BOARD OF TRUSTEES

REHEARSED READING OF PALAMEDES AT EUROPE HOUSE - THE HOME OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
  • Andy Powell

    Chair

    Andy graduated in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College in 1975 and has always worked in telecommunications and IT, frequently in executive roles with companies pioneering emerging communications technologies. In 2002 he founded Pactel Solutions, a telecoms and IT consulting and project management company. He is a long-standing supporter of The House of St Barnabas, a social enterprise with an integrated not-for-profit private members’ club dedicated to breaking the cycle of homelessness. He has in the past supported Scouting in the UK, serving as group chairman and as local marketing communications manager for the 2012 World Jamboree in his home city of Chelmsford. Andy is particularly interested in the performing arts across many genres and regularly offers communication services to venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - He is an active member of The Chelmsford Singers.

  • Maria Athini

    Maria has been a professional journalist, writer and communications executive for the media and arts industries in Greece and in the UK since 1992. She supports aod with all things Greek, particularly supporting our international relationships with Greek partners. Maria is our Company Secretary.

  • Brian Beaton

    Brian was born in London and has a heritage from Guyana in South America. He has worked supporting vulnerable people over many years and currently works at The House of St Barnabas where he is the Programme and Employment Manager. Brian has a love of theatre, which has led him to write, direct and produce two plays to date.

  • David Bullen

    David is a director, writer, dramaturg and academic. He has a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London, where he has taught in the Department of Drama, Theatre, and Dance since 2013. Both his practical and academic expertise is in contemporary performance approaches to ancient Greek drama, particularly those that have an educational or political dimension. He is currently working on a book, Greek Tragedy in 21st Century British Theatre, for Liverpool University Press. Since 2015 he has been a Visiting Research Associate at King's College London, working on the annual Greek Play in the Department of Classics. His adaptations of Greek drama have been performed in the UK and the US, and he is currently a co-artistic director of By Jove Theatre Company.

  • Steve Cowton

    Steve was born in rural Northumberland and began working life as a stage hand under a government funded job creation scheme before going on to work as stage manager, front of house officer and company administrator for the touring Northumberland Theatre Company. He co-founded the Alnwick District Playhouse Trust which successfully raised over £1m to convert a derelict cinema into a thriving arts centre – which he ran successfully for over 15 years. Since 2005 he has worked at The Lowry in Salford – joining as senior programmer before becoming head of theatre operations. He has had the pleasure of programming aod for more years than he would care to remember – from early days in Alnwick right through to right through to commissioning Everything I See I Swallow in 2018.

  • Mike Dixon

    Mike read English Literature at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University, specialising in Shakespeare, the nineteenth century novel and the English romantic movement. After completing a PGCE he taught English for sixth form and further education colleges and was head of Park Sixth Form College between 2003 and 2009 where he led the work of over 70 staff and 1000 students. After a period working for the University of Brighton he is now a freelance writer, education consultant and school governor, engaged on a number of education projects including the national poetry recitation competition for pupils aged 14 to 18 - “Poetry By Heart.” He holds a particular interest in Greek tragedy and has supported aod for a number of years. Mike’s first novel “Falling” will be published in the summer of 2019 by Baffin Books.

  • Olga Gekht

    Olga is a manager at a leading rating agency and possesses extensive experience in finance with a particular focus on credit risk management. She has extensive experience in working with institutions in a highly regulated financial services industry, in diverse geographical locations. She has worked with a variety of companies, from new entrants to well established listed financial institutions, to assess market strategy and to understand and evaluate internal governance processes. She is experienced in managing change and enabling an organisation to evolve and thrive in a changing regulatory and market environment. She holds a Masters in finance from the London Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Katherine Harloe

    Katherine Harloe FRHistS FHEA is Professor of Classics at the University of Reading. She is an expert on the history of classical scholarship, the reception of Greek and Roman antiquity, and the eighteenth-century German classicist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann.

    Harloe received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge in 2004. 

    After completing her doctoral studies, Harloe held postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of Oxford (St Anne's College) and the Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition at the University of Bristol. She joined the University of Reading in 2007 and was made Professor in 2019.

  • Fiona Macintosh

    Professor of Classical Reception at Oxford University, Director of Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama. Expert on the performance history and reception of Greek drama.

    Skills and Strengths: Academic research and education; literary creativity; team leadership and development.

    Contribution: Academic contacts and consultation; pedagogical advisor on education program.

  • Catherine Livesey

    Catherine graduated from Cambridge University in 1981 and was awarded the Ben Travers Scholarship to study at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Whilst there she was also awarded a Cripplegate Scholarship and in 1983 won Best Supporting Actress in a production of Carl Sterheim’s ” Die Hoser” with Simon Russell Beale, at the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF). She worked as an actor for five years and during this time was invited to become a selection judge for the NSDF. In 1990 she left the profession and accepted a teaching job at Wycombe Abbey School, where she became head of drama in 1992. She has recently retired from that post, but whilst there took a GCSE production to Edinburgh and in 2016, to celebrate 120 years of Wycombe Abbey and the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, she put together and directed “A Shakespeare Soiree” at The Globe using drama, dance, choral and orchestral music with an all female cast of 120. She is currently directing a one woman show for the 2020 Edinburgh Festival. Catherine was chairman of the National Independent School’s Drama Association (NISDA) for four years, and is now a Patron. She has supported aod for a number of years and occasionally performs in special events for the charity.

  • Shelley Warren

    Shelley was CEO of the Arts Foundation for twenty-one years, a registered charity set up to support the individual artist. The award scheme uses the artistic community to seek out outstanding emerging artists in the performing and visual arts, crafts, design, literature, film and new media. She created the annual Arts Foundation Futures Awards (AFFAs) event (most recently at London’s ICA) and devised and produced events related to the awards such as talks, exhibitions, screenings and concerts in collaboration with organisations such as London’s South Bank, the Whitechapel, the ICA, University of London, the Crafts Council and the Architectural Association. She is currently undertaking a part-time MA in Curating Collections and Heritage at Brighton University.

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