Bernard Donoghue

Director - The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions

Bernard has been Chairman of London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) since 2010, having been a Board member since 2005 and Deputy Chair since 2007. He is the Director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, ALVA, which represents the most popular, iconic and important museums, galleries, cathedrals, castled, palaces, historic houses, heritage sites, gardens, zoos and leisure attractions in the UK. He was Head of Government and Public Affairs for VisitBritain, the national tourist board between 1997 and 2010. He was a Board Director of Marketing Manchester, 2001 - 2010, and Chairman of VisitManchester, the Manchester tourist board, 2008 - 2010. He was founder and Co-Chair of British Tourism Week, 2008 - 2010, launching the initiative and securing the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales.He is an appointed member of the Cathedral Council of St Paul's Cathedral, London; a Trustee (2002 - 2013) and Fellow of the Tourism Society; and a Director of the Tourism Alliance. In 2012 he was appointed a Trustee of 'Kids in Museums', a Trustee of The Geffrye Museum of the Home in Hoxton, London, and a Trustee of The Heritage Alliance. He is a founder Trustee and Director of the Kaleidoscope Trust. He was a Trustee of Centrepoint, the youth homelessness charity, for 17 years until 2012 and was variously Chair of Centrepoint's Marketing, Communications and Policy Committee and its 40th anniversary committee in 2009. He is a Fellow of the World-Wide Fund for Nature UK, Chair of WWF-UK's 50th Anniversary Taskforce 2010 - 2012 and Chair of WWF-UK's Council of Ambassadors since 2011. He was an Ambassador of WWF-UK between 1999 - 2004 and a Trustee between 2004 - 2010. Prior to VisitBritain Bernard held lobbying, policy, campaigning and communications roles for the National AIDS Trust; Sense - the National Deafblind and Rubella organisation; and Disability Daily, a national campaigning consortium of disability and carers' organisations, which he founded. Bernard has worked as a policy and communications advisor in the House of Lords and Commons for various MPs and Peers; for the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg; and for the late Diana, Princess of Wales. He was a member of the Prime Minister's Communications Advisory Group between 2007 - 2009. He is the author of the 'British Tourism Framework Review', published in 2009 and commissioned by the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. He is a former Chair of the British Youth Council; London Youth Matters; the Commonwealth Youth Forum; and was the first Chair of the Youth Forum of the United Nations. He is a former Trustee of the National Youth Agency. Bernard has been a judge of the British Environment and Media Awards (BEMAs) and the Museums and Heritage Excellence Awards for several years. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA), a Fellow of the Tourism Society (FTS), Fellow of WWF-UK, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (MCIPR) and lives in London.

George Kessler CBE

Joint Managing Director - Kesslers International Limited

Joint Deputy Chairman of Kesslers International Limited, a London based company employing an ethnically diverse multi skilled workforce of 300. Kesslers are Europe's leading designers and manufacturers of permanent Point of Purchase Display. George is also a member of London First, Made in London, London Economic Panel and EEF's Economic Policy Committee as well as being Chair of EEF's London region.

Hannah Azieb Pool

Senior Programmer, Contemporary Culture – Southbank Centre

Eritrean born Hannah Azieb Pool is currently Senior Programmer, Contemporary Culture at the Southbank Centre, the lead programmer for the Africa Utopia festival and one of the curators of the Women of the World (WOW) festival. Also a journalist, author and broadcaster, Hannah writes regularly in the national and international media. Hannah’s second book, Fashion Cities Africa, (Intellect Books 2016) celebrates the fashion landscapes of four key cities - Lagos, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Casablanca and is inspired by the exhibition of the same name, which she co-curated at the Brighton Museum. A Guardian journalist for over 14 years, Hannah was Guardian Weekend Magazine’s first Beauty Editor, and wrote the New Black - the first beauty column for women of colour in a national newspaper. Former Associate Editor of Arise magazine, and former Chair of UKFeminista, Hannah’s work also appears in The Times, Vogue, Grazia and many others. A regular contributor to BBC Radio, Africa Writes and Africa Gathering, Hannah’s first book, My Fathers’ Daughter (Penguin 2006) was described by the Washington Post as “a significant and moving book.”

