Phoenix Trustee Biographies

Ali became Chair of Trustees in August 2019. She has been a Phoenix Trustee since 2006 and has seen a lot of change and growth in that period. She is enthusiastic about Phoenix and values what Phoenix means to so many individuals and to Leicester.

Ali is a recently retired business professional having originally trained in software and worked on leading edge technological developments with simulation and digital processing.  She has worked as a business coach, project and people manager in the private and not for profit sectors. She has held a number of governance roles across Arts and Cultural organisations and is currently Co-chair of ArtReach, Chair of Curve’s Voices for Change and a founder member of ALL-In Leicester promoting disability awareness and accessibility improvements across Leicester.

Suzanne is Vice Chair of Trustees, and is a long serving member of the Phoenix board. Suzanne has considerable leadership experience in education including as Principal of Gateway College (2010-2017) and Vice Principal of City of Westminster College (2002-2010).

Suzanne has a great commitment to lifelong learning and in her early career worked to develop literacy, numeracy and key skills in a number of influential roles in London. She has a particular interest in students’ transition into and out of educational organisations. In her spare time she enjoys visiting art galleries, watching films, dance and drama, and having dinner with family and friends.

Dilip joined Phoenix’s Board of Trustees in January 2024.

Dilip recently retired as Group Chief Executive of one of the largest hybrid public-private property companies in England. He has a strong attachment to Leicester having attended secondary school here as well as living and working in the surrounding cities for decades.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and has an MBA with professional work experience across multiple industries to provide fresh insight and support to the Board as a Trustee. He is eager to promote the importance of The Arts Sector across the multicultural community of Leicester.

Dilip comes from a family with a background in the Arts. His father and grandfather were prolific writers of poems, novels and theatre plays in many different languages. Dilip enjoys reading, skiing, and spending long weekends with his three young grandchildren.

Adam is a councillor in Leicester and was appointed to the board by the city mayor in 2023. He was first elected to Leicester City Council in 2011. He served on the city council executive for nine years and was deputy city mayor between 2017 and 2024.

After a turbulent school and college journey, mostly in Leicester, Adam graduated from Bretton Hall College with a First in Theatre Arts and Education in 2000. He went on to manage ‘the old’ Phoenix Arts film and live learning and outreach programmes, before developing his career primarily in the heritage sector managing site specific, regional and national projects promoting access to culture.

Now completely immersed in the political and cultural life of the city, Adam is passionate about promoting ethical manufacturing in Leicester and the city’s journey to net-zero – alongside the co-benefits of decarbonisation, which include benefits for placemaking, biodiversity, health and well-being and the local economy.

Adam is also a Director of Curve Theatre, the Leicester Riders Foundation and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Kaaeed joined Phoenix’s Board of Trustees in January 2024.

Kaaeed brings to Phoenix his commercial and financial knowledge and skills together with board level experience over the past 15 years.

A qualified Chartered Accountant, his experiences include Non Executive Director and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee within the NHS in Leicestershire and Rutland. He has also been Chair of the Board and the Investment Committee for CABA (Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association), in addition to his day job as a Partner at M Cubed Chartered Accountants where he is passionate about helping clients sustain and develop their businesses.

He is enthusiastic to support Phoenix as it embarks on the next stage of its life after the successful completion of its capital expansion project.

Catherine brings to Phoenix extensive experience in hospitality, food & beverage and commercial business development.

She is currently responsible for all commercial operations at Northumbria Students Union. Previously Catherine worked in commercial operations management for both Broadway cinema, Nottingham and Tyneside cinema, Newcastle, developing their food and beverage offers and diversifying their commercial income.

In Newcastle she managed the development and launch of Tyneside’s Bar Café, and Vicolo coffee and cocktail bar. As a Trustee Catherine is providing insight and guidance to the Board in the design, transition and growth of Phoenix’s food and beverage offer and other commercial opportunities. She is keen to see Phoenix continue to develop and thrive, to support Leicester’s growing cultural offer and to provide a creative community hub in the centre of the city.

Colin became an independent trustee in March 2025, having been a City Council nominee since 2014. He was involved in the Phoenix 2020 project from the beginning and is excited to see the expanded and improved venue now well on the way to achieving its full potential.

Professionally, Colin is an accountant and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. Colin was born and bred in the Leicester area and takes an active interest in its social and economic history. He is keen to see Leicester achieve the profile it deserves and for citizens to have wide ranging opportunities to develop their skills and interests, in which Phoenix plays a key part.

Jill is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities at De Montfort University. She is a Dance graduate from Lancaster University, with an MPhil in Dance Studies and Public Health. After freelancing in community dance, she began her formal teaching career within Further Education, moving to DMU and Leicester in 2007.

Jill is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an alumnus of Aurora and the Senior Women’s Leadership Development Programme (Advance HE). Jill was also a founding member of improvisation collective, Quick Shifts.

Beyond academia, Jill is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Association of British Climbing Wall’s National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS).

Jill joined the Phoenix Board in September 2022.

Justin is Professor of Cinema and Television History at De Montfort University, and Visiting Professor of Media Industries at the University of Portsmouth. He is the director of the Cinema and Television History Institute at DMU and co-director of research in Creative and Heritage Industries. Justin is the author of Withnail and Us: Cult Films and Film Cults in British Cinema (I.B. Tauris) and co-author, with Sue Harper, of British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure (EUP). He has published widely on post-war British cinema and television, has led projects on Channel 4 and British Film Culture (2010-14) in partnership with the British Universities Film and Video Council, and Fifty Years of British Music Video (2015-2018) in collaboration with the British Film Institute. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Royal Television Society.

Justin also researches and sings traditional English folk songs, particularly any associated with his native Isle of Wight, and occasionally performs there and at folk festivals from Sidmouth to Whitby.

Will Wells is an experienced commercial and innovation director. In his role at the University of Leicester he leads a team with a research portfolio of £280M and the commercialisation of intellectual property through a pipeline of spin outs and licensing deals with industry. He also leads on regional economic policy and delivery.

Working at the juncture between business, universities and government, Will’s career has spanned senior roles in global corporates (Anglo-American and Cummins), the civil service and high growth SMEs. He is a non-executive director on the board of the university’s Spin Outs companies, the European Space Agency Business Incubator, and VentureVersity.

Locally he led the commercial development of Space Park Leicester which has transformed the county’s high tech business sector. Regionally he led on the government project with Toyota to secure the UK’s first hybrid vehicle production line, and has also been the architect of major national innovation programmes.

He is passionate about art, music, films and culture. He has a degree in history from the University of London, an MBA from Leicester Business School and is a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.