Ciara Eastell is an experienced senior leader working within the cultural, HE and social enterprise sectors. She runs a consultancy and coaching business, where her work typically focuses on supporting CEOs and senior teams to lead their teams effectively through change and transition.

Since 2019, Ciara has also worked as a Professor of Practice at the University of Exeter Business School, where she leads on external engagement for the Centre for Leadership. She facilitates a number of networks across the Business School, teaches on both the MBA and Level 7 Senior Leader programme and hosts the Leading Edge series, which attracts some of the country’s leading thinkers.

She was the founding Chief Executive of Libraries Unlimited, the charity that runs 54 libraries across Devon and Torbay. She led Libraries Unlimited’s development and growth during its first 3 years. During Ciara’s tenure, the organisation was selected as one of 50 organisations recognised by Nesta and the Observer as a ‘New Radical’. In recognition of her national work as President of the Society of Chief Librarians (2014-16), she was awarded an OBE in 2017.

Ciara was a National Council member of Arts Council England from 2018 – 2022, contributing to the development of Let’s Create as well as the organisation’s response during the pandemic. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Sheffield in 2019 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

She was one of the original Clore Fellows, almost 20 years ago, benefitting from support to build her leadership skills and her cultural networks at a formative time in her career.