Phoebe Reith is the Director and owner of Studio Reith, an agency that has worked at the highest level on creative, charitable and strategic initiatives. Reporting to Co-Chairs Sir Nicholas Coleridge CBE and Sir Michael Lockett KCVO, her team oversaw all the philanthropic and commercial fundraising activity for HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, reporting into Buckingham Palace, Number 10 and DCMS. Phoebe was subsequently the interim Chief Executive of Quintessentially Foundation, reporting to Chair, Rory Brooks CBE, while aiding the charity in their search for a new CEO. 

 

Prior to running her company, she held senior roles at registered charities in the arts and education space, including Sadler’s Wells and at London Business School. Earlier in her career, alongside the co-founder, she led on the $2m VC raise for an impact start up in New York, which was then successfully acquired in 2021. She has over 10 years of experience as a Trustee and she currently also sits on the board of Good Chance Theatre and has mentored through Career Academies and Creative Mentor Network. She studied Art History in Santa Barbara, California and York, UK, and has long family ties to the Suffolk coast.

 

Miranda Kendall is chair and co-founder of Phipps Relations, a specialist trade and consumer communications agency. Since relinquishing her client-facing role, she volunteers as a NED and consultant. She served in 2023 as interim chair of Ormiston Families, a trusted East of England provider to the NHS and Integrated Care systems, as well as an award-winning developer and deliverer of children’s and family services, with a commitment to service-user involvement and co-production. She is currently chair of their Income Generation Committee and lead trustee on Trauma-Informed Practice. 

 

For nine years, she served, including as safeguarding trustee, at arts charity Britten Pears Arts, and for a further nine years, she has been a trustee and vice-chair of Fine Cell Work, the national prison charity providing skilled training in high quality decorative quilting, stitching and tapestry to long-serving prisoners. She set up the first Fine Cell Work group in Suffolk at HMP Warren Hill. 

 

Miranda was trained as a school governor by the Inspiration Trust and was for eight years a governing member of East Point Academy in East Kirkley, Lowestoft. She studied at Cambridge University 1980 – 1983 and lives in East Suffolk. 

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Lady Lara Somerleyton (née Bailey) is a philanthropist, conservationist, and cultural trustee, known for her work in heritage restoration, environmental 

stewardship, and the arts. As the wife of Hugh Crossley, 4th Baron Somerleyton, she plays a central role in shaping the future of the Somerleyton Estate in Suffolk, where history, conservation, and community engagement come together. 

 

At Somerleyton Hall, Lady Lara has been instrumental in revitalising the historic gardens, balancing Victorian design with modern ecological awareness. Her work champions biodiversity, pollinator-friendly planting, and the preservation of heritage landscapes for future generations. 

 

In partnership with her husband, she has also supported rewilding initiatives across the estate, aligning with the WildEast movement, which seeks to restore nature across East Anglia. Their Fritton Lake project embeds sustainability and community well-being into the guest experience, reflecting her commitment to conservation-led living. 

 

Beyond environmental work, Lady Lara serves as a trustee of Messums Creative, a charity dedicated to arts, learning, and outreach, where she helps foster creativity and cultural engagement. Alongside her husband, she is co-founder of the Lord and Lady Somerleyton Charitable Trust, established to support charitable and voluntary organisations at both local and national levels. 

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Deborah has more than 30 years’ experience in public services. Prior to her last CEO appointment at Birmingham City Council, Deborah was Chief Executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority.

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She was previously Local Government Advisor to the Ministerial Team at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, Head of Policy at Redcar and Cleveland Borough and Audit Commission's Best Value Service Lead Inspector for the London region.

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Deborah also has extensive Chief Executives experience of all levels of Government (National, Regional, Metropolitan, Borough, District) which includes Chief Executive of St Edmundsbury Borough Council and East Suffolk Council, the East of England Regional Development Agency and Suffolk County Council.

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She has ensured that each organisation that she has led, delivers ‘excellent ’ services through focusing on getting the basics right, continuously improving, engaging citizens and working effectively across public service system of delivery.

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She attended Loughborough University. Teesside University and the University of Birmingham. Deborah has a degree in Social administration & politics as well as a master’s degree in economics and a further master’s degree in management practice.

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She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Loughborough, Aston University and  the university of Birmingham , she is also a fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University.

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Deborah received an OBE in 2006 for services to local government. 

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Deborah is listed in Local Government Chronicle’s ‘100 Most Influential in the Sector’. She also recently won UKREiiF’s ‘Public Sector Impact Award 

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She is currently a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation ,  Deputy Pro-chancellor of the university of Birmingham and a NED on Newtrality , Toto Housing Board and senior Counsel for InHouse Communicatons.

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Johnny Messum founded Messums as a platform for creativity, having spent his life so far in the exploration of the how and why of art creation. With a team of like-minded colleagues, he runs a group of venues where communities and collectors can access and engage with the arts across genres.

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Central to that work has been the return of the 13th-century tithe barn at Tisbury to public use, and the dance programme he established there in 2016, which supported a Festival of Dance and the 4X20 Emerging Choreography Platform for emerging choreographers. He regularly speaks on the place of art within community life. In 2020, he set up Start a Collection and Active Environmentalism, an online talks programme on art and the environment. He speaks and writes regularly on the place of art within community life.