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A trio of new appointments are set to strengthen The National Archives’ top team as the organisation continues to deliver against its Archives for Everyone business plan.

In August, Gemma Maclagan Ram and Aaron Smith joined our Executive Team as Directors of Commercial and Corporate Services respectively. In November, they will be joined by Andrea Metcalf, when she takes up her post as our new Director of People, Inclusion and Change.

As Commercial Director, Gemma Maclagan Ram is responsible for growing and diversifying our commercial products and services, delivering value for money and embedding an entrepreneurial culture and ethos at The National Archives. Gemma has 20 years’ experience in the public and private sectors, starting her career at the Imperial War Museum, working across their public engagement and commercial areas, with a focus on publishing and licensing.

She was most recently Head of Licensing, Publishing and Digitisation at The National Archives.

As Corporate Services Director, Aaron leads the Corporate Services Directorate. Joining us from the commercial sector he has broad experience of customer focussed FTSE100 and small and medium sized businesses. He has responsibility for a wide range of our business critical functions, including Finance, IT, Estates, Business Planning and Corporate Performance and for delivering an effective and efficient foundation for the customer-facing and commercial teams.

To complete our new executive team line up, in November, we will welcome Andrea Metcalf as our new Director for People, Inclusion and Change. Andrea will be responsible for delivering on our commitment to develop our culture and approach so that we better reflect and represent the society we serve. She joins us from her most recent role as Deputy Director of People and Culture at ActionAid UK and has a wealth of experience in human resources (HR), inclusion and organisational change and development. She has previously been a director of a number of HR consultancies working across various sectors, and a university lecturer specialising in employment law and coaching and mentoring.

Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives, recently said:

“I am delighted to welcome Gemma, Aaron and Andrea to The National Archives’ Executive Team and am looking forward to working with them as we continue to deliver against our Archives for Everyone Business Plan.

“Gemma’s business focus and strategic insight will add greatly to our commercial presence. Aaron’s corporate experience and leadership skills will be vital in continuing the strategic development of our corporate services. Andrea will be the first director with direct responsibility for our inclusion remit and this is a strong signal of our firm corporate commitment in this area.

“I am excited by the energy and breadth of experience these new directors bring to our organisation and I’m looking forward to seeing the results we can deliver together as a new senior team.”

Gemma said of her appointment:

“I am delighted to take up this post at this exciting time for The National Archives as we look to expand our audiences, products and services, and realise our ambitions set out in Archives for Everyone.”

Aaron recently said:

“This is a well-established and respected organisation with ambitious plans to share the rich archival history of the UK with a greater audience and I look forward to further developing the corporate services to support the organisation in flourishing.”

Andrea recently said

“I’m delighted to be joining this organisation with all its rich history and tremendous engagement potential. What stood out to me was both the fact that the leadership team are committed to developing culture and inclusion, and the warmth and genuine commitment to and pride in the organisation and the important work it does. As such I am looking forward to working to refresh our values and strategy,  with the aim of strengthening our culture so that it enables and supports our new ways of working.”

Further information on The National Archives’ leadership and strategy can be found here.