Meet the Governors
The Board of Governors is the executive body of the Institute and is constituted by The Birmingham & Midland Act 1854.
Along with the President, there are six other Official Governors, five Council Governors and the remaining thirteen Elected Governors come from the membership of the Institute, making twenty-five in total.
The day-to-day running of the Institute is delegated to paid staff and much of the work of the Governors is delegated to sub-committees, who work to improve the management of the Institute and serve to improve the cultural offering to our members and to all who use our premises and its facilities.
There are currently seven vacancies. These are the members who have been elected to the Board of Governors 2024-25:
Dr Serena Trowbridge
Senior Vice President
Serena is Reader in Victorian Literature and Associate Director for Research at the School of English at Birmingham City University. Serena became an Elected Governor in 2018.
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Serena has held the posts of Chair of the Library Committee and Honorary Secretary before being elected as Senior Vice-President in 2020, and thus one of the seven Official Governors. She also chairs the Audience Engagement committee.
Serena has set up and organised the BMI Poetry Centre, which brings in a range of both well-known and obscure poets who attract a diverse range of attendees, many of whom have not visited the Institute before.
A regular speaker for the Monday lecture series, Serena tries to arrange meetings at the Institute and bring her students to visit, which has spread the word among the students she teaches.
Samina Ansari
Junior Vice President
Samina became an Elected Governor in January 2019. She is also the Honorary Librarian and was elected Junior Vice President, and one of our Official Governors, in January 2020.
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Samina has built a team of volunteers over the past three years who are trained and willing to help in any way they can.
Samina also chairs the Library committee, as Honorary Librarian and sits on the Audience Engagement committee.
James Fletcher
Honorary Treasurer
James is from Evesham in Worcestershire, and is Head of Management Finance for Malvern College, one of the United Kingdom’s leading independent schools.
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He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1995, and a Chartered Tax Adviser in 1997, and has a proven track record of good financial governance.
James became an Official Governor when he was elected Honorary Treasurer for the Institute in January 2020. He has also held the role of Honorary Treasurer for the Victorian Society in the West Midlands since 2004, and was formerly also Treasurer for the Birmingham Civic Society between 2003 and 2009. James sits on the Governance & Roadmap Steering committees of the Institute.
Stephen Hartland
Honorary Secretary
Stephen became an Elected Governor in September 2019 and has almost 40 years’ experience working in IT and Finance for multi-national companies, including Sun Alliance, RSA & IBM.
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He has been involved as project manager for a number of high-profile commercial customers.
Stephen is the Regional Chairman of The Victorian Society in the West Midlands, and is a trustee of the Friends of Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery and a trustee of the Middlemore Educational Foundation, which gives grants to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He sat on the Executive Council of The Birmingham Civic Society 2000-2007, setting up its Planning Committee (2001) and Public Art Committee (2002) and Birmingham Trees for Life (2006). He sat on the Society’s Board of Trustees 2000-2007 and 2011-22 and was Deputy Chairman 2020-22.
Stephen has a proven track record of delivering on time and within budget and is acknowledged for his enthusiasm to get things done. Stephen also chairs the Governance and Roadmap Steering committees of the Institute.
Mark Eccleston
Official Governor
Mark is an Archivist and Project Manager, based at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. He is responsible for the management and promotion of valuable national research archives.
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Including the Records of Save the Children UK, the YMCA, the Youth Hostels Association and Toc H.
Mark holds an undergraduate degree in Medieval and Modern History and a Masters degree in Archive Administration. He is currently studying for a PhD, exploring the role played by Birmingham’s bell ringers in contributing to the civic life of the city during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mark is one of our seven Official Governors, being the representative for the University of Birmingham. He also sits on the Library committee of the Institute.
Professor Clive Marsh
Official Governor
Clive is the Principal of the Queen’s Foundation, and thus an ex-officio Official Governor under the terms of The Birmingham & Midland Act (1854).
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Which caused the Institute to come into existence and remains the governing document to this day.
Clive is one of our seven Official Governors.
Dr Katy Ricks
Official Governor
Katy is the Chief Master of King Edward’s School, Birmingham and thus an ex-officio Official Governor under the terms of The Birmingham & Midland Act (1854).
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Which caused the Institute to come into existence and remains the governing document to this day.
Katy is one of our seven Official Governors.
Lord Mayor of Birmingham
Council Governor
Councillor Chaman Lal was first elected as a Councillor in 1994 for the Soho Ward and is now Councillor for the Soho and Jewellery Quarter Ward.
