who's who.

It takes a lot of people and resources to create the UK's largest Pride.  In addition to the valuable support from our sponsors, patrons and from our supporters our events wouldn't happen without this decicated and much-needed assistance.  The below details are the Board members of Pride London.

If you feel inspired to join them, please see the information on our volunteering page.

structure.

Pride London is a charitable company registered with Companies House (05061574) and the Charity Commission (1104774).  We are governed by a board of Directors who all play an active role in day-to-day operations.

Responsible for the day-to-day operations of the charity are four committees; Operations, Production, Administration and Stakeholders which are made up of a mix of Directors and other volunteers.  There are a further number of sub-committees that deal with specific areas such as the parade.  We constantly strive to be a lean, mean pride-creating machine and occasionally "tweak" this structure to perfect that!

board.

Paul Birrell - Chairman
Paul, our Chair, has been part of the organising team of the various London Pride events for more time than just about anyone. His 14 years of dedication belie his youthful looks and boyish charm. Paul took over as Chair in 2006 and has made it his mission to restructure the organisation to better cope with the massive event Pride London now is! He is also the British Isles' Regional Director of InterPride, the international Pride association.

Paul works full-time as a Relationship Manager for a large US bank.

Dr Patrick Williams - Vice Chair, Communities
Patrick joined the board in November 2007, having been recommended by the TUC. He is the Trustee that Chairs the Communities Committee, which comprises of members from the Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Caucus, Women's Committee, trans@pride, youth@pride and the older LGBT network, also Campaigns Charitable Grants and Conferencing . Patrick holds a Doctorate in dance and has for the past two years choreographed the opening of the main stage with a spectacular performance.

In 2010 he has planned a very special event for the opening as he is about to set off on his own unique enterprise and launch his own premier Dance company one that showcases his own unique style of Contemporary dance and ballet mixed with modern (street dance)

Stuart Small - Commercial Director
Stuart has been volunteering for Pride London since 2006 overseeing and developing the Pride Built Float scheme. Stuart this year has expanded the areas he looks after so in conjunction with the Pride Built scheme he will now be looking after all floats and walking groups for the parade, working with the bars and clubs engaging them to be more involved in Pride London, and will also be responsible for Pride London's official after parties.
Stuart is keen to hear from any bar or club that would like to work with Pride London and also to hear from any organisation who would like to participate in the parade. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details.

Away from Pride London Stuart works full time as an engineer and director of an engineering consultancy and manufacturing company.

Laurie Powell - Finance Director & Company Secretary
Laurie has been involved with Pride London from almost it incorporation when he was asked if he would prepare the first financial statements of the Charity. Subsequently, hooked he volunteered to become Pride London's Finance Director.

Professionally, he is self employed as joint partner in a firm of Chartered Accountants and in his spare time is involved with the preservation of the nations transport heritage in the form of buses run by the former Aldershot & District Traction Co. Ltd.

Colm Howard-Lloyd - Vice Chair, Communications
Colm has been involved with Pride in London, in its various guises, for over a decade having started as a steward on the parade and worked his way up.  Outside of Pride he started his career with KPMG and Andersen Consulting, where he worked on the re-branding to Accenture. He was asked to join Purple Radio at its birth, as Communications Manager and went on to oversee the brand's growth becoming the "world's fastest growing radio station" and the launch of a series of music festivals under the Purple In The Park and Fierce Festival brands. He was one of the founder members of YouthSpeak, a campaign group setup to push for an equal age of consent, and famous for projecting a pink "16" on the House of Commons. He is employed in Communications and Engagement for a regional government department.

Danielle Carter - Director, Equality and Diversity
Danielle overseeing the community areas of: Trans, women, BME and Youth. Last year Danielle was the editor of The Official Guide to Pride London.

Away from Pride Danielle is a director of Talent Media one of the UKs largest diversity publishers, which includes the titles, Pinkwire.co.uk, The Official Guide to Black History Month, Mela UK, The Official Guide to International Women's Month, Positive Nation, Network News and Your Talent Magazine.

Danielle has worked for year's as a LGBT journalist and writer contributing to mainstream media, encouraging the inclusion of gay perspectives in modern media.

