Trustees.

The IEA Trustees ensure that we fulfil our charitable mission to ‘improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems’. They are responsible for governance, ensuring we act in compliance with all relevant laws and internal rules we set for ourselves, for example on research and development protocols. Trustees appoint the Director General to manage the pursuit of this mission and are responsible for overseeing the IEA’s appointments and stewardship of charitable assets, including the conduct of an annual audit. They appoint the Company Secretary, overseeing the correct filings to Companies House and the Charity Commission as required. Trustees are volunteers and often contribute directly as authors, donors, or in the provision of specific expertise, but cannot be compensated for their contribution.

The IEA Board meets three times a year, including one AGM. The IEA Finance and General Purposes Committee meets five times a year. The IEA Appointments Committee meets as and when required to consider new Trustees and senior appointments.

  • Linda Edwards became the Chairman of the IEA Board of Trustees in July 2023, after serving on the Board since June 2019 and the Board of Advisors since 2016. Linda undertook her undergraduate studies in economics at Trinity University in Texas, followed by a Juris Doctor at The University of Texas School of Law. She subsequently practised mergers and acquisitions at Latham & Watkins, the world’s second-biggest law firm. Linda went on to live in London, Dubai, Paris, and Hong Kong. Since 2018, she has been a Board Member of the Atlas Network, the international classical liberal networking and training organisation started by IEA founder Antony Fisher. She is also a Board member of the Reason Foundation and previously served on the Board of Visitors to the School of General Studies at Columbia University.

  • Professor Christian Bjørnskov is a professor of economics at the Department of Economics at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, and affiliated researcher at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) in Stockholm. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Göttingen and the University of Heidelberg, and is associated with the Centre for Political Studies in Copenhagen (CEPOS).

  • Robert Boyd is a private investor. He studied Classics at the University of Oxford, has worked in London, Hong Kong and San Francisco, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia. His professional focus has been on strategic corporate growth and management and he has been a board member of public and private corporations, not-for-profit organisations and a community association. He has also been a trustee of various think tanks for more than twenty-five years.

  • Robin Edwards is a Chartered Accountant and Fund Manager who for fifteen years managed one of Europe’s largest global macro funds. More recently he has become involved as a director and shareholder in several businesses which benefit from his commercial and financial background. Prior to entering the fund management industry Robin practised as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen LLC in London and as a management consultant in Australia. He is a former founder Trustee of Policy Exchange and recently stepped down as chairman of The Queen’s Club where he remains a Trustee.

  • Patrick Minford CBE has been Professor of Economics, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University since October 1997. Between 1967 and 1976 he held economic positions in the Ministry of Finance, Malawi; Courtaulds Limited; H M Treasury; H M Treasury’s Delegation to Washington, DC; Manchester University; and The National Institute for Economic and Social Research. From 1976-1997, Patrick Minford was professor of economics at Liverpool University. He was a member of Monopolies and Mergers Commission 1990-96 and one of the HM Treasury’s Panel of Forecasters (‘Six Wise Men’) 1993-1996. He is author of many books and articles on exchange rates, unemployment, housing and macroeconomics.

  • Bruno Prior is a Director of Summerleaze Ltd, which is involved in the construction materials, property, waste management and energy sectors. For most of his thirty years with the company, Bruno’s main focus has been renewable energy – firstly, the generation of electricity from landfill gas, and then the supply of wood pellets for heating.

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    Juan Castañeda is Director of the Vinson Centre for the Public Understanding of Economics and Entrepreneurship and Professor of Economics at the University of Buckingham.

    Doctor in Economics since 2003 (UAM University at Madrid) and lecturer in Economics at the University of Buckingham since 2012, Juan Castañeda has experience working and researching in monetary policy and central banking. Juan was the Director of the Institute of International Monetary Research from 2016 to 2023. He has collaborated with the European Parliament’s Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs and submitted written evidence for a UK Parliament report on the euro. He has been an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow in Cass Business School (London) and a visiting researcher at the Centre of Monetary and Financial Alternatives at Cato (Washington, DC) and at Universidad Franciso Marroquin in Guatemala. Before moving to the UK in 2012, he worked for 14 years as a lecturer in Economics at UNED University in Madrid. He has been awarded a Bank of Spain annual scholarship to develop research on monetary history, and has authored and edited academic books and research articles on the economic crises, monetary policy and central banking. He is the Review Editor and Deputy Editor of the Journal of Economic Affairs. In 2017, Juan was appointed as “External Expert” in Economics of COST, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Agency (COST is supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020). Since September 2018, he has also been a member of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Shadow Monetary Policy Committee. He is also a member of the IEA’s Academic Advisory Council.

  • Neil Record serves as the Life Vice President of the IEA, having stepped down from the Board of Trustees in 2023. He held the position of Chairman from 2015 until 2023. Not only a benefactor of the IEA, Neil has played a significant role in advocating for transparency in UK public sector pensions. He has authored or co-authored multiple papers on this topic, including “Sir Humphrey’s Legacy” (2006), published by the IEA, and the IEA report titled “The Great British Rake-off,” (2021), which examines how the government has misled Parliament and the British people on public sector pensions.

  • Professor Myddelton has been a Life Vice President since retiring from the Board of Trustees in 2015. David was Chairman of the Board between 2001 and 2015, and has also published the IEA monographs ‘They Meant Well’ and ‘Unshackling Accountants’. David served on the Board from 1994 until 2015.

  • Lord Vinson has been a Life Vice President of the IEA since stepping down from the Board of Trustees in 2004. He was appointed to the Board in 1971, and served as IEA Chairman from 1988 until 1995. Lord Vinson has also helped create the IEA Transport Unit and the Vinson Centre for the Study of Liberal Economics at the University of Buckingham.