OUR PEOPLE

Sagi Hartov

Executive Chairman & Co-Founder

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of the London College of Contemporary Arts Sagi Hartov is a successful international cellist who has taken part in festivals, concerts and competitions across the world, as well as recording soundtracks for the BBC and Universal Records.

He has been a member of the London Mozart Trio and is the founder of the Ernest Bloch classical competition.

Sagi also serves as Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at the Berlin School of Business and Innovation, as well as Chairman of HTK Academy (Hamburg) and Principal of Global University Systems Creative Arts.

Debi Hayes

Managing Director

Debi has worked in public and private higher education for over 25 years in a range of roles including Director of Partnerships – University of Greenwich, Dean of Creative Enterprise at University of the Arts and Provost at GSM London. Currently MD of LCCA and Principal of St. Patricks International College, Debi is committed to expanding opportunities for mature and non-traditional students. She is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Debi has contributed to national education agendas as a Teaching Excellence Framework assessor and as an advisor to the Department for Education on widening participation.

Prior to a career in higher education, Debi thrived in the fields of advertising and design, where she worked on behalf of clients to develop new products and devise effective communication strategies. Her academic publications span the arts, tourism and higher education policy and she is Deputy Editor of the Creative Industries Journal, an international publication that features cutting edge research by academics and practitioners. In her spare time, Debi makes ceramic pots, goes to the theatre and indulges her Cockerpoo, Oscar, with long walks.

Sadie Clayton

Fashion Course Director

Sadie Clayton trained in fashion design, specialising in copper metal and showcasing at LFW, PFW, MFW and SFW. Fascinated by design and innovation, Sadie took these foundations to explore the creative boundaries between art, fashion and technology, presenting collections at the Royal Academy of the Arts in a holographic form and creating bespoke content with Adobe films. She has also produced a number of sculptures for and with humanoid AI robots. Sadie has worked with various high-profile clients during her career, such as Tate Modern and Tate Britain, The Ivy, Sipsmith Gin, M&C Saatchi, Art Fund, Chanel 4 and Bonhams, to name a few. 

Embraced by the art world as a creator and innovator, Sadie has been involved with projects for London Craft Week, Singapore Design Week, Art Basel Miami, Design is Great NYC, delivering workshops/talks/panels to inspire and educate the audiences around the world.

Curtis Brown represents Sadie for TV & Radio commercials, as well as having her own creative studio in east London where she creates her copper metal sculptures and commissions for exhibitions and clients. 

Sadie has taught at universities in London and the North, and has led a sustainability project to the students at the Pearl Academy in New Delhi, India. Sadie is also a member of the FACE community – ‘Fashion academics creating equality’ within institutions. 

Maya Tayara

Course Director of Graphic Design

Maya Tayara is an award-winning visual and strategic designer and an expert in identity creation. With 20 years of experience in brand design and academia under her belt, she ensures theory and practice are applied within a collaborative class setting, keeping students at the center of her delivery.

In the design world, employability is all about a graduate's portfolio, proficiency, process, and persistence. Live briefs that present real-life experience and nurturing connections with design practitioners mold students into skilled graduates ready to start rewarding careers. With that in mind, workshops, site visits, and events are integrated into the curriculum seamlessly. She ensures students not only learn visual design, but also strategic thinking that helps them stand out in a competitive market as well as pursue postgraduate studies should they choose to.

Lachhuman Gurung

Course Director for Business

Lachhuman Gurung is a social entrepreneur and an innovative educator. Having over 18 years of experience in the business and international education sector, he has seen first-hand how powerful the experiential learning pedagogy is, and how important it is to promote teambuilding and enterprising skills so that learners can achieve their dreams.  

Gurung started his career as a part-time lecturer before opening his own educational institution in Nepal. Through sheer dedication, focus, perseverance, and self-belief he has completely transformed his life and empowers his students to do the same. He now proudly leads the Business School in one of the fastest growing institutions in London. 

Outside of work, he is an avid cyclist and has completed several long-distance charity ride challenges, including London to Brighton, London to Cambridge, and most recently London to Paris ride where he and his team managed to raise £7000 to support an orphanage children home in Nepal. He believes in giving back to the community and is actively engaged in community work, chairing the Nepalese Youth Association, UK, a voluntary social enterprise that works for the betterment of the local youth community.

Swati Dabas

Course Director of Hospitality

Swati Dabas is the Course Director of BA Hospitality Management and brings to the role her extensive experience in Hospitality and Business Administration.

She has spent over 25 years working within academia and the hospitality industry. She also has a keen interest in research.

Her background is in Hospitality and Business Administration with dual specialisation in Marketing and Human Resources. She has also worked with various international hotel brands such as Taj and Hyatt in various managerial roles in sales and marketing, events and hotel operations.