Malakai Sargeant

Director of S&K Projects

Martin Harrison

Group Financial Controller - Inmarsat PLC

Martin Harrison is the Group Financial Controller of Inmarsat, the global mobile satellite business based in Old Street, London. Martin has worked in finance for over twenty-five years originally training as a Chartered Accountant with PwC. He spent fifteen years with the erstwhile "bellwether" of British Industry ICI in a wide variety of roles based in the UK and Canada including a spell as Finance Director of Dulux. More recently Martin has worked in the telecoms sector and is currently working for Inmarsat who were set up in the 1970's by the International Maritime Organisation to provide communications to the global maritime community.  They now provide communications over a network of twelve satellites to a wide variety of businesses and organisations including governments who have a need to communicate in remote regions or where there is no reliable terrestrial network.  As well as enjoying the theatre over many years Martin is to be seen most days dressed in lycra trying to prove something - what he 's not sure - on his beloved bike.

Simon London

Co-Founder – KidRated

After a stint as a Daily Mirror columnist and LIVE TV! Presenter Simon joined BBC Entertainment before moving to So Television in 1998 to work on C4’s So Graham Norton. In 2003 he joined TalkbackTHAMES where he co-developed and produced the comedy game show ‘Distraction’ and oversaw a raft of projects including QI, They Think It’s All Over and Channel 4’s The Morning After Show before returning to the BBC in 2008 and became Creative Head of BBC Comedy in 2011. In Jan 2013 he joined the digital content and tech company Rockabox (now Scoota) as a Freelance Content Producer, working across a range of projects including Whisked Away – an original YouTube programme he created specifically for TUI and the First Choice brand. In 2014 he co-founded and launched KidRated – an online platform for families whilst continuing to freelance in television, producing content for the major networks and online.

Alan Strong

Technology consultant

Alan is a technology entrepreneur working in the communications and media sector. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, working in Deloitte's music and entertainments group, he co-founded a technology consulting company which he then ran for nearly 15 years. The company won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for the innovative work it did with telecommunications businesses in the UK and Europe. Now working freelance, he continues to provide strategic advice to help technology businesses achieve their goals, and occasionally writes iPad apps in his spare time. Alan loves technology, science and maths, and sees no contradiction with loving theatre and music too.

Craig Hassall AM

CEO - Opera Australia

Craig Hassall has over twenty years working in the arts across a variety of art forms. Craig is currently CEO of Opera Australia, the largest performing arts company in Australia. Prior to this role, Craig worked as Chief Operating Officer for Raymond Gubbay Ltd and was, for seven years, managing director of English National Ballet. Craig also provided artistic advice to the cultural programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Craig has also been deputy general manager of Sydney Theatre Company in Australia, where he was responsible for all marketing, fundraising, box office and entrepreneurial activity for Australia’s largest theatre company. Between 1997 and 2000, Craig was responsible for the management of the cultural programme of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Additionally, he managed the image portfolio and special events for Sydney 2000. The Olympic Arts Festivals were the largest cultural programme ever mounted in Australia. The festivals commenced in 1997 and concluded with a six-week festival in 2000 featuring over 6,000 artists. Prior to the Olympic Games, Craig held positions including marketing manager of Opera Australia and general manager of Bell Shakespeare Company. Craig is currently on the board of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre), English National Ballet School and C4RD – Centre for Recent Drawing. Previously, he has been on the board of the Glen Street Theatre (Sydney), Company B Belvoir St Theatre (Sydney), and has been chairman of Object – Australian Centre for Craft and Design (Sydney).

Mitra Memarzia

Artist and Digital Consultant

Mitra is an artist and digital consultant working across sectors to develop strategic partnerships across industries, ranging from telecommunications and banks to publishers, cultural organisations, healthcare and focus areas such as Big Data and Wearable Tech. Her role with Innovate UK (government's innovation agency) is to connect start-ups and SMEs with leading commercial partners and investors across the UK, through funded contests, knowledge sharing and networking events and strategic matchmaking. She is in constant scouting mode to find the best digital start-up talent across the UK, and to help foster relationships between leading brands and organisations to generate new business opportunities. She has worked with partners such as EE Ltd, British Library, Tate, Nesta, NHS and RBS. Her artistic practice focuses on connecting people through interactive installations that merge digital technolgies into physical experiences.

