Our Board of Trustees

Steve is an experienced international CEO, Chair and Non-Exec Director, having held senior roles in some of the world’s best-known companies including Diageo and Coca Cola, before spending the last 16 years of his executive career as a CEO and Executive Committee member at Hiscox, one of the world’s leading specialist insurers. During this time, he lived and worked in Brazil, Ireland, Italy and the USA, and ran businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.

Steve’s association with contemporary art and architecture stretches back decades. He ran the original award-winning Becks Bier contemporary arts sponsorship programme in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was the design lead on the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, led the design and build of the striking Hiscox office in York, and between 2017 and 2021 was the Head of the Hiscox Art collection. Steve also developed contemporary art sponsorship programmes with – amongst others – the National Art Gallery, the Serpentine, the Whitechapel as well as The Hepworth Wakefield.

Steve is currently a Non-Exec Director of Helsinki based insurance company Sampo plc, and Chair of the Kenneth Armitage Foundation, which supports sculptural tradition by awarding financial assistance to artists of all ages.

Jon Horrocks is an artist manager, consultant, and curator.

Most recently, Jon was Director, Artist Liaison and Curatorial Strategy at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York (2018-2026). Working between exhibitions, sales, and artist management, he looked after artists and Estates including Caroline Walker, Lisa Brice, Deborah Roberts, Denzil Forrester, Huguette Caland, Holly Hendry, Clare Woods, and Sarah Ball.

In recent years, he has facilitated institutional sales to museums including Tate; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Art; MFA Houston; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Museum of Modern Art Warsaw; and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Solo exhibitions Jon has secured for his artists include those at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, London; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah; Holburne Museum, Bath; Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; ICA Miami, Miami; Bluecoat, Liverpool; and The FLAG Art Foundation, New York.

Prior to working at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Jon acquired professional experience from working within both public and private institutions in the UK including Christie’s, The British Museum, Haunch of Venison, Mead Gallery, and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.

He has a BA in History of Art (First Class) from the University of Warwick and a MA in History of Art (Distinction) from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

Adam Jomeen is a leading art lawyer and the founder of Art Law Studio, the specialist London law firm advising artists, advisors, collectors and dealers on copyright, deals, disputes and other art-related matters.

Prior to founding Art Law Studio, Adam trained and qualified as a solicitor in 2007 with Travers Smith where he spent the first four years of his career, before joining Clyde & Co based in Brazil where he worked on complex international disputes for seven years.  He speaks fluent Portuguese and has a working knowledge of Spanish, French and Italian.

Originally from West Yorkshire, Adam grew up in Bradford before moving to London for university.  He holds a BA in History from King’s College London, law conversion qualifications from The University of Law and an LLM in Art, Business & Law from Queen Mary University.  He speaks regularly on matters within his expertise and has done so recently for the Institute of Art & Law, the Slade School of Fine Art, the Sotheby’s Institute, and the BBC’s Fake or Fortune.  Away from art and law, Adam takes a keen interest in fitness, languages and Leeds United.  (Photo credit: Mercy Moktar)

Susan May is Global Artistic Director of White Cube, one of the world’s leading contemporary commercial art galleries, where she oversees an international programme across sites in London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Seoul.

Prior to this, she was Head of the Arts Council Collection, the largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art. From 1999-2004, she was a Curator at Tate Modern, where she curated Turbine Hall commissions, exhibitions and projects.

Susan began her career at the Hayward Gallery in the early 1990s, where she worked as Exhibitions Curator after graduating with a degree in Fine Art from Liverpool John Moores University. She was previously a Board member of Matt’s Gallery in London.

Elliot McDonald is Senior Vice President at Pace Gallery in London. Elliot also manages the careers of artists Nigel Cooke, Keith Coventry and many more. Before joining Pace, Elliot was curator for the Hiscox Collection from 2002-2010. He also guided Hiscox’s sponsorship of the arts. Previous to that, Elliot was a curator at the ICA in London.

Shaun is an experienced CFO and Non-Executive Director having worked in a wide range of companies in different sectors including Mars, Guinness, Diageo, CPP Group and Voyage Care. Shaun’s executive career included time spent living and working in the USA and Germany as well as across the UK. Shaun is currently Non-Executive Director of Spaghetti Bridge, a group of schools for children with special educational needs and a trustee of St Leonard’s Hospice in York.

Alice is Director of Development at Art Fund, the national charity connecting museums, people and art. She leads the organisation’s fundraising strategy, working with supporters across the UK and internationally to enable museums to enrich their collections and reach wider audiences.

Alice has led major campaigns to protect cultural heritage including the UK’s largest arts crowdfunding appeal, raising £3.5 million to save Prospect Cottage, the former home of artist and activist Derek Jarman. She has also played a key role in shaping national fundraising appeals to secure significant works of art for public view, from the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I to Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) by Barbara Hepworth.

Previously Alice worked in fundraising at the British Museum, supporting exhibitions, learning programmes and capital projects. She holds a degree in History from King’s College London and is a trustee of Hold The Drama, an education charity that uses music and performance to support emotional wellbeing and learning. 

Alex is a barrister who has lived and worked in Yorkshire for over 25 years.  He specialises in cases involving the welfare of children, in particular the circumstances which lead to children entering the care system or being adopted.  He represents a mix of parents, children and local authorities.  In the first ten years of his working life he also undertook criminal and employment law work, mostly in Leeds.  He  grew up in Edinburgh and has a degree in English from Oxford University.  Over the years he and his family have been frequent visitors to the Hepworth: sometimes for the art and sometimes for café and the playground.

Nikki Wright is a business leader with 20 years of experience in public-private partnerships, strategic fundraising and corporate philanthropy across the financial and creative sectors.

Nikki is the International Arts and Culture lead at Bank of America, based in London. She is responsible for shaping and executing the firm’s global arts strategy in EMEA, LATAM, APAC and Canada, working closely with cross-cultural leadership teams. Nikki is also responsible for embedding the arts programme within the community. Globally the bank supports over 1,000 cultural organisations through exhibition support, art conservation and education grants, thought leadership events as well as loans from the bank’s art collection.

Prior to her role at Bank of America Nikki led strategic partnerships teams within the publishing and creative sectors. She is passionate about the arts and their power to transform lives and was a Trustee of the rehabilitation charity and social enterprise Fine Cell Work for six years. She was born in Brussels, grew up in Paris, and has an MA from Oxford University in Modern Languages (First Class). She is a mother of two boys and lives in South East London.

Anna Valle is Founder and CEO of Seeds of Colour, a cruelty-free, organic and vegan makeup brand. During her career, Anna has driven high-growth brand strategies, comms, and digital marketing for a broad spectrum of lifestyle brands across wellness, health and beauty including ghd, Veet and Liz Earle. Anna is passionate about sustainability and brands with purpose. Anna is a trustee at Liverpool Biennial Board where she leads the diversity and inclusion working group. Channelling her passion for nature, health and beauty Anna has recently been appointed to the Board of the Chelsea Physic Garden. She is also President of the UK alumni Club of the IMD.