Joanna Kennedy reappointed as Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery

Joanna Kennedy chairs the project board for the National Portrait Gallery’s Inspiring People redevelopment. She is a civil engineer and project manager who has advised clients on and led the successful delivery of numerous major construction projects. She was a director and the global leader for programme and project management with Arup, where her projects included the Francis Crick Institute, the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, the Horniman Museum and the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. She helped create the firm’s project management business which twice won Project Management Company of the Year. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1997 and has been Woman of the Year in the Inspire Awards for the Built Environment and CBI/Real Business First Woman of Engineering.

Kennedy is a non-executive director of Native Land Ltd and of the ERA Foundation, and her previous appointments have included trustee of the Science Museum and of Cumberland Lodge, deputy chairman of the Port of London Authority, commissioner of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and chair of Buildings and Estates at the Royal College of Art. She was awarded the OBE in 1995 for services to consulting engineering.

This role is not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Joanna has made no such declarations.