BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Chair: Fern Potter

Fern joined Viviana Durante Company’s Board in 2017 and became Chair in 2018. Fern’s expertise is in the area of fundraising and development, having raised millions for various arts organisations, primarily dance over more than 20 years. She was most recently Director of Development for Birmingham Royal Ballet, and continues her passion to share her expertise with others through her freelance training and development work. She currently mentors for the Institute of Fundraisers’ RAISE programme and Mercury Creatives, is a regular trainer for Arts Funding and Philanthropy programme, and lecturer in fundraising for City, University of London’s MA Culture, Policy, Management. She is also Chair of Candoco Dance Company and sits on the Commissioning Group for Creative Estuary (funded by DCMS). Fern holds a MA in Arts Management from City University, London and is a full member of the Institute of Fundraisers.

Katie Boysen

Katie has worked in the legal industry for nearly 30 years with experience of a wide range of legal and commercial issues from mergers and acquisitions to pensions law.   She has a degree in biological sciences from Oxford University.

Nigel Cliff

Nigel is the co-founder and General Manager of Viviana Durante Company and is also a producer for the Company. An author, screenwriter and educator, he has been a Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford and the Royal Literary Fund. As a journalist, he has been a theatre and film critic for The Times, a correspondent for The Economist and columnist for Tencent Dajia, and a book reviewer for The New York Times. He holds an MA and DLitt in English from Oxford University.

Viviana Durante

Viviana is the Company's co-founder and Artistic Director.

Jorge Huitron

Jorge is Global Head of Private Equity Funds, HSBC. He has a BA in Economics from Harvard University.

Sue Lynas

Sue Lynas is a former Director of Marketing and Communications at the BBC. After a long career In  broadcasting, she worked as a consultant in the arts and education.  A lover of ballet and dance, she led  marketing and communications for English National Ballet when Tamara Rojo became Artistic Director and has advised various other dance professionals. She was deputy chair of Dance UK  and a founder trustee of Seeta Patel Dance.

Amanda Scott

As a Managing Director at Willis Towers Watson, Amanda leads a team of over 300 UK experts across Talent & Rewards, Future of Work, the impact of AI and Digital, and organisational transformation. Additionally as CEO & Founder of Mike’s Mates, Amanda fights to improve mental health in the UK through leveraging technology and social media. Amanda is a recipient of the 50 Leading Light award for leadership and kindness. She is a STEM Ambassador, a UK Game Changer, member of Women on Boards and volunteer at Inspiring for the Future. She graduated with an MBA from The Smith School of Business. There she was the 2007 President and 2006 VP of Finance of the Board of Directors for the Part-time MBA Association. She holds a BA in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University.