Our People
Ali Smith
Chief Executive
Coming from 5 generations of professional musicians Ali's first instrument is the Cello - studying both in the UK and at the Conservatoire in Prague under Paul Ward, Raphael Wallfisch and Stanislav Apolin.
Ali is also the 3rd generation of her family to be a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. Founded in 1738, the aims of the found…
Nick Smith
Managing Director
Nick is the managing director of Superact, a graduate of Cambridge University and has 25 years experience in research and evaluation for the not-for-profit sector.
His career has included employment in some of the largest international research organisations (BMRB, part of WPP) and since 1996 has run the Research Partnership. He has also…
Katharine Lane
Delivery Director
Katharine has been part of the Superact team since 2008 working across a variety of projects from The Bandstand Marathon to the development of new projects in a range of healthcare settings throughout the South West.
Katharine was elected as Chair of the European Music Council’s Working Group Youth in 2012 following 2 years as a succes…
Patsy Lang
Senior Project Manager - Justice
Patsy alias Ratsy Fang!, has a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from York University in Toronto, Canada. She specialized in Theatre Production & Design, going on to work in the field of Set & Lighting Design for 15 years in Canada. Her design work was for both mainstream and alternative theatre companies. She made a significant contribution …
Lerato Dunn
Regional Manager & Training Coordinator, Our Big Gig
Lerato is the Regional Manager and Training Coordinator on the Our Big Gig team, responsible for managing and supporting our team of nine regional managers and their training events.
Whilst studying for a degree in English Literature and Cultural Criticism at Cardiff University, Lerato discovered her love of community arts through…
Tracy Hill
Project Manager & Our Big Gig South West Regional Manager
Tracy moved to Somerset 13 years ago from Oxfordshire and has a varied career background from purchasing to fund raising, most recently managing large European funded projects across the South West. She is currently working as the Local Authority lead for the Bandstand Marathon 2012.
Tracy is a SFEDI accredited business advisor and train…
Lucy Hather
Junior Project Manager
Lucy studied Arts Management at Bath Spa University and graduated in summer 2011 with a First grade. She has a working background in festivals, events, creative marketing, not-for-profit arts, youth music and theatre.
At Superact Lucy manages a number of projects on a daily basis. She delivers the Health and Wellbeing tour, organising mu…
Rachael Grant
Project Assistant, Our Big Gig
Rachael is a graduate from the University of Exeter, where she studied English Literature until 2010. After a stint working for Somerset County Council, she is now in the role of Bandstand Marathon Administrator, providing support across the team to ensure the event goes off with a bang in September.
She is passionate about creative writ…
Iwan Kushka
Project Manager
Iwan (pronounced Ivan) is originally from Belgium, where he earned a Law degree and an MA in International Relations.
He speaks six languages and has traveled through almost every continent.
Iwan has worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and has also been a journalist in Cairo, farmhand and tree-planter in…
Paul Rabbitts
Heritage Project Manager
Paul has had long and varied career to date and after graduating in Geography at Sheffield and then a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh, he was a practising landscape architect for over 20 years. Working initially in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, he then moved into the public sector and had long spells at Carlisle City Coun…
Thomas Hamill
Training Advisor
Thomas has been a Music teacher for four years and whilst doing this full time job has been working for Superact in a number of roles. As an educator Tom has taught a number of different courses; from A-Level Music to Year 7 Literacy; he has been involved in every aspect of school education. His focus has been primarily on Music; both BTEC a…
Nick Moore
Board Chair
When Nick Moore left school he went to work in the local public library. Since then he has worked in central government, and in the private- and voluntary sectors in the United Kingdom and Europe. He established a research and consultancy company, which explores many of the policy issues that are raised by the development of information-base…
Mike Webb
Board Member
Mike is a consultant specialising in solutions for businesses in the international justice arena. He has managed major UK custodial and community-based contracts, during which he re-engineered and improved services for those embroiled in the justice process. This experience emphasised to Mike the imperative to provide opportunities for disadva…
Rebecca Coutts
Board Member
Rebecca Coutts is director & owner of COUTTS Consultancy, offering design, marketing and procurement services for International markets within the corporatewear and fashion industries. Rebecca has worked in a variety of board positions within the fashion and textile industry and in consultancy building extensive leadership and management e…
Meet the Regional Managers helping to make Our Big Gig happen across the UK- click here
