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Neil Mendoza, Baron Mendoza

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"Neil Mendoza" redirects here. For the British artist, see Neil Mendoza (artist).

The Right Honourable
The Lord Mendoza
CBE
Mendoza in 2024
Provost of Oriel College, Oxford
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 September 2018
Preceded byMoira Wallace
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 September 2020
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Neil Francis Jeremy Mendoza

(1959-11-02) 2 November 1959 (age 65)
London, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Amelia Wallace
​
(m. 1993)​
Children2
EducationHaberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree
Alma materOriel College, Oxford

Neil Francis Jeremy Mendoza, Baron Mendoza, CBE (born 2 November 1959) is a British businessman, academic administrator, and member of the House of Lords.[1][2]

Provost of Oriel College Oxford since September 2018,[3] Lord Mendoza also serves as HM Government Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal since May 2020.[4]

Early life and education

[edit]

Neil Francis Jeremy Mendoza was born on 2 November 1959 in London to Martin and Dianne Mendoza.[5] Mendoza was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree, before going up to read geography at Oriel College, Oxford, matriculating in 1978.[6] He was a founding member of the Piers Gaveston Society.[7]

Career

[edit]

After periods in banking and film finance, Mendoza co-founded Forward Publishing[8] with William Sieghart in 1986. Forward pioneered the custom media business in the UK[9] and became one of the leading independent contract publishers. The company specialised in international and multilingual projects with corporate partners including IBM, Tesco and Patek Philippe & Co.[10] In 2001, Forward was sold to WPP plc.

Mendoza was appointed the UK Government's Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal in May 2020,[4] and, on 31 July 2020, he was elevated to the peerage,[11] taking his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.

During 2020, he played a leading role in the creation of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport £2-billion Culture Recovery Fund and is a member of its Board.[12]

He chairs the Culture and Heritage Capital Board.[13] He co-chaired a report, Boundless Creativity, for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.[14]

In 2016, Mendoza was appointed as Commissioner of Historic England by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport,[15] before being appointed as a DCMS non-executive board member.[16]

In 2017, he published the Mendoza Review of Museums in England for the UK Government.[17] In the same year, Mendoza was also the lead reviewer on the Strategic Review of DCMS-sponsored museums conducted under Cabinet Office guidelines.[18][19]

The following year, he became provost at Oriel College, Oxford. During his tenure, in 2021, the college decided not to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes. "What we are doing is not applying for it to be removed," he said. "The governing body has expressed a wish for it to come down, but in the current regulatory and legislative environment it's not going to be possible. This has been a careful, finely balanced debate and we are fully aware of the impact our decision is likely to have in the UK and further afield."[20]

Lord Mendoza is currently Chairman of The Illuminated River Foundation. He is a non-executive director of Meira GTx, a gene therapy company with research facilities in New York and London.[21] He sits on the Board of Visitors for the Ashmolean Museum.[22]

In 2020, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.[23]

He was previously Chairman of The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts, Vice-Chair of Soho Theatre, on the board of the Almeida Theatre and the Shakespeare Schools Foundation. He was also an independent trustee of The Daily Mail charity, Mail Force.[24] Appointed to the panel of The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals, he was a judge of the Laurence Olivier Awards for theatre for 2010 and 2011.[25]

Mendoza then served as Chairman of the Landmark Trust, a UK historic building preservation charity, from 2011 to 2021.[26]

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to arts and culture.[27]

In August 2023, it was announced that Mendoza had been appointed chair of Historic England. Describing it as "a great honour", he said: "I look forward to ensuring the ongoing protection of the nation's heritage estate and demonstrating the importance, beauty and value of our heritage to a wider society."[20]

House of Lords

[edit]

In July 2020, it was announced that Mendoza had been nominated for a life peerage by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.[28] On 16 September 2020, he was created a life peer with the title Baron Mendoza, of King's Reach in the City of London.[29] He sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative Party peer,[30] and made his maiden speech on 10 November 2020.[31]

Personal life

[edit]

Mendoza married Amelia Wallace in 1993. They have a son and a daughter.[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "London's 1000 most influential people 2015", "Evening Standard", September 2015
  2. ^ "London's 1000 most influential people 2017", "Evening Standard", October 2017
  3. ^ "Neil Mendoza to be Elected as Oriel's Next Provost | Oriel College". Oriel College. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Press release: New Culture Commissioner named and Taskforce set up to aid sector recovery from coronavirus". Gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. 20 May 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Mendoza". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2021. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U257764. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ www.gazette.web.ox.ac.uk
  7. ^ Jones, Dafyyd. "2_83292f31.JPG | Dafydd Jones".
  8. ^ "Forward creating content that pays". Forward Worldwide. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  9. ^ Thackray, Rachelle (22 June 1999). "Me and my partner: William Sieghart and Neil Mendoza". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
  10. ^ www.wpp.com
  11. ^ "Oriel College Provost Neil Mendoza to receive life peerage". UK: University of Oxford. 3 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Culture Recovery Board".
  13. ^ "Culture and Heritage Capital Board". 21 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Boundless Creativity Report". 23 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Culture Secretary appoints new Historic England Commissioners – News stories". Government of the United Kingdom. 6 January 2016.
  16. ^ "New non-executive board members announced – News stories". Government of the United Kingdom. 22 January 2016.
  17. ^ "The Mendoza Review: an independent review of museums in England". Government of the United Kingdom. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  18. ^ "Publication of the Mendoza Review of Museums in England and the Strategic Review of DCMS-sponsored museums". Government of the United Kingdom. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  19. ^ "Strategic review of DCMS-sponsored museums". Government of the United Kingdom. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Oxford provost who backed Rhodes statue appointed chair of Historic England". The Telegraph. 9 August 2023. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  21. ^ "Meira GTx".
  22. ^ "Ashmolean Board".
  23. ^ "TRINITY MONDAY 2020 - FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS". www.tcd.ie. Trinity College Dublin. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  24. ^ "Mail Force".
  25. ^ www.officiallondontheatre.com
  26. ^ "Lord Neil Mendoza – Chairman". UK: The Landmark Trust. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  27. ^ "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N10.
  28. ^ "Oriel College Provost Neil Mendoza to receive life peerage". UK: University of Oxford. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  29. ^ "No. 63117". The London Gazette. 21 September 2020. p. 15966.
  30. ^ "Parliamentary career for Lord Mendoza". UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  31. ^ "Spoken contributions of Lord Mendoza". UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
Academic offices
Preceded by Provost of Oriel College, Oxford
1 September 2018 – present 		Incumbent
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Mendoza 		Followed by
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