The members of Scottish Ballet’s Board bring a diversity of knowledge and experience to the Company. Formal board meetings and review of reports and accounts are complimented by less formal correspondence and attendance at performances.
Zoe van Zwanenberg - Chair
Zoë van Zwanenberg is currently Chief Executive of the Scottish Leadership Foundation, a post she has held since 2000. Prior to this she was Head of Development at the Strategic Change Unit for the NHS in Scotland. Ms van Zwanenberg has also held a number of non-executive and advisory roles over the years including; Non-executive Director for the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing. Director of Scottish Sculpture Trust, Director of AGENDA, an organisation focused on the development of corporate social responsibility and Chairman of Scottish Youth Dance. She has also been involved with the Leadership Development Commission for Local Government, the European creative Council for Centre for Creative Leadership and the PPP Health Foundation Advisory Board. Ms van Zwanenberg won the Arts and Business Arts Chair of the Year award in 2006 for her work with Scottish Ballet and Scottish Youth Dance.
Roanne Dods – Vice Chair
Roanne Dods has been Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation for ten years where she has overseen the significant expansion of Jerwood capital and revenue activities across all artforms, including visual arts, dance, drama, film, music and literature. She originally trained and practised as a lawyer in Edinburgh for eight years, but in 1997 left the legal profession to undertake an MA in Dance Studies at the Laban Centre in London. She is currently a Director on the Board of the Jerwood Space; founding Executive Chairman of Innovative Craft; Advisory Board Member on Rural Retreats: Ballet into 21st Century, Advisory Member of Cheltenham Jazz Festival and board member of Sistema Scotland. She is Co-Director of Mission Models and Money, an action research programme looking at sustainable business models for the arts. In 2004, she was presented with an Angel Award by the International Society for the Performing Arts for ‘innovative and spectacular work across the artistic spectrum’ by Sir John Tusa.
John Curran
John is Chairman of Gordon & MacPhail, Elgin, whisky distillers and acknowledged as the world’s leading malt whisky specialists. He is a business graduate and Chartered Accountant with board experience extending back over 25 years in a variety of public and private companies. John sat on the National Committee of IOD Scotland for a number of years, and was actively involved in Non-executive education for its training faculty.
Morag Deyes
Edinburgh-born Morag Deyes has worked as a choreographer and performer in a variety of styles and companies, from Lindsay Kemp to Welsh National Opera and also as an independent choreographer and teacher. After five years as Director of Bath Festival Fringe and publicity liaison for Circus Archaos, she took up the post of Artistic Director at Dance Base, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance. She was an awarded a MBE in 2007 for services to dance in Scotland.
Sylvia Dow
Sylvia Dow initially trained as an actor in Edinburgh. After extensive travel abroad, during which time she worked in jobs as diverse as dime store assistant and radio actor, she returned to Scotland to train as a drama teacher, teaching drama for many years in Bo’ness Academy, West Lothian. She held the post of Education Officer at the MacRobert Arts Centre for almost nine years, moving on to the post of Arts Education Co-ordinator in Central Region, and then initiating the post of Head of Education and Lifelong Learning at The Scottish Arts Council, which she held for 10 years. Currently she is a freelance arts education consultant working in a variety of areas including project management, consultancy and training.
Mike Ewart
Michael Ewart was appointed Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service from April 2007. Aged 54, Mike was educated at Cambridge and YorkUniversities before joining the Scottish Office in 1977. He began his career in the Education Department, then worked on Criminal Justice Policy and Roads & Transport, following which he was Assistant Private Secretary to the then Secretary of State for Scotland, George Younger. He held the Civil Service Fellowship in Politics at GlasgowUniversity in 1982/83. Mike went on to work in the Scottish Office Health Department before moving to Scottish Courts Administration. When the Scottish Court Service secured Agency status in 1994, he took up the first Chief Executive post in the new body. Following devolution in 1999, Mike was made Head of Schools Group in the Scottish Executive Education Department and then became Head of the Education Department in March 2002.
Ken Marchant
Ken Marchant has had an extensive career in IT Development and Solutions Delivery and is currently Customer Services Director for Maxima Information Group. A life long dance enthusiast, he has been an enthusiastic supporter of Scottish Ballet since his move to Scotland over a decade ago. Ken also serves as a Trustee on the Dancers’ Career Development Trust, an independent organisation that is significantly funded by Scottish Ballet and other UK Dance Companies, providing guidance and assistance to qualifying dancers as they develop their post-performance careers.
Dr Vicki Nash
Dr Vicki Nash is Director of Ofcom (the Office of Communications) Scotland, having previously been Chief Executive of East Dunbartonshire Council. She has spent 23 years working in the public sector, in central and local government and non-departmental public bodies. Vicki is also a board member of NHSForthValley.
Catriona Rayner
Catriona Rayner is Finance Director of Dolland & Aitcheson Ltd. Before this she worked for Marks & Spencer Plc where she undertook a number of senior finance roles, including International Finance Director. She is also a director of Scottish Opera.
Professor Steven Spier
Professor Steven Spier is President (vice chancellor) of the new HafenCityUniversity in Hamburg, a specialised university of the built environment and urban development. Before taking up this post in February 2006 he was professor of architecture and head of the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, where he is now a visiting professor. He is also a board member of Architecture and Design Scotland (A&DS) and an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland (RIAS). He is an acknowledged expert on spatial and collaborative issues in ballet and in the choreography of William Forsythe. He also researches contemporary European architecture and the city. He has a BA in philosophy from HaverfordCollege and a Master of Architecture from SCI-Arc in Los Angeles.
Cindy Sughrue PhD FRSA
Cindy Sughrue is Chief Executive/Executive Producer of Scottish Ballet. She has worked at senior level within the cultural sector in the UK since 1990, with extensive knowledge of dance, including an early career as a dancer. Cindy was born in Boston, USA, and received a first class honours degree from BostonUniversity before coming to the UK in 1985 as a Marshall Scholar to undertake her PhD in Dance. Previous posts include General Manager of Dance Base, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance, and Head of Dance at the Scottish Arts Council. Cindy joined the Board of Scottish Ballet in March 2006 and also sits on the Board of New Moves International.
James Taylor, OBE
After a successful career in the Royal Navy, nearly all of it in the Submarine Service, James Taylor served as Chief Executive of the Northern Lighthouse Board until 2006. James is also Chairman of the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, a Board member of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency and of a number of other Scottish Companies. A Russian Interpreter and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, he is also a Nautical Assessor to the Court of Session and a High Constable of the Port of Leith.