Kirsten Dunne

Senior Manager, Cultural Infrastructure & Public Realm
Mayor of London

Kirsten leads the Space for Culture Team at the Mayor of London's Office. The team works to ensure that culture, creativity and community are hardwired into the fabric of our city, by protecting, creating, improving and promoting the many types of space that make up London’s rich cultural ecosystem. The team is responsible for the delivery of Creative Enterprise Zones, London Made Me pop up & business development programme, Creative Land Trust, Culture & Community Spaces at Risk, Fourth Plinth and Public Commissions, as well as new cultural infrastructure including East Bank and Fashion Residency at Studio Smithfield and supporting cultural organisations and businesses to find appropriate space – often in partnership with new developments. Kirsten was a founding board member of London's Creative Land Trust and Margate's Creative Land Trust and led the team that placed the first statue of a woman in Parliament square.

Kemi Akinola

Deputy Leader
Wandsworth Council - LB of Culture

Lola Martinez

Chair
Elevate Board

As Chair of the Elevate Youth Board, Lola sits on the London Legacy Development Corporation Board and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s Climate Action Group, where she feeds into strategy on issues such as climate action, women’s safety, and youth legacy. In her day-to-day role as Governance Lead at BADU Community CIC, she focuses on reimagining inclusive governance and embedding community voices in decision-making.

Having witnessed the rapid gentrification of Hackney where she was born and raised, Lola is committed to non-extractive, community-led research and co-creation, ensuring development meaningfully serves people and strengthens communities. Alongside this, she pursues creative direction and works to expand access to creative pathways—particularly for “9–5 creatives” who have not been able to pursue their creative passions from the outset. A Politics and Sociology graduate from the University of Warwick, Lola draws on this foundation to challenge traditional power structures and explore how the built environment can be reshaped to prioritise social impact and inclusive growth.

Anyi Hobson

Founder
SEAM Advisory

Shazia Hussain

Chief Executive
LLDC

Shazia has over 20 years of senior strategic and operational delivery experience within Local Government that spans parks and open spaces, place making with economic and social regeneration, corporate policy and strategy, community safety and transformational change. Having started her career within regeneration she is committed to improving the social, economic and cultural condition of communities within east London.

 Shazia was appointed as Chief Executive of LLDC in September 2024. Shazia’s focus is driving the third phase of the legacy, ensuring that growth and development are inclusive, and that investment provides east Londoners with the opportunities they need to succeed. Shazia was previously Deputy Chief Executive at the London Borough of Waltham Forest; before her role at Waltham Forest, she was Assistant Chief Executive at Brent Council and before that, Divisional Director for Tower Hamlets - holding roles with accountability for strategic partnerships, service integration, learning and leisure and customer service. Earlier in her career she was Director of Community Development for Leaside Regeneration, providing another strong connection to the regeneration of east London.

Gemma Dean

Head of Development
Creative Land Trust

Gemma is Head of Development at Creative Land Trust, a charity founded to tackle the loss of affordable creative workspace in London. Her work focuses on property partnerships and policy development that facilitates growth and recognises the positive contribution of creative production to sustainable places.

Gemma’s previous experience spans the real estate finance industry having worked on European commercial transactions in banking, restructuring and advisory roles at international firms based in London. Throughout her career, she has championed sustainability and wellbeing, as well as providing business and development advice to arts organisations in London. Gemma is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and sits on the Building Development Board at the Albany Theatre in Deptford. 

Justine Simons OBE

Deputy Mayor for Culture & Creative Industries
GLA

Justine Simons is Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries. She has played a central role in the cultural transformation of London for two decades. She was awarded an OBE in 2015 by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth for Services to Culture in London.

Justine founded and is Chair of the World Cities Culture Forum – the principle leadership network on culture and the future of cities, now grown to 45 global cities reaching across six continents.

She led the capital’s biggest ever festival for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games with over 5000 events and is now overseeing its legacy. East Bank in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is a new £1 billion culture and education district, the most significant for over 150 years.

