Cathy has spent her career working in Finance, is a Certified Accountant with an entrepreneurial and commercial flair and thrives on helping others deliver on difficult projects.

Cathy currently splits her time between Non-Executive roles and charity projects, with a little consultancy thrown in for good measure.

Edwin is a Chartered Engineer with global experience in the delivery of large scale construction projects. Born on the marsh, raised, schooled, and lives in Folkestone.

In his spare time, he enjoys annoying his friends and family by getting overexcited about engineering, Victorian and otherwise.

Rachel is a Director at Maxim, a PR, marketing and public affairs agency based in Tunbridge Wells. She has almost 25 years’ experience in communications and has worked on a number of projects in Folkestone.

She has a love of vintage and anything miniature – including model railways, and also devotes a lot of her spare time to organising the Kent Press & Broadcast Awards.

James was COO of a successful telecoms business during the 1990s guiding it to a multi-million-pound sale and worked on the subsequent merger of the sales, marketing and IT requirements of several businesses acquired at the time. Turning his attention to the London property market he quickly rose to associate director level of a leading London agency, before relocating to Folkestone.

James co-founded the Friends of the Leas Lift and advises local businesses on their digital and marketing strategies.

Dan grew up in Folkestone before studying law at Kings College London. He now lives back in Folkestone and has for the last eleven years been working for Strand House towards the regeneration of his home town.

A keen sportsman with 35 caps for the England Beach Soccer national team
he helped found and is now Chief Executive Officer of The Sports Trust and is separately a trustee for Goals 4 Girls.

Peter is Managing Director of a plumbing and heating engineering firm in Folkestone. He began his career with Laing as a project planner for large scale construction projects. His last project before moving to Folkestone was the £7 million conversion of the City of Manchester Stadium.

In his spare time with, his wife and friends, he runs a Folkestone Comedy Club and Folkestone Beer Festival. He founded with Adam Smith the Leas Lift Beer Festival many years ago……..and will bring it back.

Adam is an experienced producer, fundraiser and strategist in the cultural sector and a socially-engaged researcher and historian of postwar British architecture and urban planning. His experience in the cultural sector includes roles at Arts Council England, Gloucester Culture Trust, Eden Court Highlands, Company Three youth theatre and Lyric Hammersmith. His voluntary work includes trusteeships with creative producers Trigger and Coney, and service as a Community Panel Member for Islington’s Youth Offending Service.

Jo is chair of the Finance and Legal committee of the Leas Lift CIC.  She is a qualified actuary (now retired) and had a career in the financial services industry, working in both the life and general insurance sectors specialising in financial modelling and capital requirements, including at Lloyds of London.  After living and working in Australia and South Africa as well as London, Jo settled in Kent 20 years ago.  She plays an active role in the local scout group and has been Trustee and Treasurer for the past 5 years.

Formerly Director of Tate Liverpool 1990-2000 and Director of Liverpool Biennial 2000-201, Lewis Biggs OBE has been a Folkestone resident for the past 10 years. A curator of Creative Folkestone Triennial between 2014 – 2021, Lewis continues to work with creatives and artists in China, Japan and Mongolia.

Since 2013 Lewis has been Chairman of the Institute for Public Art – a global network of researchers concerned with place creation through culture/art-led urbanism. From 2017 he has been a consultant to the Magic Carpets European Union Creative Partnership platform, operating in 15 countries.

Tom is Associate Director of Business Development at Holiday Extras, where he has spent two decades delivering customer-focused innovation in the travel and tech sector. A lifelong Folkestone resident, Tom brings commercial insight and a deep passion for local heritage to the board.

With a background in creating seamless digital experiences at one of the UK’s top companies, Tom is keen to help the Lift balance sustainability with accessibility – ensuring it thrives for generations to come.