The Design Museum today announces that Stuart Roden has been appointed as Chair of the Board of Trustees. He replaces Lord Mandelson who steps down in June at the end of his current term, having served as Chair since 2017.

Stuart Roden has a long and distinguished business career in investment management and a strong ethic of public service in supporting third sector organisations. He currently serves as a Trustee of The National Gallery, The Centre for Social Justice and The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust; he is Chair of social mobility charity Unocking Potential and is an Independent Member of the Council of the London School of Economics. Stuart Roden joins the Design Museum Board of Trustees immediately, and takes the Chair in June 2023.

Lord Mandelson, Chair of the Design Museum said:

“Following a wide-reaching search process I am delighted the Trustees have selected Stuart Roden as my successor. Stuart brings a breadth of experience from both the business and museum worlds and his passion for design will be of enormous benefit to the museum. The Design Museum has successfully come through the challenges of the pandemic firing on all cylinders, and under Tim and Stuart’s leadership, I am confident it will continue to go from strength to strength.”

Stuart Roden, Chair Designate of the Design Museum said:

“I am delighted to have been chosen by the Trustees to become the next Chair of the Design Museum. I would like to thank Peter Mandelson for all he has done as Chair and I very much look forward to working with Tim Marlow and the impressive team he leads at the museum.

Design not only plays an essential part in our everyday lives, it is also an important and growing driver of economic prosperity in the UK. The Design Museum’s broad and diverse audience, popular exhibitions, public programming and educational outreach, have a vital role to play in widening access and broadening design practice to be more inclusive to disadvantaged communities across the UK.

I am looking forward to bringing my energy and experience to continue to realise Sir Terence Conran’s original ambitions – to make design a focal point in contributing to the economic success of the country and to meeting the environmental, societal and technical challenges of our time.’’

Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum said:

“We would like to thank Peter for his tremendous stewardship of the Design Museum over the past six years. He has been incredibly supportive and inspiring to work with and his commitment to the museum has been immense. As we begin the next chapter of our history as the nation’s design museum, I’m delighted that Stuart Roden is to become our new Chair of Trustees. He brings considerable business acumen and strategic vision to our institution and I’m very much looking forward to working with him over the next few years as we continue to expand our innovative programming throughout the museum and build on the ground-breaking design research of the Future Observatory.”

This announcement comes following last week’s opening of the Design Museum’s landmark exhibition with globally renowned artist Ai Weiwei. Ai Weiwei: Making Sense is the artist’s very first design-focused exhibition and is his largest UK exhibition in eight years.

STUART RODEN

After gaining a first-class honours degree in Economics (BSc) from the LSE, Stuart Roden began his career in the City, joining SG Warburg & Co in 1984 and then working at McKinsey & Co after which he became Managing Director at Merill Lynch Investment Management. In 2001 Stuart joined Lansdowne Partners where he co-founded and managed the Developed Markets strategy becoming Chairman in 2014 until December 2018. He is currently non-Executive Chairman of Tresidor Investment Management and Hetz Ventures.

Stuart dedicates considerable time to the third sector and serves on a number of boards and institutions. He is Chair of the social mobility charity Unlocking Potential and serves as a trustee of third sector organisations including The National Gallery, The Centre for Social Justice, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust, the London School of Economics and the Ending Youth Violence Lab. In April 2023 Stuart Roden was appointed Chair of the Design Museum in London, and successor to Lord Mandelson.