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He has served on most of the Council’s committees in the past 29 years; as well as being a cabinet adviser for major transport projects and recently as the Chair of the Sustainability and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
He qualified as an engineer in electronics and became an apprentice with an electronics company. He progressed to becoming their youngest chief engineer in the service department and was later promoted to the post of manager of the service department. He left their employment to set up his own electronics business and moved on to set up other businesses.
The Lord Mayor is, ex-officio, one of five Council Governors to sit on the Board, which was not provided for in The Birmingham & Midland Act (1854), but was added by The Birmingham Corporation Act (1903).
Akil Dowe
Elected Governor
Akil was elected to the Board of Governors in January 2023. He is Assistant Headteacher at City Academy and ITT Subject Leader in Chemistry.
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He has taught science in secondary schools in Birmingham for over ten years.
Akil also volunteers at TCU – The Creative Universe, which supports arts events in Birmingham, enlisting a diverse range of young people to perform both musically and dramatically.
Nigel Easom
Elected Governor
Nigel has been a member of the Institute for over twenty years. He is a retired local government officer living in Amblecote in the Black Country.
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His local government experience has given him extensive knowledge and experience of governance structures, political arrangements and funding regimes across the region within the Black Country and the West Midlands.
Nigel holds an MA with Distinction in History from Wolverhampton University and in retirement has been researching the history of the Institute for a never quite realised PhD on social and cultural change in late nineteenth/early twentieth century Birmingham.
He is a member of the Library and Governance committees.
Jacqui Francis
Elected Governor
Jacqui has over 25 year’s experience of the recruitment of ministerial appointments, executive and non-executive roles, and membership of regulators and expert bodies.
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As well as reviewing governance processes and supporting boards. She has a commitment to public service and the Nolan Principles. She was an accredited Public Appointments Assessor for the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Jacqui has extensive experience as an independent panel member for several organizations. Her clients include government departments; e.g. the Ministry of Justice, DEFRA, the DCMS, and the Food Standards Agency. She has worked with several regulators including the General Medical Council, General Dental Council, and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
Jacqui serves as an independent panel member for the Judicial Appointments Commission, selecting candidates for judicial office in England and Wales and tribunals. She serves as an Independent Appointments Panel member for the Bar Standards Board. Locally, she is a Citizen Member of Birmingham City Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel, which recommends the basic and special responsibility allowances for the 101 councillors. She is a member of the Trust Board for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, and is chair of the Workforce and Remuneration Committee. Jacqui is a Trustee of The Cole Charitable Trust, a small grant making trust, which supports charities in the West Midlands, Kent and Cambridgeshire.
Councillor Adam Higgs
Council Governor
Adam has been a City Councillor since 2018, representing the Highters Heath Ward. He sits on the Licensing and Public Protection Committee and Licensing Sub Committee B of the city council.
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Adam is one of five Council Governors appointed to sit on the Board.
Councillor Jon Hunt
Council Governor
Jon has been a City Councillor since 2003, representing the Perry Barr Ward. He sits on the Economy and Skills Overview & Scrutiny Committee of the city council.
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Jon is one of five Council Governors appointed to sit on the Board.
Councillor Mary Locke
Council Governor
Mary has been a City Councillor since 2016, representing the Stirchley Ward, and is Cabinet Adviser on Carers. Mary sits on a number of Council Committees.
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Housing and Neighbourhoods Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Licensing and Public Protection Committee, Licensing Sub Committee A, Transport Delivery Committee, and Personnel Appeals (Dismissals) Sub Committee.
Mary is one of five Council Governors appointed to sit on the Board and also sits on the Audience Engagement and Roadmap Steering committees of the Institute.
Councillor Rob Pocock
Council Governor
Rob has been a City Councillor since 2012, representing the Sutton Vesey Ward, and is Chair of the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee.
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Joint Chair of the Joint Health (Birmingham & Sandwell) Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Joint Chair of the Joint Health (Birmingham & Solihull) Overview & Scrutiny Committee.
Rob also sits on a number of other Council Committees, including Co-ordinating Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee, and the Pensions Committee (Substitute Co-opted Member).
Rob is one of five Council Governors appointed to sit on the Board.
Alex Round
Elected Governor
Alex read English Literature and Language at Birmingham City University. She is currently an MRes humanities student at Newman University and an aspiring PhD candidate in Pre-Raphaelite Studies.
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Alex wishes to pursue a lecturing career on both a national and International scale. Her research concerns applying psychoanalytical theory to her analysis of Pre-Raphaelite art and literature, as well as Gothic literature and prose and poetry of the nineteenth century.
She also teaches A Level and GCSE Literature at Sandwell Academy and is the CI for the ACF Cadets Sandwell detachment, as well as DofE Coordinator.
Alex sits on the Library and Audience Engagement committees of the Institute.
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