Caro Howell MBE

Caro Howell has served as Director General at Imperial War Museums since May 2023. She is a Trustee of the IWM Development Trust and Vice President of the American Air Museum in Britain. In 2011-23, she was Director of the Foundling Museum. Previously, as Head of Education & Public Events at the Whitechapel Gallery, she oversaw the construction and programming of major new education spaces and project galleries as part of the Gallery’s expansion, including artists’ commissions and residencies. She has worked as an independent museum education consultant in the UK and abroad, developing projects that explore issues of advocacy, interpretation and access to the arts.

Ten years at Tate, she joined Tate Modern’s set-up team in 1997, where she formulated its access and audience development strategy, developed London’s first peer-led museum programme for 15-23 year olds, and created award-winning resources for disabled people including i-Map, the UK’s first online art resource for blind and partially sighted people, which won a BAFTA. She is a member of the Women Leaders in Museums Network, which she co-chaired for several years, a trustee of the Holburne Museum in Bath and Autograph in London, a member of the Exhibition Advisory Groups of the Charterhouse and Two Temple Place, a mentor for Arts Emergency and a member of the Art Committee of the Supreme Court. She has also been a member of Art on the Underground’s Advisory Group and a trustee of the experimental theatre company Shunt. She was awarded an MBE for services to museums in 2022.