Alistair Hardaker
Image British Library, London (CC BY-SA 2.0 Christine Matthews)
Board member since 2019 takes interim role amid as Rebecca Lawrence steps down.
The British Library Board has announced that Rebecca Lawrence has stepped down as Chief Executive.
Dr Jeremy Silver will cover the role of Interim Chief Executive, a British Library Board member since 2019, and re-appointed for a second term in 2023. He is currently Chair of the Board Digital Portfolio Committee.
The library said the Board extends its thanks to Lawrence for her contribution and “wishes her every success in her future endeavours”, but did not expand on a reason for the departure.
Dr Silver is a non-executive director, investor and author, with extensive global experience in digital media, immersive technologies, music and AI/machine learning.
Between 2016-2024 he was CEO of Digital Catapult, the UK Government-funded applied research and development labs and business accelerator for start-ups, scale-ups and corporates.
The departure comes during an ongoing strike at the institution. Employees who are members of the PCS union walked out on 27 October and will be on strike until 9 November. The union is demanding an ‘inflation-proof’ pay offer.
