Tom Whiteside

Group Head of Sponsorship
Aviva

Tom is currently Group Head of Sponsorship at Aviva, where he has developed the new venue-led group sponsorship strategy, which includes Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Manchester’s landmark arts, culture and music venue, Aviva Studios and the forthcoming Aviva Arena in Bristol. He joined Aviva in 2022 from Toyota GB, where he oversaw three Olympic and Paralympic Games. Prior to this, Tom worked at Sports Marketing Agency Synergy as Consultancy lead for brands including Martini, BMW and RBS.

Fran Sanderson

CEO
Figurative

Prior to launching Figurative in September 2024 - a new, independent not-for-profit supporting impact, investment and innovation in the cultural and creative sector - Fran spent nine years at Nesta, overseeing the development of Arts & Culture Finance, which manages over £30m of impact capital. She also led on various innovation projects in the cultural and creative sector, including the RSC’s Dream; Amplified, a grant programme helping cultural and creative organisations use digital ideas to generate social impact; a Creative Immersive Mental Health fellowship programme with StoryFutures; and Alternarratives. In partnership with international leaders at Upstart Co-Lab in New York and Fundacion Compromiso in Buenos Aires, Fran spearheaded the launch of Creativity, Culture & Capital in early 2021, an advocacy platform showcasing the power of arts and creativity to effect positive social change across the globe, and the innovative ways people structure finance to achieve this.

Fran started her career at JPMorgan, before spending time travelling in a campervan and living off grid in southern Portugal with her young family.

She has worked in impact investment since joining Big Society Capital in 2012, and has a lifelong passion for the arts. Fran is Chair of the UK Social Investment Forum, sits on the Cultural Impact Development Fund Investment Committee, the Board of UnLtd Impact Ventures, the Research Advisory Group for National Theatre and the Development Advisory Group for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Professor Christopher Smith, FSAS, FRHistS, FSA, FRSA, MAE, FRSE

Executive Chair
AHRC + UKRI International  + Creative Industries Sector Champion

Christopher was previously Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews where he was also Dean of Arts (2002 to 2006), Provost of St Leonard’s College and Dean of Graduate Studies (2006 to 2009), and Proctor and Vice-Principal (2007 to 2009), before being seconded as Director of the British School at Rome, the UK’s leading humanities and creative arts research institute overseas, from 2009 to 2017.

From 2017 to 2020 he has held a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship on ‘The Roman kings: a study in power’ and held visiting positions in Erfurt, Princeton, Otago, Pavia, Milan, Siena, Aarhus and Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Professor Smith’s research explores constitutionalism and state formation, with particular emphasis on the development of Rome as a political and social community and how this was represented in ancient historical writing and subsequent political thought.

He is the author or editor of over 20 books and in 2017 was awarded the prestigious Premio ‘Cultori di Roma’. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Academia Europaea.

Claudio Giambrone

Head of Marketing and Cultural Programming
Quintain

Claudio has been Head of Marketing and Cultural Programming at Wembley Park since 2017, where he takes strategic and operational responsibility for marketing, consumer communications and cultural placemaking. He has overseen the transformation of Wembley Park from an event-day only destination into a thriving mixed-use neighbourhood with culture at its core. His work includes widely recognised cultural moments such as the Pantone x Wembley Park Yellow 25 Steps for Coldplay and seasonal programmes that have positioned Wembley Park as one of London’s fastest-growing creative districts.

Claudio managed Quintain's principal sponsorship of Brent London Borough of Culture 2020 and launched anchor venues including BOXPARK Wembley, Punchdrunk Enrichment, Second Floor Studios & Arts, Fresh Arts and the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra soon joining as a cultural resident.

Previously, he led the South Bank Marketing Group, a placemaking consortium of 20 arts and leisure venues in London’s South Bank district including the National Theatre, BFI, Southbank Centre and Merlin Entertainments. He oversaw marketing for the reopening of Jubilee Gardens for Queen Elizabeth II and South Bank’s involvement in London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks and the first Lumiere London Lights Festival.

Claudio holds an MA in Destination Management from the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has completed executive training in Disruptive Marketing at the University of Oxford.

Adam Scott

Co-Founder
The Experience Foundation

Adam Scott is the leading global advocate for experience- led transformation across cities, campuses, workplaces, and cultural destinations. For over two decades, he has redefined how environments shape human behaviour - empowering governments, developers, brands, and institutions to design not just for function, but for feeling. His work inspires people to think differently, act bravely, and connect more deeply.

He is co- founder of the Experience Foundation, a global network advancing experience-led strategy, and the founding creative force behind FreeState, the original Experience Masterplanners. A trusted partner to future- focused leaders, Adam helps shape environments and systems ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow - whether reimagining an airport or a university, a workplace or a city, a precinct or an entire national strategy.

At the highest levels of influence, Adam helps organisations move beyond traditional silos of planning, architecture, and policy - unlocking the full potential of experience as infrastructure. Guided by his mantra - Plan long term. Start now. Continually improve. - he combines storytelling, systems thinking, and spatial design to help visionaries create places that strengthen civic identity, nurture belonging, and generate long- term social and economic value.