Zeinab is the current Chair of the Royal African Society, a trustee of Historic Royal Palaces, BBC Media Action (the charitable arm of the BBC) and of Hampstead Theatre.

She was born in the Sudan and her family moved to London when she was two years old. She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and completed a Masters degree (awarded with a distinction) in History and Anthropology at SOAS, University of London. She has been awarded two honorary doctorates: from SOAS and from the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, for her services to broadcasting. She is a broadcast journalist and producer, currently the presenter of Global Questions and Hard Talk for the BBC. Through her own production company, she has produced and presented a major television series about African history.

Her awards include International TV Personality of the Year (the Association of International Broadcasters), the President’s Medal by the British Academy (2018) and the MVISA Movie and Video Industry Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been named several times in the 'Power List' as one of Britain’s top 100 most influential members of the Black community.

Zeinab sits on the Donation and Income Acceptance Committee at the Royal Opera House.

Lord Browne is the Founder and Chairman of BeyondNetZero, a climate growth equity venture established in partnership with General Atlantic. He served as Group Chief Executive of the international energy company BP from 1995 to 2007, having joined the company in 1966 as a university apprentice. He led BP through a period of significant growth and transformation, including eleven mergers with companies starting with Amoco in 1998 and including Arco, Veba and Castrol. His landmark speech at Stanford University in 1997 established BP as a global leader in the way it thought about and sought to address climate change.

In 2007, he joined Riverstone, a private equity entity, where he was co-head of the world’s largest renewable energy fund until 2015. He is presently Chairman of Pattern Energy, a renewable energy company, Windward, a global maritime predictive intelligence company, and Chairman of SparkCognition, an artificial intelligence technology company.

He is presently independent co-Chairman of the UK Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology, Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, Chairman of the Francis Crick Institute, Chairman of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and previously served as Chairman of the Tate Galleries and President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was the UK Government’s lead non-executive board member from 2010 until 2015, and chaired the committee that published the Browne Report into higher education.

He holds an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MS in Business from Stanford University in California. In 1999 the Royal Academy of Engineering awarded him the Prince Philip Medal for his outstanding contribution to engineering. He has an interest in Italian works on paper post 1450, art, music, opera and theatre, and is the author of five books.

Lord Browne sits on the Nominations and Remuneration Committee at the Royal Opera House.

As CEO/Executive Director Lisa has sat on the Board for the National Theatre since 2015. She is also Chair of the Lyric Hammersmith.

She has worked for the National Theatre for 20 years, joining as Finance Director, and moving into roles as Chief Operating Officer, Executive Director and Joint Chief Executive. Prior to this, she spent four years as director of finance and operations at the National Gallery Company, the trading arm of the National Gallery.

She was awarded an honourary degree of doctor of letters from Sheffield University in 2019. She was awarded a CBE for services to the arts as part of the 2022 New Year's Honours.

Lisa became a trustee of the Royal Opera House in 2022 and sits on the Finance and Commercial Committee.

Sue is lay commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission as well as a member of their digital board. She is also a trustee of Fuel Theatre, Leeds Culture Trust and a member of the selection committee for the Longwood International Horticultural Fellowships in the USA. Previous trustee roles include for the British Council, DV8 Physical Theatre, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.

She was a member of the founding team of Clore Leadership and its Director until 2017. She was previously Executive Director at The Place. Before that she worked for Arts Council England, becoming their Director of Dance and subsequently deputy chief executive, before moving to France as Head of Arts France for the British Council.

She studied Drama and French at Bristol University. She is a Cultural Fellow of King’s College London and an Honorary Fellow in Dance at Falmouth University. She was awarded an OBE for services to contemporary dance and Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques for Services to French Culture.

Sue is the chair of the Learning and Participation Committee and sits on the Nominations and Remuneration Committee at the Royal Opera House.

Paul was formerly a trustee and governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a trustee of the Bristol Old Vic, a trustee of BAFTA and a trustee and chair of the Siobhan Davies Dance Company.

He is a chartered quantity surveyor, now practising as an independent consultant on governance and setting up major projects. He worked at David Langdon (now part of Aecom) since graduating, becoming a senior partner before retiring in 2007. He was then appointed as the Government’s first Chief Construction Adviser to champion a more coordinated approach to affordable, sustainable construction. He also served as Commissioner on the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

He was awarded an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

Paul sits on the Finance and Commercial and Audit and Risk committees at the Royal Opera House.

Janis served for 10 years on the Arts Council Stabilisation Advisory Panel. She was Chair of the Society for the Promotion of New Music (1983-1988) and has served as a trustee of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, NMC record company, International Artist Managers' Association, Royal College of Music and English National Opera. She currently sits on the boards of the London Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and Britten Pears Arts and on the advisory council of the Royal Philharmonic Society. 

She studied at Princeton University and has since worked in the music publishing industry. She is now the Managing Director of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. 

She was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music in 2007. In 2014 she was awarded an OBE for services to music.

Janis Susskind became a trustee of the Royal Opera House in 2022 and sits on the Learning and Participation Committee.

Michael is the Chair of Walpole, the official sector body for UK luxury. He sits on the V&A Advisory Board and is a trustee for ECCIA. He is also Chair of Knightsbridge BID.

Michael began his career training in chartered accountancy with Ernst & Young in 1980. He was Group Finance Director of both Bassett Foods PLC and H.P. Bulmer Holdings PLC before moving on to be Managing Director of Lloyds Chemists PLC. Since 2005, he has been Managing Director of Harrods.

Michael Ward became a trustee of the Royal Opera House in 2022 and sits on the Finance and Commercial Committee.

Sir Alex is a trustee for the Royal United Services Institute and an Ambassador for the HALO Trust.

He began his career as an infantry officer in the British Army. He was a career intelligence officer in the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He rose to become Chief of the Service in 2014, a position he held for six years.

He became a trustee for the Royal Opera House in 2022 and sits on the Audit and Risk and Donation and Income Acceptance Committees.