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Remembered Today:

End of tenure of three "Centenary" IWM Board of Trustees members


Keith_history_buff

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I see the following three persons' tenures - of four years duration - on the IWM Board of Trustees will be coming to end shortly:


appointed from 1 February 2015       Amjad Hussain            Rear Admiral, Royal Navy

 

appointed from 1 April 2015              Tamsin Todd                CEO, FindMyPast (since September 2017)

 

appointed from 1 April 2015              Matthew Westerman   Director - MW&L Capital Partners Limited (since June 2018)

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-appoints-3-trustees-to-the-imperial-war-museum

Would they give a press statement each when they leave, or will they bow out, silently?
 

Edited by Keith_history_buff
Edited the title to add "IWM"
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I guess not, given that the time they spend would appear to be somewhat limited.

 

Remuneration: These roles are not remunerated, but reasonable travel expenses will be paid.
Time Requirements: Trustees are expected to allocate sufficient time to the role, which is likely to be up to one day per month. There are four full Board meetings per year (generally March, July, September and December). Some additional time will be required to study papers and reports as well as to attend events, away days, other committee meetings as appropriate and any representational engagements.

https://publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/appointment/imperial-war-museums-media-trustee-legalestates-trustee/

 

The expertise they have been able to bring to the role, and any specialisations they have taken up doesn't seem to get a mention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Expertise - other than directorships or relatively irrelevant military experience - seems to be a great disadvantage for anyone  who could make a worthwhile contribution as trustee at the IWM it seems.

Edited by David Filsell
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Bearing in mind these positions are not remunerated, and a commitment equating to a day a month is required, I guess they are in essence rubber-toothed bulldogs. Apart from keeping in check the Senior Management team, a bit like the House of Lords relative to Parliament (in theory), I guess their is little else that their bailiwick would allow them, in terms of making a tangible difference to the stewardship of the IWM.

There is a reference on the FMP blog to Tamsin Todd being the Digital Trustee of the IWM, whatever that means. I presume it just means that in all matters "digital", she is seen as the subject matter expert among the Trustees.

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5 hours ago, Jim Strawbridge said:

I suppose the next question should be "How does one get on the short list to replace them ?"

 

Well, for a start, you presumably have to wait for the next centenary to get a bit closer. You might also want to distance yourself from the subject.

Edited by Medaler
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22 hours ago, Medaler said:

 

Well, for a start, you presumably have to wait for the next centenary to get a bit closer. You might also want to distance yourself from the subject.

 

Not for me as I could not dedicate the time to it. But presumably, as three go out, another three needs to go in.

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To me it seems perfectly straightforward that they took on three extra members for the duration of the 1914-1918 centenary and, that centenary now being deemed over, have ended their tenure without the intention of replacing them.

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5 hours ago, Jim Strawbridge said:

 

Not for me as I could not dedicate the time to it. But presumably, as three go out, another three needs to go in.


Yes, as I understand it, there will be an announcement once the new persons have been appointed. Centenary or not, I guess the Trustee role remains the same. Whilst I did think there may have been some centenary-specific duties, there was nothing in the announcement to confirm that it was anything other than a common-or-garden Trustee appointment being made.
 

On 20/01/2019 at 12:05, Jim Strawbridge said:

I suppose the next question should be "How does one get on the short list to replace them ?"

 

The link in the second post would infer that anyone can apply. You may want to get a list of the Trustees, and determine if you (third party singular) are in their peer group, I guess. I am sure I read that the board is two members short, though.

 

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From my experience in working for a quango - where I had certain proof of corruption in print contracts -  I can only say good luck with applying. The wheels within wheels still grind extremely fine in IWM and other similar quango/trustee placements I feel sure.  They pick from the so called "great the good" - boat unrockers all. Knowledge and experience count for little, the candidates are virtually self selecting.

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  • 1 month later...
On 19/01/2019 at 13:50, Keith_history_buff said:

I see the following three persons' tenures - of four years duration - on the IWM Board of Trustees will be coming to end shortly:


appointed from 1 February 2015       Amjad Hussain            Rear Admiral, Royal Navy

 

appointed from 1 April 2015              Tamsin Todd                CEO, FindMyPast (since September 2017)

 

appointed from 1 April 2015              Matthew Westerman   Director - MW&L Capital Partners Limited (since June 2018)

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-appoints-3-trustees-to-the-imperial-war-museum

Would they give a press statement each when they leave, or will they bow out, silently?
 

 

They are all staying on, I see
https://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/trustees/trustee-appointments
 

Quote

The Prime Minister has appointed Professor Margaret MacMillan to be a Trustee of IWM for an initial term of four years from 1 February 2019. Three existing Trustees, Rear Admiral Amjad Hussain, Tamsin Todd and Matthew Westerman, have been reappointed for a further term of four years.

 

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Professor Margaret McMillan was the subject of a very recent Radio 4 Desert Island Discs'. She is in her mid 70's, I was impressed.......

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A huge array of relevant experience and appropriate skills there then. Although I should perhaps add a hopeful, "Hello sailor".

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Ha ha ha, "Hello sailor", I like it.

I had assumed that Tamsin Todd's current day job at FindMyPast - she wasn't working there when she took on the Digital Trustee role - might have been a conflict of interest for any longer term involvement at the IWM. The start of divorce proceedings between FMP and IWM (regarding LOTFWW) seem to pre-date her arrival by a few months, so I guess that has avoided what could have been a scenario that would be tricky to manage, from an arms-length governance perspective. 

There again, if she's only doing the equivalent of a day's work per month as a Trustee then I guess that her or the other Trustees are shuffling paper, and the IWM's Sir Humphrey Appleby types are rarely disturbed by these rubber-toothed bulldogs.

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