Governance

Arthur Bernstein

Arthur Bernstein has a background as a professional musician and holds degrees in Business (BS Management & Marketing), an MSc in Higher Education Leadership as well as a fellowship in Advance HE. His association with LIPA commenced in 1994 while directing a Music school he co-founded in Barcelona which collaborated with the institute on numerous foundational European-funded projects. Arthur joined LIPA as Head of Music in January 1996 going on to lecture across the Music and the Entertainment Management degrees. He was Director of Higher Education (Operations) from 2008-2011.  Since 2013 Arthur has worked for the European Commission’s Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and is currently Vice-Chair to the evaluation teams of the Creative Europe and Media programmes. 

Flo Clucas OBE, Cav OSI

Flo has been involved with LIPA since its earliest days and was Chair from 2000 until 2009. Flo left school at the age of 16 and became a dental nurse. She later trained as a teacher. She studied Drama at college and later studied for a degree in French. Drawn to the language by French chanson. She was a Liverpool City Councillor from 1986 to 2012 and was responsible for EU funding for Merseyside. She retired from Liverpool Council in 2012 after moving to Cheltenham, where she was elected to the Council in 2014.

Jim Dimmock

Jim qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1974 and is now a lifetime Fellow of the ICAEW. He Joined the London office of PKF (UK) LLP in 1976 and transferred to the Liverpool office in 1983 becoming an equity partner in 1985. Jim specialised in corporate finance and forensic work. He has acted as financial advisor to LIPA virtually from its inception and became a Member in 1998. He retired from PKF in 2007. He joined LIPA in 2010 as Head of Corporate and Financial Development and while he retired in 2016, he has continued to advise LIPA on financial matters. 

Mark Featherstone-Witty OBE

In the early 80s, after starting a variety of further education businesses, often with friends, he watched Alan Parker’s film ‘Fame’. This inspired him to form The Schools for Performing Arts Trust (SPA) with a host of Patrons, people he both admired and were long term survivors within the world of creative and performing arts. He wrote about what happened next in his book ‘Optimistic, Even Then’. He formed an alliance with Richard Branson (a SPA Patron) and became the Founder and Senior Educational Advisor for the BRIT School in Croydon.  

George Martin (another SPA Patron) introduced him to Paul McCartney, who was interested in Mark’s approach and wanted to start an institution with a similar ethos in Liverpool. Mark was the founding principal and chief executive of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) with Paul McCartney as Lead Patron, and went on to manage LIPA for over 30 years. 

Rupert Grey FRGS

Rupert was a senior partner in one of London's premier law firms, specialising in libel and acting for national papers, politicians, bankers, celebrities and explorers. 

He is an author and a professional photographer whose work, drawn from his journeys to some of the remotest places in the world, has been widely published and exhibited. A much-acclaimed film (Romantic Road) about one of them is on Netflix Europe. He serves on the board of a number of front-line charities in the arts, education, photography and is Chair of Nekton, a major marine research NGO. He was one of the founders of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in the late 1980s and was its General Counsel for 30 years.  

Dr Jo Moriarty

As a member of the Schools for Performing Arts Trust, Jo was involved in the setting up of the BRIT school and was a founding Member and Trustee for many years of LIPA HE. Her background is in secondary education, retiring in 2021 as a science teacher at St Paul’s, a top London independent girls’ school, where she was formerly Director of Careers and Higher Education. Jo was Chair of Governors of LIPA Sixth Form SAT, judged outstanding by Ofsted in 2019 and until recently (2025) chaired the Sixth Form Local Governing Body. 

Roger Morris

Roger attended secondary school in the building which is now occupied by LIPA, studied Modern History at Oxford University, and then travelled across the world while working for a major shipping company based in Liverpool. From his mid-20s onwards, he was also deeply involved in voluntary roles in Liverpool’s charitable, educational and arts sectors.  For 25 years Roger’s paid work was as the director of grant-making charities on Merseyside.  He has also been a trustee of various charities, both locally and nationally. Roger became involved in the planning for the project which became LIPA in the late 1980s. Subsequently he was a LIPA Council Member for many years, as well as a Member of the LIPA charitable company. Today he remains actively involved and still tries to watch all the principal shows staged by LIPA students. Roger also regularly sees the work of LIPA alumni, in Edinburgh and elsewhere.  

