Genista (Jenny) McIntosh has held a number of senior positions in major arts organisations She was Principal of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama from 2002-3 and Executive Director of the Royal National Theatre between 1990 and 1996 and again between 1997 and 2002. In 1997 she was briefly Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House.
Between 1972 and 1990 she held a number of posts at the Royal Shakespeare Company. She was a founder Trustee of NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) from 1998 to 2005 and currently serves on the Boards of Southbank Sinfonia, the Roundhouse Trust, the National Opera Studio and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Genista holds honorary doctorates from the University of York (1998), the University of Middlesex (2002) and City University (2002) and received an Honorary Fellowship from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2003. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1999 she was created a Life Peer, taking the title Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall, and now devotes most of her time to her work in the House of Lords.
Current role