Board of Trustees
Professor Antony Polonsky – Chairman
Antony Polonsky is Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies, an appointment held jointly at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Brandeis University. His most recent work is The Jews in Poland and Russia Volume 1, 1350-1881; Volume 2, 1881-1914 (Oxford, 2010); Volume 3, 1914-2008 (Oxford, 2012). In 2011, the book has been awarded the Kulczycki Prize of the American Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies for the best book in any discipline on any aspect of Polish affairs. In 2012, the book was awarded the Pro Historia Polonorum prize by the Senate of the Republic of Poland for the best book on Polish history in a foreign language published in the last five years.
Nicolas Maclean CMG
Nicolas Maclean is an independent scholar with an MA from Oriel College, Oxford. HM The Queen appointed him a CMG in 2002 for his freelance diplomatic achievements. Following a career in banking, asset management and insurance with Schroders, Samuel Montagu, Midland Bank, HSBC, Robert Fleming and Prudential Corporation, Nicolas served for seven years as a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. He was twice elected to the Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House.
Nicolas is Chief Executive of the consultancy company, MWM (Strategy), serves on the Canada-UK Council and for the past fifteen years has been on the board of the charity Project Trust. He has carried out development assignments in Africa and Asia with funding from the European Union and the World Bank. Nicolas is a co-author of books on China, Japan, Mongolia and the Eurobond markets and has lectured and broadcast on strategic issues.
Victor Denis Vandervelde
V. Denis Vandervelde completed two years of National Service in the R.A.F before gaining an Honours degree in Jurisprudence from Exeter College, Oxford in 1955.
Denis began his managerial career with Marks and Spencer and went on to serve as a senior consultant in policy and marketing strategy for M.M. & W.M between 1965 and 1976. Denis was a freelance consultant to Citibank, New York on European Strategy for three years. In 1980, he was headhunted and appointed Director-designate of Business Management courses for senior officers leaving the Services in the UK. As Director, he established an international profile for ‘BMAC’, the MoD designation for the Unit. More than two thousand officers benefitted from the courses including senior ranking Admirals, Generals and Air Marshals.
Since retiring, Denis has travelled extensively in Europe and beyond including India, China, Japan, Ethiopia, Israel, Jordan, Argentina and Australia.