As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she constantly mentors and supports her colleagues and maintains a substantial network of industry relations to create experiential learning opportunities for LCCA students.

Chi Tan Ming

Business and Hospitality Lecturer

Chi has spent nearly two decades in the industry within various market sectors including home and lifestyle, hospitality and entertainment industry. Chi led Marketing and Sales teams for various companies with responsibilities for creating and leading on new product development.   Chi specialised in marketing and exhibition curation for the Sands in Las Vegas, Glee at the NEC Birmingham, Automicania in Frankfurt and various other global brands around the world using integrated marketing communications plans for successful outcomes.

Chi is the interim Lecturer for LCCA’s BA (Hons) Hospitality and Management and is a member of the Institute of Marketing Research. He holds a PGCE in education, a BA in Business and a Masters in Marketing.  Chi’s teaching interests lie in using augmented reality to enhance his teaching and learning experience to encourage student interaction and retention rates. 

Kofi Adjei Mensah

Lecturer in Foundation Business and EAP

Kofi has a background in Economics and Geography. He has been working in FE/HE in several UK Colleges for the past 10 years. He specialises in Business and English for Academic Purposes.

Martina Spetlova

Fractional Lecturer

Martina Spetlova is a fashion designer and lecturer with 10 years of experience in the industry. 

Since graduating from CSM Fashion MA, Martina has been running her own ethical fashion and accessories label, MartinaSpetlova.com, with a strong focus on sustainability, craftsmanship and innovation. She has been awarded a number of accolades such as Chloe textile awards, Leatherseller’s award and Selfridges’ Bright New Things.

She was recently selected for the Institute for Sustainable Leadership program and has been working with new technologies such a blockchain and looking at their application within the fashion industry.

Martina also has a significant amount of experience working with NGO’s and women artisan organisations and has been involved in several projects with an aim to empower women through craft. She is frequently invited as a guest speaker for talks on sustainability, blockchain and how to run ethical luxury fashion brands.

Troy Wise

Fractional Lecturer

Troy is a photographer with a background in marketing, photography, fashion and the creative industries. In 2009, he launched the fashion and entertainment website and media platform, Image Amplified, which provides thousands of visitors with daily updates on the fashion industry, magazine editorials and red carpet events.

Troy has always had a keen interest in communication that fuels curiosity, mainly focusing on analysing fashion, image, communication and social media. More specifically, Troy’s research interest lies in the social domain of Instagram where he explores how users negotiate cultural histories and trajectories when sharing their fashion choices. His most recent project investigates how a brand’s aesthetic contributes to performing networks on the social media platform.

Troy completed his PhD at UAL Central St Martins and he currently teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts.

Mohsin Raza

Foundation Lecturer

Mohsin has a strong background in Mathematics, Education, Hospitality and Business Management. He completed his BSc, B. ED in 2008 and then completed his MSc in International Business Management in 2010. After completing his M.Sc, he started working as a business analyst and marketing manager in a London-based Management Consultancy firm before he switched to teaching and started working as a lecturer in business management back in 2013.  He has worked with various HE institutions and Universities, across the UK. He holds particular expertise in the creation, implementation, and coordination of meaningful activities to promote learning in classrooms and has proven excellence in the development of strong rapport with students, colleagues, and administrators. Mohsin is a dedicated and inspirational lecturer with a knack for recognizing and encouraging individual growth.

Akin Oladimeji

Foundation Lecturer

Akin has taught in various settings over the last two decades. He currently teaches Visual Culture, and English for Academic Purposes. He has had various short stories, poems and art criticism published, some of which can be found on his blog: Akin Oladimeji (akiola1.dreamhosters.com).

Clare Payne

Fashion Lecturer

Having graduated from Kingston University London in 2012 with a first class degree, Clare has gone on to develop a strong, conceptual approach to design. This allowed a narrative to take form and guide the creative process, resulting in focused and innovative pieces. After her studies, Clare went on to complete work placements at studios including Simone Rocha and J.W Anderson before becoming a designer at luxury brand Karl Donoghue. It was during this time, Clare spent five years specialising in leather, shearling and fur design and learning the necessary skills to work across both ready-to-wear and product collections in this field. 

Most recently, Clare has concentrated her work towards the future of leather within the luxury market and its relevance and longevity within the fashion industry. Working closely with international tanneries and fashion academics, Clare is promoting the use of these natural materials and teaching the specific skillset involved to maintain the craft.

Linran Jiang

Subject Lead

Angela Nathoo

Student Disability and Wellbeing Officer

Angela has corporate and private industry experience in Human Resources and education management training , she has specialist experience in Social emotional mental health and special education needs in mainstream education along with higher education and is a trainee counsellor.