Chairman, Founder

Claire Washington-Smith

With an early history of retail and publishing, running a successful magazine, Claire moved into the event industry working on live events almost 25 years ago. Moving into the Live events Industry, Claire discovered an opportunity to serve organisers and sales teams better on site. The rebook Concept was born.

Director, Founder

Donna Shaw

Donna has 30 years of Industry experience from almost every aspect of an event from inception, creation and through to delivery. She launched her own full service agency before similar existed providing all elements from stand design and build to professional staffing, logistics and POS born out of a strong sales base for a number of blue chip companies.

Academy Director

Ian Washington-Smith

Ian is one of the Directors of Shinesmith Academy and Founder of Cognitive Coaching, an organisation acquired by Shinesmith that seeks to improve the understanding of people their thinking and behaviour. Over the last three years with George Stylianou the two have developed unique approaches to support clients to realise potential through their people. He is a Behavioural Expert and Executive Coach, working at Board Level, Public and Private Sector. An experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the customer services industry. He is also a former Policing Senior Manager, skilled in Operations, Intelligence Management, and Corruption Prevention and Investigation.

Academy Director

George Stylianou

Since forming service and sales consultancy, KPi Management in 2005, George built an enviable client portfolio. However, he has devoted the last three years with colleague, Ian Washington-Smith to developing a practical mind/body approach, focused on addressing workplace wellness. This work has led George to appreciate that our thinking and distinct behavioural patterns determine the effectiveness of our working relationships in a manner, which instrumentally affects the bottom line. George’s extensive experience places him in a strong position to undertake his role as Shinesmith’s Academy Director, supporting the organisation in realising its genuinely ‘ground-breaking’ potential.

Chief Financial Officer

Simon Cole

Simon joined Shinesmith as a consultant when it started. Later appointed as Financial Director , he continues to play a significant role in its development. He has accrued a wealth of international business expertise through channels of marketing, HR, legal, sales, management and finance. He brings the invaluable experience of driving expansions and the restructuring of businesses through organic growth and acquisition and in this respect he plays a significant role in the development of the company. His technical acumen and understanding of the supply chain within organisations has also enabled him to design tailored software solutions and support our digital strategy.

Resource Manager

Natasha Harper-Benson

Natasha has been in the industry for over 14 years. She manages the global talent and resourcing digital infrastructure. She also has extensive sales rebooking experience, and shares supporting the company in coaching
its people to reach their potential.

Operations Executive

Sammi Cook

Sammi is an Events Industry Professional who joined the company as an Operations Executive. She has an interest in sustainability and carbon literacy which has a strong influence in her approach to her role. She previously worked in Film, participating under Bafta. She is one of the company’s tech and digital experts and skilled website developer.

Project Task Coordinator

Bea Johnston

Bea joined Shinesmith as part of our Graduate Recruitment Programme having received a first-class Master of Social Science in Psychology with Honours at Glasgow University. She has recently undertaken a postgraduate masters course in Behavioural Science for Management at Stirling University. She is a talented public speaker and her background in behavioural science places her in the perfect position to add value to the work of Shinesmith Academy. Alongside her academic career, she has delivered experiential events and exhibitions over the last five years across a wide range of sectors, helping her develop methods of engaging audiences, varying in background. Her knowledge and attributes extend further to the tech and digital side of the business, where her coding languages and advanced statistics modelling allows her to support Shinesmith in anticipating industry trends.

Non Executive Director

Simon Foster

Simon is a CEO and business leader in the Exhibition and Media Industry. Nearly 30 years ago he joined the industry and during that time has proudly led many global organisations, including UBM (now Informa) and more recently, Comexposium, where his primary focus was to lead an international transformation and deliver a sale of the business for the PE shareholders.
Apart from being a Non-Executive Director at Shinesmith, Simon is a Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) Board member and plays a valued role as Trustee on a Learning Trust that runs several state schools in Luton, UK.