Ben Whur

Interim Managing Director

I’ve been fortunate to have a diverse and interesting career. Early on I discovered that training to be a telephone engineer wasn’t for me and that being in the union and part-time youth worker were much more inspiring.  

These experiences led to a career in social care and social housing, leading drug treatment, HIV and supported housing organisations. Leading organisational change was a key feature of my work and I moved into consulting and interim leadership roles in health, housing and central Government.  

In 2011 I took on a role at the General Medical Council delivering major change to the ways doctors were regulated. Subsequently, after a year on secondment at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, I made the decision to make a complete career change and set up an event production agency called Proud Events. The business designs and delivers music and entertainment events across the world. 

Proud Events may seem like an unusual direction, but I’ve been involved in community activism and events from a young age. In 2005 I joined Pride in London as a volunteer and helped deliver the conference with Amnesty International supporting Pride organisers in hostile environments. I led the volunteer team at Pride in London for several years, delivering the annual event, until retiring in 2014. So, Proud Events wasn’t such a leap. 

My role is to lead Stonewall through a period of change and get ourselves into a sustainable long term position to continue an important programme of work and campaigning.