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EXCLUSIVE: The London Film School (LFS) has been hit with a new round of senior managerial exits.
Dan Lawson, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, and Véronique Fricke, the longstanding Head of Marketing and Student Recruitment, have resigned from their positions. The pair announced their departures at a recent managerial meeting. The rest of the school and staff have yet to be informed of Lawson’s resignation.
Lawson will leave the school on October 31. An interim COO will be appointed. Veronique will leave on November 1 for a new position at a higher education institution. Senior Communications Manager Holly Blake will be appointed Acting Head of Marketing.
The exit of Lawson and Fricke comes shortly after Neil Peplow resigned from his position as CEO just ten months after taking the post. Peplow has been replaced by Chris Auty, who joins from the National Film and Television School, where he has been a senior Head of Department for the past ten years. Auty doesn’t take office until November. He will be the school’s third CEO in two years.
Peplow is said to have left the LFS to take up what the school described as a “senior international role in the film industry.” A source close to activities at LFS told Deadline that one of Peplow’s first acts as CEO in January was to appoint a school-wide Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Manager. The position is currently held by former Warner Bros. Discovery EDI exec Dee Kerai.
“We would like to thank Dan and Veronique hugely for all their hard work over the last eight years,” Greg Dyke, Chair of London Film School, said. “They are leaving the school in a much better place, and we wish them well in their new positions. In the meantime, we are appointing an interim COO to support Chris Auty, the incoming CEO, with the transition and look forward to his imminent arrival when he will start to appoint his new team around him.”
Before joining the London Film School, Lawson was Partnership Manager for Creative Skillset. He also ran a film and TV investment fund that supported production and development, acting as executive producer on features and TV dramas such as One Mile Away, Line of Duty, and Dancing on the Edge. He has been LFS COO since 2018.
Fricke previously worked in the financial sector before taking posts at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Leeds Conservatoire. At the LFS, she led student recruitment alongside managing the school’s brand profile. Fricke has been in post at LFS since 2015.
Commenting on his departure, Lawson said: “During my time at LFS I have had the pleasure of working alongside a huge number of talented staff and students. I’m confident the school will go on to a new period of progression with the new team in place.”
Fricke added: “It is with a heavy heart that I move on to a new position, leaving behind a hard-working and hugely talented team. The work that comes from the staff and students of LFS is unmatched and I look forward to hearing about their continued success.”
London Film School boasts alums such as Michael Mann, Horace Ove, and Carla Simón.
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