Meet our Board of Trustees

Catherine Mallyon (Chair)

Catherine Mallyon has been Executive Director, a Governor and a Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company since 2012.

Catherine was previously Deputy Chief Executive of Southbank Centre, leading all Southbank Centre operational activity, including the reopening of Royal Festival Hall after refurbishment in 2007 and the renewal of Hayward Gallery in 2010. In her earlier career in arts management, Catherine was General Manager of Arts and Theatres at Reading Borough Council. There she managed all theatre and arts operations, programmed drama and classical music for the Hexagon and Concert Hall and co-produced the WOMAD festival. Prior to that, she was General Manager at the Oxford Playhouse and had the same role at the Towngate Theatre, Basildon.

Catherine has been on the Boards/Councils of Arts Council England (ACE), and a member of their Performance and Audit Committee; Society of London Theatre (SOLT); the West Midlands Combined Authority Cultural Leadership Board (WMCA); Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP), as Chair of their Culture and Tourism Business Group; the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Creative Industries Federation.

Catherine is Chair of the Advisory Board for the Bristol + Bath Creative Cluster R&D and a member of advisory councils of the Centre for Cultural Value (having completed a term as Chair), the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Orchestra of the Swan.

Having spent five years working in the City of London as a trader and analyst, Catherine trained in general arts administration on Arts Council England’s bursary programme. She plays the violin in local orchestras and chamber groups.

Catherine is an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, University of Oxford and was awarded a CBE in the Queens Platinum Jubilee Birthday Honours list.

Harj Millington (Deputy Chair)

Harj is Commercial Director and Co-Owner of Rewired PR, an established Birmingham-based PR agency working with B2B and B2C clients across the UK, including Cadbury World, The Mailbox, Heal’s London and Birmingham Ormiston Academy, one of the top-performing Arts schools in the UK. Harj has been a Trustee of the theatre since 2016 and also sits on its Finance and Remuneration Committees.

Harj has a particular interest in fundraising and is passionate about the theatre’s commitment to ensuring that its people, programme and outreach includes all of the communities that make up our diverse city and region.

For over a decade, Harj was a commercial lawyer at international law firm Gowling WLG, acting for a wide range of corporate businesses in complex legal disputes, and advising the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on directors’ responsibilities and forensic investigations.

Harj is experienced in PR and marketing, commercial and legal matters, and governance. With extensive knowledge of consumer and professional service sectors, Harj is plugged into key networks, and well-connected across the region.  She is also a Governor of Hill West Primary School, with a particular focus on the arts and creative aspects of the curriculum.

 Andrew Connors

Andrew is Head of Large Corporates, Midlands Region and national Head of Higher Education and Charities for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. Over a 25 year plus career at Lloyds Banking Group he has held a variety of national and regional roles across Lloyds’ Commercial and Retail Banking business. He is an elected member of the CBI West Midlands Council. Before joining the Theatre Trust Andrew has previously spent five years as a member of the Development Trust.

Ranjit Dhindsa

Ranjit is the Office Leader for European Law firm Fieldfisher’s Birmingham office and has been a member of the firm’s Executive Committee since 2018. She leads the UK EPIC (Employment, Pensions, Immigration, and Compliance) practice, which operates across London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Belfast. In this role, Ranjit coordinates a multidisciplinary team and heads the Inclusion and Culture Consultancy, providing comprehensive services to clients focused on fostering inclusive and resilient workplaces.

With over 30 years of experience as an employment lawyer, Ranjit is known for her creative, solution-oriented approach. Her background as a former business owner and Director equips her with a deep understanding of the operational challenges faced by organisations, and she is recognised for delivering commercial and pragmatic legal advice.

Externally, Ranjit is a special adviser to Miss Macaroon, a prominent Birmingham-based social enterprise that reinvests profits into training programmes for young people. She is also dedicated to promoting inclusion and diversity, providing strategic support and insights to the firm’s clients on these matters.

Ranjit regularly advises boards, senior leadership teams, and in-house legal departments on managing change, complex litigation, conducting internal investigations, and improving organisational culture. She is highly regarded as a trusted adviser and critical friend, with clients spanning a wide range of industries, many of whom have worked with her since the beginning of her legal career.

Andy Hammond

Andy is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and has over 30 years of experience, having joined PwC in 1995 and becoming a partner in 2009.

