PRESS RELEASE : Four Members reappointed to the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives [January 2024]

Martin Howard

Appointed for a four year term commencing 21 October 2023.

Martin Howard is a retired UK senior security official. His last two postings in government were as Director for Cyber Policy and International Relations at GCHQ, focusing on strategic development and communication of cyber-security policies, and on cyber and intelligence cooperation with international partners; and Chief of the Assessments Staff in the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Organisation, analysing conventional and novel threats to national security and critical infrastructure.

He previously served as Assistant Secretary General for Operations in NATO, dealing with the alliance’s missions in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Libya, Iraq and on counter-piracy; as Director General Operational Policy in the Ministry of Defence; and as Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence. He also worked in the Northern Ireland Office acting as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and as part of the UK team that helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement. Martin was appointed Companion of the Bath (CB) in 2007.

Dr Leon Litvack

Appointed for a four year term commencing 21 October 2023.

Leon Litvack is Professor of Victorian Studies at the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author of numerous scholarly publications, an authority on the life and works of Charles Dickens, and Principal Editor of the Charles Dickens Letters Project. Leon is also a freelance broadcaster for the BBC. He has held public appointments on National Museums Northern Ireland, Arts Council Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council. He is a Director of Tobernagee Properties Ltd, and Charles Dickens Letters Ltd.

Helene Pantelli

Appointed for a four year term commencing 21 October 2023.

Helene Pantelli is a qualified solicitor. She spent several years practising law with City law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and Travers Smith LLP, including a secondment to the legal team of a global financial institution. Helene’s experience focussed on all elements of commercial law, particularly private and listed investment funds, assisting clients with corporate transactions, corporate governance and regulatory matters.

Most recently, Helene has worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service as a senior ombudsman, a statutory decision-maker responsible for resolving disputes between consumers and financial services providers, and Head of Practice for Investments and Pensions disputes. Helene led a division of ombudsman managers making legally binding decisions on complex and high value complaints with responsibility for technical matters and policy development for those complaints. She represents the Financial Ombudsman Service externally, speaking at events, liaising regularly with regulatory authorities, businesses and other key industry and consumer groups, recently in relation to high profile pension transfer matters. Helene represented the Financial Ombudsman Service on the government advisory group on social impact investing in the UK, the report for which – “Growing a culture of social impact investing in the UK” – was published at the end of 2017.

David Rossington

Appointed for a four year term commencing 21 October 2023.

David Rossington CB is a former senior civil servant. He has worked for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), including as Finance Director and acting Director General, and other Government departments including what is now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Since stopping full time work, he has been a member of the Advisory Committee on National Records and Archives, to which he is being reappointed until October 2027, and currently serves as its Deputy Chair. He is also a Gambling Commissioner. He is Treasurer and Deputy Chair of a charity for veterans (Stoll), and Treasurer of an Oxford community arts charity (Arts at the Old Fire Station).

David holds a degree in History and French from Oxford, a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School, Harvard University, and an economics MSc from Birkbeck College, London. David took an accountancy qualification while a civil servant, although is no longer in practice.