The UK government announced on 21 September 2026 that Kate Cheetham, Elizabeth Kennedy, Amelia Pan and Lord Chris Smith had been appointed to the Wallace Collection Board by the previous Prime Minister. All four appointments took effect from 1 September 2026, the announcement said.

Cheetham, chief legal officer and company secretary of Lloyds Banking Group, and Lord Smith, elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in July 2025, were appointed to terms ending 31 August 2031. Kennedy, head of legal at Havas UK, and Pan, a managing director in strategic advisory at PJT Partners, were appointed to terms ending 31 August 2030. Trustees of the Wallace Collection are not remunerated, the notice stated.

The appointments followed the Cabinet Office's Governance Code on Public Appointments, with the process regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The notice said Lord Smith sat as a non-affiliated peer from 2008 to 2024 before rejoining the Labour benches in 2024, and that Cheetham, Kennedy and Pan declared no political activity.