She shapes London’s Investment Strategy for the Creative Industries covering film, fashion, games and design, growing their influence on the world stage. She has designed new policy innovations including the world’s first Creative Enterprise Zones, a new Culture at Risk Office to protect fragile cultural infrastructure, established the London Borough of Culture and hardwired culture into London’s planning system with the first Cultural Infrastructure Plan. 

Justine established the Fourth Plinth as the UK’s biggest public sculpture prize, is co-chair of London’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm and chaired the Mayor’s Suffrage Statue Commission placing the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square, suffrage campaigner Millicent Fawcett. She positioned culture at the heart of the Let’s Do London recovery campaign, attracting 800,000 visitors and bringing London back to life post pandemic.

Gavin Poole

CEO
Here East

Gavin is CEO of Here East – the 1.2 million sq ft technology and Innovation campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, and one of the fastest growing business clusters in the UK. Recently, Gavin has been at the forefront of developing the concept of creating London’s first digital games and esports cluster. Prior, Gavin served as an engineering officer in the UK Royal Air Force for over 20 years before leaving following tours as a Wing Commander. Upon leaving military service, he ran the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and helped form major policy initiatives including the introduction of the Modern-Day Slavery Act within the UK. Gavin is a board member of Plexal, sits on the Advisory Board of Global Tech Advocates and is a London Technology Ambassador for London & Partners. In addition, he sits on the Advisory Board for London Tech Week.

Laura Flanagan

Marketing Director
Knight Dragon

With 15 years of experience across the property sector, including commercial, residential and placemaking, Laura brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her current role at Knight Dragon. Her career has taken her to New York, Amsterdam and across multiple locations in London including The Shard, and most recently Greenwich Peninsula – Knight Dragon’s flagship London development. Laura sits on the Board of Directors for Knight Dragon, overseeing all marketing and business development activity for the place including Design District, London’s first permanent home for the creative industries. 

Azzees Minott

Managing Director
2-3 Degrees

Azzees is Director, Facilitator and Chief Operating Officer at 2-3 Degrees. The award-winning social enterprise is committed to inspiring and empowering young people to fulfil their potential through engaging in confidence building and skills enhancing workshops and programmes across the UK. 

Since March 2016, they have worked with over 9,000 young people across the country, including reaching over 500 young people online during Covid-19 restrictions. 

Politically, Azzees was a prominent member of the Green Party, becoming Chairperson of the national Greens of Colour group. During her leadership of the group, membership increased by over 100%, and they made national news through getting motions successfully passed in councils across the country. Azzees stood as a local council and General Election candidate in both 2015 and 2018. Azzees was a Political Advisor and Researcher to senior elected politicians in the London Assembly for over three years, and covered the housing, policing and economy portfolios for London. She co-authored two influential reports that helped change the narrative around the provision of youth services in London. 

She also was Area Manager in the Housing and Land department of the Greater London Authority and supported new, affordable housing developments in Wandsworth and Bexley when leading on a £290 million government Housing Infrastructure Fund.

Russell Pedley

Director & Co-Founder
Assael Architecture

Russell is Director and Co-Founder of Assael Architecture. With over 30 years as an architect and 15 years in urban design, he has a strong passion for creating a sense of place with historical and cultural connections in all of his work.

Russell spent many years spearheading Assael’s skills in the design of professionally-managed Build to Rent communities in the private rented sector. Following years of research, including many study trips to the US, and producing design guides for the UK, Assael is now one of the leading architects in the sector, paving the way with key projects such as Union Wharf in Greenwich for Essential Living, Blackhorse Mills in Walthamstow for Legal & General, and Pontoon Dock in Newham for Linkcity. Russell also co-authored both editions of the Urban Land Institute’s Build to Rent: A Best Practice Guide, which was sponsored by the British Government, and he is now Chair of the ULI’s UK Residential Council and advises on MHCLG’s Build to Rent Joint Committee.