Aileen Walker OBE

Public engagement and parliamentary strengthening specialist

Aileen is a consultant on public engagement and parliamentary strengthening, working with parliaments around the world. She was formerly Director of Public Engagement at the UK Parliament, where she was responsible for Parliament’s Education Service, Outreach Service, Visitor Services, and an innovative Public Engagement and Learning team. Aileen oversaw a significant increase in ambition in the way Parliament connects with the public, including the delivery of a dedicated Education Centre at Parliament, and the introduction of new engagement initiatives such as Parliament Week and TEDxHousesofParliament. She has been a school governor for many years, and is interested in the potential of technology to enhance learning and engagement. A Scottish immigrant to London, she loves the city for its rich culture and diversity, and also for its wealth of theatre music, and arts experiences. Aileen received an OBE in the New Year 2017 Honours List for services to improving public engagement with Parliament and voluntary service to the community in London.

Richard Huntington

Strategy Director - Saatchi & Saatchi

Richard has been an ad man for over twenty years. Though he shows a rare penchant for monogamy when it comes to employers, he has worked at some of the most famous and iconic ad agencies including Abbott Mead Vickers and the bad boy of British advertising, HHCL. For the past five years Richard has been the Strategy Director of Saatchi & Saatchi working across their client base and helping restore the agency’s creative birthright most particularly with work for T-Mobile (the flash mobs in Liverpool Street Station and Heathrow) and the launch of EE using Kevin six-degrees-of-separation Bacon. Not to mention LIFT. Richard also writes one of the UK’s most influential advertising blogs at www.adliterate.com and is a regular cask strength columnist on brand and advertising matters.

David Philip

Retired Finance Director

David is a Chartered Accountant with a career which has included significant spells in the financial and corporate world and, more recently, in the not for profit sector. His specialist areas cover corporate governance, risk management as well as financial and related matters. In recent years working at the National Tourist Board (VisitBritain) and at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, he has had the opportunity of extending his interest in history and the arts. He has particular interests in the theatre, museums and galleries and his reading list reflects these interests. He retired on 31st December 2012 but is still active in a number of not for profit organisations as a Trustee/Director. He is also a Court Member of the Scriveners, a city livery company and is a Freeman of the City of London.

Helen Shute

Chief Executive/Executive Director, Rambert

Helen Shute is currently Chief Executive at Rambert, the contemporary dance company who commission and tour across the UK and beyond.  Most recently she has worked in the commercial sector as Chief Operating Officer of the newly formed House Productions, working with Tessa Ross CBE and Juliette Howell to establish the company as a new home for world-class talent across television and film. Helen started her career in festivals at Fronteras Latin American Festival and Woking Dance Festival.  She subsequently joined The Place as Programming Associate where she worked with many emerging choreographers, including Hofesh Shechter, producing his early works Uprising (2006) and In your rooms (2007). Together with Shechter, Helen founded Hofesh Shechter Company in 2008, and under her leadership as the Executive Producer the Company grew to become a major national and international presence establishing significant partnerships with high profile venues in the UK and in major world cities. Helen’s experience in fundraising has seen her raising funds through a huge range of sources, her particular expertise lie in the cultivation of individuals who support a vision and the establishment of international co-production relationships for large-scale work. Helen had the pleasure of working with the Executive Team of LIFT in early 2016 and now serves on the board.  She also currently sits on the boards of New Movement Collective and Aerowaves European Dance Network.

Enni-Kukka Tuomala

Senior Strategist - adam&eveDDB

Enni-Kukka is an IPA Effectiveness- and APG Award-winning Senior Strategist working at the advertising agency adam&eveDDB. Driven to create ideas that shape culture as well as grow her clients’ businesses, at adam&eveDDB Enni-Kukka works with brands such as Harvey Nichols, Mars Foods, Unilever and Bulmers cider to develop long-term brand strategies as well as integrated campaign planning for them. Before moving to adam&eveDDB Enni-Kukka worked at Saatchi&Saatchi, which is where she first met Mark, Beki and the team in 2011. Originally from Finland, Enni-Kukka is the Chair of the LIFT Digital Board.

