SHAPE STAFF
Heather Hilburn, CEO
Heather has an extensive background in architecture and commercial development and has worked in the UK's built environment industry for over 15 years. She has successfully delivered landmark Arts, Education and Leisure projects across Europe, including projects at the Tate Modern and Yehudi Menuhin Hall. Prior to her appointment as CEO at Shape East, Heather worked for 3 ½ years as Project Lead and Principal Design Advisor to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She is a Trustee of London Spitalfield's City Farm, sits on the RIBA Building Futures Advisory Panel, as well as on the committee for Cambridge University Entrepreneurs, as Director for Social Enterprise.
Heather is passionate about good quality design in both the design and construction of buildings and places, and believes that communities, enterprise and "enterprising communities" are a vital key to long term sustainable development.
Contact Heather on h.hilburn@shape-east.org.uk
Kate Sarley, General Manager
Kate studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and spent the next ten years as a Stage Manager working for a variety of companies including the Unicorn Kids Theatre, RSC, Royal Court and in the West End. She then gained a diploma in Arts Administration from Birkbeck University following which she worked for Disney before joining English Heritage as a Grant Officer for the HLF/EH imitative Supporting Places of Worship.
On returning to the arts Kate worked at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Soho Theatre and created the role of General Manager at Colchester Arts Centre, where she project managed two capital building programmes within a Grade II listed church.
Kate then collaborated with Paulette Randall at Talawa Theatre Company the leading Black Theatre Company and in 2005 co-founded Mitchell Production through which she has undertaken a number of senior contracts, including with Jacksons Lane Arts Centre (CEO), High Tide Festival (Company Manager) and Oval House Theatre (Admin Consultant).
Kate's voluntary commitments include Chair of Bures Scout Group, which includes project managing the refurbishment of the Scout HQ, Chair of Noah's Ark Nursery, Secretary of Bures FC and Committee Member of Bures Music Festival.
Contact Kate on katesarley@shape-east.org.uk
For finance enquiries, contact finance@shape-east.org.uk
Hollie McNish, Participation and Learning
Hollie graduated from King’s College, Cambridge University with a BA in Modern Languages and completed an MSc in Development Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2006. She specialised in agricultural trade and global self-sufficiency, civil society and social movements, and focused on the role of public art in conflict management in Colombia for her final dissertation. Since graduating, she has been working in the education sector, running topical poetry workshops and teaching English, Foreign Languages and Maths to pupils aged from 12+.
Hollie McNish works on Shape East's Participation and Learning programme,aimed at engaging a wider and more diverse variation of people with issues of Good Design, Sustainability and Planning. She is vegetarian, left handed and gets secretly excited learning computer programmes from youtube videos. She also works as a poet and workshop leader, combining this art form with Shape East topics in school and community workshops!
Contact Hollie on h.mcnish@shape-east.org.uk
Franny Ritchie, Projects
Franny Ritchie is a recent arrival to Cambridge, England – having moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the autumn of 2011 after completing a Master's degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, her biggest projects involved the intersection of town planning and education and ecologically-sensitive urban design. Prior to that, she worked in open space and environmental conservation in rural Pennsylvania; earned a masters degree in urban history from the University at Albany in Albany, NY and taught ninth grade history at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. She is a member of the American Planning Association and an occasional contributor to Planetizen Urban Planning, Design and Development Network. She also runs Ink & Compass, a blog geared towards exploring all things urban and geographical.
Franny is working on outreach and education projects at Shape East.
Contact Franny on projects@shape-east.org.uk
Maria-Christina Georgiadou, Design Support
Christina graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a MEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering. She then spent a couple of years working as a research assistant and building professional in a diverse range of projects regarding energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in buildings and infrastructure. 
Christina is passionate about the interplay between government-industry-academia in relation to low carbon innovation, climate change and sustainable urban communities. After graduating from the MPhil in Technology Policy at the Judge Business School with Distinction in 2009, she directly enrolled as a PhD student at the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD) at the Cambridge University Engineering Department. She is voluntarily involved in the Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment research project at the CSD and a number of Student Societies and networks in Cambridge, including GreenBRIDGE, Climate Histories and Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club.
Christina has also studied Music and she holds a Piano Soloist Degree and advanced music theory diplomas in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue. When she lived in Greece, she worked as a professional pianist and piano professor in a couple of conservatories.
Contact Christina on designsupport@shape-east.org.uk
Jane Baker
Jane Baker has a background in communications, public policy and urban planning. She has undergraduate degrees in political science and English from the University of California at Berkeley, a masters degree in journalism from Columbia University and a masters degree in urban planning (IDBE) from Cambridge University.
She has worked for the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, the Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust, the Untied Nations Environment Programme and Cambridge Phenomenon Ltd.
Jane is a fellow of the RSA and a volunteer gardener for English Heritage
Contact Jane on communications@shape-east.org.uk