Phoenix Trustee Biographies
Ali Sinclair
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 Overton-Edwards
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 Kavi
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 Clarke
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 Mamujee
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) as well as his day joy as a Partner at M Cubed Chartered Accountants where he is passionate about helping client 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 building project.
Catherine Kersey
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.
Benedict Carpenter van Barthold
Ben has been active in the visual arts since the late ’90s. He is passionate about arts education. He studied sculpture at Chelsea College and the Royal College of Art, London, and has a PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University. As a practicing artist, he completed a number of publicly-sited sculptures and was awarded the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2001.
Originally from the West Midlands, Ben came to Leicester when he joined De Montfort University in 2013. He worked there for five and a half years, latterly as Associate Professor Fine Art and Associate Head of School of Visual and Performing Arts. In 2019 he joined Nottingham Trent University as Principal Lecturer Fine Art.
Ben is Chair of the Contemporary Visual Arts Network, East Midlands. He and his children are keen patrons of Phoenix. He became a Phoenix Trustee in April 2017.
Colin Sharpe
Colin is a Head of Finance at Leicester City Council and became a Council nominee trustee in 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 member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
Colin was born and bred in the Leicester area and is interested in its social and economic history. His job has brought involvement in a range of venues and projects around the city. 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.
Jane Smith
Jane is originally from Leicester and apart from 4 years in London as a student, has lived here all her life. Jane did a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at Middlesex University, graduating in 1995 and followed this by training as a Dramatherapist at the University of Hertfordshire graduating in 1996. Jane also gained a BSc in Systemic Practice and Family Therapy at the University of Derby in 2005.
Jane has worked as a therapist in secure settings and for the past 20 years in the social care sector, primarily working to support families and young people. Jane is passionate about working with teenagers and using creativity to enable them to achieve their potential. Jane is a highly skilled therapist and offers a variety of interventions including consultation alongside developing and delivering trainings on a variety of themes and issues to individuals and groups.
Jane has a keen interest in industrial and social history and is a member of a number of industrial history organisations and museums, volunteers for two local industrial history organisations and is a co-opted committee member of the Leicestershire Industrial History Society. Jane was previously on the board of another organisation for 3 years.
Jane has been a frequent visitor to Phoenix for the past four years and was initially a member of the Membership Advisory Group prior to being selected to be a Trustee.
Jill Cowley
Jill Cowley 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.
Professor Justin Smith
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.
Lisa Jones
Lisa is the Global PR, Sponsorship and Events Manager for Triumph Motorcycles. As a Chartered PR Practitioner, she is experienced in developing stakeholder relations and building community engagement. Her career has spanned the media, third sector, e-commerce, retail, leisure, fast-moving consumer goods, automotive and technology sectors. She is a parent governor for a primary school in Leicestershire and became a Phoenix Trustee in May 2016.
Shobna Bazzaz
Shobna Bazzaz joined the Phoenix Board in October 2019 and brings with her extensive business and commercial experience from across several blue chip companies. She has had a broad range of experience supporting various business sectors and roles, mainly focusing on business partnering and driving business performance and change.
Currently Shobna is heading up a European position at HSBC, prior to which she was working with Mars. She also brings with her insights from her time at Capital One, Next, Boots and the University of Leicester. Initially having trained as a chartered accountant at KPMG, she has also gained an Executive MBA from The University of Nottingham. Shobna is keen to use her experience, skills and connections to support Phoenix in its ambitious growth plans, driving value, seeking efficiencies and ensuring a sustainable business model.
In addition, Shobna sits on the board at Primary, an Arts based charity in Nottingham. Outside of work Shobna has a keen interest in Health and Fitness and has completed several half marathons and cycling events. Shobna also has a passion for Music and the Arts, her tastes are both broad and eclectic.
Prof Surinder Sharma DL
Surinder was appointed as the first ever National Director, Equality & Human Rights for the Department of Health and the NHS. He has over 40 years of experience of leadership in achieving cultural organisational change and championing equity, fairness, diversity and inclusion. He is the Co-Director for the Centre for Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, University of Leicester.
His career has spanned working in leadership roles for: a regulator at the Commission for Racial Equality; as a Commissioner for the Equal Opportunities Commission; in broadcasting at the BBC; in retail at Littlewoods; in manufacturing at the Ford Motor Company (Europe); in Pharma at Novartis AG; and in Government at the Department of Health and the NHS.
He served as an elected member on Leicester City Council, as Justice of the Peace in Leicester, as High Sheriff of Leicestershire and as a Council Member of Aston University. He serves on various charities including: Chair of Leicester Race Equality Centre, the National Space Centre, Charity Link and as an Independent Person for Leicestershire County Council.
He has been recognised for his services and was appointed as the Deputy Lieutenant for Leicestershire, Alderman for the City of Leicester, and awarded honorary doctorate degrees and professorships from 7 UK universities.