Hayley Newton-Jarvis achieved considerable acclaim as a professional dancer on both sides of the Atlantic before taking on the role of Artistic Director for Italia Conti Arts Centre in 2013. Under her direction, the Arts Centre developed a reputation in its own right as one of the country's leading providers of Acting, Musical Theatre and Dance education. Today, as CEO and Principal of the entire Italia Conti portfolio, Hayley heads up the Senior Leadership Team imbuing Italia Conti with the perfect balance of being forward-looking whilst honouring its past and retaining its family ethos at the dawn of a new era for the company. One of her first steps on taking over the leadership was to introduce the new BA Dance course to sit alongside the BA Acting and the BA Musical Theatre, thus completing the ‘triple threat’. "Quite simply, Italia Conti has been my life", Hayley says. "I am enormously proud of our alumnx and everything we have collectively achieved over the past 12 decades. Recent years have marked a shift in the HE and FE landscape but a strong focus on the care for each individual that underpins our training and permeates the organisation throughout, coupled with our agility and adaptability to change, will sustain Italia Conti and our students for the future, just as it has since 1911".
Keith Bailey enjoyed a successful 41-year career in the financial services industry. Working for two major global companies (NatWest/RBS and Barclays) in a wide variety of roles, Keith gained significant senior executive and non-executive experiences across a wide variety of geographically diverse jurisdictions until retiring from Barclays at the end of March 2016. Since 2016 Keith has continued to be involved in a select number of non-executive director and consulting roles as well as sitting as a founding member of the Gibraltar Financial Services Resolution and Compensation Committee. Keith has a long-standing connection with Italia Conti as a parent whose daughter joined the Guildford Associates school at the age of 5, subsequently becoming a pupil and student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts until graduating at the age of 18. In addition to his role as a Governor, Keith maintains a strong connection today through one of our newer Associate Schools.
Sam Newton worked extensively as a performer, choreographer, and teacher in all media of the profession in the UK and throughout the world. Eight Royal Variety Performances, and a prestigious Montrose award in Germany stand out amongst many highlights of her work. A true Conti product, she says, “I am an introvert who has taught myself to be an extrovert. When needed”. In 2002, she stepped away from the Academy to focus on the opening of Italia Conti’s sister school, Italia Conti Arts Centre in Guildford, before returning to the Academy as principal in 2016. In 2017, she set up the BA Musical Theatre Course for both Italia Conti Arts Centre and the Academy. In addition to the specialist training Italia Conti provides to equip students for the profession, Sam is passionate about ensuring students acquire the most important skills of the 21st century: adaptation, resilience, and re-skilling. Sam feels we are most ‘programmed’ by other people, and by having accountability partners and students we can use that natural tendency to our own benefit, and to set aside time to reflect on our goals and progress.
They are supported by an Advisory Board:
Maggie Killingbeck (Chair) Kathy-Ann Darmody (Director of Finance, Clerk to Advisory Board) Peter Board Tony de Vizio Will Flanagan (Staff) Natalie Pulfer Dudley Delannoy Andrew Shepherd Edith Woi Aaron Prior
The Non-Executive Directors and Advisory Board are drawn from a range of professions and backgrounds and are typically leaders in their fields who help inform and guide our strategy, acting as trusted advisors to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and taking a proactive interest in the work and life of Italia Conti.