Matt Muir

Communications Consultant

Matt is a communications consultant with over a decade's experience in digital, from the arts to the games industry, from international consumer brands to government. He specialises in knowing a lot about stuff on the internet, and writes about it in his (roughly) weekly Web Curios.

Ross Sleight

Chief Strategy Officer - Somo

Ross has designed digital and mobile strategies for twenty two years, constantly fascinated by the way connected technologies change the way we engage and communicate.  His journey includes founding six digital companies spanning marketing agencies, gaming, publishing and mobile, along with working with DCMS, No10 Downing Street and British Council, balancing his commercial and cultural interests. He’s been voted one of the Top 50 influencers in Mobile and Top 100 Digital Achievers in the UK for the past three years.  Ross relishes the opportunity that working with LIFT provides to develop further digital reach and engagement for the enthralling and fascinating performances the festival hosts. 

@sleighty

www.somoglobal.com

Tiru Thiruvilangam

Head of Innovation and Engagement - Impact

Tiru hails from Croydon by way of Sri Lanka, both things he is proud of. Having worked in charity fundraising for a number of years, supporting musical creativity in young people, he ended up in the world of the arts. Working at Actors Touring Company led him to a chance encounter with LIFT.  Tiru currently works for London-based marketing agency Impact. 

Jonathan May

Programme Manager (Americas and South Asia) - British Council

Jonathan May is an arts programmer for British Council, working in South Asia, the Americas and South Korea.

 

Jonathan has been creating cultural activities and events now for over a decade, working across theatre, photography, installation and digital contexts; creating work for arts organisations including LIFT, Live Art Development Agency, Tate, Whitechapel Gallery and the Yard. He is a Trustee of the Live Art Development Agency, and is on the Creative Council for Strike a Light Festival. Jonathan is a founding member of Parallel Crossings, a collaborative arts network across UK and MENA. Jonathan also creates the radio programme International Airspace on London Fields Radio, when he has a second or two.

Kevin Isaacs

Communications Consultant

Kevin Isaacs has over twenty five years experience in marketing and communications, producing, and as a performer and Director. Kevin began his career in the commercial sector where he held senior management roles with Blue Chip Companies including Smith Kline Beecham, 3M and Guinness (now Diageo), from where, having achieved the position of European Marketing Director, he left to take up a full time course at Drama School. Following work as an actor and director, Kevin has worked as an Arts Management Consultant for a range of organisations since 1998 including LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre), The Place, Fierce, Audiences Central, National Theatre, Arts Council England, Visiting Arts, The Drum, sampad, mac, Blue Eyed Soul, Motionhouse, Warwick Arts Centre, London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme, Imagineer (Godiva Awakes - Artist taking the Lead project for London 2012), Loughborough University and Times / Sunday Times. In 2007 Kevin produced Architecture Week West Midlands for Fierce Earth on behalf of Arts Council England, and from 2007 – 2010 he was Executive Producer of Fierce Earth. Kevin is also a founding Director of Wunderbar Festival Ltd, based in Newcastle, and with Ilana Mitchell, led the delivery of the first Wunderbar Festival in the North East of England in November 2009. Based in London and Leamington Spa, Kevin works with clients nationally. Kevin has held a number of board positions for arts and cultural organisations, including Motionhouse, Wunderbar and The Other Way Works, as well as being a trustee and board member of several charities and organisations involved in health, education, conservation and refugee support.

Tishna Molla

Film & Literary Agent, Michelle Kass Associates & freelance consultant

Currently working with a bunch of polymath authors, writers and directors, Tishna's eclectic career is an indicator of her low boredom threshold. Highlights include being COO of Power to the Pixel for a number of years, honing her digital skill set producing ground-breaking international forums and training labs for professionals across the creative industries, as well as producing - films, websites, outreach/digital strategies for documentaries, charity campaigns. She has sat on digital/transmedia juries including for Canada Media Fund, Festival Tous Ecrans, DocEdge Festival, loves teaching and mentoring and is incredibly excited to be helping shape LIFT’s digital offering.

Imwen Eke

Artist/Producer

Donna Walker

Selma Nicholls

CEO & Founder of Looks Like Me

Jenny Bailey

Marlon Bruce

Community Empowerment & Strategic Delivery Manager, Haringey Council

Gina Moffat

Director of Blooming Scent (BGAC)