Meet The Board

As the newly appointed Chair of Westminster Venue Collection, Paul has championed the venue assocation for the best part of almost 20 years of his hospitality industry experience.

Paul was Sales Manager at the Emirates Stadium for Arsenal FC for 3 years, securing corporate clients for Raymond Blanc’s Michelin-star Diamond Club fine dining, high-profile Olympic-themed celebrations, the first E-sports gaming shows, entertaining £3m World Heavyweight Title fights and selling out pitch events.

Returning to London, Paul was Director of Sales & Marketing for 6.5 years, responsible for a £5m turnover across 5 Cavendish Venues. There he recruited and developed sales teams (supportive of HBAA next generation initiatives), implemented key reporting structures, and introduced social enterprise partnerships (such as Foodinate), plus the Venue Booker agency wing.

As Chair of the London City Selection he drove 20% membership growth and achieved £100k business returns for all venue members from organising the most successful annual Familiarisation Trip alone, before handing over to a new Chair and Board in a strong, healthy position.

Previously as a Westminster Venue Collection Board member, he oversaw a rebrand and website development which drove a 30% increase in enquiry levels for all venues, offering strong case studies based on returns on investment. He instigated the incentive strategy as a member benefit to drive business through referrals. Now having achieved first-time returns for Broadway House at Make Venues, Paul has been welcomed back to the WVC Board and in September 2022, he was appointed Vice Chair. In October 2023 at the Westminster Venue Collection, Paul was voted by members to become the Chair of the venue collection.

Barbara started her career as PR and Sales Promotion Manager for the newly-founded Lipizzaner Museum in Vienna.

After graduating from her Masters, she moved to London to work for English Heritage as a Regional Hospitality Manager for the East of England. Staying in the area, she worked for Elior as a Sales and Marketing Manager at the Imperial War Museum Duxford near Cambridge to set up the newly opened Airspace Conference Centre, for which they won the regional business award.

Keen to return to London, she accepted a position at Peyton & Byrne as Head of Conferencing for The British Library and later the newly-opened Imperial War Museum London. She was delighted in 2015 to be appointed Head of Conference Services at The Royal Society, with the objective of developing the business to become the most desirable venue in the scientific world.

During her time on the Board, Barbara has been a key figure in the membership’s vision and growth, and in September 2022, she was appointed the collection’s new Chair. At the collection’s AGM in 2023, Barbara continued her position on the Board as Vice Chair.

For over 15 years, James has worked in several roles in the events industry as well as marketing and market research.

James’s first taste of events came as a Conference Producer for Haymarket, putting together events across a number of their leading brands including PR Week and Third Sector. Subsequently he managed UK Anti-Doping’s portfolio of educational events when he worked there as the Brand and Events Manager.

James is currently the Head of Marketing & Communications at the QEII Centre having joined in April 2019. Working across all aspect of the marketing mix, from social media and the website, tradeshows and exhibitions to corporate documents, blogs and updates, James has had considerable interaction with Westminster Venue Collection over the years, providing regular content for the newsletter and attending past showcases.

James joined the Board in February 2023, with a focus on identifying fresh marketing and communications opportunities and supporting existing activity.

After graduating from Manchester University with a degree in Events Management in 2010, Kay moved to London and worked in some of the most prestigious venues that the capital has to offer.

For the last 8 years, Kay has worked as the Commercial Sales Manager at the House of Commons, launching the Houses of Parliament to the commercial market as an event venue for both corporate and private events.

One of the first marketing initiatives Kay introduced was membership to the WVC. Through the membership, Kay was able to reflect a positive return on investment and has remained a member since January 2015.

Having been on the board of the Westminster Venue Collection as Finance Chair for over six years, Kay’s passion for the collaborative work of the collection continues to grow.

Marina, originally from Greece, has an extensive experience of 22 years in the events industry.

Her journey started as a tv and movie producer, followed by a fast transition into corporate events.

Marina has worked with the biggest DMC’S event agents and hotel chains as an Event and Sales Manager, delivering lots of corporate, incentive and charity events.

In 2016, Marina moved to London and for the last  3 ½ years has worked as Head of Business Development at Church House, a Grade II listed, multi-purpose event venue, located in the heart of Westminster.

You will most likely find her representing Church House & Westminster Venue Collection on networking events, showcases and exhibitions.

Marina is a huge supporter of networking, interaction and partnerships and sees the Westminster Venue Collection as a great opportunity for both event professionals and venues to share experiences and work closer together.

Jonathan has over 20 years of experience within the events industry. From hotels, to booking agents to independent venues, he’s been lucky enough to work his way through a range of roles that collectively make this industry a special and amazing one!

At the start of 2018, Jonathan became Business Development Manager at the beautiful, multi-award winning One Great George Street, The Institution of Civil Engineers located in Westminster.

You’ll always find Jonathan at an industry event! Anywhere there’s an opportunity to interact, share best practice with like-minded people and build long lasting relationships! In our ever-changing world, his mantra of “People buy from people” has never been more important and essential to the success and continued growth of his venue and of the Westminster Venue Collection.

Jonathan joined the Board of Directors in May 2022 and currently works on the Social Committee helping to engage all WVC members.

Rhiannon graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2008 and moved back to London to enjoy 15 years of fantastic experience in the events industry.

First employed as a Group Sales and Events Executive at Bateaux London, Rhiannon has moved through roles representing iconic, unique and heritage Central London venues. Whilst working with Sodexo Prestige, Rhiannon moved into a Business Development role, honing her skills in building relationships and retaining key clients across the business.

In January 2017, Rhiannon joined Central Hall Westminster as Business Development Manager; from there, she lent her experience to become a Business Development Manager and then Head of Sales for Central Hall Venues. Here, she headed up the commercial expansion to onboard two further venues in Edinburgh and York and build an attractive venue portfolio.

Since becoming Head of Sales for Central Hall Venues, she has contributed tremendously to the growth and quality of each venue. In selling three heritage venues, Rhiannon delivers experience in concerts, graduations, conference, meeting and unique events and hospitality, as well as knowledge across a variety of market sectors.

Rhiannon has continued to nurture a love for the events industry and whilst managing a sales team, can also be found at international exhibitions, UK regional events, showcases and busy client networking.

With her experience in collaboration, Rhiannon joined the Westminster Venue Collection Board in August 2022, working alongside board members to strengthen Westminster as the greatest events destination.