Steve Norris

Steve was head boy of the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys in 1962. He read Law at Oxford and after a period in private business was elected to parliament first from 1983 to 1987 and then from 1987 to 1997. From 1992 until 1996 he was Minister for Transport. He was twice his party’s candidate for Mayor of London in 2000 and 2004. Following a call from Paul McCartney who he knew from school, he was an early supporter of LIPA as an MP and has been ever since. He chairs several companies and divides his time between London and North Norfolk. 

John T. Rago, Esq.

John is an American Lawyer and Law Professor at the Duquesne University Thomas R. Kline School of Law (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). His work in criminal justice focuses on conviction integrity initiatives undertaken through collaborative policy making and the establishment of science-based best practices for law enforcement, prosecutors, and the indigent defence communities. His efforts in the field of criminal justice have established for these stakeholders and others, policies and evidence-based best practices that serve with equal vigour the interests and needs of law enforcement, victims, and the accused. He served as chairperson of a 51-member statewide committee that undertook the task to issue a Report of the Advisory Commission on Wrongful Convictions, which was hailed by the New York Innocence Project for its depth of analysis and insightful and comprehensive recommendations. He continues to be consulted on matters of conviction integrity, police and prosecutorial practices, and post-conviction claims of actual innocence. He serves on the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) Committee on Standard Criminal Jury Instructions. He has been appointed by Pennsylvania Chief Justices Debra Todd to serve as a member of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. He also serves as special counsel to the Allegheny County Criminal Justice Advisory Board (CJAB), a policy and best practices advisory body to the CJAB Co-Chairs, Allegheny County’s Court of Common Pleas President Judge and the Allegheny County Executive. More recently, he was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to serve as one of two Reporters for a statewide committee charged with studying Parolee homicides. He also serves as Board Chair for the Center for Victims, the largest victims’ services provider in Pennsylvania.

Jon Thornton

Jon joined LIPA in 1995, a year prior to its opening, and designed the initial curriculum and facilities for the Sound Technology programme. He worked as Head of Sound Technology leading and continually developing this programme until 2026. During his time at LIPA, he has also served as Director of Higher Education for two years on an interim basis, and from 2023 to 2026 as Director of the School of Creative Technologies, Design and Enterprise. After retiring from this role in 2026 he continues to teach part-time. 

Nigel Weatherill

Nigel is an academic who has held senior positions in universities around the world. As a researcher, he has over 250 publications and has collaborated with international industrial partners for over 30 years. He holds a Doctor of Science degree, while being a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications. He is a Chartered Mathematician, Chartered Scientist and Chartered Engineer. He has held senior management positions in Higher Education. He was Director of the national HE STEM programme while at the University of Birmingham, before becoming Vice-Chancellor at Liverpool John Moores University. He holds several honorary awards, including Honorary Friend of LIPA. He has held many non-Executive positions, including member of the Arts Council (North), Chair of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Court Theatre (Liverpool), Crimestoppers (Merseyside) and the Canal and River Trust (North West). He is presently a Trustee of a large national Multi-Academy Trust and the medical charity ENT UK. He is an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple, where he is the Vice-Chair of the Education and Training Committee. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside. 

Ashley Herman

Chair of Council

Ashley is a Founding Director of Playing Field Theatre Ltd., one of the UK's leading theatre production partners (www.playingfield.co.uk). He has established several theatre sales and marketing companies — including Applause, Theatre Direct Inc (on behalf of Cameron Mackintosh, now known as Broadway.com) and Encore — collectively responsible for over 20% of West End and Broadway theatre admissions. In addition to his sales and marketing activities, he has produced and co-produced many West End, UK touring and overseas productions.

