Board of directors

Graham Love*

Graham was appointed to the board on 1 January 2019 and has previously chaired a number of successful businesses, including LGC, Eversholt Rail, SLR Consulting and Xendo. Prior to pursuing a plural career, Graham had an extensive international executive career, lastly as Chief Executive of QinetiQ plc from 2005 to 2009. He is a long-term trustee of STEMNET and a Senior Adviser to The Chertoff Group. Graham is a graduate of Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society

Lisa Montague

Lisa was appointed to the Board of The Royal Mint as a Non Executive Director in September 2022. Lisa has worked as a company director since the age of 25 and enjoyed an international career in the fashion and luxury goods industry. Starting in sales and marketing, she worked in various international roles prior to taking up the role of COO at Mulberry, CEO of Spanish luxury leather-goods house Loewe and currently, since April 2019, is CEO of Sanderson Design Group plc, formerly Walker Greenbank plc.

In May 2019, Lisa completed the Financial Times Diploma for Non-Executive Directors, and has also worked as a mentor in London with Graduate Fashion Week and during her tenure within LVMH, championing the EllesVMH initiative to support women across Iberia. She is also a Trustee of QEST. Lisa lives in London with her husband and three children.

Bill Spencer*

Bill Spencer was appointed to The Royal Mint Board in May 2020. He is the Audit Committee Chairman and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director. He is also a Non-Executive Director and the Audit Committee Chairman at Ricardo plc. In recent years, Bill has been the Audit Committee Chairman and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director at Northgate plc and Exova plc. His other previous non-executive roles were at UK Mail plc and at The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Before developing a non-executive career, Bill was the Chief Financial Officer of Intertek Group plc, a FTSE 100 company. Prior to that, he held a number of financial executive roles in business services and manufacturing. Bill is a Chartered Management Accountant and has a BSc in Management Sciences.

Andy Butterworth

Andy was appointed to the Board of The Royal Mint as a Non-Executive Director in July 2021. Andy is a representative of HM Treasury who is the sole shareholder of The Royal Mint. He joined UK Government Investments in December 2016 and has worked within UKGI's housing and defence projects, with roles in UK Export Finance and the Special Situations group.  Andy is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and prior to joining UKGI was an M&A Director at Deloitte.

Shimi Shah*

Shimi was appointed to the Board of The Royal Mint on 22 March 2021. Shimi has been actively involved in investing and venture capital for over 20 years and has made over 50 investments in early and expansion stage transactions.

Shimi is currently Chairperson of Impact Holdings Group, Executive Chairperson of Carousel Solutions Group Ltd, Chairperson of Miratech Inc, and sits on the advisory board of the North East Regional Development Fund in the UK. Shimi advises and advocates for diversity and inclusion, social capital and impacting investing, and is an active member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO).

Shimi studied at Queens’ College Cambridge and King’s College, London. Shimi is of Indian origin, born and brought up in Kenya.

Matthew Woolsey

Matthew was appointed to the Board of The Royal Mint as a Non Executive Director in September 2022. Matthew has worked in a variety of international consumer businesses ranging from luxury fashion to fitness to e-commerce. He is currently managing director of Hydrow, a connected-fitness rower launched in 2019. Previously, he’d been managing director at Net-a-Porter, the world’s largest luxury e-tailer; global president of 66˚North, the 96-year-old Nordic outerwear brand; and has held a range of senior management positions in technology, consulting, and media start-ups in London, New York and San Francisco.

Passionate about supporting start-ups, Matthew is a resident expert at the Oxford University Saïd School of Business’ start-up incubator The Foundry, and is a mentor for the NHS’s start-up incubator The Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme. Originally from San Francisco, California, Matthew lives in London with his wife Morgan and their two children.

Andrew Mills

Andrew is Director of Currency. He joined the Royal Mint in 2009 from OpSec Security Limited where he was Managing Director and led a successful turnaround of the European business. Prior to 2004, he held sales and marketing positions with De La Rue, ICI, and Kodak, including an assignment in the United States with Eastman Kodak Company.

Nicola Howell

Nicola joined The Royal Mint in 2012 as Head of Direct to Consumer, progressing to become Director of the Consumer division in 2018, and Chief Commercial Officer in 2020. With a background in the financial and healthcare sectors, Nicola brings a wealth of experience in leadership, sales and operations which have helped to grow The Royal Mint’s Consumer division in the UK and overseas. As Chief Commercial Officer, Nicola oversees strategy, revenue and operations for the Consumer and Precious Metal divisions – delivering the reinvention of the business by attracting more customers to collect, invest and celebrate with The Royal Mint. Nicola is recognised within the UK Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) and Florida State Business School for financial brokerage (FMB).

Kate Barnett

Kate was appointed to the Board of The Royal Mint as a Non Executive Director in February 2022. She is currently Global Operations Director at Thermo Fisher Scientific, a $40Bn medical devices multinational, and leads strategic delivery and operational performance of specialist diagnostics manufacture across EMEA. Kate has previously led business transformations as Group Director at Cambridge Assessment, Cambridge University’s commercial examination boards, and at Crown Packaging Inc (formerly MetalBox).  She was Vice Chair of Governors for the College of West Anglia for 5 years. As a qualified engineer, Kate obtained her MEng from Pembroke College, Oxford and completed her Global Executive MBA at INSEAD, studying in Paris, Singapore and Brazil. She continues to promote life-long learning and strives to inspire senior leadership excellence through the Professional Women’s Network.

Anne Jessopp

Since joining The Royal Mint in 2008, Anne Jessopp has held several positions on the Board, including HR Director and Director of Consumer, before stepping into the role of CEO in 2018, the first female in the 1,100 year history of the company to do so.

Spearheading the transformation of one of the UK’s oldest businesses, Anne’s leadership of The Royal Mint has seen her introduce an ambitious new five-year strategy to continue to grow the consumer facing divisions: precious metals investment products, collector services division, and a visitor attraction as well as a successful commemorative coin business.  Under Anne’s leadership, The Royal Mint has also committed to becoming a leader in sustainable precious metals and has introduced 886, a luxury jewellery and homeware range.

Anne has significant experience in leading cultural change, manufacturing and growing new businesses, which was gained at some of the United Kingdom’s biggest firms, including Procter and Gamble, RAC and Rolls-Royce.