She project-managed the creation of the UK standard for the recording of information about museum collections (SPECTRUM) and was responsible for the creation of the only museum of Law in the country (the multi-award winning Galleries of Justice in Nottingham). Diane is a Trustee of the Holdsworth Trust, a Trustee of the Army Museums Ogilby Trust and a Trustee of Kids in Museums.

 

She became Director-General of the Imperial War Museum in October 2008.

What Diane says: “The M&H awards is the only scheme which recognises the breadth of scope and scale of operation in museums across the globe. In times of budget cuts they inspire museums and their partner providers to continue to achieve great things and recognise the success of their efforts. They also raise the profile of the participants with their stakeholders which is also critical during times of difficulty.”  
 

Sam Mullins
Director, London Transport Museum

Social and local historian by training, having read Modern History at Pembroke College, Oxford, Museum Studies at Leicester University; social history curator for Shropshire County Museums, founder curator of The Harborough Museum in Market Harborough, Leics, Director of St.Albans Museums and since 1994 Director of London Transport Museum.

 

A member of the London Transport Museum Board as Director of the Museum. Board member of the Museum Prize Trust, Chairman of Association of Independent Museums 1999-2005 and now Vice Chairman. Author of museum publications on domestic service, retail history and visiting tutor to University of East Anglia Leadership Programme. Board member, London Renaissance Board.

What Sam says: "In this year's entries, I will be looking for entries which show the way either in raising income or in making enterprising partnerships outside the sector."

---

Matthew Tanner MBE
Director & Chief Executive, ss Great Britain Trust

Matthew has worked in the maritime heritage sector for 19 years. He was appointed as Director and Chief Executive of the ss Great Britain Trust in 2000 in order to create the vision and deliver the conservation of Brunel’s ss Great Britain, and he led the team that delivered the £13m conservation and regeneration of that ship. He was awarded the MBE in 2007 for his services to maritime conservation.

The project, completed in 2005, has now been awarded the Gulbenkian UK Museum of the Year Prize 2006, the England Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2007, the European Museum of the Years’s Micheletti Award for Best Industrial/Technology Museum, and 15 other national and international awards for tourism, conservation, access, interpretation and design. He is Vice Chairman of the Association of Independent Museums, and he will become Chairman in June 2011.

What Matthew says: “I am hoping to see a real sense of innovation and creativity in the best award applications. It is always fascinating to see what good and new ideas are thought up in museums and heritage sites all over the UK. Such are the projects that are likely to win out. The awards are a great way of spreading the word, and sharing good practice and innovation for all.”

 

---

Marie Roberts
Editor, M&H Magazine 

Marie has been editor of the Awards’ media partner, M&H Magazine, for eleven years.  The magazine is part of the M&H portfolio which includes M&HOnline, M&HTV and M&HNews and is owned by Ten Alps Publishing.  It pulls together all the latest news, features, products and videos from across the industry to create a unique multiplatform offering for professionals working in the museums and heritage sector.


 

---

Bernard Donoghue

Director, ALVA
 

Bernard took up the position of Director of ALVA in September 2011 following a career in advocacy, communications and lobbying, latterly at a senior level in the tourism and heritage sector.  ALVA’s members are the most popular, important and iconic museums, galleries, castles, palaces, cathedrals, churches, houses, heritage sites, gardens, zoos and leisure attractions in the UK.

He is Chairman of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), having been a Board member since 2005 and Deputy Chair since 2007.  Bernard is also Trustee of Centrepoint, the youth homelessness charity; a Fellow, Ambassador and former Trustee of the World-Wide Fund for Nature UK and Chair of WWF-UK's 50th Anniversary Taskforce; a member of the Cathedral Council of St Paul's Cathedral, London; and a Trustee and Fellow of the Tourism Society. He was a Board Director of Marketing Manchester, 2001 - 2010, and Chairman of VisitManchester, the Manchester tourist board, 2008 - 2010. He was Co-Chair of British Tourism Week, 2008 - 2010.
 

Bernard had held lobbying, policy, campaigning and communications roles for VisitBritain, the national tourist board; the National AIDS Trust; Sense – the National Deafblind and Rubella Organisation; and Disability Daily, a national campaigning consortium of disability and carers’ organisations, which he founded.  Bernard has worked as a policy and communications advisor in the House of Lords and Commons for various MPs and Peers; for the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg; for the Royal Household and for the late Diana, Princess of Wales. He was a member of the Prime Minister's Communications Advisory Group between 2007 - 2009. He is the author of the 'British Tourism Framework Review', published in 2009 and commissioned by the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
 

He is a former Chair of the British Youth Council; London Youth Matters; the Commonwealth Youth Forum; and was the first Chair of the Youth Forum of the United Nations.  He is a former Trustee of the National Youth Agency. Bernard has been a judge of the British Environment and Media Awards (BEMAs) and the Museums + Heritage Awards for several years. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA), a Fellow of the Tourism Society (FTS), Fellow of WWF-UK, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (MCIPR) and lives in London.