Sarah Thackray

Director

A linguist at heart and a perfectionist by nature. Originally from London, Sarah moved to Newcastle to study modern languages at Newcastle University. Having fallen in love with the region Sarah now lives on the coast with her family.

Having previously lived and worked in both Spain and France, Sarah began her career in the North East as a relocation consultant with IBM. Strengths in project management and communication skills made for a natural transition into the events industry. Sarah has spent over 17 years working on a range of conferences and events across the UK as well as in the Middle East.

Holding PRINCE2 and Chartered Institute of Marketing qualifications, Sarah is an established and experienced events and conference specialist. Sarah is also a Voluntary Director and Chair of the charity Groundwork North East & Cumbria's trading company. She is also a Director of tech network Dynamo North East CIC.

Having delivered events in nearly every sector and industry, Sarah co-founded BeaconHouse Events in 2014. Sarah is an expert in growth strategy and finance with particular strengths in event strategy, budget management, programme curation, and stakeholder management.

sarah@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Catherine Duhaut

Director

After exploring radio and television at University, an MSc in Project Management solidified a future in large-scale project management for Catherine. Working in event management since 2007, organising and running events across the UK.

Starting out specialising in the production of outdoor events helped to establish Catherine’s reputation for meticulous attention to detail and high-level management of complex projects. Referrals and recommendations soon opened opportunities to diversify the range of clients available and saw the creation of BeaconHouse Events.

In 2014, Catherine co-founded BeaconHouse Events and has since been focusing on attracting talent to bring together a fantastic, dedicated team to cope with the delivery of the growing event portfolio. BeaconHouse Events now delivers over one hundred events annually to a wide range of loyal clients, which Catherine manages alongside her continuing interest in developing new event ideas and business development.

Catherine has enjoyed working with clients across the medical, sport, technology, finance, automotive, scientific and media industries, managing large budgets and events for up to 24,000 attendees. Catherine stays connected to industry best practice, joining the A-List for industry professionals by C&IT, being a full PCO Member with the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers and attending industry events nationwide.

catherine@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Sophie Flanagan

Senior Event Manager

Sophie is an event and people engagement specialist with over 13 years experience, agency and in-house, leading large, high-impact events for clients across B2B industries.

Since joining BeaconHouse Events in 2017, Sophie has been producing a wide range of events from internal company celebrations to international digital conferences, and successfully developed new virtual and colleague engagement offerings to counter Covid-19 impacts.

Outside the event world, Sophie can be found extolling the virtues of all-year-round daily SPF, yes, even in Newcastle upon Tyne.

sophie@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Katie Whitehouse

Event Manager

A staunch ‘boro supporter, Katie moved to Newcastle to be close to the grounds where her beloved football team play. Lucky for us her passion and enthusiasm doesn’t stop with the sport, we challenge you to meet anyone as focused as Katie – she puts her head down and gets through a task list at light speed.

Katie’s background from working in venue management makes her the perfect onsite manager, there is no problem she can’t find the solution to, her tireless energy and non-stop enthusiasm is welcomed when working with nervous speakers and anxious exhibitors. She’s the smile at registration and the force behind our recruitment, since starting at BeaconHouse Katie has developed a trusted pool of volunteers who share her work ethics and help make the events run seamlessly.

katie@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Katie McNeill

Project Coordinator

Katie is a seasoned event management professional with over a decade of experience organising conferences, trade shows, meetings and weddings. Taking a break from the industry whilst raising a young family, Katie pursued her creative interests and set up an upholstery business which she managed successfully for six years.

In early 2023 Katie was lured back to the world of events, joining the BeaconHouse team to support in the delivery of the inaugural TechNExt festival, and her passion for fast-paced event management was reignited! She eagerly embraced the opportunity to stay on and Katie now brings her expertise, keen eye for detail and steady hand to lots of client events within the BeaconHouse portfolio.

Katie lives at the coast with her family and enjoys paddle-boarding, surfing (still a work in progress!) and pottering at home with her upholstery projects.

katiem@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Rebekah Hutchinson

Project Coordinator

A curious creative, Rebekah has over 7 years experience within the design and trend forecasting industry, working with clients across the UK, Europe, US, and China. Her strengths in relationship building, communication, and project management made for a natural transition into the events industry. Rebekah is extremely proactive, has a keen eye for detail and is always seeking out newness, which means you can always count on her bringing fresh ideas to the table. Her enthusiasm and positive attitude to any task will help events run smoothly.

In her spare time, you will find Rebekah hiking mountains, practising yoga or seeking out the newest hot spot for coffee and cake.

rebekah@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Ashley Wallace

Executive Assistant / Office Manager

Ashley relocated from tranquil Malvern to Newcastle for a new personal challenge and to be closer to her family roots (and beloved football team!)

With over 5 years of experience in Senior Executive Support, business operations and finance, Ashley’s satisfaction comes from streamlining business processes to maximise efficiency and keep everything on the ‘back end’ in running order so the rest of the team can make best use of their time event planning, onsite and focusing on new business opportunities - doing it with a light heart and sense of humour.

In her spare time, Ashley enjoys keeping active in the gym, walking and watching football. She is also a massive foodie and dog lover, still visiting her Labrador cross, Eddie at home as much as possible to get her dog fix!

ashley@beaconhouse-events.co.uk

Alice Adams

Project Coordinator

From a stint studying and practicing architecture, Alice found she enjoyed working on collaborative and cross-disciplinary creative projects and decided to veer from the path to becoming an architect. Alice then spent a number of years working in creative and community arts based settings, whilst studying for a Creative Industries Management MA.

Alice joined the team at BeaconHouse Events after a number of years working in Membership Experience at the Royal Institute of British Architects, where she supported North East members and delivered a variety of regional and national events and initiatives.

In her spare time, Alice is a trustee and player of the North Tyneside Steelband and enjoys rehearsing and performing with the band regularly.

alice@beaconhouse-events.co.uk