Montage Theatre Arts Board

Marian spent over 20 years in local government and her last post was as an Area Housing Manager, responsible for an area office and 5,000 properties, including some very large estates. She was responsible for 80 office staff and a dispersed workforce of 200 (Caretakers and Sheltered Housing Officers) and ensuring the effective management of all human and financial resources. In addition she worked closely with tenants associations and a wide variety of statutory and voluntary agencies, local politicians and MP’s.

For a number of years Marian also worked as a Management Consultant working with organisations at senior management level on a wide variety of projects, from restructuring, business planning to the development of practices and procedures and effective monitoring systems. Marian has a great interest in the arts but more particularly a belief that if properly managed, it can provide one of the few non-discriminatory accessible opportunities for growth for people of all ages and particularly those who are vulnerable because of age.

Laura de Poitiers – Treasurer

Nixon likes to be involved in creativity and technology. He is particularly enthusiastic about supporting young people that have an interest in the creative industries in the areas of performance, business, and technical skills. He has helped many artists achieve their goals.

Nixon regularly enjoys performing as a bass player and backing vocalist on stage and in the studio, and is involved in music production, composition, engineering and Apple Mac technical support. As well as being on the board of Montage Theatre Arts, Nixon is also a member of the Musicians’ Union Equalities Committee.

He has appeared / worked in the studio, on radio, TV or on stage with Ronnie Laws (Earth Wind & Fire), Mariah Carey, Jools Holland, Billy Paul (Me and Mrs Jones), Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), and The Foundations. Nixon performed with Graeae Theatre Company at the UK Paralympics Opening Ceremony, and has toured the UK and Brazil in Graeae’s musical ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful’.

He is currently the bass player for the band ‘Dr Schwamp’, and also performs with other bands.

Matthew has worked in marketing for 20 years, in a range of senior positions.

He is Principal Lecturer in marketing at the University of Greenwich and Director of Face Value Consulting and Professionals Ltd. He is visiting professor at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business.

He has worked with companies such as Philip Morris, Anheuser Busch, Tarmac, Fiat, Barclays, Barclaycard, Swiss Reinsurance, the London Business School, the Royal Mail, Microsoft, The DTI and GUS.

His books include:

• Direct and Digital Marketing in Practice, A and C Black
• Successful Market Research, Hodder and Stoughton
• Strategic Marketing Management, Butterworth Heinemann
• Market Research for Managers, Butterworth Heinemann
• International Marketing in Action, Kogan Page
• Direct and Digital Marketing in Practice, Butterworth Heinemann
• Marketing Research and Information, (CIM/MRS course guide), Butterworth Heinemann
• Project Management in Marketing , (CIM/MRS course guide), Butterworth Heinemann

His current activities include writing and research into marketing research, digital marketing and interactive and relationship marketing.

He is a senior consultant, tutor, examiner and member of the IDM, syllabus advisor to CAM and a tutor and former examiner at the CIM. He is a full member of the Market Research Society and ESOMAR.  He is an Institute of Direct Marketing Educator of the Year.

Kate Jones is a freelance Producer, Consultant and Project Manager and has        worked across the private, public and broadcast sectors.

She began her career at Kallaway Ltd, one of the UK’s most successful arts     sponsorship consultancies and was involved in a wide range of corporate   sponsorship programmes including Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year, Barclays New    Futures and the Folkestone Menuhin Violin Competition.  In 2002, she was head hunted by the BBC to head up BBC Wales’ new Music Projects Team and produced large scale public facing events and competitions including BBC Radio 2 Voice of Music Theatre, Singer of the World and Proms in the Park.  In 2008, Kate left the BBC to embark on a freelance career and clients have included the BBC Performing Arts Fund, London Symphony Orchestra, Initial TV and currently she is Programme Director for Gigs, the Mayor of London’s annual busking competition.  Kate also co-owns and runs a TV and media studio facility in MediaCityUK in Salford and is a Director of Roar of the Crowd, an independent production company specialising in corporate training through singing.

Alysha Smith is a senior marketing professional and has worked predominantly across the private sector.

She began her career at Hotwire PR agency, an international business-to-business communications agency and was involved in marketing the business and acquiring new customers across the technology and public sectors. In 2012 she was headhunted by Caesars Entertainment to head up marketing operations for their flagship properties the Empire Casino in Leicester Square and the Sportsman Casino in Marble Arch. Here she launched the first gaming-based crowd sourcing experiment and drove record event bookings.

In 2014 Alysha left Caesars Entertainment to join Aspers Casino Group where she oversaw the loyalty programme across their entire property portfolio. Within this role Alysha drove increases in loyalty member attendance and increased spend per head. Alysha then transitioned from the gaming industry into travel and leisure where she heads up marketing operations for Magnuson Worldwide; a global hotel chain. Alysha’s loyalty programme Magnuson Rewards was recently shortlisted by the Loyalty Magazine Awards.

Alysha also runs her own training and development company called Outdo You that specialises in both health and youth programmes. In addition, she is a qualified Prince 2 and Kaizen practitioner and offers change consultancy through her business Too Easy.

Strongly influenced by her mum – an aspiring dancer in the 1940s – Carolyn loves performing arts, especially musical theatre. But, apart from the office Christmas party karaoke, she had not performed live before an audience since primary school orchestra concerts until the Montage Theatre Arts 20^th. Anniversary Gala event at Greenwich Theatre. And then she was hooked!

Carolyn’s role as Trustee on the MTA Board draws upon her knowledge as a qualified teacher and social worker and her extensive experience as a senior manager in social care and health policy, regulation, evidence-based practice and quality improvement at local and national level. A bit of a Francophile, she has lived in Lewisham for 34 years and joined the MTA adult choir in 2017 when she retired from paid employment. Now, sitting alongside her ambition to write that novel, Carolyn is actively involved in local community organisations that promote the rights of people to the best possible quality of life. She is particularly interested in how creative arts can help people be more connected, build their confidence, self-esteem and resilience and improve well-being.