Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2026
At the AGM on 21st November 2026, Jenny Chong, Lizzie Glithero-West, and Hilary McGowan will retire by rotation and stand for re-election. Yvette Mhic Giolla Rua Banjo resigned from her role as Trustee on 11th September and does not offer herself for re-election. The Board recommend Kelly Evans, Prof Colin Adams, and Amy Stevens to fill three vacancies arising.
Short biographies of the proposed new Trustees are set out below.
To receive your ticket to attend the virtual AGM please book online. Please note that you must be a current member of the Egypt Exploration Society to attend the virtual AGM. Online voting will be possible during the meeting. Proxy forms for those unable to attend live must be completed in full and sent electronically to [email protected] or by mail (to: The Egypt Exploration Society, 3 Doughty Mews, London, WC1N 2PG) and received by 16:00 (UK) on Thursday 19th November 2026.
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 or email ([email protected]) not less than 70 clear days before the date of the AGM, i.e. by Saturday 12th September 2026.
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.
Statements from Trustee candidates
Colin Adams
Prof Colin Adams took his first degree in Ancient History at Queen’s University Belfast before moving to Christ Church, Oxford for his DPhil, supervised by Professor Alan Bowman. His research focuses on the social and economic history of Graeco-Roman Egypt. His other interests are in geographical texts of the ancient world (especially the Periplus Maris Erythraei), ancient exploration, and transport and travel in the ancient world. He has published widely on these themes; he is currently finishing books on the Chester Beatty Papyri from Panopolis, some the longest administrative texts from Egypt, and working on the history of corruption in Egypt from the Hellenistic to Arab periods. He has held teaching and research posts at the Universities of St Andrews, Warwick, and Leicester, and is currently Professor of Ancient History at the University of Liverpool. Colin has been a member of the EES since 1991, and served on the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus Management Committee, of which he is now Chair.
Jenny Chong
Jenny Chong has 25 years of experience in technology, big data and AI. She was formerly the Global Head of eCommunications Surveillance at Credit Suisse in London. She now sits as a non-executive director on various boards and committees for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, Orthopaedic Research UK, The Design Museum and Imperial College London. She is also an advisor to various social impact startups. 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.
Kelly Evans
Kelly Evans is a creative communications specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in the voluntary and public sectors. She has previously worked for the Charities Aid Foundation, Medway NHS Foundation Trust, and is currently senior media officer at the NSPCC.
She has been passionate about ancient Egyptian history since childhood and began the UGCERT in Egyptology at the University of Manchester in 2025.
During the Covid lockdown, while she was on maternity leave, she decided to try and combine her experience and passion by volunteering her PR and media skills in the world of Egyptology.
She has secured a number of pieces of coverage for Dr Chris Naunton – on the Playing in the Past Project which looked at recreations of ancient Alexandria in the game Assassin’s Creed Origins, his lockdown lecture series, the Gebel el-Silsila Project, and its support of the NSPCC’s Childhood Day. She has also been on several excavations in the UK, mainly on Roman, medieval and Saxon sites in the southeast.
Kelly is looking forward to supporting the EES by offering tailored communications and media advice, particularly for its Building the Future campaign, and its schools programme, and raising awareness of the importance and impact of Egyptian cultural heritage.
Lizzie Glithero-West FSA
Lizzie Glithero-West FSA 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 2015 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 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 the Government’s Heritage Council, the Historic Environment Forum and the Canal and River Trust’s Cultural Heritage Advisory Group, and she has lectured at Oxford University on heritage.
Hilary McGowan FMA FRSA
Hilary McGowan FMA FRSA is a graduate in History from the University of Edinburgh, holds the Fellowship of the Museums Association, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Bath Heritage Services Advisory Committee. Like many of us, from the age of 7, following a visit to a museum, Hilary wanted to be an Egyptologist.
Hilary has a background as a museum curator who moved on to become Director of some of the most significant collections in the UK, in York, Exeter and Bristol. She set up her own business over 25 years ago and has since worked with over 120 museums and heritage organisations. She now specialises in governance, leadership and supporting organisational change and is an experienced Trustee, after 11 years on the Board of Bletchley Park and 12 years with the Museums Association.
Hilary has considerable experience of capital projects leading to the transformation of museums, including successfully applying for National Lottery Heritage Funding, as well as winning a RIBA Building of the Year award as the Lead Consultant for Creswell Crags Museum & Education Centre in 2010.
She would look to use her clarity of vision and enthusiasm for museums and history to help the EES to continue to build financial resilience and to deliver a successful Building the Future capital project. Hilary also Chairs the EES Collections Committee.
Hilary is the co-author of Managing Change in Museums and Galleries: a Practical Guide with Piotr Bienkowski (Routledge, 2021) and in 2025 they published Cultural Leadership: a practical guide to building an Inclusive and Sustainable Organisation. She now lives in Somerset with her husband and two cats, in a house they rescued, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Amy Stevens
After graduating from the University of Leeds with a BA in European Politics, Amy Stevens began her career in sales as a manager for a number of organisations in the North of England. Swiftly moving into the Third Sector 20 years ago, Amy has worked with charities as a professional fundraising consultant ever since. In 2016, she founded fundraising consultancy Gifted Philanthropy with two former colleagues and became Chief Executive in January 2020.
Major gifts development has played a large part in Amy’s professional career, partnering with complex health organisations, heritage venues and educational establishments to deliver £millions, from five to eight-figure gifts. Amy’s diverse client base has enabled her to develop extensive knowledge of heritage and lottery funding, leading several successful applications for six and seven figure grants to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Similarly Amy is at home working strategically with NHS Boards planning major projects, design plans and raising the funds for associated fundraising campaigns. Recently, Amy has worked on several global fundraising campaigns including in the environment and climate space. Extensive practice in designing and implementing corporate programmes and years of experience in grant writing for Trusts and Foundations ensures Amy has the full range of experience in the world of fundraising. She has also co-authored two books on the subject; Gifted Fundraising and Gifted Asking.
As an avid scuba diver, Amy has a passion for marine conservation and animal welfare. From 2020 to 2024 Amy delivered a 4-year trustee term at the Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation and also delivers pro bono support to Restore Hope for Vulnerable Children, a registered CBO in Kenya working with street-connected children.