Meet the team

Chief Executive Officer

Alex has always worked in the creative industries, across television, arts, sports and media. Her passion is helping creativity to flourish in people and businesses. She has held both strategy and delivery roles and likes it best when she can do both together to create real change. Her ‘big break’ in telly came when she worked at Channel 4, and after that she worked for the public service broadcasters at Digital UK.
She loves going to the cinema and in another life would be a documentary filmmaker. Her favourite TV programme of all time is probably West Wing, but confesses that at the end of a working day she watches anything that’s light relief. She is passionate about gender equality and women’s rights. She very occasionally runs half marathons but has two small children so mostly runs after them.

Director of Impact and Innovation

Rachel has a diverse background working across media, science, arts and public engagement. Before joining the charity, she spent over ten years at Wellcome, where she set up their successful Broadcast, Games and Film strategy and launched a number of innovative industry schemes such as the Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship. She loves film and TV that challenges our thinking about ourselves and our futures and, for this reason, her favourite film is Her.

Development Director

Louise has been working in the creative industries for her whole career, starting in theatre and then artist management, and then for the last 13 years as a festival director. Festivals under her direction have included Cannes Lions, the Edinburgh Television Festival and the World Architecture Festival.

Louise joined the Charity in April 2021 as Development Director, meaning she oversees Marketing, Communications and Fundraising. She is excited to be contributing to the Charity’s mission by expanding its reach and growing its support and enjoys working closely with the industry.

Louise loves a broad range of culture and watches a lot of films and TV. Her favourite recent film was Nomadland and TV show was Feel Good. Unfortunately for her she is also an Arsenal fan.

Director of Finance & Operations

Alan joined the Charity in 2019 to help the teams maximise the impact of the organisation.
Alan brings 15 years’ experience in charity finance and 20 years’ in the corporate sector. Alan loves travel and has lived or holidayed in more than 50 countries including two years in South Africa running Management Today magazine and a year in Papua New Guinea working in international development.
Alan’s favourite Actor is Tom Hanks, and his favourite film is Big.

Acting Chair

Cameron has over 25 years of experience in marketing, having started in advertising launching brands such as Orange, 3 Mobile and 118118, before moving to Channel 4 as Head of Marketing. Cameron then moved to 20th Century Fox in 2009 as marketing director for UK theatrical and was rapidly promoted to managing director of one of the UK’s most renowned and successful film and distribution companies with over £1bn in UK box office. Cameron joined Paramount Pictures as Executive Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa theatrical in 2018, where he has overseen 40 releases and $900m of box office from across the Region. Cameron as an MBA with distinction from City University Business School.

Award-winning indie Screenwriter and Director

Joseph is an award-winning indie Screenwriter and Director. He was nominated for the BFI IWC Schaffhausen Filmmakers Bursary Award at the 60th BFI London Film Festival in 2016. In 2017 Joseph was longlisted for BIFA’s Best Debut Screenwriter award for his film WHITE COLOUR BLACK. Joseph’s second feature film FACES had its world premiere at the Durban International Film Festival in 2018. The film stars Terry Pheto from Oscar-winning film Tsotsi. FACES won Best Feature Film at the 2018 Durban LGBT Film Festival and 2019 British Urban Film Festival. As a freelancer, Joseph is active in the LGBTQ and BAME sectors of the industry.

Founder and Managing Director of Sara Putt Associates

For 25 years Sara has run Sara Putt Associates, the UK’s leader agency for freelance technicians and production personnel based at Shepperton Studios. Sara Putt Associates also runs an in-house Trainee Scheme supporting the next generation of freelance talent including those entrants from less traditional backgrounds. Sara is a BAFTA Trustee, sits on the Board of BAFTA, is Chair of BAFTA’s Learning & New Talent Committee & Deputy Chair of the BAFTA TV Committee.

Award-winning writer for stage and screen

Juliet Gilkes Romero is Writer in Residence at the National Theatre attached to the New Work Department for 2022/2023. She is an award-winning writer for stage and screen. She is the recipient of the 2020 Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play with The Whip, the Roland Rees Bursary 2019, (named in honour of the co-founder of the Alfred Fagon Award), the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award 2009 for At The Gates of Gaza and also a recipient of the BBC World Service Alexander Onassis Research Bursary. Screen includes Soon Gone; A Windrush Chronicle for BBC co-produced by Sir Lenny Henry’s production company Douglas Road and the Young Vic Theatre.

Divisional General Manager Wales and Southern England, Marie Curie UK

Coming soon

Chief Financial Officer for the UK, Northern & Eastern Europe for Viacom International Media Networks

Suki is the Chief Financial Officer for the UK, Northern & Eastern Europe for Viacom International Media Networks, leading the finance function for Channel 5, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central and is passionate about diversity and inclusion. Suki qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen and in a career spanning 24 years has held a variety of roles in the media sector including at Sony Music, Capital Radio Group, Channel 7 (Australia) and Sony Pictures International.

Health and Social Care Consultant

Deborah is Head of Policy, Research, and Information at the Social Care Institute for Excellence, where she leads a team supporting improvements in social care. Her expertise spans health and social care policy, strategy, and service design, and she works across the public sector and the NHS. Deborah previously held executive director roles at the Office for Public Management, the Health Foundation and the Royal College of Nursing. Her prior charity experience includes the role of Vice-Chair at Breast Cancer Care. Deborah began her career as a civil servant working for the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programmes in the USA.

Group HR Director, Hachette UK

Melanie has worked in HR leadership roles in the technology and creative sectors for over 20 years. She is group HR director of Hachette UK, the UK’s second-largest book publishing group, made up of over 50 publishing brands with a rich and diverse range of output. The company’s mission is to make it easy for everyone, everywhere, to unlock new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity. Prior to joining Hachette UK, she was group HR director at ITN, where she spent eight years during a period of unprecedented growth and diversification. She began her career at Hewlett Packard, latterly leading HR for the consumer and enterprise services divisions.