Chairman - Michael Houlihan
National Museum Wales
Mike Houlihan, Director General, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Mike started his museum career as a Research Assistant in the Department of Exhibits at the Imperial War Museum, London, becoming Keeper of the Department of Permanent Exhibitions and Head of Exhibitions Research. He joined the Horniman Museum in south London as Deputy Director in 1984, and was appointed Director in 1994. The Horniman holds internationally recognized collections of musical instruments and world cultures, as well as natural history. In 1998, he was appointed as the first Chief Executive of the newly created National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland, steering through the merger of Northern Ireland’s three government funded museums. In 2003, he became Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, a family of seven museums illustrating the history, industries and natural environment of Wales as well as important international collections of art. He is Chairman of the MDA (formerly the Museums Documentation Association), a Visiting Professor at the University of Ulster and has published on military history and mediaeval pilgrimage.