Emma Riley

Production Executive
Shine TV

Emma joined Shine TV in 2023 to open their new Birmingham office, and is leading the move of all MasterChef series to Birmingham in late 2024. Emma has worked in the Midlands for just over a decade, including at Manchester’s dock10 studios, on the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and joined Shine from Optomen TV where she ran Great British Menu since its move from London. Prior to moving to the regions, Emma spent 10+ years in London working on current affairs, specialist factual and large factual entertainment series such as The Apprentice, Traffic Cops and An Idiot Abroad.

Rokhsana Fiaz OBE

Mayor of Newham
London Borough of Newham

Rokhsana Fiaz OBE was elected as the Mayor of Newham in May 2018 and is the portfolio lead for Inclusive Economy and Housing Delivery, which includes regeneration and planning. Her priorities since becoming Mayor include tackling the housing crisis in Newham through an ambitious Council house-building programme. She has pledged to build at least 1,000 new genuinely affordable homes at social rent levels over her four year term and is already on target to exceed this with help from a grant of £107 million from the Mayor of London. She has also committed to ensuring residents will be fully involved in future council-led developments through community co-design and co-production. Most recently, the Mayor launched the Council’s new Community Wealth Building strategy so that a greater share of the money in Newham stays in the local economy, rather than leaves it. This approach, supported by a new 10-year Inclusive Economy strategy puts local residents first, and places a greater value on equality, sustainability and the environment. She is tackling the climate emergency by laying down robust markers including a Low Energy Design Strategy to guide all council owned developments. Previously she was the CEO of an international UNESCO supported charity promoting interfaith and global citizenship across the world. She has led large-scale capital projects for local authorities, the European Commission and the Council of Europe, and in 2009 was honoured with the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Black and Minority Communities in the UK.

Sophy Jacob

Project Director, TeaFactory
BBC

Sophy Jacob has worked in the media industry for nearly 30 years, with over 25 years at the BBC.  She has held senior roles in Content Production, Business Management and also Operations, including as Interim Director of Children’s & Education.  No stranger to major relocation and transformation programmes, Sophy was part of the team relocating teams to BBC North in MediaCity, the single largest relocation in the BBC’s history. Currently the Project Director for the Tea Factory Programme, Sophy is ensuring effective and timely delivery of a new purpose built home for BBC colleagues based in Birmingham. 

Kathryn Wood

Partner
Cushman & Wakefield

Kathryn Wood is a Partner in Cushman & Wakefield’s Central London Development team, specialising in complex, mixed-use development projects. With over 15 years of experience, she delivers commercially driven, data-backed development strategies that drive long-term value across sectors, particularly in London.

Kathryn’s cross-sector experience spans Retail, Specialist Markets, and Offices, enabling her to lead multi-disciplinary teams and connect clients with end users, global insight, and capital. She takes a collaborative approach to her work, bringing together diverse expertise and working closely with colleagues, clients and stakeholders to shape holistic, deliverable solutions. 

Kathryn is adept at distilling large datasets into clear, actionable recommendations, and brings a strong understanding of both financial and legal perspectives to development consultancy and placemaking. She supports clients navigating feasibility, viability, and delivery stages, including acquisitions, disposals and partnering. 

Her work includes running detailed development appraisals, negotiating head lease regears and advising on repurposing and regeneration strategies. Kathryn works with investors, developers, and major owner occupiers. This includes major UK masterplanning and regeneration schemes, with a strong emphasis on ground-level activation and placemaking.

Miles Jacobson OBE

Studio Director
Sports Interactive

Miles Jacobson OBE is Studio Director of Sports Interactive (SI), the studio behind the best-selling Football Manager series. Miles has been involved with SI for 31 years and has been running the studio since 1999. Under Miles’ management, SI has grown from a fledgling start-up to become one of the best-known names in UK game development, with a full-time team of more than 280 and a network of more than 1,400 researchers across the globe that help to create the world’s largest football database. 

In 2011, Miles was named an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for his services to the games industry. In addition to his work with SI, Miles is heavily involved with charities and organisations inside and outside the games industry, including Nordoff Robbins, War Child UK, Kick it Out, and the East London Games and Music Academy (ELAM).

