Brumbassadors

Nicola Silk

Nicola has 30 years’ experience in the television industry making some of the country’s most well-loved shows. Her career started at BBC Pebble Mill at a time when there were only four channels, where, despite the advice, she worked with children, animals and presenters of motoring programmes, producing and directing an array of factual entertainment formats from Top Gear to What Not to Wear.  After 10 years at the BBC she left to pursue a freelance career.

Much of the last decade has been spent mini-breaking with Hollywood stars and  A-list comedy legends as the Bafta-nominated Series Director of  Channel 4’s ‘Travel Man’, produced in Birmingham.  When not holidaying in Hong Kong with John Hamm she was sent to Coventry to make a BBC music doc, ‘2Tone:The Sound of Coventry’, winner of an RTS Best Documentary award.

More recently she has stayed closer to home, visiting all the places in the world called Birmingham with fellow Brummie Joe Lycett, for the award-winning Sky series ‘Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham’, a show close to her heart which she devised, wrote, produced and directed. The International Day of Birmingham, an idea she made up for the finale of the series, has become a fixture on the city’s calendar and she now includes (accidental) event founder and organiser on her CV.

Mr Paul James

CEO, Birmingham Royal Ballet

Paul James is a brand, marketing and business change leader with a career spanning luxury hospitality, global commerce and the performing arts.

He spent nearly a decade as Global Brand Leader at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he held simultaneous responsibility for three of the world's most distinctive luxury hotel brands — St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels Worldwide — overseeing a portfolio of more than 160 hotels across 39 countries. During his tenure the combined luxury footprint of those three brands nearly doubled, with openings across China, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and the Americas. He was widely quoted as a thought leader on the evolution of luxury consumer behaviour, the intersection of technology and hospitality, and the challenge of maintaining brand distinction across radically different product propositions at global scale.

Prior to his New York years, Paul held senior sales and marketing roles across Europe with Starwood, before moving to Singapore to lead brand development for a privately held luxury hospitality group.

In 2017 he joined Birmingham Royal Ballet as Chief Commercial Officer, leading a comprehensive rebrand alongside the arrival of Director Carlos Acosta, and a subsequent digital transformation in the wake of the Covid pandemic. In December 2024, following the sudden death of CEO Caroline Miller, he stepped up as Acting Chief Executive — stabilising the organisation through a period of profound grief and financial pressure, restructuring the senior leadership, and delivering the company's strongest ticket sales since the turn of the millennium. He was confirmed as Chief Executive in May 2025.

Paul holds executive qualifications from INSEAD, Cranfield University and the University of Surrey, is a qualified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and is a graduate of Bournemouth University. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2026.

Rob Nagra

Head of Site, Deutsche Bank

Rob Nagra is Deutsche Bank's Birmingham Site Lead and Global Head of 3rd Party and Data Risks within Operational Risk Management. He has worked in financial services since 1999, spending the majority of his career at Deutsche Bank, with a period at Ernst & Young as a Risk Management Consultant. Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles across operational risk, third-party risk, data management, regulatory compliance, crisis management and resilience.

Based in Birmingham since 2010, Rob is passionate about supporting the city's growth and aligning local opportunities with broader business objectives. Outside of work, he is Chair of Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital Charity and serves as an Associate Non-Executive Director of Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital Trust.

Victoria Gosling OBE

CEO , GB Snowsport and Chair, Invictus Games

Victoria is a decorated military officer turnedsports executive and business leader. After a distinguished career in the Royal Air Force, where she was awarded both an MBE and an OBE, she rose to command one of the UK’shelicopter bases supporting operations inAfghanistan. In 2014, she became a founding leader of theInvictus Games, serving as Military ExecutiveLead for the inaugural London Games andlater as CEO of the 2016 Orlando Games. Shenow serves as Chair of the Invictus Games2027, set to take place in Birmingham.

Victoria is currently CEO of GB Snowsport, where her bold leadership has delivered one of the most significant sporting turnarounds inrecent British history.

When Victoria Gosling walked into the Beijing2022 Winter Olympics, she was determined toput British Snowsport on the map. She walkedout with nothing — no Olympic medals. Nonational headlines. And then came the gutpunch: £3m of core funding, pulled overnight.

What followed was one of the greatests porting comebacks in British Olympic sport. In just three seasons, she led a quietrevolution behind the scenes and underimmense pressure. Her bold, human-first leadership helpedpropel Team GB’s snow athletes to over 80 World Cup podiums, 17 Crystal Globes, andmultiple World Championship titles in the2024/25 season alone.

Beyond Snowsport, Victoria serves as Chair ofGB Surfing, sits on the British OlympicAssociation Board and the Aintree RacecourseCommittee, and has previously served asChair of the Rugby Centurions. She also madea critically acclaimed West End debut as the Narrator in Girlfriends, a wartime musical.

Fluent in Spanish, mother of 3, she is a sought-after speaker. Whether briefing troops in warzones or building Olympic medal pathways onlimited resources, Victoria delivers resultswhere it matters most: on the front line, in theboardroom, and on the world stage.

Mr Anthony Isherwood

Lead, Birmingham City FC Foundation

Antony leads Birmingham City FC Foundation, the official charity of Birmingham City Football Club, delivering education, health, community and football programmes across East and South Birmingham. Seven years ago, he led the relaunch of the Foundation - formerly Birmingham City Community Trust - and has since overseen its growth into the organisation it is today. He now leads the Foundation’s 2026–2031 strategy, focused on expanding participation and impact through new partnerships, fundraising, and community investment to deliver measurable, lasting social influence.