Adam Wiles (Chair)
Gascoyne Holdings
Adam is Chair of Heart of London Business Alliance.
Gascoyne own a number of properties within the Heart of London area and are pleased to be involved with Heart of London Business Alliance. Adam’s vast local knowledge and extensive experience as Estate Manager has meant he has proven to be an invaluable asset to our organisation.
Ray Newton
Edwardian Group
Ray is Vice Chair of Heart of London Business Alliance.
He is adviser to the Chairman for Edwardian Hotels (comprising Radisson Blu and May Fair brands) and currently developing a new 380 room lifestyle hotel and cinema complex in Leicester Square. Ray is also very active with London First, London & Partners and Visit Britain. Ray’s full time career was spent with HSBC and he is Chairman of their Pensioners Association with 42,000 members.
Jo Prosser
Royal Academy of Arts
As Director of Audience and Experience for the Royal Academy of Arts, Jo Prosser leads the RA’s work on its audience proposition, strategy, delivery and revenue. Her remit incorporates marketing, digital, CRM and insight, visitor experience retail, licensing, hospitality, box office and welcome.
Deepan Khiroya
LandSec
Deepan has been a director at LandSec since 2008 and has worked across the retail, leisure and office portfolios in both an asset management and investment capacity. Having qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1994, Deepan has worked in an agency environment, for a fund and for a niche investment house, representing high net worth overseas investors.
Claude Abi-Gerges
Capital Arches Group
Claude Abi-Gerges is a McDonald’s franchisee and the Managing Director of Capital Arches Group Ltd.
He brings to the board a wealth of knowledge acquired through his 22 years of experience in the hospitality and services sector. Claude owned a group of restaurants in Cambridgeshire and worked as a Director of Franchising at McDonald’s UK, as well as a member of the Company’s Promotion Team and the Supply Chain Tactic Board; he currently sits on the Apprenticeships Steering Group.
Surinder Simmons
Hearst UK
Surinder Simmons was appointed Chief People Officer at Hearst UK in 2015 and became Chief People Officer, Hearst Europe in 2020.
Surinder and her team have been instrumental in transforming the culture of the business, creating an environment where people can get more out of life. Having adopted the mantra of Learn Well, Work Well, Live Well she has championed employee engagement at every level, from launching learning academies, introducing a new approach to reward and wellbeing and driving the diversity and inclusion agenda.
Surinder has spent more than two decades in Human Resources, with a focus on media and telecommunications. She has held senior HR roles at Sony Ericsson, Virgin Media and Telewest/ntl.
William Village
Delfont Mackintosh Theatres
William Village is Chief Executive of Delfont Mackintosh Theatres which owns and operates eight of the most prestigious theatres in London’s West End: the Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, Novello, Gielgud, Sondheim, Noël Coward, Wyndham’s and Victoria Palace. Previously, William was Executive Director at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, producing 19 seasons at the 1,250-seat venue, including 45 plays, 2 operas and 20 musicals. Of these, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hello, Dolly!, Into the Woods and Crazy for You each won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival with Jesus Christ Superstar and Hello, Dolly! also winning the London Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. Alongside his role at Regent’s Park, as an independent theatre producer and general manager, credits included James Graham’s Quiz (original commission, Chichester Festival Theatre, Noel Coward Theatre, nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy) and the West End transfer of Crazy for You (Novello Theatre). William was an Executive Producer of the BAFTA nominated ITV/AMC three-part drama Quiz, based on the stage play, starring Michael Sheen, Matthew Macfadyen and Sian Clifford.
Tessa Street
Odeon Cinemas
Tessa Street is General Manager of the two Odeon Cinemas in Leicester Square, both of which host a number of World, Royal and Gala Premieres every year. As an employer of the major film exhibitor in the UK, Tessa brings extensive experience of the entertainment sector to the Board.
John James
Soho Estates
John is a Director of Soho Estates, who are key long term investors in the area. They understand the importance and value of working with local communities, Councils and associations to promote and improve local neighbourhood environments.
Andrew Love
The Ritz London
Andrew Love is currently Senior Advisor to The Ritz Hotel London. He initially joined The Ritz Club in 1998 and the Hotel in 2004 when he became Deputy Chairman and subsequently Chairman, resigning from that role in 2020. Throughout his career, he has been heavily involved in the Leisure and Hospitality industry. He has held several positions on the main board of leading groups, including Ladbroke Plc, City Clubs Limited, Leisure Investments Plc, Metropole Hotels & Casinos, Suits Ltd, Coral Casinos [UK] Ltd, and Pleasurama Ltd. He was also a Director of Scottish & Universal Investments, the United Kingdom trading subsidiary of Lonrho Plc. Holding the position of Managing Director of Dutton-Forshaw Motor Group, the second largest motor group in England. Amongst Andrew’s further activities, he is also Chairman of St James’s Conservation Trust, a Council member of the Jermyn Street Association, and Director of the Heart of London Business Alliance. He was a Joint Master of The Aldenham Harriers and Master of his Livery Company, The Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers. He is a widower and has two children, Alexandra and Anthony, and lives in Hertfordshire, England.
