Our Team

Sue Wilkinson, Chair

Sue is a trained teacher and has held significant roles in the education, arts and commercial sectors. She served as Chief Executive of The Reading Agency for 5 years and as Director of UK Academic and Government Alliances at Elsevier.

Her career spans time at the Tower of London, setting up South Eastern Museums Education Unit and senior roles at the Museum, Library and Archive Council (MLA). Here, she led the development of the influential quality and impact framework, Inspiring Learning for All, now in use across museums, archives, and libraries globally.

Sue has been awarded an MBE for services to museum education and an OBE for services to literature and libraries. She is currently a Trustee of the National Coal Mining Museum, Brighton and Hove Museums and Waterperry Opera Festival and previously of Historic Royal Palaces.

David Gold

David is Head of Public Affairs at Royal Mail Group.

Prior to joining Royal Mail he was Director of Marketing for Brighton College, the independent schools group. His earlier career was largely in consultancy, having spent some years working in Parliament, including for William Hague during his time as Leader of the Opposition.

David is a member of the UK Board of Two Sides, a not-for-profit organisation promoting the environmental case for paper; an Ambassador for The Children’s Air Ambulance; and an Advisory Board Member of Kids Count. He has written for a broad range of newspapers and magazines on political and social issues.

Paola Barbarino

Paola is the CEO of Alzheimer’s Disease International. Prior to that, she was CEO of LIFE. Her previous senior positions include Cass Business School, Tate, British Library and IIED.

She is a Trustee of The Postal Museum and Lauderdale House. Previously she was a Trustee of Shelter, the UK housing and homelessness charity and of MLA London. She is also the Managing Director of Opaline Limited, a consultancy company specialising in strategy and governance.

She holds a degree cum laude in Classics from the University of Napoli Federico II, an MA in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archaeology and an MA in Library and Information Science both from University College London.

Susan Raikes

Susan Raikes is Director of Learning at Science Museum Group, responsible for the learning direction, strategy and planning for four museums across the country. She previously spent more than 10 years at the British Museum and headed up the department of Learning and National Partnerships, with responsibility for education programming for schools, families, young people, community groups and adults, as well as interpretation and volunteering.

Susan is passionate about the power of museum objects to intrigue and inspire and the unique position of museums to provide creative learning environments. She has a BA in Ancient History and Latin and MAs in both Museum Studies and Primary Education. Susan was the 2012/2013 Arts Council England Museums Fellow on the Clore Cultural Leadership Programme. Susan is also the co-curator of two British Museum touring exhibitions, Roman Empire: Power and People and Rome: City and Empire.

Julian Barker

Julian is an experienced strategy professional. He has worked across different industries at Director level, most recently for Orange as Strategy Director and for the Rank Group as Strategy and Insight Director.

Previously Julian has worked in a variety of marketing and product development roles in the IT and telecoms sector, including at Freeserve and t-mobile. His interest in the world of museums and archives is long standing. He studied History and Archaeology at Exeter University and then completed a Masters degree in Maritime Archaeology at Oxford.

Before TPM he has been a trustee of MLA London (the strategic body for museums, libraries and archives in London).

Mike Russell

Mike has recently retired from a career of almost 50 years in Financial Management spanning a range of industries, as well as spending 9 years leading The Zoological Society of London’s Finance and Commercial Functions as their Financial Director.

During Mike’s tenure, ZSL achieved significant growth reaching almost 2 million visitors and doubling income to over £50m, generating significant surpluses for both the charity and its trading subsidiaries, of which he was the executive Director.

Mike is also an experienced charity trustee with a portfolio of trustee/treasurer and advisory roles in addition to PHT. He has also spent 12 years as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair with NHS Community Trusts in Oxfordshire.

Peter Walls

Peter joined Royal Mail after graduating in Modern History from the University of Oxford and spent his whole career there until his recent retirement. His most recent roles were as Director of Employee and Industrial Relations and as HR Director for Royal Mail’s Facilities Management subsidiary company.

He is also a Trustee and Director of the Creative Education Trust which operates fourteen secondary and primary schools across the Midlands and East of England. He is a Fellow of the CIPD.

Mark Amsden

Mark is a qualified lawyer and experienced FTSE company secretary. He has been the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary of Royal Mail Group Limited and of its parent company International Distribution Services Plc (IDS). Mark has been a director of both Royal Mail and of GLS BV, and a member of the IDS Group Executive.

Prior to joining IDS, Mark was Group General Counsel and Company Secretary of Wm. Morrisons Supermarkets Plc and the interim Company Secretary of Yorkshire Water. He sat on the Executive Committee of both companies. Before that, Mark was a litigation partner in the international law firm Addleshaw Goddard LLP for 14 years.

Mark’s experience includes corporate responsibility, dispute resolution, regulation, data protection, good governance and helping people keep a calm head. Mark hails originally from Australia but has lived in the UK for over 35 years.