Canberra arts identity Rachael Coghlan is the new CEO of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, succeeding Adam Davey, who resigned late last year after more than seven years in the role.

Coghlan, an assistant secretary in the Department of Parliamentary Services and a former CEO of Craft ACT, is also deputy chair of the Cultural Facilities Corporation and a director of the Canberra Region Tourism Leaders Forum.

Chair of the Trust, David Trebeck, said she had been selected from a strong field of more than 50 applicants.

With a first-class honours graduate in Communications from the University of Canberra and a PhD from the ANU focused on museum participation, she has also worked at the National Museum, the Museum of Australian Democracy and the National Arboretum.

The 150th anniversary of Churchill’s birth will be celebrated later this year and Coghlan says she is excited to be joining the Trust in the lead up to its 60th anniversary.

She will join the Churchill Trust in mid-February.