Selina Mason

Director of Masterplanning
Lendlease

Selina Mason is an Architect and masterplanner who is responsible for delivering high quality design and masterplanning across Lendlease’s UK and Europe urban regeneration portfolio amounting to c£30bn end value. In 2022 Selina received an Honorary Fellowship from RIBA in recognition of her leadership in urban spatial planning and city design. She is a Design Council Ambassador and was recently appointed by the Government to the Urban Centre Recovery Task Force. She is a member of several Design Review panels and the Chair of the Havering Quality Review Panel. She represents RIBA on the National Highways Design Panel where she champions investment in better designed infrastructure. Before joining Lendlease in 2017, she led a range of regeneration masterplans including UCL East at Stratford and Church Street for Westminster City. Until 2014 she was responsible for the delivery of the London 2012 Masterplan and the post-Games Transformation Masterplan for the Olympic Delivery Authority and subsequently the London Legacy Development Corporation. She was Director of Architecture and Design Review at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) until 2007. She has an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning (LSE) and studied architecture at the University of Sheffield and Cambridge University. She was Rome Scholar in Architecture in 1993-1994

Phil Ryan

Director – City Futures, Global Insight
JLL

Phil Ryan is a director of JLL’s Global Insight platform with a focus on the group’s City Futures program based out of London. In his role, he focuses on the structural changes underway with respect to urban development, best practices in large-scale regeneration, identifying innovation hot-spots and analysing commercial real estate performance in both emerging and mature growth clusters. In his previous role, Phil was the director of JLL’s U.S. Office Research platform in New York, where he focused on both national and local trends in the office market across more than 50 metro areas, with an emphasis on integrating economic and demographic data into real estate analysis, outlooks and decision-making as well as contributing to JLL’s quarterly office report suite and industry-specific reporting.

Fran Sanderson

CEO
Figurative

Prior to launching Figurative in September 2024 - a new, independent not-for-profit supporting impact, investment and innovation in the cultural and creative sector - Fran spent nine years at Nesta, overseeing the development of Arts & Culture Finance, which manages over £30m of impact capital. She also led on various innovation projects in the cultural and creative sector, including the RSC’s Dream; Amplified, a grant programme helping cultural and creative organisations use digital ideas to generate social impact; a Creative Immersive Mental Health fellowship programme with StoryFutures; and Alternarratives. In partnership with international leaders at Upstart Co-Lab in New York and Fundacion Compromiso in Buenos Aires, Fran spearheaded the launch of Creativity, Culture & Capital in early 2021, an advocacy platform showcasing the power of arts and creativity to effect positive social change across the globe, and the innovative ways people structure finance to achieve this.

Fran started her career at JPMorgan, before spending time travelling in a campervan and living off grid in southern Portugal with her young family.

She has worked in impact investment since joining Big Society Capital in 2012, and has a lifelong passion for the arts. Fran is Chair of the UK Social Investment Forum, sits on the Cultural Impact Development Fund Investment Committee, the Board of UnLtd Impact Ventures, the Research Advisory Group for National Theatre and the Development Advisory Group for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

George Kekatos

Cultural Director
Futurecity

George plays a central role in shaping Futurecity’s cultural and public art strategies, driving partnerships between the cultural and property sectors, and developing sustainable business models for creative collaboration. He focuses on integrating culture, cultural infrastructure, and creative industries into large-scale development projects, especially in mixed-use, office, and infrastructure developments, often working closely with local planning authorities and commercial entities. 

With experience across Central London, the City of London, the UK, Australia, and the US, George has delivered key projects in cultural placemaking, public art commissioning, and meanwhile programming. He also excels in stakeholder engagement, overseeing the transition from strategic planning to implementation, and is passionate about using creativity to enhance neighbourhoods and bridge the gap between existing and future communities through diverse art forms.

