Goldsmiths’ Foundation appoints Michael Prideaux as Chair
The Goldsmiths’ Foundation is delighted to announce the appointment of Michael Prideaux as its new Chair of Trustees. Michael succeeds the Foundation’s inaugural Chair, Dame Lynne Brindley.
Michael Prideaux by Alun Calendar
Speaking about his appointment as Chair, Michael said: “It’s a great honour to have been asked to follow in Dame Lynne’s determined footsteps. The Foundation is rightly focused on the Goldsmiths’ heartland of technical and vocational training, within both our own craft and the wider creative industries. We want to become a real force for good in the sector, combining strategic research, major partnerships, such as The Goldsmiths’ Centre and the Landmark Grants, and open grant funding with, above all, rigorous research.”
One of nine trustees that were recruited to the Goldsmiths’ Foundation’s first board in 2025 for the depth and strength of their skills and experience across a variety of sectors and professions from charity to education, arts, culture and business, Michael started his career selling advertising space for the Financial Times in the 1970s and went on to spend the next three decades working in public relations. Firstly, as the Chief Executive of Charles Barker City – a leading corporate and financial public relations, advertising and design business – and latterly as Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Director for British American Tobacco, where he served as a member of their management board until his retirement in 2012.
The Prideaux family have a long history of offering service to the Goldsmiths’ Company, having between them served 164 years as Clerks, Accountants, and Prime Wardens (Chair equivalent) of the Company. Following his father’s year as Prime Warden in 1973, Michael became a Liveryman in 1974. He went on to join the Court of Assistants (board equivalent) in 2013 and serve as a trustee of the Goldsmiths’ Centre from 2014-2018, before being elected as Prime Warden in 2018.
Away from the corporate world and the City, Michael is a keen gardener and has been a custodian of Selehurst in West Sussex, since 1976, where he and his wife Sue have planted more than 3000 native trees, reestablishing and reinvigorating one of the country’s great woodland gardens. This passion for the natural world, along with a keen sense of service, saw Michael assume the Chair of Trustees at Chelsea Physic Garden – London's oldest Botanic Garden – from 2012-2022.
Speaking about Michaels appointment, Michelle O’Brien, Director of the Goldsmiths’ Foundation said, “Michael is someone I have known and worked with over the last few years, and his integrity and drive are matched by an unusual combination of deep roots in the Company and a real appetite for what comes next. We are fortunate to have him as Chair."