National Galleries of Scotland

Ben Thomson, Chairman

Ben is a physics graduate from Edinburgh University. He started work for Kleinwort Benson in London and then joined Noble Group, the UK investment bank, in 1990. He was appointed as Chief Executive of Noble Group in 1997 and became Chairman in 2007, until its merger with Execution Limited in 2010.

He is Chairman of Urbicus Ltd, a property fund management business. He is also Chairman of Inverleith LLP, a Scottish-based merchant bank; Chairman of the charity Reform Scotland, an independent think tank researching and promoting policies to improve the Scottish economic environment and the efficiency of the public sector; and Chairman of Barrington Stoke, a Scottish publishing company that publishes books for reluctant readers.

He is a Non-Executive Director of two quoted investment trusts, Martin Currie Portfolio Investment Trust plc and Fidelity Special Values PLC. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Edinburgh Science Festival.

Ben enjoys opera and art. He was a Scottish international athlete, and enjoys most sports, especially skiing and triathlon.

Richard Burns

Richard Burns was appointed to the Board in February 2007. He was until last year joint senior partner of Baillie Gifford, Scotland’s leading independent investment manager. Since 1999 he has been Governor of Donaldson’s College, the school for children with hearing, speech and language difficulties and has been a member of the Court of the University of Dundee since August 2006.

James Knox

James Knox was appointed to the Board in February 2007. He is managing director of The Art Newspaper, the leading international publication on the art world with offices in London and New York. Prior to this appointment, he ran his own consultancy advising institutional and private patrons on the commissioning of contemporary art.

Ray Macfarlane

Ray Macfarlane was appointed to the Board in April 2007. She graduated MA, LLB, MBA from the University of Glasgow and began her career as a solicitor in private practice. She held senior management posts in HBOS plc and Scottish Enterprise before taking up a non-executive career in 2008. A former Chairman of Scottish Screen and Deputy Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council, she is now a Member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board and a Non-Executive Director of the Scottish Housing Regulator and of Home Scotland.

Alasdair Morton

Alasdair Morton was appointed to the Board in April 2007 and is chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee. He is a Chartered Accountant and currently works as the Head of Fraud Management for UK Retail at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Prior to this he worked for KPMG Forensic and was responsible for leading and working in a variety of teams. He is a member of MasterCard's European Fraud Advisory Committee also and a former chair of their UK Security Committee.

Lesley Knox

Lesley Knox is currently Chairman of Dundee Design Limited, the charitable company formed to build a new design centre in Dundee to provide – in partnership with the V&A at Dundee – a showcase for the best in international design.

Prior to that, she was Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Federation of British Artists for five years.

Ms Knox was a Governor of the Museum of London for nine years.  She was also a Member of the Steering Group led by George Reid during his review of the National Trust for Scotland.  She is Chairman of the Alliance Trust Plc, a Director of Hays Plc and a Director of Grosvenor Group Limited.

Nicky Wilson

Nicky Wilson is Founder and Director of the charitable foundation Jupiter Artland Foundation.  She is founder and former co-Director of Beautiful Bump skincare products and has worked at WCRS Advertising Agency and LSDC Ayer Advertising managing accounts.

Ms Wilson was a winner of the prestigious year-long British School of Rome Sculpture Scholarship.  She trained at Chelsea School of Art – where she was awarded a MA in Sculpture – and Camberwell College of Fine Art.

Professor Ian Howard

Professor Ian Howard MA (Hons) is Principal of Edinburgh College of Art.  He was formerly Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, University of Dundee and prior to that, a Professor in the University’s School of Fine Art.  He was a leading force behind the establishment of the internationally significant Dundee Contemporary Arts.

He has been a member of the Faculty of Fine Art at the British School in Rome, and a visiting professor at many art and design institutions worldwide.  In 2007 he was given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Edinburgh and also elected Treasurer of the Royal Scottish Academy.

He is a painter and printmaker of international standing and winner of the Chicago Prize 2000.

Tricia Bey

Tricia joined the Board of Trustees in November 2012.  In her early career Tricia worked in the pre-internet world of patent information. She then spent 14 years with Deloitte Consulting, building and leading different practice areas including two years as the Managing Partner of the Dutch consulting practice. She was later Managing Director of a London-based management development school. She now lives in Ayrshire running her own award-winning cheese making business.

Tricia has an Engineering Science degree from Durham University and an MBA from The London Business School. She is a Trustee of the Friends of the V&A and a Director of Taste Ayrshire.

Catherine Muirden

Catherine joined the Board of Trustees in November 2012. Catherine is a Human Resources professional and is currently Head of HR in the Retail Bank at Barclays. Her interests and activities include diversity and inclusion, employee engagement and youth employability.

After graduating from Edinburgh University, her management career began at Marks and Spencer, where she held senior HR positions including Group Head of Recruitment. She is a non-executive Director of The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.