The Team

Our Team

Riju Booth

RIJU is a lead Associate with VSDB Consultancy as well as working independently. She has lived and worked in Kent and Medway for 30 years. She has a background in Education and consultancy and is experienced in Mediation, Facilitation, Counselling and Continuing Professional Development. She is particularly skilled at working with large groups in teamwork analysis to maximise delegated resources and working on 1-2-1 basis with individuals to enable problem solving. These personal dynamics improve work-life balance and enable individuals to perform better at work. She has recently started to specialise in Equality, Diversity and Workforce Development.

Andy Harvey

Dr Andy Harvey is an acknowledged expert in sexuality and gender inclusion having written extensively in peer-reviewed publications on the subject. He is an experienced education manager, having designed and delivered courses on equalities for clients in the voluntary and trade union sectors with a focus on diversity in the workplace.  He has a particular interest in researching and publishing about the complex relationships between sport, gay men and heterosexual masculinity. He is a member of the TUC’s Alliance against Homophobia in Sport and has previously sat on the Advisory Panel for the Football Association on inclusion. He has strong interpersonal and communication skills. His attitude to work is to be flexible and committed to delivering results. Andy works well with a broad array of partners and keeps the goals of the organisation at the forefront of his work. He has previously worked with Birkbeck College, the Terrence Higgins Trust, the Trades Union Congrees, Novas Scarman Trust, the International Labour Organisation, the Professional Footballers Association and the Musicians Union.

Sioned Hughes

Sioned has a wealth of experience across different sectors having worked in both the pharmaceutical industry and within the cultural sector.  She has designed, delivered and evaluated international professionaldevelopment programmes for eleven years, working with cultural professionals across the UK, enabling them to explore new connections and exchange skillswith their international colleagues.  In delivering these programmes she has worked across the arts and cultural industries, specifically with museum and galleries; performing arts festivals and organisations; and with writers and arts critics. Previously, she worked in an advisory role with a health protection remit, requiring advocacy and providing in-house training across a wide range of topics from short inductions to in-depth technical training.
Sioned has worked internationally throughout her career with partners in Brazil, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Romania, Russian Federation, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Turkey and the USA.

Nike Jonah

In the past 12 years Nike Jonah has gained extensive International experience working across a broad spectrum of the arts and creative industries both in London and New York. This includes Design, Advertising, and Fashion. Nike was, employed as the Senior Diversity Officer – decibel Project Manager at Arts Council England.
decibel was an Arts Council England programme designed as a strategic intervention to support and raise the profile of diverse artists in England. It delivered an ambitious programme of events and activities that included not only the showcasing of artists and companies, but also sector specific dialogues; debate and discussions with stakeholders and practitioners; bursaries and strategic intervention aimed to effect change across all art forms. Nike delivered four editions of Decibel Performing Arts Showcase to compliment her work as an External Advisor for the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase 2011 and and International Fellowship Programme with Visiting Arts.
In 2010, the prestigious Cultural Leadership Programme, named Nike as a of 50 female leaders to watch in the ‘Women to Watch’ list which featured women making a huge contribution to the rich cultural life of the UK, and have the potential to rise to the very top. Late 2012, Nike began a new chapter, establishing her own strategic development agency, Connecting Dots, to take full advantage of her unique expertise and extensive network.

Sarah Macnee

Sarah is part-time Executive Director for Crying Out Loud, a company that produces, commissions and champions visual theatre including contemporary circus for audiences of all ages. Alongside this, she continues to do project work on a freelance basis.

She began by working for ten years on the finance side of the arts and media industry: commercial film, music business, theatre and advertising.

A desire for new stimulus led to an MA in European Cultural Policy, and ten years working for NDPBs, first Arts Council England and then NESTA. She worked in different roles: project assessment, management, monitoring and evaluation. Her final role at NESTA was Learning Director.

She went freelance in 2005 and continued to work in assessment, mentoring, business planning, management, research and evaluation, working for a wide range of organisations including Film London, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the South Bank Centre, Cape Farewell, Spitalfields Music, and Brighton University.

