held on 11 July 2025 and matters arising:
3.1. The Minutes from the meeting held on 11 July 2025 were approved.
3.2. There were no matters arising.
4. Loans Out:
4.1. The Jacob Rothschild Head of the Curatorial Department presented the Loans Out paper, which was approved.
5. Deputy Director’s Report:
5.1. The Deputy Director, Director of Collections and Research and Director of Digital Innovation and Technology gave a presentation.
5.2-5.3. Information has been excluded under s.22, s.36 and s.43 FOI 2000.
5.4. A Trustee gave an update on the working group meetings with Tate. The Chair thanked the group for their hard work.
5.5. The Deputy Director reported that the first summer school had been held in the Roden Centre for Creative Learning in August and that 40 schools had taken part in the Take One Picture activities.
6. Report from the Head of Exhibitions on Exhibitions in 2024 and a presentation on the years ahead:
6.1. The Head of Exhibitions joined the meeting and gave her presentation, which was noted.
7. Sustainability Report:
7.1. The Environment and Sustainability Manager joined the meeting and gave her presentation. She confirmed that she would be involved with Project Domani and that there was a plan for part of the building to be used as an energy centre which could power the whole estate.
8. Report on People:
8.1. The Head of HR joined the meeting and presented her report, which overall was positive. The Chair said it was good to see how many colleagues were being promoted internally and staff turnover remaining low. He said that the hospitality is excellent and is sustained throughout the building.
9. Report from the Chief Commercial Officer of NGG Ltd:
9.1. The Chair reported that DCMS had recently re-appointed James Lambert to the Board for a further 4 years.
9.2. The Chairman of NGG reported that Jo Prosser would be joining the Board of NGG as a Non-Executive Director.
9.3. The Chief Commercial Officer gave her presentation and highlighted that trading during the summer months had been exceptionally strong.
10. Management Accounts and Development Report:
10.1. The Chief Financial Officer presented the Management Accounts which were noted.
10.2. The Director of Development presented the Development Report which was noted. On behalf of the Board, the Chairman of NGG thanked the Chair for his outstanding generosity towards Project Domani and praised the Director of Development and her team, along with the Executive Committee for their hard work.
11. Grant Applications to AFNGL:
11.1. The Grant Applications to AFNGL were approved.
12. Annual Freedom of Information Report:
12.1. The Annual Freedom of Information Report was noted.
13. Committees of the Board and others, reporting since the last Board meeting:
13.1. The Chair gave a verbal update from the Nominations Committee held on 19 June.
13.2. The Minutes of the Masterplan Committee held on 9 September were noted.
13.3. The Chair of the Research Advisory Committee gave a verbal update from the meeting held on 12 September.
14. AOB
14.1. Dounia Nadar said that this was her last meeting and that it had been an enormous privilege to serve the Gallery and she wished it every success for the future.
14.2. The Chairman expressed heartfelt thanks to Dounia Nadar for all she had done for the Gallery during her time as a Trustee.
14.3. He said that the Gallery was at a historic moment and congratulated the Executive Committee for their commitment to Project Domani in the midst of the Bicentenary year. He thanked the Deputy Director for deputising for the Director during his sabbatical.
John Booth
Chair