Justine Simons OBE

Justine is Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, and has driven the cultural transformation of London for two decades. She was awarded an OBE in 2015 by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth for Services to Culture in London.

She led the capital’s biggest ever festival for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and is now overseeing its legacy, East Bank, a £1.1 billion development in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

Justine has grown the influence of London’s film, fashion, games and design on the world stage and established major firsts – new Creative Enterprise Zones, the London Borough of Culture and the first Cultural Infrastructure Plan. She established the Fourth Plinth as an exemplar and co-chairs London’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.

An active voice for culture on the global stage, she founded the World Cities Culture Forum – the principle leadership network on culture and the future of cities, now grown to over 40 global cities.