Hassan Mahamadallie

Hassan is a published writer on the history of Muslims in Britain, researcher and co-developer of the Arts Council England Arts and Islam website. Specialism – theatre devising, script development, acting and directing.
Hassan Mahamdallie comes from a very large south London working class family. He gained an MA in Theatre Studies from Leeds University before going on to work as an actor, devisor and director in Theatre In Education and Community Theatre in the North West of England.
For many years he was a campaigning journalist and is a published author on subjects including the struggles of working class Muslims in Britain, racism and imperialism, how our schools fail Black children and the life of radical Victorian artist William Morris. He contributed to the publication Beyond Cultural Diversity (2010). He is the editor of Defending Multiculturalism: A Guide for the Movement (Bookmarks 2011). Hassan is a founder member of Unite Against Fascism and is on the editorial board of new journal Critical Muslim. As a senior officer at Arts Council England he helped devise the Arts and Islam programme that examines the links between religious practise, the arts and contemporary society.

Mark McBride-Wright

Mark is a chartered chemical engineer specialising in health and safety with experience in oil and gas, government services and defence. He holds a PhD and Masters in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. He is a recognised leader in diversity and inclusion in the engineering and construction industry. He is chair and co-founder of InterEngineering, an organisation which connects, informs and empowers LGBT+ engineers and supporters. Mark authored a report for the UK Government on tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in engineering and is working with the UK Government on implementation of the recommended measures.
Mark is a founding member of the IChemE Diversity and Inclusion Working Group. He is passionate about helping businesses overcoming challenges and barriers to create a positive health and safety culture. He believes there are many parallels embedding an inclusive corporate culture. Mark is a regular speaker at in-house company events, leading international conferences on diversity, and has appeared in the media regarding diversity and inclusion in engineering. Mark was shortlisted for “Young Chemical Engineer of the Year 2016”. Mark was ranked at number 2 in the 2015 Financial Times’ “Top 30 Future LGBT Leaders” and won “Corporate Rising Star” at the 2016 British LGBT Awards.

Jeremy Newton

Jeremy studied at St John’s College, Cambridge where he completed an M.A. Modern & Medieval Languages, French & German. He is currently the Chief Executive of The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts. Former roles include: National Lottery Director for the Arts Lottery; CEO of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (UK), CEO of The Louise T Blouin Foundation (International); Managing Director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (UK). He is also a Culture, Arts & Media Management Fellow at the Judge Business School, Cambridge University. Voluntary roles include: Chairman of the National Association of Youth Theatres and Trustee and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Geoffrye Museum. Jeremy’s other languages are French and German.

Roger Rutkowski

Roger was awarded a Fellowship from the Information and Records Management Society in 2016. This was in recognition of his immense experience as a Records Management Practitioner.
Eminence He is considered to be an expert in his field of property records management as demonstrated by initiating and leading the IRMS Property Group, his involvement with the IRMS Conference organisation and the London Circle Group. Roger was responsible for setting up an Internship programme for new records management professionals at British Land.
Authority: A former Director of [I]RMS a former Group Chair for IRMS and is the founding current Chair of a new IRMS Group. He has raised the profile of records management at his company and ensured his position was pitched at Executive Level.
Seniority: Roger has worked on major records management projects including at Davis Langdon where he was responsible for the creation of a National Records Management Department to manage information and records across 21 offices across the UK. At British Land Roger worked on a SharePoint integrated records management system to deliver instant access to information for staff.
Charity and Inclusion: Roger has been involved with The Albert Kennedy Trust for the past 7 years and has ensured exceptional liaison between the Trust and its corporate sponsors. Roger also Co-Chaired the Pride Group at British Land which organised events and programmes to ensure a fair and inclusive environment.

Nicola Turner

Nicola is the Director of NT Creative Arts. She works as a cultural and creative consultant and offers event and project productions and management services and teaching, facilitation and coaching in the cultural and creative sector. She is based in London, working in the UK and internationally, specialising in leadership and entrepreneurship development.
Recent projects include the Making Digital Work event at the Library of Birmingham for the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts, The ‘D’ Word event for NitroBEAT and the Barbican, conferences and events for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the International Creative Entrepreneurs programme for Creative Scotland and advising on the ACCELERATE and Realise Your Dream Programmes for the British Council Australia.
Nicola is an Associate Tutor on the MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Previous full time posts include:
Assistant Director for the Cultural Leadership Programme (CLP) leading on the strategic development of the work-based learning and development priorities; Artist Practitioner Leadership Development and International Leadership. Her work has included leading the development and delivery of CLP Networks and Placements. Nicola worked with Director Hilary