John Leighton, Director General

John Leighton was born in Belfast. He studied Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art and history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He taught art history at Edinburgh before being appointed in 1986 as Curator of 19th-century paintings at the National Gallery in London, a post he held for over ten years.

He was Director of the Van Gogh Museum from 1997 until his appointment as Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland in March 2006. At the Van Gogh Museum he was responsible for the world’s most important collection of Van Gogh and one of Europe’s leading collections of 19th century art.

He has curated numerous exhibitions including Caspar David Friedrich’s Winter Landscapes (1990), Art in the Making: Impressionism (1990), Seurat’s Bathers (1997) Signac (2001) and Manet and the Sea (2004), contributed to the catalogues for the above exhibitions, and published and lectured on various aspects of 19th and 20th-century art.

Nicola Catterall

Nicola was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2007 after a 3 month interim role as Finance Director. She is responsible for business strategy and leading the Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, Estates and Health & Safety functions.

She has over 20 years of senior operational and financial management experience in premier financial services organisations. She worked in Edinburgh in senior management roles for the Standard Life Group for 8 years, including Head of Finance for Standard Life Investments, Head of Property Support and most recently Programme Director for the Demutualisation project, leading a team of 450 people who successfully converted the organisation to a plc.

Previously she worked in London for 14 years for the Global Investment Banking Group, J.P. Morgan. Roles included Project Manager for set up of the Group’s first insurance business, Head of Compliance, Business Support Manager for the European Investment Banking business and numerous cost restructuring and core Financial roles.

Nicola is an E & Y qualified Chartered Accountant and member of ICAEW, with a strong audit background and experience in Finance, Control, Risk and Compliance disciplines. She graduated from the University of Durham in 1980 with a BA Joint Honours, Double First in Philosophy and Politics.

Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke has been Keeper and then Director of the National Gallery of Scotland since 1987. He was educated at Manchester University and, prior to joining the National Galleries of Scotland, worked at the British Museum and Manchester University.

His numerous publications include The Tempting Prospect: a social history of English watercolours (1981) and Corot and the Art of Landscape (1991). He has organised many exhibitions for the National Gallery of Scotland, including Lighting up the Landscape: French Impressionism and its Origins (1986), Cézanne and Poussin (1991), Monet to Matisse (1994), and Monet: The Seine and the Sea (2003), as well as being a guest contributor to exhibitions organised abroad. From 1999 to 2004 he was Director of the successful Playfair Project, a £30 million extension and renovation of the National Gallery complex. Michael’s special interest lies in the French School, of which he has acquired many paintings and drawings for the National Gallery of Scotland’s collection.

James Holloway

James Holloway has been Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery since 1997. He trained at the Courtauld Institute at London University and has worked at the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Museum of Wales.

He is a specialist on Scottish art and has written monographs on four 18th-century artists. His exhibition The Discovery of Scotland traced the appreciation of the Scottish landscape through three centuries of painting.  Speaking Likeness integrated archival voice recordings with late 19th and 20th-century portraits.

He is in charge of the Gallery’s active commissioning programme and is currently working on a project to transform the presentation and interpretation of Scotland’s national portrait collection.

Simon Groom

Simon Groom joined the National Galleries of Scotland in 2007 from Tate Liverpool where he was Head of Exhibitions for four years. Prior to that Simon worked in Cambridge as Exhibition’s Organiser at Kettle’s Yard. Simon has worked as a lecturer in English Literature in Italy and Japan and his academic qualifications include a PhD in Art History and an MA in Art History (Modern) from the Courtauld Institute and an MA in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh.

Simon has curated numerous exhibitions both in the UK and abroad, contributed to exhibition catalogues and is a regular lecturer on various aspects of modern and contemporary art. He has a particular interest in art from Asia. Recent exhibitions curated by Simon include, Niki de Saint Phalle, The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China, Richard Wentworth, A Secret History of Clay: from Gauguin to Gormley, and Mono-ha: School of Things.

Jacqueline Ridge

Jack Ridge is Keeper of Conservation. She joined the National Galleries of Scotland in 2006 after 11 years at Tate, London as a painting conservator and latterly as Conservation Manager for frames, technicians and paintings. She continues to practice as a conservator and has publications covering painting techniques – early panel painting through to modern and contemporary work - and collections care and management. She is a joint coordinator for ICOM-CC paintings group and an Advisory Council member at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge University.

Catrin Tilley

Catrin Tilley is Director of Development and Communications. She is responsible for the fundraising, corporate support, marketing, press and new media functions of the Galleries. She joined the National Galleries of Scotland in 2003 for the final stages of the successful Playfair fundraising appeal. Catrin was previously Director of Development and Alumni at the University of Edinburgh where she was responsible for establishing the first University-wide fundraising campaign and significantly increasing the funds raised. Prior to that she held a number of senior management posts in the voluntary sector, including Deputy Director of Comic Relief.

Catrin is a Trustee of the Institute of Fundraising.