The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) for Canterbury is responsible for nominating the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Tasked with this sacred responsibility, the commission is made up of a diverse group of members who bring a range of experiences, perspectives, and spiritual insights. Together, they work prayerfully to discern who is called to lead the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
This commission includes representatives from the Church of England, the Anglican Communion, and members appointed by the Crown. Each member contributes to ensuring a balanced and thoughtful process that reflects the Church’s mission and future direction.
Voting members
Jonathan Evans has been a Crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2014. Until October 2023, he was Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
He is currently Chair of the HALO Trust, the anti-landmine charity, and of the Public Interest Committee at KPMG UK. He is a former Director-General of the Security Service, MI5.
He is an active and communicant member of his local parish church.
*Lord Evans was appointed as Chair by the Prime Minister.
Christina Baron is a retired university lecturer. She has chaired two local NHS Trusts and from 2004-21 was a member of appointment panels for the Judicial Appointments Commission. In 1980-81, she was Mayor of Wells.
She is a member of General Synod from the diocese of Bath and Wells and was elected to the Crown Nominations Commission in 2017.
*Christina is a central member, drawn from the CNC Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them.
The Reverend Canon Isaac Beach is a Māori priest, governance leader, and social entrepreneur who has devoted his life to indigenous Anglican expression, climate resilience, and youth leadership.
Passionate about climate change, he co-founded the CIVA framework to train vulnerable communities in the Pacific. He holds both an MBA and a BA from Otago University. He has been married to his wife, Kirby Beach, for seven years.
*Isaac is the Anglican Communion representative from the Oceania region.
David Berry has been a commercial lawyer for the last 40 years and for most of that time as a partner in a leading international law firm based in the City of London.
He has been a member of the Parochial Church Council of his local parish church in Kent for many years, and lately as church warden. He is also a trustee of various other charities and is a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
David is a representative of the Diocese of Canterbury, elected by the diocese's Vacancy in See Committee.
Debbie Buggs spent over 20 years working in the City as an accountant and moved into the charity sector in 2020. She is a volunteer treasurer for her church. She lives in London and enjoys cycling to work.
Debbie was elected to General Synod in 2015 and to the CNC in 2022. She has served on the Finance Committee in the Diocese of London and on the Archbishops’ Council’s Audit Committee.
*Debbie is a central member, drawn from the CNC Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them.
The Reverend Canon Paul Cartwright is the Vicar of the Priory Benefice in the Diocese of Leeds, Area Dean of Pontefract, and an Honorary Canon of Wakefield Cathedral. He trained for ministry at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, and was ordained in 2008. He holds a BA (Hons) in Social Policy and Administration, a BA (Hons) and MA in Theology and Pastoral Studies and a PGCE (PCET) in Adult Education.
His ministry has been Parish and Chaplaincy based and he has served on General Synod since 2010, serving on CMEAC for 10 years and more recently as Vice Chair of the Business Committee.
*Paul is a central member, drawn from the CNC Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them.
Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York. He has previously served as the Bishop of Chelmsford, Bishop of Reading, Canon Pastor at Peterborough Cathedral and Diocesan Missioner for the Diocese of Wakefield. He is a member of the House of Lords.
Lis Goddard is Vicar of St James the Less, Pimlico. Her previous jobs have included leading a church plant, working among students, teaching Ministerial Formation in a theological college, leading on strategy and pastoral care in a large church and having a consultancy role for a church as it transitioned its leadership structures. She was very involved in the early work of the Transformations Steering Group, especially around Young Vocations and Family Friendly Policies. As part of her role on General Synod, she serves on the Ministry Development Board.
She is passionate about seeing people come to Christ, discovering his healing and wholeness, and about seeing churches really engaging with their communities, bringing God's grace to hard places.
*Lis is a central member, drawn from the CNC Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them.
Estella Last is a Priest serving a parish on the outskirts of Canterbury. She has been an elected Clergy representative on the Diocese’s Archbishop’s Council for 6 years and was nominated as Chair of the House of Clergy in 2024. She served as Diocesan Adviser for Women’s Ministry from 2019 – 2024.
She is the Safeguarding Governor for the Primary School in her Parish, and a Trustee of The Living Well, the Diocesan Centre for Healing and Wholeness.
Estella is a representative of the Diocese of Canterbury, elected by the diocese's Vacancy in See Committee.
Claire Lording has been the Vicar of the Pershore Benefice in the Diocese of Worcester since 2015. Ordained in 1999, she has also served as a parish priest in large rural teams covering communities in Herefordshire, South Shropshire and Worcestershire.
She has served in various diocesan roles in Hereford and Worcester, was made an Honorary Canon of Worcester Cathedral in 2022 and has been a member of General Synod since 2021.
*Claire is a central member, drawn from the CNC Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them.