Rob Russell-Smith
Great Portland Estates
Rob Russell-Smith is Investment Manager at Great Portland Estates who own significant property holdings in the Piccadilly and the St. James’s area.
His role includes strategic planning of the estate with particular focus on business planning and total returns of each asset.
Rob has previously sat on the committee for the Jermyn Street Association.
Julian Shaw
BAFTA
Julian has 25 years’ experience in hospitality, incorporating all aspects of the service industry (from waiter to multi-site operations director). Prior to joining BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in 2014 he spent over a decade working on the creation of numerous award-winning food and beverage concepts in the London and the rest of the UK, Europe, US and Asia.
Tom Athron
Fortnum & Mason
Tom Athron has been CEO at Fortnum and Mason since December 2020. He joined Fortnum’s from Matchesfashion, the online luxury fashion retailer where he was Chief Operating Officer. Prior to this, Tom spent 13 years at the John Lewis Partnership where he held several senior roles including Buying Director for Electricals and Technology at John Lewis, and was Chief Financial Officer at the Partnership’s supermarket arm, Waitrose. He was appointed to the main board of the John Lewis Partnership Plc in 2015 as Group Development Director, where he founded the Partnership’s innovation unit, JLP Ventures. He served for 6 years as a trustee on the board of the JLP Pension scheme.
Tom is also a Non- Executive Director at Swedish retailer Åhlèns AB. He started his career in investment banking and strategy consulting.
James Cooksey
Old Park Lane Management
James joined Old Park Lane Management in August 2021 as their new Chief Executive.
Prior to this James spent 12 years at The Crown Estate, latterly in the role of Managing Director of London, responsible for The Crown Estate’s holdings in Central London portfolio valued at around £8bn.
With over 25 years’ experience in real estate and fund management, James is a qualified Chartered Surveyor as well as having passed the full IMC.
James is a Board member of both the Westminster Property Association and HOLBA as well as a Trustee for the Creative Land Trust.
Simon Thomas
The Hippodrome Casino
Simon is on the strategy committee of NCIF, the main casino association. He has high-level involvement in Parliament, the Gaming Commission, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
He is currently chairman of Hippodrome Casino Limited, which is an extensive leisure-based casino complex at the Hippodrome in Leicester Square, He is a Director of a number of other companies, and is also a trustee of Gamcare, the UK’s main problem gambling charity.
Stuart Murphy
English National Opera
Stuart Murphy, English National Opera’s CEO, began his career in TV, starting as a teaboy at the BBC and going on to run TV channels – UK Play, BBC Choice and BBC 3, which he devised and launched in 2003, commissioning shows such as Gavin and Stacey, Little Britain and Torchwood. From 2009 he ran Sky1, then all Sky Entertainment channels and devised and launched Sky Atlantic . He joined ENO in 2018, immediately offered free tickets for all Under 18 year olds in the country, hired its first female Artistic Director, and proactively addressed what he described as a shameful lack of diversity in the industry, ensuring 20% of principal performers are now people of colour.
Simon Harding-Roots
The Crown Estate
Simon Harding-Roots is The Crown Estate’s Managing Director for London. In this role, he oversees a 10 million sq ft portfolio, including the Regent Street and St James’s Districts, valued at circa £8billion. Simon is leading on a strategic new vision for our London Estate that will enable us to evolve as we continue to support exciting and relevant neighbourhoods. The vision will lead our response to wider trends and seeks to deliver for all our communities, visitors and customers. Building on our core long term West End presence, we want to enhance and retain its profile at the heart of London as a Global City.
Most recently, Simon worked at Grosvenor Britain and Ireland as Board Director helping oversee overall strategy, and as Executive Director leading the Major Projects team delivering major real estate investment and regeneration projects across London worth around £2 billion. Prior to joining Grosvenor in 2015, Simon held a number of roles across London and the property sector, including as Chief Operations Officer at Imperial College London. He has also held senior roles within the international property market, including with Treasury Holdings Group in China, Arcapita Bank in Bahrain and Majid Al Futtaim in Dubai, UAE.