Ashley has served as a trustee on several boards, including as Chair of the Guildford School of Acting, a Council Member of the University of Surrey for ten years, and a Trustee and Companion of The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. He has also served on several other theatrical charities.

He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a recipient of HM Queen Elizabeth's British Empire Medal for Voluntary Service and holds an honorary Doctorate from the University of Surrey.

Michelle Emmerson

Vice Chair of Council

Michelle Emmerson is a CEO, Board Director, Management Consultant and HR professional with experience across E-commerce, Education, Mobile Tech, Retail, Luxury, TV and Music industries. In addition to being a Council Director, Michelle is Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Juliet Johnson

Vice Chair of Council

Juliet Johnson is a General Counsel with extensive broad senior legal experience. She has worked for high-profile organisations and on high-profile matters across a number of sectors, including Financial Services, Healthcare, Tech, Energy and Retail. In addition to being a Council Director, Juliet is Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee.

Pete Fendall

Council Director

Pete is Chief Finance & Operating Officer for DSW Capital plc, a national business advisory group.

Prior to joining DSW, Pete trained with Deloitte in the North West where he worked with some of the regions largest private companies. As CFOO, Pete leads key strategic transformation projects and the integration of new licensee business, alongside continuous process improvement projects.

Pete also developed DSW Capital’s ESG strategy and now chairs their ESG committee.

In addition to being a Council Director, Pete is Chair of the Finance Committee.

Joe Johnson

Council Director

Joe is a Chief Operating Officer at Uniac as well as an Internal Audit Director, bringing 16 years’ experience of risk, financial, compliance and IT auditing in both the private and public sectors. This includes eight years leading the delivery of internal audit programmes at several of Uniac's clients, as well as working with University Executive Teams on governance, risk management and strategic reviews.

In addition to being a Council Director, Joe is Chair of the Audit Committee

David Owen

Council Director

David Owen has spent his whole professional career working in Liverpool. His career started in Investment Management in Liverpool with Rensburg & Co where he trained as an equity and bond analyst before moving to portfolio management responsibilities for HNW private clients, pension funds and charities. He now is a Senior Investment Director in the Liverpool office of Rathbones and a Chartered Fellow of the Securities Institute. David served on the board of Edge Hill University for several years. A passionate ambassador for Liverpool, David is currently the chair of Professional Liverpool. David is married with three adult children, is interested in most sports having played rugby league in his youth and also plays guitar in a band in his spare time!

Zoe Radnor

Council Director

Professor Zoe Radnor is Pro Vice Chancellor at Aston University. Zoe has led research projects for Government and healthcare organisations, evaluating the use of ‘lean’. In 2024 Zoe was named in the 2024 Stanford/Elsevier top 2% Scientists in the World. Zoe is a Principal Fellow of Higher Education (PFHEA), a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and British Academy of Management (FBAM).

Sean Sweeney

Council Director

Sean has worked in the commercial theatre sector since 1994, with experience across Production and General Management (he has produced and/or general-managed more than 30 shows and exhibitions in London and on UK tours), Ticketing, and Venue Management and Ownership. Sean sits on the Audit Committee.

Maria Walker

Council Director

Maria Walker is a highly experienced media executive specialising in film and high-end television. She has held several senior roles including COO of Twickenham Film Studios and Head of Post Production Sales for The Pinewood Group. During her career she’s worked for many of the major U.S. studios, streamers and U.K. production companies.

Jad Zouein

Council Director

Creative tech leader, soul included. A Realtime technology professional, boasts over two decades of expertise in building maverick media tech stacks and guiding high-performance creative tech teams. Currently serving as Outernet London's Director of Creative and Media Technologies, he's tasked with elevating the department to industry-leading status with the addition of gamification and AI pipelines. Jad oversees the end-to-end real-time production line, managing budget and execution and ensuring project sustainability. He oversees the innovation programme, media products portfolio, and technical approach to creating unique user experiences at what has become the digital landmark of London.