As part of his role on the UK Executive Committee Andy is responsible for setting and delivering the UK firm’s Audit strategy, including financial audit and non-financial assurance. This encompasses oversight of, and responsibility for audit quality.

Andy specialises in auditing large multinational listed groups particularly in the industrial manufacturing, pharmaceutical and hospitality & leisure sectors. He joined PwC after graduating from Birmingham University with an Economics & Economic History degree. Andy is also on the Board of Trustees of Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre and is Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

Elizabeth Lawal

Elizabeth Zeddie Lawal is a cultural leader, producer, facilitator, cultural researcher, currently at INCO Academy UK. Since graduating from The University of Birmingham in Drama and Theatre Arts in 2016, Elizabeth has been committed to inclusion, equity, innovation, transformational leadership and most importantly care. Elizabeth has been recognised by the Birmingham Mail 30 under 30 and The Stage 100 for More than a Moment: Action with and for the Black creative workforce.

Elizabeth currently holds the positions of Country Lead for INCO Academy UK, an organisation that bridges between future-facing industries and communities that are furthest away from the labour market and is the Founder of The More Than A Moment (MTAM) pledge. MTAM is the West Midlands Arts sector’s promise to take radical, bold and immediate action, to dismantle the systems that have for too long kept Black artists and creatives from achieving their potential in the arts and cultural industries. MTAM officially received company status in November 2021 and since its inception during 2020, 90 organisations signed up to the pledge in the and the last year over £850,000 has been invested into the black Creative workforce.

Elizabeth is a strong advocate for social mobility, empowering leaders and communities to thrive whilst using creativity as a mirror to society. Elizabeth is the writer of Exhale, a play exploring faith, sexuality and forgiveness. Licence holder of TEDxYouth@Brum 2019 – 2021. Formally, Head of Community at Beatfreeks Collective and Associate Producer at Coventry City of Culture.

Kathryn Marten

Kathryn is Chief Development Officer at the National Theatre, having joined the company in 2008. Over that time, she has overseen a transformational change in the organisation’s funding, enabling growth and innovation on stage and off thanks to a broad and generous supporter base in the UK and US. Before that, Kathryn spent six years at English National Opera. She served as a trustee of the Bush Theatre 2016-2022.

Kathryn grew up in the East Midlands and read English Literature at the University of Kent. She is passionate about world-class theatre being available to audiences across the UK, and believes that the UK’s mix of private and public support for culture is what drives a healthy and ambitious culture of inclusivity and access.

Jacqui O’Hanlon

Jacqui is Director of Creative Learning and Engagement at the RSC, leading its work with schools, universities, young people, communities and partner theatres across the UK and around the world.

As a cultural learning specialist, Jacqui is passionate about equitable access to high quality arts learning. She is committed to actions that diversify the creative industries and empower people to discover new skills, using arts and creativity to affect social change. Jacqui has an interest in research, particularly finding accessible ways to share and disseminate it to inform real-world decision making.

Jacqui has previously chaired the Cultural Learning Alliance and currently chairs a school governing body. She was appointed as a Commissioner for the Durham Commission in Creativity in Education and received an MBE for services to the arts in the 2022 New Year’s New Year’s Honours List.

Tru Powell

Tru is the Founder & Managing Director for The Alternative Events & Wedding Company, an event management company that specialises in coordinating high quality corporate, youth events and weddings. In addition, Tru is the Director of the UK’s first kids’ salon, Kandy Girl and also the Creative & Events Director for Aston Performing Arts Academy, a community interest organisation that exists to empower young people through performing and creative arts. Since the organisation’s inception in 2004, the company has impacted the lives of thousands of young people in the Midlands.

Over the years, Tru has been awarded with numerous accolades for enterprise and his contribution to the arts. In 2014, he was recognised as one of Birmingham’s most inspirational young leaders, and in 2018, was crowned Birmingham’s Young Professional of the Year – Marketing and Communications. In 2019, Tru was also named the Greater Birmingham Future Face of Entrepreneurship as well as winning the prestigious Great British Entrepreneur Award from Natwest.

Justin has had a range of experiences in the creative sector including working on the cultural commissioning programme and with the APPG on Culture and Health as well as ACE funded research in the past on audience diversification and performer experiences of discrimination, and more recently in Birmingham creating the matrix cultural posts with public health and the cultural health impact tools.He lives in central Birmingham with his husband who is a local GP.