Meet our Advisory Board
Attenborough Arts Centre’s Advisory Board guides and champions our mission to make art accessible to all.
Kerry Law – Chair
Kerry Law is the University of Leicester’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Professional Services). She is a highly accomplished senior higher education professional and joined Leicester in January 2019 to help shape and deliver the future vision of the institution. Prior to joining the University of Leicester, Kerry was the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the University of Nottingham. She has a long career in marketing, of which she has spent over 20 years in Higher Education marketing leadership roles. Formerly she occupied senior roles at De Montfort University and FTSE100 company Pearson. She is passionate about all forms of media and the arts and has been a strong supporter of AAC since she joined the University. Kerry became Chair of the AAC Advisory Board in April 2020.
Jennifer Francis – Vice-Chair
Jennifer Francis is an experienced museum professional who has held several senior leadership roles at art, heritage and social history institutions across the world. Jennifer received her MA in Cultural Leadership and Policy Management at City University in London. Currently, she is the Museum Director at Turner’s House, leading on strategy, planning, marketing and fundraising. Most recently, Jennifer served as the Director of External Affairs at the Museum of London with responsibility for Fundraising, Digital Innovation and Marketing Communications, Brand and Tourism. Prior to that she worked as the Director of Marketing and Brand at Grounds For Sculpture New Jersey, and as Director, Marketing, Communication and Visitor Services at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, where she oversaw the successful launch of the museum, its media relations, global exposure, agency and community liaison nationally and internationally, audience growth, philanthropy and income generation.
Previously, she was the Executive Director, Marketing and Communications at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this role, Jennifer led the strategy and implementation of integrated marketing, communications, media relations, public relations, brand and corporate identity, digital marketing, creative, insights and audience development.
For a long period in her career, Jennifer worked as Head of Press and Marketing at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. She has also been consulting to a number of cultural organisations globally.
Jennifer has been an Adjunct Lecturer at Drexel University, and served on several Boards including ICOM-US and Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust.
Martyn Edwards (he/him/his)
Director of External Relations, University of Leicester
Prior to joining Leicester, Martyn has held a number of senior roles across different organisations within the HE sector, including the British Council, University of Nottingham and IDP Education. More recently he was Director of Marketing and Advancement at Loughborough University.
Martyn is a graduate of Cardiff University with a bachelor degree in English and a Masters in Strategic Marketing, he also holds a postgraduate qualification from the University of Manchester. He is a former Vice-Chair of the British Universities International Liaison Association (BUILA) and of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Higher Education Special Interest Group. Martyn is a former member of the IDP Connect International Advisory Panel and currently sits on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Global Advisory Committee, Keystone Education Group International Advisory Board, Duolingo English Test UK Advisory Group and the Council for Europe of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Emeka Ejiofor
The creator and owner of the revolutionary lifestyle brand True Colours Clothing, Emeka is a renowned poet/spoken word artist (True Colours is his stage name). He is the author of the thought-provoking, must-read poetry collection Outspoken by True Colours (available on Amazon). He is a Trustee at Derby College and a huge advocate for equality in society. He is currently in the process of publishing Outspoken vol.2 and a children’s book, with a big emphasis on embracing cultural and individual differences. Emeka is an ex-semi-professional footballer who has played for the likes of Burton Albion, and has over 20 years’ experience working with young people in the education sector. He now facilitates SYTC workshops all over the country and is gaining a powerful reputation for invoking positive change in the education system.
Tara Lopez – Advisory Board Safeguarding Lead
Tara Lopez is a Cultural Producer, Strategist and Manager, currently Director of Participation at Nottingham Playhouse. Since graduating from De Montfort University where she studied Dance, Tara has managed a wide range of projects and programmes across; cultural participation, carnival arts and festivals, with a particular focus on work with, by and for children and young people. A particular drive across all of her work has been addressing inequalities and under-representation within the Cultural Sector; most notably this has included leading mass participation dance project ‘Critical Mass’ which aimed to redefine inclusion in mega-events starting with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Sonal Joshi
Sonal Joshi is the Head of Finance for Internal Performance & Planning at the University of Leicester. She is a CIMA qualified management accountant with over 20 years’ experience in finance. Sonal has been at Leicester since 2009 and has worked in various roles within the Finance division. Prior to joining Leicester Sonal had worked for a number of universities, including Imperial, Warwick and Nottingham. Sonal became part of the Attenborough Arts Centre Advisory Board in December 2021.
