Dame Joan Stringer retired as the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University in 2013, after more than 10 years in post. In 2001, Dame Joan was awarded a CBE for Services to Higher Education and she was made a DBE in 2009 for Services to Local and National Higher Education. She has held a number of senior public appointments with esteemed organisations such as the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland, Grampian Health Board, and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. She currently chairs Capital Theatres, and is a Council member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2011, she was named Public Sector Leader of the Year at the Scottish Leadership Awards.

Lesley Drummond has a career that includes qualifying as a chartered accountant and a chartered marketer. She has worked across a wide range of industries and sectors including education, consumer goods, drinks, retail, financial services and investment trusts.  Currently, she owns and manages a ladies’ boutique – both a bricks and mortar and an online store.  

Tony Mills is the Artistic Director of Dance Base and hails from the Orkney Isles. Since giving up veterinary surgery whites for tights, he has worked with Freshmess Dance Company, State of Emergency, Off Kilter, Iron Oxide, Curious Seed, David Hughes Dance Productions, All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre, Derevo, and the international street dance show, Blaze. Tony continually creates new work for Room 2 Manoeuvre, most recently the international co-production, Without A Hitch, with Jojo Dance Centre (Finland), Dance Base, and The Brunton.

Neil Patey qualified as a Chartered Accountant with ICAS and spent the majority of his 37-year career working in a transaction advisory role with Big 4 firm EY, advising clients across a broad range of sectors, both within the UK and internationally.  As a partner, Neil held various leadership roles within EY in the UK. Prior to retiring from the partnership at EY in 2022, Neil held the position of Chief Development Officer for EY’s EMIEA area as a member of the Global Corporate Development team. 

James Saville has 35 years of experience in HR, with over 20 years at Director level. He has worked in food manufacturing, and financial services, and ran his own strategic HR consultancy. He led the HR, Group Operations and IT teams in the Civil Service Department for International Development. He joined the University of Edinburgh as Director of HR in 2018. He won the 2014 Civil Service Champion of Disability Award for his work on ending mental health stigma. His team was the 2015 Scottish HR Network Team of the Year for its work on the Ebola crisis. 

James is an experienced Non-Executive Director. He also sits on the People Committee of the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services and served on the boards of the drugs charity Crew2000, the Scottish Book Trust, and the Scottish Senior HR Leadership Group.  

James is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 

Martin Reynolds is the Executive Director of the Commonwealth Games Federation, the global organisation responsible for overseeing the delivery of the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Youth Games and associated legacy and sport for development projects.  He has held senior marketing roles across the Edinburgh Festivals, the National Galleries of Scotland, Sydney Opera House and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Until recently, he was also the lead consultant for Edinburgh Tourism Action Group’s China Ready initiative. His first job was as a Front of House usher at the King’s Theatre whilst studying at Edinburgh University and he is delighted to be able to now contribute to Capital Theatres as a Trustee. 

Fin Ross Russell is the co-founder of Island Life Productions, an Edinburgh-based Community Interest Company working with emerging artists and members of the public to create high-quality art. Since founding the company, he completed his BA in Drama, Applied Theatre & Education from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Following a year working at Chichester Festival Theatre as the theatre’s Education Assistant, Fin moved up to Edinburgh where alongside running the company, he has worked as a freelance facilitator for various companies including Toonspeak, the Brunton Theatre, Ignite Theatre, Scottish Youth Theatre, Edinburgh City Council, Strange Town, Imaginate, LYRA, PACE Theatre Company, Creative Spark and Lyceum Youth Theatre. He has also worked for WHALE Arts as their Community Development Lead. Fin currently works for Impact Arts as their Development Coordinator.

Karyn was a partner and Head of Construction at Anderson Strathern LLp, and a Law Society accredited construction law specialist. Having retired from the law, Karyn now focuses her time on the arts, chairing the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, being a Trustee of Provost James Rae Trust, scriptwriting , song writing and stage play writing. She is a published author and a Bollywood filmmaker whose work has been shown at Cannes Film Festival.

Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan is currently the SNP Spokesperson on Planning as well as the SNP Baillie for the City of Edinburgh. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, and several board memberships across Edinburgh’s cultural organisations including the Edinburgh Science Festival, Imaginate, the Children’s Festival, along with several other community and anti-racism organisations.  

Gillian Harkness-McKinlay is a solicitor specialising in working with public sector and charity clients.  She has considerable experience of supporting charities in the arts sector and, in addition to her legal expertise, has a background in singing, dance and drama. Gillian is a member of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society board and sits on the Charity Law Subcommittee of the Law Society of Scotland and the Charity Panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland. 

Michael Harrison is a renowned West End producer known for his work on award-winning musicals throughout the UK and across the world. 

Michael’s West End musicals include Titanique (Criterion), Hello, Dolly! (The London Palladium), The Little Big Things (@sohoplace), Crazy For You (Gillian Lynne), The Wizard of Oz (The London Palladium and Gillian Lynne), Oklahoma! (Wyndham’s), The Drifters Girl (Garrick), two seasons of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (The London Palladium), Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (Garrick), Annie (Piccadilly), Gypsy (Savoy), The Bodyguard (Adelphi and Dominion), Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Jack and the Beanstalk, Pantoland at The Palladium, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White, Dick Whittington and Cinderella (The London Palladium). 

In 2022, with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael formed Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals to produce both new musicals and revivals of Andrew’s existing work. Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals productions include: Starlight Express (Troubadour), Sunset Boulevard (Savoy and St James, Broadway) starring Nicole Scherzinger, Evita (The London Palladium, Summer 2025). 

With Cameron Mackintosh, he produced the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Barnum, and this year will launch a major revival of the legendary musical Miss Saigon. 

He is Chief Executive of Crossroads Pantomimes, responsible for many of the major number one pantomimes across the UK.  

Michael was awarded a companionship to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts by Sir Paul McCartney and the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in recognition of his services to theatre in the region. 

Cllr Margaret Graham has served as an Edinburgh City Centre Councillor since her election in May 2022. She is a member of both the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Parties.  Currently, Margaret holds the position of Convener for Culture and Communities within the Labour administration and also serves as the party’s spokesperson on the Licencing and Regulatory Committee.

Before entering local government, Margaret worked in the third sector as a community childcare manager. A long-standing advocate for children’s play, she is passionate about the development of Edinburgh’s play strategy and looks forward to its continued evolution.

Margaret brings extensive experience in community engagement and has been actively involved in the operation of community centres across the city. Her commitment to grassroots sport is shaped by years of volunteering with her son’s youth football teams.

A lifelong resident of Edinburgh, Margaret enjoys spending her free time walking her chocolate labrador, Daisy, and supporting Hibernian Football Club.