TRUSTEES
Led by Chair Dame Deirdre Hutton, LYC’s board of trustees provide wide-ranging support for the organisation, proactively opening channels to new funders, ensuring good governance and helping to create an even richer experience for our members.
DAME DEIRDRE HUTTON
Chair of Trustees
Dame Deirdre Hutton was appointed Chair of Trustees in November 2019. On accepting the role, she commented: "I am delighted and honoured to Chair the Trustees of the London Youth Choirs, as I believe so strongly in the power of music and choirs to encourage and enable young people. I look forward to helping the LYC achieve its goals: growing in size, increasing in excellence and bringing to an ever more socially diverse range of children the joy and benefit that the LYC offers”.
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Dame Deirdre has considerable experience of corporate governance, risk-based regulation and consumer policy, having worked for over 10 major non-departmental public bodies. Her first appointment was in 1980 to the Arts Council of Scotland. She is currently Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, a position which she has held since 2009.
Dame Deirdre is Honorary Vice President of the Trading Standards Institute, sat as a non-executive on the Board of Thames Water Utilities Limited until end January 2018 and is Pro-Chancellor of Cranfield University. From September 2008 until November 2013 she sat on the Board of HM Treasury. Until June 2008, she was the Vice-Chair of the European Food Safety Authority Management Board and was Deputy Chair of the Financial Services Authority until December 2007. For five years, until 2005, she was Chair of the National Consumer Council, having formerly chaired the Scottish Consumer Council. Prior to her appointment at the Food Standards Agency, she was a member of the Better Regulation Task Force. Dame Deirdre is also a trained singer herself and regularly sings with local choirs.
LESLIE EAST
Trustee
Leslie East was, until December 2014, Chief Executive of ABRSM and previously held the post of Executive Director and Publishing Director for the exam board. Between 1987 and 1998 he was Director of Publishing of Novello and Co. Ltd and before that had been Director of Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
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He is a Pastmaster of The Musicians’ Company and acts as a consultant to two music publishers. He was appointed an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s honours list for services to musicians and music education.
Mike Georgiou
Trustee
Mike is a Chartered Accountant and CFO at Goldcrest Films, with expertise across film and television production, post-production, film finance, distribution and international sales, as well as real estate. He has overseen the investment and growth strategy of Goldcrest Films into the UK and Europe’s leading
post-production facility, with productions serviced by the company having gone on to win Academy Awards in both picture and sound related categories.
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Music played a significant role during Mike’s formative years. He self-taught piano, guitar and bass-guitar before discovering his voice. As a baritone, Mike trained vocally and was an active member of his school music department. From a teenager and well into his twenties, Mike was a member of various bands as well as a session musician and songwriter.
MICHAEL LlEWELYN-JONES
Trustee
Michael Llewelyn-Jones is a career banker, most recently a UK Vice Chairman at Citibank where he spent 25 years. In 2015-16 he was the Master of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, City livery company.
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He is a keen supporter of music and was previously Chairman of the Orchestra of St John’s.
KATE LUDLOW
Trustee
Kate is a director and consultant at executive search firm Saxton Bampfylde. She enjoys working with a range of clients across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, supporting organisations in the appointment of executive and non-executive leaders.
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Music has been a big part of Kate’s life: she grew up learning the violin and viola, and sang in her local church choir and numerous school ensembles. Kate went on to study music at Cambridge University where she held a choral scholarship at Trinity College Chapel Choir. Today Kate enjoys singing in a couple of amateur groups in London.
Lucy Noble
Trustee
Lucy is passionate about music education, conservation and sustainability. She is a Mum of three and a flute player in her spare time, having studied at the Royal College of Music, London.
In 2023 she joined the AEG Presents European Senior Leadership Team as Artistic Director, assuming responsibility for setting the artistic direction across the company’s live touring and events business. Lucy is set on driving AEG’s expansion into new areas and genres, ranging from classical and orchestral, through to theatrical and dance. This summer Lucy broke new ground by programming and producing the first ever orchestral concert to be presented at American Express presents BST Hyde Park, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and celebrated UK tenor Alfie Boe.
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Lucy was previously the Artistic Director of the Royal Albert Hall where she worked across the depth and breadth of the business during her remarkable tenure. Over her 20 years she revitalized the Hall's events with an eclectic range including circus shows, dance, sports, and the biggest rock and pop names across the industry, while still hosting the prestigious BBC Proms. She also oversaw an Education & Outreach program that worked with 200,000 participants to provide a large variety of activities annually for a range of communities both within London and across the UK.
Her achievements don’t end there. Not only has Lucy held the chair of the National Arenas Association, which represents 23 UK-based arenas, including The O2, Manchester AO Arena and Glasgow’s SEC, she also is a founding member of the LIVE group and sits on the board of Nordoff & Robbins, the UK’s largest Music Therapy charity. Last year, Lucy received the NAA Award for Outstanding Contribution to the National Arenas Association and the Live Music Industry in 2020 for her work during the pandemic. Additionally, she was recognised as one of Music Week's Top Most Influential Women in Music and an international honouree on VenuesNow's inaugural Impact International list for her significant contributions to the venue business.
DUNCAN WATTS
Trustee
Duncan grew up singing in choirs and held the title of Choirboy of the Year in 1990. In 1993, hormones cruelly robbed him of his voice leaving a fairly ropy tenor only just good enough to see him join the back row of Royal Holloway’s chapel choir during his degree there.
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George Wills
Trustee
George is a barrister specialising in Criminal and Regulatory work with a particular focus on young and vulnerable Defendants. Having been called to the Bar in 2013 he enjoys a practice across the South East and Midlands.
