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 two young sons.
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 13 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 board member for Groundwork North East & Cumbria.
Having delivered events in nearly every sector and industry, Sarah co-founded BeaconHouse Events in 2014. Sarah is an expert in event production with particular strengths in financial management, programme curation, proof reading and business strategy development.
Catherine Coulter
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 for over a decade, 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. 2019 saw Catherine join the A-List for industry professionals by C&IT.
Sophie Flanagan
Event and Marketing Manager
Sophie brings almost a decade of marketing and event experience to the team. Her studies in ‘Marketing and Management’ at Newcastle University along with a placement year in events launched her into an impressive seven-year career in the theatre and arts as a Marketing Executive.
Sophie joined BeaconHouse Events in 2017 as the Marketing and Event Manager, producing a wide range of events from film festivals to international medical conferences. When she’s not doing the do on events she’s working her magic on brand development for clients and BeaconHouse alike – if you see a snap you like on our social, Sophie was behind it. Her love of fashion and beauty makes Sophie the perfect lead on our creative events; as well as making sure we all dress to impress on events.
Bex Rankin
Event Manager
Following a degree in Event and Sports Event Management at Leeds Metropolitan University Bex jumped straight into working on huge productions with the BBC such as BAFTA winning film ‘Hunger’ and BBC Drama ‘The Invisibles’ (highlights include a spot of salsa dancing with Michael Fassbender and working with Steve McQueen). Moving into to a more specific events role Bex worked on the delivery of BBC Summer Show, Chelsea Flower Show and the Good Food Show. An impressive start to a career working in events across UK and Australia for over a decade creating exhibitions, conferences and experiential events for clients such as Diagio, TRO, RIBA Enterprises, NB Medical Education and mass participation sports events such as Great North Run, Great North Swim and Great City Games.
Clare Nicholson
Account Manager
If you’ve attended an event hosted by BeaconHouse Events you’ll be well accustomed to our legendary warm welcome and tip-top customer service. Clare wrote the book on it! Working in customer service and events for twenty years across venues such as, Matfen Hall, Merchant Taylors Hall and Bateaux London makes her the perfect addition to head up our membership services.
Clare loves the fast-paced, dynamic environment of the industry where no two days are the same and she can be part of creating memorable experiences. Dynamites, an awards ceremony that Clare has led for five years has recently been shortlisted in the ‘Best Technology Award’ category at the national ‘Awards Awards’.
Katie Whitehouse
Event Coordinator
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 too, 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
Sophie Mazrekaj
Account Coordinator
Following a degree in English Studies and Publishing at Oxford Brookes University, Sophie moved to London to study Fashion & Lifestyle Journalism at the London College of Fashion. A career in magazine publishing ensued.
In her most recent role as Subscriptions & Marketing Manager for a boutique publisher in Chelsea, Sophie worked on numerous events, including managing the company’s presence at various trade shows such as Autosport International, the London Boat Show and Southampton Boat Show.
After over 16 years in the Big Smoke, Sophie returned to her native Newcastle; joining the BeaconHouse Events team as Account Coordinator for Dynamo in 2019. Sophie brings a wealth of direct marketing and subscriptions/membership management experience to the team.
Rachel Dickinson
Event Assistant
Rachel is currently our placement student on loan to us from Northumbria University where she studies Tourism and Events Management. With experience working on events around the country and recently overseas to the US of A for RoosterTeeth and their event RTX, she has found a way to combine her two favourite hobbies; events and gaming, giving her the best of both worlds.
From her time at university Rachel has gained experience planning and running events from volunteer recruitment days for the Great Exhibition of the North to working with Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership to plan a historical tour around the region.
When not travelling Rachel can be found either at Middlesbrough football ground or at home with a good cup of tea.