Josh McTaggart

CEO
Theatres Trust

Josh is the CEO of Theatres Trust, the national advisory and advocacy body for UK theatres. As a DCMS Arm's-Length Body, Theatres Trust is the only organisation empowered to protect and support the whole of the UK's theatre ecosystem. Through its impartial professional advice service, sector skills bank, and grant-giving programmes, Theatres Trust champions the future of live performance and supports theatre owners and operators to develop best practice in building design and management. As CEO, Josh is responsible for developing and delivering Theatres Trust's strategic plan and leading the core team in its mission to ensure theatres across the country are fit for the future.

Imogen Thompson

Executive Director
Urban Land Institute

Imogen is the UK Executive Director for Urban Land Institute, a best practice built environment organisation that brings together industry experts to tackle the critical issues of our time. By background, Imogen is an experienced urban planner, specialising in large-scale regeneration projects and complex urban and infrastructure programmes. She has led the business case development, strategic planning programmes, communications strategies, and stakeholder strategies for multi-billion-pound major growth, regeneration, and infrastructure projects, and secured over £1 billion worth of funding/investment in transit-oriented growth strategies and infrastructure bids to enable regeneration and transit-oriented development.

Sarah Banham

Head of Community and Sustainability
Battersea Power Station Development Company

Having worked on Battersea Power Station for over 17 years, and a Battersea resident herself, Sarah Banham oversees the project’s community and sustainability programmes, and has an extensive knowledge of the landmark’s rich history. Within her role, Sarah ensures the project has meaningful and positive impacts within the wider community, focused on placemaking as a means to ensure that the new Battersea Power Station town centre is an integrated part of the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Matthew Steenhoek

Executive Director Development, Europe
Lendlease

Matt is the Executive Director Development, Europe providing development leadership for three of Lendlease’s major urban regeneration projects in London: Euston Station, Stratford Cross, and Elephant Park.  Matt was previously Development Director in the US with Lendlease, working across four major urban regeneration projects ($15B) in Silicon Valley, California. 

Prior to joining Lendlease, Matt developed over five million square feet of mixed-use product across 15 projects over 20 years in Washington, DC. The most notable of which is The Wharf, a $3.6B global award winning, waterfront regeneration in the heart of DC where he was the Project Director. Matt has a background in urban planning and architecture, he is passionate about the craft of city building.

Claudio Giambrone

Head of Marketing and Cultural Programming
Quintain

Claudio has been Head of Marketing and Cultural Programming at Wembley Park since 2017, where he takes strategic and operational responsibility for marketing, consumer communications and cultural placemaking. He has overseen the transformation of Wembley Park from an event-day only destination into a thriving mixed-use neighbourhood with culture at its core. His work includes widely recognised cultural moments such as the Pantone x Wembley Park Yellow 25 Steps for Coldplay and seasonal programmes that have positioned Wembley Park as one of London’s fastest-growing creative districts.

Claudio managed Quintain's principal sponsorship of Brent London Borough of Culture 2020 and launched anchor venues including BOXPARK Wembley, Punchdrunk Enrichment, Second Floor Studios & Arts, Fresh Arts and the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra soon joining as a cultural resident.

Previously, he led the South Bank Marketing Group, a placemaking consortium of 20 arts and leisure venues in London’s South Bank district including the National Theatre, BFI, Southbank Centre and Merlin Entertainments. He oversaw marketing for the reopening of Jubilee Gardens for Queen Elizabeth II and South Bank’s involvement in London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks and the first Lumiere London Lights Festival.

Claudio holds an MA in Destination Management from the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has completed executive training in Disruptive Marketing at the University of Oxford.

Professor Christopher Smith, FSAS, FRHistS, FSA, FRSA, MAE, FRSE

Executive Chair
AHRC + UKRI International  + Creative Industries Sector Champion

Christopher was previously Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews where he was also Dean of Arts (2002 to 2006), Provost of St Leonard’s College and Dean of Graduate Studies (2006 to 2009), and Proctor and Vice-Principal (2007 to 2009), before being seconded as Director of the British School at Rome, the UK’s leading humanities and creative arts research institute overseas, from 2009 to 2017.

