Brought up in Bristol and trained as a drama teacher, Pippa has worked in the cultural and community sectors for over twenty years in arts and education, grant making and community development in Birmingham, London and then in the South West where she set up Artshare South West and Devon Arts in Schools and held posts with South West Arts, Comic Relief and Exeter Council for Voluntary Service. For the past ten years with her job share partner has led The Community Fund in the South West (now Big lottery Fund). Pippa is a Council member of Arts Council South West, a director of Exeter College (tertiary college), and trustee to an environmental charity.

Libby, who lives in Bath, was previously the Director of the Council for Environmental Education (a strategic national body) and has a strong background in advocacy, developing new partnerships and brokering collaborative ways of working. Libby has also worked as a teacher, youth worker and local government officer, and is a trustee of Bristol-based Wildscreen.

Richard Crowe is a displaced Essex boy with a background in theatre, venue management and arts development. He moved to Somerset in 1996 with his family to run the arts centre at Bridgwater before moving on to become arts development officer at Taunton Deane. Richard is currently chair of the Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre in Taunton and has worked extensively in the region as a freelance consultant and project designer/manager for the cultural sector. Amongst other things, he produced '100 Things you didn't know about culture in the South West.' Richard’s new role as 2012 Creative Programmer for the South West will be instrumental in moving forward plans for an inspiring Cultural Olympiad in the run up to the 2012 Games.

Jodie was previously the Tourism Policy Adviser at the South West of England Regional Development Agency. Prior to this, she worked in London for VisitBritain as their Corporate Analyst. Jodie is originally from the South West of England but spent most of her childhood in Western Australia. She is a Business Studies and Tourism Management graduate from the University of Bournemouth. Jodie's role as Strategic Projects Manager involves leading on the development of a marketing communications strategy for Culture South West, managing a range of projects, events and initiatives, developing the resource base for projects and deputising for the Executive Director when required.