Four New Trustees to Join Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Board of Directors

Birmingham Royal Ballet announce the appointment of four new Trustees to its Board of Directors.

Steve Currie, Ellie Pinnells, Harminder Randhawa and Clare Richards MBE, will officially join the Board on Tuesday 2nd December.

Sir David Normington, Birmingham Royal Ballet Chair said 'I am delighted to welcome our new Trustees to the Birmingham Royal Ballet Board. Their combined skills will bring us a wealth of expertise and experience to help secure BRB’s future as one of the UK’s leading ballet companies.'

Steve Currie is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years experience in the financial services sector in Birmingham and London. Following his retirement in 2023 he now acts as a Board adviser and mentor and is currently a Trustee of the Warwickshire Cricket Foundation. 

Ellie Pinnells trained as a lawyer and is now Head of Litigation at Squire Patton Boggs in Birmingham. Ellie studied music at Bristol University and plays both the clarinet and piano. She is training as a ballet pianist and directs a wellbeing choir.

She supports children to gain access to music and the arts. She is particularly interested in championing the arts as a driver for equality in society and as a crucial aspect of mental health and well-being. 

Harminder Randhawa is a qualified Accountant with over 20 years experience working in finance, she is currently a Finance Manager at Jaguar Land Rover. Harminder studied Money, Banking & Finance at the University of Birmingham. She is a member of the Board of Trustees at Birmingham’s IKON Gallery where she chaired the risk committee for three years. She has a passion for promoting diversity and inclusion within the arts.

Clare Richards is a charity leader with over 25 years of charity experience. She is currently Director of the Coutts Foundation which supports charities helping women affected by domestic abuse and supporting young people to access the performing arts. She is a founder and trustee of IntoUniversity a charity providing local learning centres for over 60,000 young people and a trustee of the Grenfell Foundation. Clare has studied and taught dance and drama. She was awarded an MBE in 2011 for services to the community.

Sir David continued 'Steve, Clare, Ellie and Harminder combine a real passion for dance and music with a strong commitment to the success of BRB. I, and the rest of the Board, look forward to working with them.'

The new directors will replace four long-standing directors who retire from the Board on 2 December. Deborah Spence, Michael Elliott and Anthony Coombs who have each reached the end of their two terms as Trustees and Board Members and, former BRB Principal Dancer Sandra Madgwick, who is leaving us after five years to take up new responsibilities.'

Sir David commented 'We are immensely grateful to Deborah, Mick, Anthony and Sandra for their wonderful support to BRB. Between them they have given over thirty years of generous service to the company and on behalf of the Board and the whole company we send them our warmest best wishes for the future.'

The Board of Directors is responsible for the overall governance of the company and is the ultimate decision-making body for BRB. Directors are not remunerated and give their expertise and advice voluntarily

BRB has recently completed an acclaimed UK tour of Black Sabbath – The Ballet and are back in Birmingham this Christmas (until 13 Dec) with Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker marking 35 years since its world premiere at Birmingham Hippodrome in 1990. 

BRB continue its world-class performances at Birmingham Hippodrome in February 2026 with a spectacular revival of Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote (12-21 Feb).

For further information on the Board of Directors and BRB performances please go to www.brb.or.uk