Manchester Jewish Museum has named Gemma Meek as its new chief executive, and recruited an interim chief executive to cover the role while she is on maternity leave.
Meek joined the organisation in 2021 as programme manager and has covered the chief executive position since May 2025 when Gareth Redston stepped down.
She starts her maternity leave later this month, so Sue Shave – a former director of the Jewish Museum in London as well as Chiltern Open Air Museum and a queer heritage and museum consultant – will cover the role for the time of her absence.
Manchester Jewish Museum reopened in July 2021 following a £6m redevelopment project. Based in an 19th-century Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Cheetham Hill, a diverse area of Manchester that is home to multi-faith communities, the museum has a mission to be “a place to experience how we are different, together”.
“I feel privileged to be part of a team who has great care for sharing the diverse Jewish stories of Manchester, highlighting how they are embedded in the history of our city,” Meek said.
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“I am passionate about sharing these stories with all our communities of Manchester, making conversational and creative moments that allow our diverse audiences to come together and explore their commonalities and differences.”
She added: “It will also be wonderful to see how the new interim CEO brings their expertise in museum leadership and inclusivity to Manchester Jewish Museum and I am excited to see what next year brings.”
Shave said: “I love the inclusive mission of the museum bringing people together to experience and explore how we are different through Jewish collections and culture, and I admire the community-led approach to making this museum and collections relevant to communities today.
“I am really looking forward to working with the brilliant staff, trustees, volunteers and communities in Manchester and leading the museum in 2026.”
Last summer, the museum was awarded £100,000 from the Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund to support collective healing between Manchester’s Jewish and Muslim communities through art and cultural exchange in the context of ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