Sally-Ann is a Member of the House of Laity on the Vacancy in SEE Committee for the Diocese of Canterbury and worships at a village Church in the Weald of Kent. She has lived in the area for 9 years, having moved from Surrey, where she had held many posts and had roles in the charitable sector and spent 18 years an elected councillor at Parish, District and County levels - most recently having been Chairman of Surrey County Council.
Sally had previously held the position of Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health and was much involved with championing Safeguarding policies as well as Services for those with a Learning Disability. She has recently retired from being a Company Director, after 30 years of a large Family Business.
She remains very involved with various charities and is on the Kent Committee of the ABF – the Soldiers’ Charity – having previously been the Chairman of a Civil and Military Partnership Board. She is a member of her Church’s PCC and is a Sidesman – amongst other things in the life of the Church.
Sally-Ann is a representative of the Diocese of Canterbury, elected by the diocese's Vacancy in See Committee.
Hosam Naoum is the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and the Primate of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Archbishop Naoum is the Vice Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).
Naoum is the former Dean of Saint George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem, and is an Honorary Canon of Rochester Cathedral.
*Hosam is the Anglican Communion representative from the Asia region.
Grace Nkansa Asante is a 60 year old Ghanaian from the Ashanti Region. She is an Anglican Priest in the Kumasi Diocese in Ghana. She is currently posted at Archbishop Thomas Cranmer Chaplaincy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
She holds a PhD in Economics and is currently a Professor at the Department of Economics at KNUST. She loves music, dancing and reading. She also loves being with children and tending plants.
*Grace is the Anglican Communion representative from the Africa region.
Joaquín Philpotts is a Lay Minister from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He’s a member of the Anglican Consultative Council. He’s an Industrial Engineer with extensive experience managing industrial and logistics operations.
*Joaquín is the Anglican Communion representative from the Americas region.
Clive Scowen was born in London in 1958 and grew up in Harrow where he served as a local councillor for 12 years and still lives. He read Law at Bristol University and was called to the Bar in 1981. He was The Editor of the Law Reports and The Weekly Law Reports from 2008 to 2019. He is now retired. He is a licensed lay minister at his parish church.
Involved in the synodical life of London Diocese for 40 years, he has represented its laity on General Synod since 2005 and is a member of a number of its committees and commissions. Recently, he was elected lay chair of his deanery synod and Chair of the London Diocesan Board of Patronage.
*Clive is a central member, drawn from the CNC Central Members elected by General Synod, or a member of the General Synod nominated to represent them.
Mary is Bishop of Llandaff. A former teacher, she is Education Bishop for Wales. Mary and her husband, Andrew Sully, were ordained deacon in the Church in Wales in 1993.
Mary was priested with the first cohort of women priests in Wales, and she has enjoyed serving in ministry in five of the six Welsh dioceses.
*Mary is the Anglican Communion representative from the Europe region.
Graham Usher is the Bishop of Norwich and the lead bishop for the environment. Following parish ministry in the Northeast of England, he was Bishop of Dudley. He is an ecologist by background and generally speaks about environmental issues as a Lord Spiritual.
He is a Church Commissioner and the Church of England’s episcopal representative on the Anglican Consultative Council.
*Bishop Graham was elected by the House of Bishops.
Non-voting members
Jonathan was born and brought up in the North of England and educated at Christ Church, Oxford (BA, MA, PPE) and at St Mellitus College (MA in Christian Leadership). He has worked on a council estate in the North of England as a church worker, has spent time working in Brussels and Strasbourg in the European institutions, and was Assistant Private Secretary to HM The King (as Prince of Wales) for 8 years. He was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, an honour in the personal gift of the late Queen, in 2015. Jonathan has been a Director in the Cabinet Office, and has run teams of civil servants looking after the honours system, freedom of information policy and the No10/ Cabinet Office archives and records.
In his spare time, he has been variously a Magistrate at Bow Street and Horseferry Road Magistrates' Courts, a Trustee of City Gateway (a charity helping young people into work), a Board member of the Prince's Trust's 40th Anniversary Campaign, a Trustee of a charitable foundation giving out £7 million a year, an Honorary Advisory Chaplain in the Diocese of London, and a Ministerial Formation Adviser in the Diocese of Southwark.
Since July 2022, he has been the Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary, recruited in an external competition overseen by the Civil Service Commission.
Stephen Knott was appointed ‘Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments’ in January 2022, advising and supporting the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on all matters relating to senior appointments.
As Archbishops’ Appointments Secretary, Stephen oversees the appointment processes for archbishops, bishops, deans and other senior roles in the Church of England. He is also responsible for ensuring, identifying, supporting and developing a diverse pipeline of candidates for that level of ministry. Stephen serves as Secretary to the Crown Nominations Commission.
Anthony Poggo is the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, a role he started in 2022. As Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, he leads the staff team at the Anglican Communion Office, the international secretariat, in serving the four “Instruments of Communion”.
Prior to this, he worked at Lambeth Palace from 2016 to 2022 as Advisor on Anglican Communion Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, before which he served as Diocesan bishop of Kajo-Keji in South Sudan from 2007 to 2016.