Trustees

Elisabeth Elias read Law at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister. From 2000-2007 she was Chairman of the Council of the Girls’ Day School Trust, an organisation responsible for 26 independent girls’ schools and one of the largest charities in the UK. Until recently she sat as a Chairman of the Residential Property Tribunal for Wales and was a member of the Board of the University of Glamorgan from 2000 to 2010. She served as a member (nominated from Wales) of the Social Security Advisory Committee from 1996 to 2005, has been Chairman of a Local Research Ethics Committee and was a non-executive member of the Board of the Welsh Health Common Services Authority from 1995 to 1999. She served as a magistrate for 18 years until 2000.

Former Chairman & Chief Executive of the world’s largest steel lintel manufacturer, Peter was appointed a Trustee on 1 January 2007 assumed the role of Treasurer in October 2007.

Born in Penarth, Peter qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1970 and, after taking an MBA, his career included merchant banking, North Sea oil servicing and textiles. In the late 1970’s Peter returned to Wales to join Catnic Lintels and, following its acquisition by Rio Tinto Corporation, became Chief Executive and latterly Chairman of the Catnic Group of companies.

During his career Peter has been a non-executive director of a number of trade bodies and the Building Research Establishment during its privatisation. He has also served as a Trustee of the Community Development Foundation, a director of the Mid Glamorgan TEC, Garden Festival Wales, Business in the Community and has been a member of the Wales Committee of the National Playing Fields Association since 1997. He became a Freeman of the City of London in 1997. Peter has been a member of the Museum's Audit Committee since 2001 and Chairman since 2005.

Dr Haydn E Edwards has a background in education and science and for 24 years was the Principal and Chief Executive of several further education colleges, retiring in 2009 after leading Coleg Menai for 15 years. His doctorate and research interest was in radiation biochemistry and he was a post-doctoral fellow in the University of Notre Dame, USA before becoming a Senior Research Scientist at the North East Wales Institute. Dr Edwards is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Glyndŵr University.

He currently holds a number of public offices: a Non-Executive Director with Estyn and was recently appointment by the Welsh Government to Chair the Food and Farming Sector Panel. He also chairs the Board of Directors of Rheilffordd Llyn Padarn (a narrow gauge railway), is President of Llangefni Rugby Club and is a member of the Association of Colleges’ Beacon Awards Committee. Dr Edwards also brings extensive knowledge of education in Wales and a wide range of interests relevant to the Museum’s work.

Iolo is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Wales. He has made a major contribution to scholarship through his work in encouraging and promoting the discussion of science through the medium of Welsh. He has a great love of all things political and cultural.

He presently serves on the Museum's Sciences Panel.

John Last is Visiting Professor in the Department of Arts Policy and Management at City University London since 1986. He also teaches on the Post Graduate MA degree in Museums and Gallery Management.

He was awarded a Doctorate of Letters by the City University for services to Museum Management (Honoris Causa) in December 1995. He was a member of the UK Museums and Galleries Commission (the principal adviser on museums to the UK Government) from 1983 to 1995, a Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1980 to 1984 and a Trustee of the National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside from 1986 to 1999.

From 1990 to 1997 he was Chairman of the Museums Training Institute, which has now become the UK Cultural Heritage National Training Organization. In 1989 he was awarded a CBE for services to Museums and Galleries in the UK, and in 1987 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Museums Association.

He graduated from Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1961.

Following a successful thirty-five year career in retailing and service industries in the UK, USA and the Middle East, including CEO and  director positions, Gareth and his wife retired to their native south Wales in 2002. Gareth is managing a portfolio of Chair, Non Executive Director and advisory roles. These include Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Welsh Scout Council, Chairman of Netalogue plc,  member of the Wales Management Committee of the Institute of Directors and Governor of the University of Glamorgan.

Gareth was born and brought up in Cardiff and educated at Cardiff High School and Exeter University.

David Beresford Vokes is a solicitor and commercial lawyer by training and for the last 15 years of his professional life was involved in the establishment and management of the law firm Eversheds. Mr Vokes is a governor of Atlantic College and has been a council member of the Arts Council of Wales since 2004. This post, which comes to an end on 31 March 2010, is unpaid and he holds no other Ministerial public appointments. He has recently been appointed as a Trustee of Age Cymru.

Professor Tony Atkins grew up in Cardiff, and was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He studied at Cardiff and Cambridge, worked in industry and taught at Oxford and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, he is Visiting Professor at Imperial College and an Emeritus Professor of Reading University, where he served on the Board of the Museum of English Rural Life. He is very interested in industrial archaeology and the history of engineering. Married with three children, he is a Churchwarden of St Michael’s & All Angels at Inkpen (Berks). He holds no other Ministerial public appointments.

Victoria Mary Provis is a native of Cardiff. After an early career in corporate communications and professional services marketing, Victoria moved into executive search in 1993. She has been a Partner at Odgers Berndtson in London since 1995 and specialises in leading corporate communications and board-level appointments (both executive and non-executive) across the UK and Continental Europe. She opened the firm’s Cardiff office in 2005 and remains a Non-Executive Director. Dividing her time between London and St Davids, Victoria is also a member of the Council of Prince’s Trust Cymru and a Member of Glas Cymru. She is also a former Vice-Chair of the Board of Atlantic College.

Mr Keshav Singhal is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon working at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend and the Neath Port Talbot Hospital. He initially trained in India and subsequently finished his specialisation in the Midlands after which he took up his current job in Wales in 1996. He is the Chair of the HCA (Wales) and India Centre, Cardiff and is actively engaged in promoting and introducing arts and culture from the Indian Subcontinent to Wales and finding synergies and similarities between the two cultures. He is involved in promoting intercultural and interfaith dialogue and harmony. He is married with two sons.