Performers at the Heart of BECS
BECS’ decisions are centred around performers – made by performers, for the benefit of performers. Our aim is to ensure performers are paid for their work being used outside the terms of their original contract. All major decisions are made by our Board of Directors, or the Supervisory Committee and endorsed by our members at the General Meetings.
Board of Directors
Jean Rogers
Chair Person
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is a founder member of Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre. Jean has worked in TV for over 40 years and has over 1000 BBC Radio broadcasts in her repertoire. She is popularly known as regular character Dolly Skilbeck in Emmerdale.
Jean has also worked tirelessly with BECS since 1998 and has acted as BECS Chairwoman from 2008-2014 and 2016 to date. Jean was recently awarded the TUC Women’s Gold Badge Award for her work on gender equality.
Kevin Francis
Vice Chair
Kevin Francis worked for a number of agents and casting directors before joining forces with Susan Angel in 1989. He is now Managing Director of Angel & Francis and represents actors and creatives working in television, film and theatre. He is a member of BAFTA and as a long-standing member of the Personal Managers’ Association he has, over the years, keenly supported efforts to fight any attempts to erode performers’ rights. As a director of the BECS board, he hopes to be able to lend his support to the continuing demand for fair remuneration and equality for all performers.
Tayyiba Nasser
Chief Executive Officer
is a multi-disciplinary business leader with senior executive and financial management experience. She is a qualified accountant with over 20 years’ post qualification experience. Tayyiba joined BECS as Finance Manager and Company Secretary in 2007. Prior to that she worked for large global corporates and in the banking sector. Since joining BECS, Tayyiba has been instrumental in the overhaul of all systems and internal controls. In 2017, Tayyiba’s role was expanded to Chief Operating Officer and she was responsible for all operations from Member Relationship Management. Finance, Distributions, IT systems, Marketing and Staff Management.
In May 2020 she was promoted to CEO and has already implemented initiatives to develop members’ rights and is establishing new and improving national and international relationships.
Andy Herrity
(Alternate for Kevin Francis)
Andy is from Dublin. He first came to the industry playing in musicals. He spent six years working for the formidable agent Joyce Edwards before moving to Kerry Gardner Management, which became Gardner Herrity Ltd In 2004. Andy is a member of BAFTA and the Personal Managers Association and believes that the work of BECS in these unsettling times is more urgent now than ever.
Fiona Branson
Fiona Branson is a Reading University Film & TV graduate, who works as an actor, musician and director for decades. Fiona believes that there should be more education and awareness of performer’s rights, which she would assert as human rights, in order to guarantee equitable treatment for all, irrespective of race, class, gender, sexuality or disability. She believes the work of BECS is fundamental to ensuring performers are treated fairly and equally
Jo Cameron Brown
is an experienced actress and internationally recognised dialect and dialogue coach. She combines a successful acting career, recently – There She Goes, The Christmas Switch, Follies, The Guid Sisters; with dialect coaching- Wonder Woman, Elizabeth is Missing, Peaky Blinders, Wheel of Time
Edinburgh born and bred, Jo studied at the RSAMD, now RS Conservatoire and as a post-graduate in Voice and Dialect Studies at Central in London.
Peter Barnes
began his professional acting career in 1967 and attended RADA from 1972-74. He works mainly in Television, Theatre, Films and Commercials. Favourite roles include Captain Lancey in the first London productions of Translations at Hampstead Theatre and at the National, and Angus in the European premiere of The Drawer Boy in Vienna. His role on the board of BECS also draws on his experiences with co-operative agencies.
Robin Browne
(Alternate for Peter Barnes)
began his career in 1965 and has appeared in repertory throughout the UK. He has featured in several national and international tours with the Peter Hall company. His television and audio work over the past 40 years has been extensive. He co-founded The Harry Partnership LLP – a communications skills company, lectured in Broadcasting at Middlesex University and was associate producer of the world premiere of the Vivienne Ellis award winning musical Bon Voyage. He is married with three sons and lives in North London.
Ryan Early
Ryan trained at Drama Centre London and has been a TV, Theatre, Film and Radio actor for over 25 years. Recently he has been regular characters in Almost Never (BBC) Coronation Street (ITV) and The Archers on Radio 4. Ryan has acted on stage in London, throughout the UK and New York. He lives between London and Frome, Somerset. Ryan has been on the BECS Board since 2023 and continues to promote BECS great work amongst the acting community.
Sam Swann
Sam trained at LAMDA and performs mostly on stage, television and radio. His TV credits include Dune: Prophecy (HBO); Mr Selfridge (ITV), The Five (Sky), Bob The Builder (Channel 5) and One Day (Netflix).
Sam has been active with the Equity Union since joining the Equity Young Members Committee in 2019, and is pleased to start on the BECS board in 2026 – to continue to advocate for UK performers.
Supervisory Committee
This committee is appointed by the members to provide the supervisory function to monitor the activities and performance of the management team of BECS. As per our Articles, the committee is made up of the Board of Directors, excluding the CEO.
Code of Practice
BECS has adopted a voluntary Code of Practice to support provision of its services to its members and others with whom it deals.
This can be found by clicking the button below.
The Code of Practice includes information about complaints procedures.
Articles of Association
The current Articles of Association of BECS, as adopted by Special Resolution passed at the Twenty First Annual General meeting of BECS held on Friday 6th December 2019, can be found by following the link below:
To see previous versions of our Articles of Association please see our archive.
Last week, Tayyiba was in Geneva at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights as part of her role as the President of GAVA
Tayyiba said "it was a privilege to represent AV performers and contribute to vital discussions on their rights and protections"
