Non Executive Directorships

Vacancy Description

The Prime Minister wishes to appoint four Trustees to the board of the Wallace Collection. These Trustees will bring either fundraising, finance and investment, digital or legal experience and expertise. The successful candidates will contribute to the governance of the Wallace Collection and the delivery of its objectives.

Applications are encouraged from all sections of the community to help ensure that the Wallace Collection board is representative of the diverse society it serves. The Wallace Collection would particularly welcome applications from individuals who are based outside of London.

The roles

The chief role of the Trustees is to assist the Chair in meeting the Board’s overall responsibilities, in accordance with their statutory duties and the policies of the Secretary of State. They must be able to attend the meetings of the Board, and such other meetings as may be necessary. Board meetings are normally held four times a year.

The Board of Trustees offers guidance and expertise to the Executive (the Director and staff of the Wallace Collection). They must be positive and passionate advocates for the museum and its core mission, and must ensure that its affairs as a charity are conducted appropriately.

Person Specification

The Wallace Collection is seeking four Trustees who will be able to bring specific skills. All applicants to any of the four appointments will be able to demonstrate in their application the following criteria:

• Enthusiasm for the Wallace Collection and a strong interest in its work and collections;
• A commitment to the scholarly aims of the museum to encourage the enthusiasm for and knowledge of art, history and design from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century across a wide range of audiences and;
• A strong commitment to preserving cultural heritage, and improving education and understanding of British and World history and;
• A strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and providing opportunities for all.

 

In addition:

Trustee 1

Will have experience of fundraising in a museum or gallery context to help the museum develop its fundraising strategy including a network of valuable contacts and an imaginative approach to fundraising. This trustee will focus on the museum’s ongoing endowment campaign, the goal to develop revenue from corporate fundraising and offer counsel in the development of the Wallace’s Masterplan (which aims to redevelop the Wallace Collection site, enabled through fundraising efforts).

Trustee 2

Will be able to support the collection with Finance and Investment expertise.  The successful candidate will have a sound sense of general financial principles and funding priorities which apply to the Wallace Collection, bringing a commercial acumen. They will have relevant experience in relation to investment projects, alongside the operational and commercial skills to offer counsel to the senior management team.

Trustee 3

Will be able to champion the digital presence of the Collection.  The successful candidate will have experience of developing digital media and platforms to support the educational mission of the museum and to connect with new audiences through digital and social media channels.

Trustee 4

Will bring professional experience in the legal field to guide and support the Wallace Collection with its strategic development.

Additional Information

The Wallace Collection is a collection of the fine and decorative arts formed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by four successive Marquesses of Hertford and the 4th Marquess’s son, Sir Richard Wallace.  It was left to the British Nation in 1897 and opened as a national museum in June 1900 in Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1, a grade II listed building in central London. The museum is internationally famous for its collection of French eighteenth-century art, European princely arms and armour and for its Old Master paintings.

It is managed by a Director who reports to a board of Trustees appointed by the Prime Minister and is financed by a combination of grant-in-aid from central government and self-generated income.

In 2018, the Wallace Collection outlined its strategic plan, ‘Making Culture Matter’, which shaped their goal to create a place of understanding, cultural pluralism, curiosity and education.  Throughout this period, the Wallace Collection plans to create a world class visitor experience for all ages which stimulates engagement with the collection through a new programme of exhibitions, major gallery refurbishments and an enhanced and expanded digital presence.

Who is currently on the Board?

António Horta-Osório (Chair)

Kate de Rothschild Agius

Ashok Roy

Timothy Schroder

Marilyn Berk

Eric Ellul

Jennifer Eady

Jessica Pulay

Further information on the Wallace Collection can be found on its website at http://www.wallacecollection.org.

How to Apply

To apply, please send:

• a CV of not more than two sides of A4
• a supporting statement of not more than three sides of A4, providing examples and setting out how you meet the criteria
• the two Monitoring Forms concerning your personal information and political activity, and the Declaration of Interests Form.

 

Completed applications should be emailed to: publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk

Please put ‘Wallace Collection’ and specify which role you wish to apply for in the Subject line.

If you have any questions about the appointments process, please contact Phil Hodges, Campaign Manager at DCMS (philip.hodges@dcms.gov.uk).

To talk to someone about the trustee roles themselves, please contact Marine Farcy at the Wallace Collection (email: Marine.Farcy@wallacecollection.org ) to speak to a member of the senior team.

Disability Confident

We guarantee to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role. By ‘minimum criteria,’ we mean that you must provide evidence in your application, which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria.

If you want to apply under this scheme, simply state this in the covering email or letter when submitting your application.

Reasonable adjustments

If you would like a confidential discussion regarding any reasonable adjustments during the process, please also indicate this in the covering email or letter.

About DCMS

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) helps to drive growth, enrich lives, and promote Britain abroad.

We protect and promote our cultural and artistic heritage and help businesses and communities to grow by investing in innovation and highlighting Britain as a fantastic place to visit. We help to give the UK a unique advantage on the global stage, striving for economic success.

DCMS is a ministerial department, supported by 45 agencies and public bodies.

If you are not completely satisfied

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy. If you have any complaints about the way your application has been handled, please contact publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk.

Supporting information

This process is regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ (OCPA‘s) Code of Practice. All applicants are expected to have adhered to the Seven Principles of Public Life.

Eligibility Criteria 

You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:

• you become bankrupt or make an arrangement with a creditor
• your estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or you enter into a debt arrangement programme under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17) as the debtor or have, under Scots law, granted a trust deed for creditors;
• you are disqualified from acting as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986;
• you have been convicted of a criminal offence, the conviction not being spent for the purposes of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (c. 53);
• you become subject to a debt relief order or a bankruptcy restrictions order;
• you fail to declare any conflict of interest.

 

Conflicts of Interest and Due Diligence

If you have any interests that might be relevant to the work of the Wallace Collection, and which could lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest if you were to be appointed, please provide details in your application. If you have queries about this and would like to discuss further please contact the Public Appointments Team.

Given the nature of public appointments, it is important that those appointed as members of public bodies maintain the confidence of Parliament and the public. If there are any issues in your personal or professional history that could, if you were appointed, be misconstrued, cause embarrassment, or cause public confidence in the appointment to be jeopardised, it is important that you bring them to the attention of the Advisory Assessment Panel and provide details of the issue(s) in your application. In considering whether you wish to declare any issues, you should also reflect on any public statements you have made, including through social media.

As part of our due diligence checks we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This will include us undertaking searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. This information may be made available to the Advisory Assessment Panel and they may wish to explore issues with you should you be invited to interview. The information may also be shared with ministers and the Cabinet Office.