Our Trustees

Henry is an architect based in London. His expertise lies in the design of large-scale commercial and cultural buildings. Throughout his career, he has led projects across the UK, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Henry runs a design magazine and has been involved in publishing and media for over 8 years, with hands-on experience working with art and academic institutions. Although based in London, Henry constantly travels to different regions of the world for his practice.

In 2022 Julian launched a new production company Green Room Ents with producer Nica Burns, where he is consulting for luxury cruise line Cunard on the future strategy of their entertainment and production shows on board their fleet of ships.  For 10 years prior to this, Julian was the  Chief Executive of the Society of London Theatre and Theatrical Management Association and acted  as the Executive Producer of the Olivier Awards, the UK’s main annual theatre awards ceremony.

Joanne is a Programme Leader at the Centre for Educational Leadership at University College London Institute of Education. Her role entails developing and curating content for Specialist National Professional Qualifications and providing operational support for the implementation of programmes both Nationally and Internationally. Prior to joining the Centre for Educational Leadership team at UCL, Joanne was one of the executive directors of Fulcrum Learning Ltd, a company that had as its core purpose connecting schools, communities and resources to support school leaders in ensuring opportunities for all. Joanne has over 30 years experience in education as a senior leader, facilitator, coach and teaching school director for leading networks and alliances in all phases and really enjoys building effective relationships and helping professionals to achieve excellent outcomes.

Judy Cligman is a former director at the Heritage Lottery Fund, overseeing a rich portfolio of heritage projects across the whole of the UK.  An architectural historian, graduating from UCL and the Courtauld Institute of Art, she worked with English Heritage and Essex County Council, and has over 30 years experience in heritage conservation and funding. She is a Trustee of Historic Buildings and Places, and Committee Member of Great Dixter, and lives locally in a house dating back to the C17. She is a huge enthusiast for the De la Warr Pavilion, and serves on the Capital Appeals Committee.

Ainsley Gill is a director of McPhersons Chartered Accountants, a leading, long established local business. He has many years of experience in working with owner-managed businesses of different sizes and in a wide range of sectors including the leisure, tourism and hospitality. He is past President of Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism,  past chairman of Battle Round Table, has been a local school governor and sits on the local panel for Let’s do Business Finance. He is delighted to be part of the team of Trustees at the De La Warr Pavilion.

Lucy is Executive Technical Manager at Lendlease with a wide remit across Europe with projects ranging in value from £20million up to £1.6billion; 10,00homes at Elephant Park to Google’s London HQ. She is an architect by background and spent 10 years of her career leading the redevelopment of BBC Broadcasting House. She is a practising artist focused on capturing the energy and immediacy of the world through abstraction from her studio in Kent.

Yasufumi Nakamori, PhD is the Senior Curator of International Art (Photography) at TATE. He leads the acquisitions, collection displays, and exhibitions of photography at Tate Modern, and served on the Tate Race Equality Task Force from 2020 to 2022. Nakamori previously headed the department of photography and new media at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, served as curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and taught the history of modern art and architecture at Rice University. Nakamori has written and lectured widely on the transnational and intermedia impact of Japanese architecture. Before his career in art history, he practiced corporate law in New York City and Tokyo.

Sue Prochak is the longest serving Councillor on Rother District Council standing as a Liberal Democrat and has held many different positions. She is now Deputy Leader. Before retiring Sue worked all over the world training English language teachers. She also trained test writers and wrote test material for international examination boards.

She has always been a passionate supporter of the De La Warr and was a Councillor when there was the first major investment in 2005. She is proud of voting against the ruling group proposing to sell the De La Warr to Weatherspoons for £1. A proposal which was finally lost, by the way, by one vote.

Daphne is a business and stakeholder engagement professional with a wealth of experience and insight in leading client feedback, building relationships and networking. Her consultancy, Thissen Consulting, helps clients improve their relationships with current and prospective clients, to help make organisations be more successful and to reach their full potential.

Originally from the Netherlands and trained as an architectural historian, Daphne moved to the UK to work for English Heritage. Following a role as Development Director at The Employment Policy Institute, she spent over ten years at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UK, researching, reporting and advising on public and cultural diplomacy as well as bilateral public policies for cultural collaborations.

An Independent Rother District Councillor for Sackville Ward and Lead member for Communities, Tourism and Culture, elected in 2019.

Over 40 years civil service, business to business and hospitality sector experience both in management and ownership.  Since retiring to Bexhill in 2008, I have been a volunteer business mentor for the long term unemployed, a volunteer and Trustee of the Association of Carer and an approved Princes Trust mentor.

Steve Williams was recently Chief Legal Officer and Group Secretary of Unilever, Steve remains Special Counsel. He is Senior Independent Director of Whitbread PLC, and a Director of Croda International PLC. He is also currently interim Chairman of Arts & Business, has overseen the redevelopment of Unilever House, the development of the Unilever art collection and the major sponsorship of Tate Modern. Steve lives in London.

Professor Lawrence Zeegen’s  professional design / illustration clients include major international newspapers, magazines, book publishers, design and advertising agencies spanning over 1000 commissions across 25 years. He is Vice President of ico-D, the International Council for Design Associations and is a Trustee of D&AD, as well as Education Advisor to the Design Council’s Sounding Board, a member of the Exhibition Committee at the House of Illustration and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Zeegen is author of six published books on contemporary illustration including Ladybird by Design and was co-curator of Ladybird by Design at the De La Warr Pavilion in 2015.