Vishal Joshi
A Leicester-based multidisciplinary fine artist, Vishal Joshi was recently commissioned to create a unique piece of art commemorating the Centenary of the University of Leicester. He has also painted a large mural within the Leicester Museum and Gallery. His unique style of mark making has been widely appreciated and celebrated. In recent years, MMA fighter Conor McGregor and actor-comedian Asim Choudhry have acquired Vishal’s original pieces. Joshi’s ability to create public engagement artwork that is inspiring and beautiful is what he is becoming known for. A large outdoor mural inspired by the identity of Europeans after Brexit was commissioned by STAMP Festival in Hamburg. Through his art, Vishal is a socio-cultural activist driven to express his beliefs with painting and sculpture as his methods of expression.
Azam Mamujee
Azam has over 25 years of experience as a strategic adviser and is a key partner in M Cubed Chartered Accountants. As a successful member of the Leicester business community and many years supporting Leicester based arts organisations through Trustee positions, Azam brings commercial rigour as well as a passion for education and the arts to the Advisory Board.
Professor Ross Parry
Ross Parry is the founding Director of the University of Leicester’s interdisciplinary Institute for Digital Culture which works with the culture sector globally to support its adaption to a digital world.
With Art UK and the Collections Trust, Ross co-leads the national Museum Data Service (MDS) – a transformative service that aims to connect and share the tens of millions of object records across all 1,700 accredited UK museums. This landmark initiative is a joint initiative by and the Institute for Digital Culture, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator Program, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s National Infrastructure for Digital Innovation and Curation for Arts and Humanities (iDAH).
Ross is co-investigator on The Sensational Museum – a £1m interdisciplinary research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, that is designing and creating sensory interventions that are accessible to all – using what we know about disability to change how museums work for everyone. Ross leads the international research consortium (‘One by One‘ – building digitally confident museums) and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Currently Ross serves as a member of the UK Research and Industry’s Steering Committee of its £19m digital cultural heritage initiative ‘Towards a National Collection’. In 2018 Ross was listed in the Education Foundation’s ‘EdTech50’ – the fifty most influential people in the UK education and technology sectors.
Jackie Perkins
Jackie Perkins was born profoundly deaf and grew up in Leicester. An exposure to theatre from a young age developed a real love for the arts for Jackie and her family. Jackie went onto to study art and attended Wolverhampton University to complete a diploma in Digital Media and Visual Literacy – the importance of the visual in everyday life resonates with her own visual language of British Sign Language.
Jackie worked with deaf youth and deaf people with additional needs before becoming a teacher of BSL which she has done for many years. Jackie also teaches deaf awareness at organisations such as NHS. She loves teaching people the visual language of BSL and meeting many people from different backgrounds, believing in the importance of deaf and hearing worlds being more integrated so people can work and enjoy the arts together. Jackie’s passion is to improve accessibility to the arts, particularly for deaf people whose disability is often overlooked.
Ajay Reddy is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in engineering management at the University of Leicester. Hailing from Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Ajay was elected as Sports & Societies Officer 2024/25 at Leicester Students’ Union. As part of his role he serves on the Attenborough Arts Centre Advisory Board to represent student voice, and works closely with the student-led Creative Council to advise on Attenborough Arts Centre’s programmes.
Meera Saujani
Meera is a marketing and communications expert with multi-discipline international experience across the public and private sectors. She has spent the last decade as a diplomat in China, working for the British Council, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Meera has led on marketing and communications for a number of high-profile initiatives promoting the UK arts and creative industries, including the first ever bilateral UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange. She has spearheaded marketing partnerships with organisations including BAFTA, Secret Cinema and Aardman. Meera combines her passion for the arts and inclusivity, her local Leicester knowledge and her international expertise to bring a wealth of experience to Attenborough Arts Centre.