I have been working in the live events industry for over 20 years, across the UK, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
During this time my work has been focused on touring productions. I have worked in multiple different job roles from Technical Manager, Production Manager, Lighting Manager, Head of Lighting, Re-Lighter to Programmer.
My passion for the industry and the high standards that I work to have led me to excel within the industry, and I am always looking to further my skills with new experiences.
Having joined in December 2022 I am currently working as Head of Lighting at the Royal Opera House Muscat. My focus has been on upgrade projects in the main venue, including the dimmers, work light system and houselights. In the smaller venue I have been fixing some significant snags that have existed within the building since it opened in 2018.
During the pandemic I returned to the UK and worked as a software programmer. From May 2021 to December 2022 I was contracted as a software programmer for Elation Professional Europe working on the ONYX lighting desk software. During this period I become certified in PMP®, Prince2® Foundation, Practitioner & Agile and Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Whilst in the UK I used those qualifications as a consultant Project Manager for several companies including English National Opera, where I was tasked with improving their scheduling workflow to reduce external staffing costs and to draft a new union proposal for the technical department.
Pre-pandemic I worked at Dubai Opera, initially starting as Deputy Lighting Manager before being promoted to Lighting Manager. In this time I used my communication skills to clearly lead and manage a multi-cultural team. I was responsible for providing technical drawings which included lighting designs, sound, motors, truss configurations, staging and event layouts for many different types of productions. This involved a lot of interaction with internal and external stakeholders. I primarily use Vectorworks and Vision, but have strong skills in AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max.
Being part of the pre-opening team at Dubai Opera, it was my responsibility to create the paperwork for the technical department and to set and maintain the high working standards that we would operate to. It was also part of my job to recruit and train up the lighting team to these standards.
One of the main areas that I have focused on whilst in both Dubai and Muscat is the installation and refurbishment projects, creating specifications/briefs, budgets, electrical designs, and paperwork.
I have also previously worked as a Production Manager in the IT industry where my primary focus was to implement scheduling and time tracking software and to improve the error percentage and checking of developers work. My IT skills are excellent. They include software development, database creation, and I am very experienced in MS office (including VBA) with a MS Office Expert Certification in Excel. I have created very detailed scheduling and budgetary systems for Dubai Opera and Royal Opera House Muscat focusing on the reduction of double data entry as well as several desktop and web applications to improve productivity.
I am very proud of my experiences in UK and International touring in producing and receiving theatres but am now looking forward to new challenges which will help me to progress and develop my existing skills and bring them to a new company.