THE MASTER AND WARDENS - 2023 TO 2024

The Company is managed by a Court chaired by the Master, who is assisted by two Wardens. The Master serves for one year and acts as the ambassador of the Company throughout our industries and within the City of London. 

The Master

Tony Mash is the President of TMA Consulting Inc.  He was cloathed in 2003 but first came to the Hall on Ash Wednesday 1962 as a member of the Stationers’ Company’s School choir.

Tony holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from University College, London and an MBA from Institut Supérieur des Affaires, France and the Manchester Business School, where he won a British Institute of Management Silver Award for his thesis on pension fund management.

Tony has spent the majority of his career in senior roles in the Chemical Industry in Europe, North America and Asia with companies including ICI and AstraZeneca. In 2012, he retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the British Coatings Federation. In this role, he represented the UK Printing Ink Industry in its relationships with Government and the Media. 

Within the Stationers’ Company, Tony has chaired the Industry and Marketing Advisory Committees and led Trade Association and Innovation Excellence events at the Hall. 

Tony is a Past President of the Old Stationers’ Association.

The Upper Warden 

Paul Wilson served in  British Army from 1976-1986 where he received  extensive language training before transferring to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  There, he worked on the Eastern Europe and Southern Africa desks and served as First Secretary (Political) at the British High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan from 1991-93. In 1992 he was one of the diplomatic staff on the Foreign Office mission to the new Mujahideen government in Kabul.

In 1994 Paul joined De La Rue PLC, the leading high security printers. He held a series of appointments in De La Rue’s banknote division before being  appointed managing director of De la Rue’s Identity Systems business in 2003. 

From 2007 until his retirement in 2015, Wilson was responsible for De La Rue’s relationships with the British Government and parliamentarians.

In 2016 he was invited to join the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce and was the Director General of the Chamber from February 2018 until December 2021. He remains a non – executive director of the Chamber.

He has chaired the Stationers’ Company’s Library and Archives Committee, Hall and Heritage Committee, Hall Committee and most recently the Hall Project Executive Committee which was responsible for the Vision 350 project..

Publications:

Pilgrims , Profit and Print : the Stationers of London and the English Settlement of North America ( Bognor Regis , Phillimore Book Publishing,2019)

Hostile Money – Currencies in Conflict ( Stroud , The History Press , 2019 )

Shades of Sovereignty – Money and the Making of the State ( Lanham, Rowman and Littlefield, 2021)

The Under Warden

Doug Wills is Editor Emeritus of the Evening Standard and The Independent. He was previously Managing Editor of the Evening Standard for 15 years, 10 of those as Group Managing Editor including for the Independent. Doug trained in journalism with Thomson Regional Newspapers in Berkshire, went on to be the political correspondent for the Western Daily Press in Bristol before rejoining Thomson newspapers in a number of roles including features editor, chief sub editor and Deputy Editor. He moved to London to join the Mirror Group helping to launch the London Daily News as Assistant Editor (production).

 Doug is former President of the Society of Editors and currently a board member and hon treasurer, is chair of London Press  Club. Doug is the President of the Rotary Club of London and is a Rotary International representative for the Commonwealth. He is currently assisting Rotary International and the Commonwealth on environmental projects.