Fran Sanderson - Head of Arts & Culture Innovation Lab, Nesta (National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts) (UK)

Fran heads up the Arts, Culture and Creativity team at Nesta, and also has primary responsibility for the Arts Impact Fund, a £7m initiative backed by Arts Council England, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Nesta. Along with Seva Phillips, she advocates for social investment in arts and culture, promotes the fund, undertakes due diligence on prospective fund applicants, manages a portfolio of social investments and looks after funder relationships.

Fran went into fund management at JPMorgan following an MA in Philosophy and Maths and periodic work in charity administration and fundraising. After this, she took a career break during which she travelled around Europe and settled for a year living off-grid in Portugal with her young family. On her return, she started working at Big Society Capital as an investment director, where she worked on a wide variety of social investment deals.

Fran is also Treasurer of Cambridge House, a settlement in Walworth, South London, and works closely with UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, in a non-exec capacity.

Fran is passionate about literature and creative writing, and is a member of the National Academy of Writing. She also enjoys music, theatre and dance as an enthusiastic observer.