Chief Executive, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA)

Bernard is the CEO of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, the trade association and advocacy body representing the UK’s most significant museums, galleries, heritage sites, cathedrals, palaces, places of worship, stately homes, gardens, zoos, performance venues, cultural organisations and visitor attractions.

He is Chair of the Board of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, the oldest continually working theatre in the English-speaking world which celebrates its 260th birthday in 2026; and Chair of the Board of the People’s History Museum, Manchester – the museum of democracy – which holds the Labour party’s archives. Since 2011 he has been Chair of the London and South East Regional Advisory Board of the National Trust.

For 3 years until 2026 he was Co-Chair of Tourism Advisory Board of London and Partners – VisitLondon. Between 2020 and 2025 he was Co-Chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board which brought together London government, public and private tourism businesses to rebuild London’s visitor economy and which commissioned and led the ‘Let’s Do London’ marketing campaign.

He is a guest lecturer on the Oxford Cultural Leaders programme of the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford; on the Masters in Cultural Leadership course of the Royal Academy of the Arts; and on MA and BA courses of the University of Oxford, University College London, and Goldsmiths College, University of London.

For 12 years until 2021 he was Chair of the award-winning London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT). He is a former Chair of the Tourism Alliance, VisitManchester, and the Ambassadors’ Council of WWF. Bernard has been a trustee of WWF-UK, Centrepoint, the Museum of The Home, the Heritage Alliance and Kids in Museums, and was a member of the Cathedral Council of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. He was awarded the OBE in 2022 for ‘services to tourism and to culture’.

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