David Gilbert (Chair), following a long and successful career in retail including being MD of Currys Ltd, COO of Dixons Stores Group worldwide, and MD of Waterstones Booksellers, David now devotes all of his time to the Creative Industries and the Arts. He is Chair of Creative United, an Arts Council backed company which delivers innovative finance for Creative Businesses. He is also Chair of the Writers Centre Norwich and Digventures archaeology.

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Dan Woodger is a London based illustrator and animator with 8 years experience working in the creative industry. Since graduating from the University of Brighton in 2011, Dan has been busy creating a unique, playful, character based style of work, that has seen him collaborate with some of world biggest brands, including Apple, Google, The New Yorker, Netflix, Samsung & Pepsi.

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Daniel Moorey is currently editing and publishing a website project documenting the UK. Previous to that he was Head of Illustration and Photography at adamandeveDDB. He has also worked extensively in animation, live action, CG , projection mapping, matte painting, events etc. In other previous lives he was Head of Artbuying at DDB London and Artbuyer at AMVBBDO. When he isn’t camping he lives in London.

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Deirdre McDermott is the Picture Book Publisher and Creative Director at Walker Books, the largest independent children’s publisher in the UK. Many of the picture books she has art directed and published have won awards globally. She established the Sebastian Walker Award and is a trustee of Seven Stories. A native of Dublin, Ireland Deirdre lives in London, England.

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Ciara Phelan With a background in design, Ciara initially built her career as a collage illustrator before co-founding artist agency Grand Matter. Ciara is also one of the founding forces behind Agents for Change.

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Gabriella Playford is an Associate at Sheridans law firm, and acts as a Legal Advisor to the AOI Board.

Gabriella joined Sheridans in 2019 having trained and qualified in-house as Global Legal Counsel at The Mill, a leading VFX and content creation studio, where she gained valuable commercially focussed experience and developed a particular legal expertise in the advertising, production/post-production, creative agency and technology industries.

Gabriella advises various industry bodies in relation to best practices such as the Advertising Producers Association and the Association of Illustrators in relation to animation and VFX production.

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Jhinuk Sarkar is an Illustrator with work in editorial, publishing and design platforms. She is also an educator and consultant advocating inclusivity and accessibility in the arts. She studied Illustration at Norwich and Central St Martins and currently works with Ravensbourne and Camberwell universities on their BA Illustration courses alongside her access work at Turf Projects.

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Montana Forbes is a fashion, beauty and lifestyle illustrator of 13 years, represented by Illustration Ltd. She grew up between Harare, London and Atlanta and studied Visual Communication at The American Intercontinental University in London. Throughout her career, she has been involved in developing, curating, and organising exhibitions, talks and conferences.

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Rachel Gannon is an illustrator, educator, researcher and currently Associate Professor and Acting Head of School of Design at Kingston University. She is interested in illustration disciplinary research methodologies and their potential for inter- and trans- disciplinary application, which has culminated in the text ‘Illustration Research Methods’ (2021, Bloomsbury Academic) which Rachel co-authored with Dr Mireille Fauchon. Her practice as an educator and researcher is informed by a successful 18-year professional illustration career. Rachel’s articles and practice-based works have been published in the leading research and professional publications in this subject area.

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Rachel Hill is the current CEO of the AOI, leading the organisation in initiatives such as the mentorship program, the World Illustration Awards, and advocacy work around AI. Prior to becoming CEO, Rachel previously held the position of AOI Membership Director, and worked as an illustration agent, demonstrating her commitment to supporting individual illustrators to advance their careers. Rachel has in-depth understanding of the organisation and a deep passion for championing the illustration community.

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