From 2017 to 2020 he has held a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship on ‘The Roman kings: a study in power’ and held visiting positions in Erfurt, Princeton, Otago, Pavia, Milan, Siena, Aarhus and Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Professor Smith’s research explores constitutionalism and state formation, with particular emphasis on the development of Rome as a political and social community and how this was represented in ancient historical writing and subsequent political thought.

He is the author or editor of over 20 books and in 2017 was awarded the prestigious Premio ‘Cultori di Roma’. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Academia Europaea.

Tamsin Ace

Director
East Bank

Andy Robinson

Director of Placemaking
Futurecity

Andy leads Futurecity' placemaking projects from strategic growth areas of UK cities to international creative districts, airport hubs and green belt communities.  Andy directs research and engagement to craft narrative and cultural visions for new places.  He also transforms strategic positioning into deliverable programmes of cultural infrastructure and partnerships, integrating social and economic priorities as sustainable placemaking strategy.

Matt Davies

Head of Economic Development
Royal Docks

Matt is an experienced regeneration and economic development specialist with more than 20 years of insight working across the public, private, and third sectors, principally in east London. He currently leads the Royal Docks Team’s Economy work, overseeing a programme of initiatives focused on placemaking, enterprise support, skills and inclusive growth in the Royal Docks. He has worked in similar roles in Enfield, Haringey (Tottenham) and Hackney. His work focusses on the intersection of place, economy, and creativity. Throughout his career, Matt has worked to connect communities, public institutions, and private enterprise to unlock shared value and long-term resilience, particularly in underinvested parts of London. He has a deep understanding of the city’s socio-economic landscape and a proven ability to translate complex policy goals into real, visible change.

Dr Gus Casely-Hayford OBE

Prof by Practice, SOAS the founding Director
V&A East

Over the course of his career Casely-Hayford has been a constant champion for the arts. He has presented two television series of The Lost Kingdoms of Africa for the BBC (and wrote the companion book), two television series of Tate Britain: Great Art Walks for Sky and has worked for every major British TV channel. His TED talk on Islamic culture has been viewed more than a million times. Former Executive Director of Arts Strategy, Arts Council England, (Britain’s major Art’s funder) and Ex - Director of the Institute of International Visual Art, he has offered leadership to both large and medium scale organizations. Dr Casely-Hayford has lectured widely on art and culture, including periods at Sothebys Institute, Goldsmiths, Birkbeck, City University, University of Westminster and SOAS. He has advised national and international bodies on heritage and culture including the United Nations and the Canadian, Dutch and Norwegian Arts Councils. In 2005 he deployed these leadership, curatorial, fundraising and communications skills to organise the biggest celebration of Africa Britain has ever hosted with Africa 2005 when more than 150 organisations put on over 1000 exhibitions and events to showcase African culture.

Amongst a range of honours, he has also been awarded a Kings College cultural fellowship for service to the arts, a SOAS Honorary Fellowship for service to Africa and has four honourary doctorates. He speaks widely, gave a SOAS Centenary lecture, judged the Art Fund’s British Museum of the Year award, advised the Royal Shakespeare Company on their production of Hamlet and is a member of English Heritage’s ‘Blue Plaques Group’.

Jeru Nomi

Artist/Muralist 
The Matchbox Collective 

Jeru Nomi is an artist, story teller and art educator from South West London. She uses large scale murals as her canvas, creating narrative driven illustrations. Working primarily with paint, her pieces are a whimsical view on reality, centring around relationships, human behaviour and interactions with the natural environment. 

Jeru’s pieces can be found in all corners of the country. She has worked with communities in Kingston Upon Thames, Thamesmeade and Portsmouth to create co-designed artwork. These projects aim to engage the public and bring colour and soul to unloved areas. Jeru wants to give people ownership of there areas and uses art as a tool for communication. She is a core member of The Matchbox Collective and Wom Collective.