Chairman

Andrew Davies was first elected as a Cabinet Minister for the National Assembly of Wales in 1999. Representing the constituency of Swansea West, he was one of the Assembly’s most high profile and longest serving politicians.

His interest in dance came after a ‘Damascus moment’ during a performance by London Contemporary Dance at the Grand Theatre in Swansea in 1986. He had a ‘flick of the light switch’ moment when he saw the combination of movement, music and colour.

Andrew was appointed Chair of National Dance Company Wales in 2010. “The Board is the Company’s ‘critical friend” he says. “As Chair, my role is to support Ann Sholem and the Company to help take them to the next stage.“ Artistically he believes National Dance Company Wales has already come on “in leaps and bounds and there is now a widely recognised growth in the quality of the Company’s performance.”

Andrew believes that as a national company there is a duty to show leadership within the dance sector in Wales.

Board of directors

• Jon Wilks

  Jon Wilks was a Director at Williams Medical Supplies plc prior to founding UK Healthgateway Ltd in 2007. He has vast expertise in sales, marketing and business development within the UK healthcare market and he has extensive experience in product and service development projects. Jon’s specific area of expertise is Finance and Fundraising. He studied Business Studies at the University of Nottingham Trent and gained a diploma – Chartered Institute of Marketing at the University of Wolverhampton.

• Christopher Inson

  Christopher Inson qualified as a solicitor in 1999. He worked for international law firm CMS Cameron Mckenna before returning to Cardiff in 2006 when he accepted a partner role at Capital Law LLP.

  Chris specialises in corporate law and Governance, in particular, advising businesses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity and commercial contracts.

• Clare Thomas

  Clare Thomas completed an MSc in Educational Development and moved into this area in higher education. She has also worked for Arts Council Wales as the Regional Director for West Wales.

  Clare currently job shares Head of Learning and Teaching at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and is Programme Director for postgraduate studies in Arts Management at Trinity College, Carmarthen. She is Chair of the Board of Management for TAN Dance.

• Margaret Evans

  Margaret Evans is the Vice Chair of South Wales Baptist College; the Chair of the Cardiff Metropolitan University Stakeholder Forum Appointments Panel and a member of Cardiff School of Art and Design Advisory Panel. Her specific area of expertise is Governance.

• Jeremy Huw Williams

  Jeremy Huw Williams was born in Wales and studied at St John's College, Cambridge, and at the National Opera Studio in London. He made his debut with Welsh National Opera and since then has appeared in more than sixty operatic roles. He has performed at major venues in North and South America, Australia, Hong Kong, and most European countries. His specific areas of expertise are Music and the Arts Industry.

• Anna Denton-Jones

  Anna Denton-Jones’s specific area of expertise is Employment Law. Her expertise lie in training, providing legal updates, input into management development programmes and specialist tutorials.

  Anna often speaks at events and tutors for the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. She's a member of the Employment Lawyers Association and regularly has articles published in trade journals, including People Management and Personnel Today.

• Yvette Vaughan Jones

  Yvette Vaughan Jones took up the post as Executive Director of Visiting Arts in October 2005. Prior to this she has been Director of the cultural programme for Cardiff; worked for the Arts Council of Wales where she set up Wales Arts International; worked in Brussels as the Policy Manager for the Wales Centre and wrote Cardiff’s bid for City of Culture 2008.

  She is an active member of the Cultural Cities Network and is the UK representative on the EU working group on Cultural Mobility. Her specific areas of expertise are Internationalism and the Arts Industry.

• Christine Lewis

  Christine Lewis has served on the Wales Tourist Board, Development Board for Rural Wales, Health Promotion Wales, NW Wales NHS Trust and Council of Food from Britain. She was awarded an OBE for her work on the Welsh Food Initiative in 2002. Christine has a keen interest in Arts and Culture and has been a member of the National Trust Committee for Wales, BBC Broadcasting Council and is currently a Non-Executive Director of Welsh National Opera and a Trustee of Artes Mundi.