Who we are Meet our trustees Meet our Trustees November Club's board is made up of seven trustees who, like us, are passionate about the arts and the positive impact they can make to our lives. Fiona Standfield - Chair Fiona joined the Board of November Club as Chair in February 2016. Passionate about the artistic endeavour, having both supported and performed with November Club, Fiona is delighted to be involved with the charity.Fiona brings a wealth of business development, programme management and customer support experience from undertaking senior roles across all three sectors. Fiona also has significant experience of Arts governance having previously been Chair of Northern Stage, and in a voluntary capacity, Fiona is working with other award-winning charities in Secondary and Higher Education, Archaeological Research and Social Action. Elizabeth Allen Elizabeth is an Associate Solicitor with Womble Bond Dickinson LLP. She has had a long involvement with the arts and theatre and has supported November Club over many years in the North East and nationally. Jacqui Henderson CBE Jacqui is an accomplished and influential leader. She has established her reputation as a successful, innovative businesswoman and educationalist across a number of Chief Executive roles in national and regional organisations across the public and private sector. Jacqui was Vice-Chair of Newcastle University and Chair of the University Student Union Partnership and Chair of Northumberland College until December 2018. Jacqui was awarded the Commander of the British Empire for services to education and training in January 2001 and the North East Glass Slipper’s Lifetime Achievement Award in March 2016. In 2018, she was delighted to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Newcastle University. She is a Freeman of the City of London and a Fellow of the RSA. More recently she founded and sponsored ‘Find Your Future ‘a voluntary professional women's network dedicated to helping young women across the North East realise their career ambitions. Cath Hindle Formerly Head of Operations and Tourism for NewcastleGateshead Initiative for 11 years, Cath now spends her time running Clear the Clutter - a decluttering and personal organising business. A huge part of both roles involved creating spaces that people want to visit and live, learn and work in, so November Club's focus on place is of particular interest. Sophia Stovall Sophia moved to the region in 2011 from London where she began her career working for private art galleries before moving into the charitable sector with the Art Fund. Having worked throughout the cultural sector over the past 12 years including museums, galleries, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Universities and national membership organisations. Originally from Denmark, Sophia has a keen interest in Old Norse and taught Danish at Durham University. She regularly lectures at Newcastle University on the MA Museums Studies degree on the topic of sustainable income generation. Sophia joined Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) in 2018 after five years in the role of Development Manager at Durham Cathedral. During her time there she oversaw the award-winning fundraising campaign Durham Cathedral in LEGO, supported the development of the Cathedral’s new museum, Open Treasure, launched the Foundation 2020 campaign, relaunched the Cathedral’s Patron membership and saw the establishment of the annual Gala Dinner in the Nave. Sophia is now responsible for the Development Department responsible for the consortium’s three art galleries, the Tyne & Wear Archives, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, four museums, two regional services (Museum Development North East and Culture Bridge North East) and the annual Late Shows festival. Sophia is passionate about promoting a wider appreciation and understanding of our cultural assets while continuously working to ensure the financial sustainability of these worthwhile institutions and organisations. Rob Williamson Rob plays a leading role in philanthropy in North East England and nationally, and has particular expertise in governance, charitable giving and voluntary sector research. As CEO of the UK’s largest Community Foundation, he drives a long-term strategy focused on growing a sustainable endowment – currently valued at around £80m – and increasing funding to benefit communities now and in the future. Rob was for six years Director of Policy and Communications and later Acting CEO at Northern Rock Foundation. His early career was in frontline charities for homeless and vulnerable people. He then went on to senior roles in urban regeneration and local government. Rob is a fellow of the RSA, Vice Chair of the advisory committee for BBC Charity Appeals, a trustee of Access – the Foundation for Social Investment and a member of the Court of Newcastle University, whose steering committee he chairs. Chris Foxton Chris Foxon is Executive Director of Papatango, a multi-award-winning theatre company and arts charity. For Papatango he has developed and produced new plays which have gone on to win or be nominated for The Times Breakthrough, Alfred Fagon, OffWestEnd and The Stage Debut awards; transfer to the West End; premiere on Sky Arts and BBC radio; and be remounted worldwide. He has also pioneered free and accessible arts education programmes, supporting grassroots artists in every region of the UK. Chris co-authored the bestselling book Being A Playwright: A Career Guide For Writers and has lectured at universities including Oxford, York, Plymouth, Northampton and Gloucestershire. Having grown up in Scotswood, Newcastle, he now lives in North Tyneside. Fiona Whitehurst Fiona is a Senior Lecturer and Director of (Research) Impact at Newcastle University Business School. Fiona joined the Business School in 2006 having completed her PhD in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies. The vast majority of her research, from PhD onwards, has been within the North East of England, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders from large engineering firms to micro-business owners. From 2014 she has been involved with a variety of research projects, including Creative Fuse North East and Creative Spark that have engaged with creative practitioners in the region through a variety of participatory activities. Fiona’s teaching experience is largely with the students on Newcastle University’s MA in Arts, Business and Creativity and MSc Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship programmes. They are often creative practitioners and come from very diverse cultural backgrounds. Fiona has always loved theatre and story-telling and, having relocated to Newcastle in 1991, is passionate about ensuring the region’s history and development is accurately portrayed and celebrated.