Our Team

Iain is a cultural and creative industries consultant with 30 years’ experience in private and public sectors. His work emphasises the leading role of culture, creative industries and digital innovation in the renewal and growth of places, spaces and economies across the world. 

He has delivered over 100 projects for clients including DCMS, WIPO, Innovate UK, Arts & Humanities Research Council, BFI, Digital Catapult, Ukie, Greater London Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, West Midlands Combined Authority, Liverpool City Council, London Legacy Development Corporation, University of the Arts London, University of Edinburgh and University of Salford.

From 2006-11, Iain was Sector Leader for Digital & Creative Industries for North West Regional Development Agency, where he wrote the regional sector strategy to support the £1 billion development of MediaCityUK in Salford. From 2012-14 he was project manager for DCMS’s £150m Superconnected Cities programme. 

He was a talent agent at William Morris Agency (UK) before going on to found a digital design agency, a digital media incubator, and Creative Lancashire, a development agency for the cultural and creative industries.

Iain is a Trustee of UP Projects (an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation) and a Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

Sara specialises in cultural, travel and tourism marketing, with over 20 years’ experience in marketing strategy, planning and delivery. She combines high level analytical, communication and organisational skills to create a multi-channel mix of communications that generates high returns on investment.

Sara was Digital Marketing Manager for Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008, and subsequently developed the ‘Visit Liverpool’ website and destination management strategy for the Liverpool City Region.

With The Fifth Sector, Sara has worked on cultural and visitor economy strategy for Liverpool. and led on identification of brand elements and hierarchy as part of the development of a place narrative for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

She has held senior strategic marketing positions in travel, professional services and retail organisations including Merseytravel, National Museums Liverpool, c2c Rail, Transport for Wales, Taylor Wessing LLP and Epsilon. 

Sara is a chartered marketeer (postgraduate Diploma Level 6 from Chartered Institute of Marketing) and has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the University of Derby.

An associate of The Fifth Sector since 2019, Lynne is a former BBC journalist and producer who now runs her own advisory consultancy, Morra Ltd, which develops and delivers strategic projects. Lynne is a strong leader with vast experience of managing large teams and an expert facilitator of consultation and qualitative research.

With more than 25 years of experience across a wide range of media, digital and creative environments, Lynne brings a wealth of business and management knowledge, including: training and skills development; management of high-level projects including international assignments; originator of strategies and concepts and turning them into real action; building collaborations between private and public partners.

As a constructive agitant and problem solver, Jon's passion for collaboration, brand and communications has made him an invaluable asset to businesses across a diverse range of industries.

A marketing and business strategist, founder of ethical AI consultancy Obsolete.com, brand consultancy What & Why, and recognised leader in delivering successful and award-winning digital experiences and strategy, Jon specialises in AI, business, brand & communications strategy and advisory, with over 25 years of experience pushing across digital frontiers.

Dominic Gray is a freelance consultant specialising in the cultural and creative industries. He has more than 25 years’ experience as a senior arts leader, including being Projects Director and Director of Education for Opera North. Between 2020 and 2023 Dominic was Chair of Culture Consortium Leeds, and represented Leeds on the Northern Culture Network. He has been a trustee for Leeds Conservatoire and Phoenix Dance Theatre, and sits on the advisory boards for the Cultural Institute at the University of Leeds, the national Civic University Network, and the Gulbenkian Inquiry into the Civic Role of Arts Organisations. He was a member of the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Advisory Board from 2013-2020, and served as an independent Impact Assessor on both the 2014 and 2021 REFs (Research Excellence Framework). Dominic’s recent clients include Opera North and the National Poetry Centre, as well as being on a number of selection panels for the Performing Rights Society Foundation for Music.

Steve has a 20+ year programme delivery career coupled with over ten years of intimate experience in digital development in Edinburgh as well as further afield in London, Bristol, Orkney and the Highlands. He has a deep understanding of both fund management for DCMS and programme delivery in receipt of funds from them having led the innovative projects of the £10M Edinburgh Super-Connected Cities programme 2012 – 14 working with all city stakeholders, including Festivals Edinburgh and key city venues. Subsequently, he has worked as Commercial Director DCMS with oversight of major projects and formulated and delivered the Scottish Government’s Public wireless programme (PWP). The PWP brought significant digital benefits to Edinburgh and wider Scotland. It included digital projects involving national partners including Creative Scotland, Visit Scotland and Event Scotland. It also included work with Edinburgh and the South East Scotland City Region teams including Borders, where Steve had previously led the South of Scotland’s Economic Competitiveness Strategy with its focus on the use of European and UK funding in the development of key cultural and natural resources.

Additionally, Steve is a professionally trained project evaluator and extensively experienced PPM, Green and Magenta Book practitioner. He holds a Masters in Public Policy from Kings College London. goes here