Trevor Edwards - Associate Director, Parade / Parade Chief Steward
Trevor has over many years been involved with Pride London in his capacity as Chief Steward. He is responsible for organisation of the parade and ensuring that the highest level of training is given to stewards prior to the event. This has been acknowledged by the Police who see this as a major plus of Pride London.

Over the years Trevor has been very good at engaging many of our volunteers to ensure that they comply with the needs of the charity and that they are capable and able to execute their tasks. Trevor has a background in process and interim management and for small and medium sized business and not for profit organisations.

Marko Kyronlahti - Associate Director, Procurement
Marko has been involved with Pride for many years, and has assisted with Pride London's procurement. Marko is MCIPS qualified and is charged with development of co-ordinating the business case for Pride London. As part of his role he sources business proposals and quotations for each area, so as to ensure that the board has ample choice and are able to make a clear decision based on the proposals. This allows Pride London to ensure that best practice is assured within Pride London's contractual discussions.

Steve Erskine - Associate Director, Sponsorship
Steve joined Pride London in 2008 initially in the role of Deputy Chief Steward. Now Associate Director for Sponsorship, Steve works throughout the year to secure the corporate sponsors needed to put on our festival and parade.  As well as the board, Steve sits on the Governance and Operations committees.

During the day Steve is the IT Manager for the Novotel chain of hotels in London.

Dave Siddons - Associate Director, Finance
Dave has been involved with Pride London since 2005, during this time he has gone from Parade Steward to Deputy Chief Steward, and recently an Associate Director for Finance, supporting the organization with financial planning and budgeting. As well as the board, Dave sits on the Governance and Operations committees. 

Away from Pride, Dave is a qualified accountant.

Peter Meager - Associate Director, Festivals
Peter became involved with Pride London in 2009, hosting a number of Theatre Events in support of the Pride Festival Programme as well as events for the Communities Team and recently joined as the Associate Director of Festivals in June 2010. He runs a successful business in Theatrical Events and Hospitality during the day, working hand in hand with both Corporate and Private Clients and is the founder member of the London Gay Theatre Club. He has also had great success in organising many Opening Night Galas & Premieres for West End Productions as well as the Opening & Closing Parties for the (BFI) London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Peter brings with him a huge network of organisations who work in support of the LGBT Community, including his experience and knowledge as an openly gay member of the Metropolitan Police Service (Special Constabulary).

Tom Barber - Associate Director, Press & Media
Tom joined Pride London in 2009 and is responsible for sending out press releases and newsletters, running our youtube channel, handling media enquiries and managing press on the day of the parade. Tom is looking forward to 2010 and helping organize the GLF 40th anniversary events - watch this space!

Tom's background is in TV, he's made documentaries at the BBC and has also worked at MTV. Tom's looking to expand press coverage of our event and would love to hear from any budding filmmakers who'd like to be involved.

Pete Manley - Associate Director, Communications
Pete has been with Pride London since 2008, during this time he has gone from Parade Senior Steward to Area Parade Manager and now is a Deputy Chief Steward for Pride London's Parade. He has also developed the Pride Privilege Card (Volunteer reward scheme), manages Pride London's social networks (Facebook, MySpace and Twitter), assists with Website content, publishes the newsletters and finds new ways to help develop the new Pride London brand. 

In his day job, Pete is Events & Promotions Manager of Platinum Lace, Bar & Gentlemen's Club opening soon on Coventry Street by Leicester Square

Darren Waite - Associate Director, Entertainment 
Darren has been working with Pride London Since 2007.  His role is to ensure that the Main Stage in Trafalgar Square and other stages at Pride London are filled with great acts, performances and artists for the PRIDE crowds to enjoy.
It is no mean feat crossing all genres and finding the music, performances and speakers that everyone will enjoy to help make Pride London a memorable day.

His background is in diversity, sexual health media and PR in which Darren has worked for many years.
By day Darren is a director of a diversity print and online publishing company, covering all aspects of our ever increasing diverse communities.

Jon Pewtner - Associate Director, Operations (Soho)
Jon joined Pride London in 2006 to run Leicester Square and has expanded his role to to over see event operations within the Soho area as Associate Director operations.

Jon Brings a vast wealth of experience of major event and resilience planning to Pride London As well as being a board member Jon also sits on the operations committee Away from Pride Jon is employed by a major global organisation and when not overseas divides his time between Derbyshire and London Jon is Pride London's liaison with the Armed Forces