John French
COO & Programme Director
A creative tinkerer, cerebral thinker and Social Marketer in training. John has over a decade of experience working as a marketing professional across both the public and private sectors in a range of industries including major national museums and galleries, local authorities, market research and events management. Having cut his teeth creating and managing national campaigns for major exhibitions for organisations such as Royal Museums Greenwich and the British Library John brings a creative flair to event programming and is passionate about bringing content to delegates which inspires, engages and provokes positive social change. Has beard.
Sarah Whitehead
Events Director
Sarah knows events. 20 years of meticulous event planning, organising and managing have taught her to always expect the unexpected. She has managed events from Arizona to Yorkshire, from Annecy to New York and a few weird and wonderful places in between.
Her attention to detail is second to none (well maybe except Rose!). Her calm nature and can-do attitude when facing the daily challenges of organising events will ease you through the most challenging of tasks. Keynote Speaker left at the Cowboy Ranch? Meeting with the head of the Turkish Military? Delegates stuck at American customs? Nothing she can’t handle and all with a smile on her face.
Simran Budesha
Events Manager
Simran blends enthusiasm (it’s infectious!) and resourcefulness with a wealth of experience working across many areas of the events industry from hotels, venues to managing high end-corporate clients around the UK & abroad. Simran is passionate about delivering for her clients and brings a huge level of commitment to continuous improvement and increasing the quality standards of every project she engages with.
Matt Wilson
Founder & Trustee
Matt has worked in the events industry for over 25 years. He’s managed, promoted and produced global sales incentives, international sports events, awards ceremonies and everything in between.
Matt set up Fuse in 2013, building on what he’d learned from working on projects with Social Enterprise UK, Co-operatives UK and the National Social Marketing Centre, with a simple goal to create positive change by bringing people together and learning from each other.
He spends most of his free time walking his dogs, riding rollercoasters with his daughter, cycling, and watching Liverpool FC conquer the world (sometimes).
Although Matt no longer takes a role in the day to day operaiton of Fuse he is still very much part of the team as a senior freelancer, advisor, mentor and consultant. After a lifetime in the events industry Matt took the opportunity in 2020 to attend University for the first time and pursue a career in Social Care, an area of work he and Fuse are passionate about.