Career
After periods in banking and film finance, Mendoza co-founded Forward Publishing [8] with William Sieghart in 1986. Forward pioneered the custom media business in the UK [9] and became one of the leading independent contract publishers. The company specialised in international and multilingual projects with corporate partners including IBM, Tesco and Patek Philippe & Co. [10] In 2001, Forward was sold to WPP plc.
Mendoza was appointed the UK Government's Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal in May 2020, [4] and, on 31 July 2020, he was elevated to the peerage, [11] taking his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.
During 2020, he played a leading role in the creation of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport £2-billion Culture Recovery Fund and is a member of its Board. [12]
He chairs the Culture and Heritage Capital Board. [13] He co-chaired a report, Boundless Creativity, for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. [14]
In 2016, Mendoza was appointed as Commissioner of Historic England by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, [15] before being appointed as a DCMS non-executive board member. [16]
In 2017, he published the Mendoza Review of Museums in England for the UK Government. [17] In the same year, Mendoza was also the lead reviewer on the Strategic Review of DCMS-sponsored museums conducted under Cabinet Office guidelines. [18] [19]
The following year, he became provost at Oriel College, Oxford. During his tenure, in 2021, the college decided not to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes. "What we are doing is not applying for it to be removed," he said. "The governing body has expressed a wish for it to come down, but in the current regulatory and legislative environment it's not going to be possible. This has been a careful, finely balanced debate and we are fully aware of the impact our decision is likely to have in the UK and further afield." [20]
Lord Mendoza is currently Chairman of The Illuminated River Foundation. He is a non-executive director of Meira GTx, a gene therapy company with research facilities in New York and London. [21] He sits on the Board of Visitors for the Ashmolean Museum. [22]
In 2020, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. [23]
He was previously Chairman of The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts, Vice-Chair of Soho Theatre, on the board of the Almeida Theatre and the Shakespeare Schools Foundation. He was also an independent trustee of The Daily Mail charity, Mail Force. [24] Appointed to the panel of The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals, he was a judge of the Laurence Olivier Awards for theatre for 2010 and 2011. [25]
Mendoza then served as Chairman of the Landmark Trust, a UK historic building preservation charity, from 2011 to 2021. [26]
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to arts and culture. [27]
In August 2023, it was announced that Mendoza had been appointed chair of Historic England. Describing it as "a great honour", he said: "I look forward to ensuring the ongoing protection of the nation's heritage estate and demonstrating the importance, beauty and value of our heritage to a wider society." [20]
