Current chairman Richard Jacques is stepping down from the Governing Body of the British Institute of Florence after nine years. He will be replaced by former British Ambassador to Italy Christopher Prentice.
Richard Jacques speaks at his farewell evening in the Harold Acton Library on November 15, 2017.
“It has been a great privilege to serve as Chairman of the British Institute for the last nine years,” said Richard Jacques, a partner at the global consulting firm Brunswick Group. “I have always been immensely proud of the staff and teachers of ‘il British’ who enrich the lives of so many people in Florence and from around the world through the teaching of our languages and the sharing of our culture.”
Jacques further commented, “I am delighted that Christopher Prentice has agreed to become the new chairman given his experience and dedication in bringing the people of the UK and Italy ever closer together.”
Christopher Prentice worked for 39 years in the UK Foreign Service, before retiring in 2016. His final posting was as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Italy from 2011 to 2016.
“Since leaving Rome last year, it has been a particular pleasure to keep in touch with Italy, and particularly with Florence, through membership of the Governing Body of ‘The British’,” said Prentice. “Assuming now the chairmanship is a great honour and I promise to do all I can to help this great institution to build on the achievements of its first hundred years in the service of Italian-British cultural relations. The British Institute is needed now more than ever.”
Currently celebrating its centenary year, The British Institute of Florence has been offering a wide range of educational and cultural programmes for the Tuscan community as well as students and visitors from all over the world since 1917.
