With the likelihood of continuing covid infections in the winter, and to enable our increasing international membership to take part, we will hold a virtual AGM on 4th December 2021. Here we provide details of the Board’s recommendations for election as Trustees and some further details for the event.

Trustee recommendations for the Annual General Meeting

At the virtual AGM on 4th December 2021, three Trustees, Dr Anna Garnett, Dr Linda Steynor, and Dr Roberta Mazza will retire. Richard Ayre, our Vice-Chair, and Sue Preston, our Treasurer, will stand for re-election. The Board has decided to extend Anandh Owen’s term of office for a final year under Article 37A in order to assist with the ongoing discussions about the Society’s London premises. The Board recommend Jenny Chong, James Potts, and Lizzie Glithero-West to fill the three vacancies that will arise.

Short biographies of the proposed new Trustees are set out below.

To receive your invitation to attend the virtual AGM please book online (bookings opening soon). Please note that you must be a current member of the Egypt Exploration Society to attend the AGM. Proxy voting forms will be mailed out in October 2021 though online voting will be possible during the meeting for those in attendance.

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Members' right to stand for election

Any member is entitled to stand for election as a Trustee at the AGM in accordance with the provisions of Article 33 of the Society’s Articles of Association, namely by giving the Society a notice signed by 1) the member who wishes to be appointed and 2) another member who is entitled to vote at the AGM, stating that member’s intention to propose the first member as a Trustee.  The notice must contain the name, any former name, service address, country or state (or part of the UK) in which he/she is usually resident, nationality, business occupation (if any) and date of birth of the member to be proposed; this is the information required to be filed at Companies House about directors. To be valid the notice must be received by the Society by postal mail not less than 70 clear days before the date of the AGM, i.e. by Thursday 23rd September 2021.

Trustees of the EES are unpaid and must be prepared to attend (in person or virtually) Board meetings and the meetings of any Committees on which they serve, and to give sufficient time to prepare themselves to play a full part in those meetings.

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The Board’s recommendations for Trustees to fill the 3 vacancies

Jenny Chong

Jenny has 20 years of experience in investment banking technology and was formerly the Global Head of eCommunications Surveillance at Credit Suisse in London. She is now advisor to two social impact start-ups as well as sitting on the Board of Medway NHS Foundation Trust. Jenny is also actively involved with Imperial College London’s flagship program for growing ventures and innovation. Jenny has a keen passion for archaeology, Egyptology and Islamic art which she has cultivated through her membership of the Egypt Exploration Society. She has been co-opted to the EES Finance Committee since 2020 and looks forward to contributing her skills in technology and management to the Board of Trustees.  

Lizzie Glithero-West, FSA

Lizzie has been the Chief Executive of The Heritage Alliance since 2016. Her previous career has been mainly in the civil service and she has expert knowledge of a wide range of policy areas including archaeology, heritage protection, museums, and tourism.

Lizzie has also spent time as Private Secretary to Culture Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, as Head of Logistics at DCMS at the time of the General Election, and on secondment to English Heritage and to the National Museum Directors’ Council. Lizzie’s first love is heritage. She has a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from Oxford, and an MA in History of Art from Birkbeck. In 2014 she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Lizzie is a mum to two energetic girls, writes about Cultural Education and tries to keep up with her academic interest in Egyptian Revival in her spare time. Lizzie has published on Belzoni and the Egyptian Hall and on Cartier’s Egyptian Revival Jewellery in the Art Deco Period. She is a member of Royal Holloway's humanities advisory board and of the Canal and River Trust’s Cultural Heritage Advisory Group, and she lectures at Oxford University on heritage.

James Potts

James is a barrister at 3 Verulam Building chambers, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration in London, the Middle East, the Far East, and the Caribbean. Having travelled widely in Egypt over several years, he joined EES in 2016 and began studying ancient Egyptian language on the EES short courses. Inspired by this, in 2019 he enrolled on a part-time MA in Archaeology at Birkbeck, with his dissertation research focusing on trade networks and interactions between Middle Kingdom Egypt and the Horn of Africa.

James also holds a degree in English Literature from Oxford University and an MPhil in Eighteenth Century Studies from Cambridge University. He was twice a Hawthornden Fellow for creative writing. He has been a co-opted member of the EES Premises Working Group since 2020.

The Board's nominees for re-election

Richard Ayre

Richard Ayre is now retired after a career in broadcasting. He began as a TV reporter in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and spent 27years with the BBC, becoming deputy chief executive of BBC News and Controller of BBC Editorial Policy. He then worked in broadcasting regulation, as a non-executive first at Ofcom and then at the BBC Trust. Having visited many cultural sites in Egypt over the past forty years he became an EES Trustee in 2018 and Vice Chairman earlier this year. 

Sue Preston

Sue is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Tax Adviser. She worked in the oil industry for a number of years before taking a career break and moving to the Far East. Since her return she worked for a number of not for profits and was formerly the Finance Director of a grant giving trust.

Sue has wide experience of not for profit accounts and a particular interest in governance. She has also had a keen interest in Egyptology and studied at Birkbeck College. Sue has served as the EES Treasurer since 2017.