Kompany Malakhi

Charles, Tracey, Steve and Karen are active board members. Find out more about their roles.

Charles Savage – Chair

I run a film production company, Bond Street Productions in the middle of Soho, but my background is very much live performance, drama and dance. A long time ago after training at The Central School of Speech and Drama I was lucky enough to start my career as a director by being apprenticed to the great Lindsay Anderson at The Royal Court in London. From there I went on to the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, to Nottingham Playhouse and then by the age of 28 I was running my own repertory theatre, the beautiful Lyceum Theatre in Crewe. I continued to run theatres and direct plays for the next 15 years and whilst in Swindon as Artistic Director for the Wyvern Theatre I was asked by Arts Council to join the Board as Chairman for a small and very exciting young company – Extemporary Dance. What grew out of Extemporary, in my view, changed the dance scene forever, most notably we were able to nurture Lloyd Newsom on his journey to start DV8 and Emilyn Claid in her evololution as a teacher/choreographer. Just to show that we were strong on arts administration, Sue Hoyle who later rose to the top of Arts Council cut her teeth in dance with Extemporary. My passion for contemporary dance and physical theatre really stems from those days and this was reflected in my own work as I began to explore drama through script and mime. Inevitably this led me to film and television.

There now comes a curious period in my career as I was “discovered ” as a children’s playwright and I found myself writing the dramatic scripts for Postman Pat and Fireman Sam and suddenly I was in Hollywood writing for Disney.

Back at home I ran a script development company in Pinewood for 8 years and started to write and produce for film. I had a short spell as a consultant for building a new arts centre, I directed at the RSC and then took the first safe job in my life – I became Head of Performance Studies at Southampton Solent University and created the first ever Stand Up Comedy degree. The first graduates emerged in last summer and with that it was time to get back to the real world of production, theatre, dance film. Creating and Producing are what I enjoy most and I hope I can bring those two very different skills to Kompany Malakhi. I look forward to being involved and to helping the company grow.

Tracey Guiry – Trustee

Tracey is the Director of Cyprus Well, the South West’s literature development agency. She specialises in cultural business development and fundraising and is working on many literature related project across the region, making literature, reading and writing accessible to everyone. She has fifteen years of senior roles in directing, fundraising, marketing & programming. Previously she was the CEO at ArtsMatrix Ltd, the southwest regional creative skills development agency and has consulted for visitor and cultural attractions in the UK, Europe and the USA. As Commercial Director of @Bristol, she negotiated key public and private sector partnerships with BBC Worldwide, National Geographic, UNESCO and Aardman Animations.

Steve Manser – Secretary

One of the founding board members in 2005, Steve is an enthusiastic supporter of the organisation and of the wider arts scene in general, fuelled in part through his involvement with a European Union project to develop and promote the cultural industries of Cornwall.

As well as getting involved in anything creative, Steve likes to think he’s marketing’s answer to CSI with his interest in customer profiling and audience development – something developed whilst at LEGO UK, several creative agencies and working on cultural and artistic projects with organisations.

When he’s not passionately working for charitable causes including Equality Now, Cancer Research and of course Kompany Malakhi, Steve can be found playing the part of Senior Account Director at Space, an award winning integrated agency based in London and Exeter – whose clients include the likes of South West Tourism, Scottish and Newcastle, Eurostar, Samsung and NIVEA.

Karen O’Flaherty – Trustee

Having completed a degree in English at Bristol University in the late 90’s, I began my HR career on a management trainee scheme with Marks and Spencer. I progressed from there to running my own HR department in both the NHS and Further Education before taking my first senior management role with Bath Spa University. This role acted as the catalyst for my current Director role with the Institute of Physics where I am a Group Director, overseeing the HR function at both the Institute and its subsidiary company IOP Publishing. During this time I completed an MSc in Organisational Psychology

My role involves supporting the strategic objectives of the company through the recruitment, retention and deployment of high calibre, skilled staff. I actively promote the business partnering model for HR, where it aims to “add value” rather than a compliance function. This involves having in depth knowledge of the business, its competitors, its strengths, weaknesses and strategic priorities for the future and ensuring the key resources, which include staff, are in place and fit for purpose.

Outside of work, I enjoy keeping fit, playing the piano and spending time with my family.