Our Board

After a career committed to creative arts education, Simon will retire as Vice Chancellor of Norwich University of the Arts in early 2026.

He started his academic career at Leeds University teaching Art History and held a series of key leadership roles at Middlesex University and Kingston University, where he was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.

Before joining Norwich University of the Arts, Simon was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at University of the Arts London (UAL) and before that he was Vice-Chancellor at University for the Creative Arts, which has campuses across Surrey and Kent.

Simon has been a trustee at Turner Contemporary in Margate and is currently Chair of the Board at Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury. 

Iain Barbour is an experienced trustee, non-executive director and financier who has a passionate interest in education and the arts. He spent several decades working in the City of London, focusing most recently on the provision of infrastructure finance, including for higher education and student accommodation.

Iain’s non-executive experience is wide-ranging and encompasses both leading financial services businesses as well as educational and arts charities. He has served on several boards during his career, including as Chair of Alleyn’s School, Independent Director of DBRS Morningstar’s various global operating companies and as Chair of the Almeida Theatre’s Corporate Council.

Iain’s current non-executive roles include the University for the Creative Arts, the Actors’ Benevolent Fund and Financial Guaranty UK, a regulated UK insurance company.

Jennifer Duck is Head of Service Delivery for ERM CVS (Environmental Resource Management Certification and Verification Services).

ERM is the largest global pureplay environmental consulting firm and her role is focused on leading the development of their CVS business globally.  This is primarily focused on providing independent ESG assurance and certification services.  Prior to this, she spent 17 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in various Director roles in the Assurance and Consulting businesses, both in the UK and globally.  Most latterly, she was Head of Transformation for Consulting.  She is a qualified accountant with the ICAEW.

Sabina came to the UK from Saint Lucia as part of the Windrush generation and settled in Peckham.

She has always been passionate about giving back to the community, and after attending Peckham Girls School, became a tenants’ rights campaigner, trade union representative and Labour Party campaigner. 

Sabina has been actively involved in community work since the 1990s, and in her capacity as chair of the Tenants’ Residents Association, she helped secure the largest budget in the country for the redevelopment of Peckham’s five estates.

She has been awarded two civic honours for her work in Southwark. Sabina became a Peckham ward councillor in 2022.

Following 20 years as a corporate lawyer at Slaughter and May, Elizabeth moved into portfolio life in 2012 allowing much more time to pursue her love of theatre, whether in the audience, or more actively involved in amateur groups. 

She has served on the boards of listed and private companies, not-for profits and charities, including Great Portland Estates plc, Clarion Housing Association, HML Holdings plc and Interserve Group Ltd, where she chaired the remuneration committee. 

Current non-executive roles include Viewber (providing nationwide property viewing support) and London Bubble Theatre, where she chairs the finance committee.  Elizabeth maintains her involvement in the law by interviewing and mentoring young lawyers for Accutrainee.  

Tali Pelman is Group Creative Managing Director for Stage Entertainment, a first-class international theatrical producer and presenter. In her role, Tali leads strategic original content creation across the Stage Entertainment group. She produced and is leading the global rollout of the acclaimed hit musical TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, which is currently opening its eighth first-class production around the world.

Tali joined Stage Entertainment following over a decade of producing plays and musicals in the West End and on Broadway, both independently and as Producer for the Ambassador Theatre Group. Previously, Tali was Executive Director of the Gate Theatre. Tali is a graduate of Columbia University, was a Kohn Fellow at the London School of Economics, and received her Executive MBA from the London Business School, where she was awarded the Celia Atkin Scholarship. She is a Board Member of the Society of London Theatre, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the Theatre Development Trust and is a member of the Broadway League.

John Reiss is a broadly experienced business and not-for-profit leader. He understands popular culture and knows how to access wide audiences.

Professional accountancy with PwC was followed by senior finance positions in industry before he established his own consultancy advising on corporate strategy, financing and management. Clients have included entertainment, media and consumer businesses. He co-founded magazine Opera Now and the Guinness Encyclopaedia of Popular Music  and was a director of George Harrison’s HandMade Films, of collectible model maker Corgi Classics, of media access services provider IMS, of market research agency First Research International and film marketing services business Miracle Media Group.

John is currently executive chairman of Premier which he has built to be the UK’s largest international creative communications agency specialising in entertainment, arts and culture. He is also chair of educational supply business Creative Art Products, of multiplex cinema Peckhamplex and of Big Data software consultancy Traak Systems.

Through thirty years in professional and business life, he has been active with not-for-profit organisations. He has been a comprehensive school governor, helped a number of national charities, worked on development committees of major arts organisations such as The BFI and was chair of the trustee board of Missing People for a decade.

Tim Sheader is Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of the Donmar Warehouse. 

He was previously Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. He took up his role there in 2007, where in the past 10 years alone, the company has won multiple awards, including seven Olivier Awards and The Stage’s London Theatre of the Year.

He has directed over 20 productions for the company, including the Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning musicals Into the Woods (also Central Park’s Delacorte Theater), Hello Dolly, Crazy For You (also West End), Jesus Christ Superstar and To Kill a Mockingbird. Committed to taking the company’s work to as wide an audience as possible, he has overseen further UK tours of productions including Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies and Running Wild. Partnerships and co-productions have included work with the Barbican Centre, Chichester Festival Theatre, English National Opera, Leeds Playhouse, Roald Dahl Story Company and the Unicorn Theatre. 

Despite receiving no public subsidy, Sheader has ensured work at Regent’s Park has been accessible to all audiences, maintaining the theatre’s lowest ticket price of £25 for almost a decade, whilst significantly expanding the membership of the BREEZE scheme, which offers tickets to those aged 18-25 for £10. In addition to a comprehensive programme of access performances, the theatre has partnered with local charities, notably Camden Disability Action, Age UK Camden and Pimlico Musical Foundation.