Lord Puttnam Announces Lord Falconer as New Chairman of The Sage Gateshead

(Press release.)

Lord Puttnam of Queensgate today [28 November] stepped down as chairman of The Sage Gateshead after five years and welcomed Lord Falconer of Thoroton as his successor. Lord Puttnam will continue his association with The Sage Gateshead as a patron of the 10^th Birthday Endowment Campaign.

Lord Puttnam said: “I’m thrilled that on my final day as Chairman I can introduce both Lord Falconer as an exceptional new Chairman to guide The Sage Gateshead in its next stage of development. And in these challenging times, the leadership that I have no doubt that Charlie Falconer will bring will steer this company to even greater success.’’

Lord Puttnam added that whilst he was standing down as Chairman, he would be continuing his association with The Sage Gateshead as Patron of the Tenth Birthday Endowment Campaign to help raise the new £6m Endowment over the next three years.

Lord Falconer, politician, barrister and former Lord Chancellor, said: “It is an honour to take over the chairmanship of this great company from Lord Puttnam. Both he and Tony Pender, the founding Chair, have laid such strong foundations over the first eight years creating in an extraordinarily short period a leading international arts company based in the heart of Tyneside. David Puttnam has brought great wisdom and vision during his years as Chairman. I look forward to working with the team to continue to grow our reputation as a place for everyone to enjoy, learn and experience music”.

Of his five years as Chairman of The Sage Gateshead, Lord Puttnam said: “It has been an extraordinary five years. It gives me enormous satisfaction to see the national and international reputation the company has gained, both for performance and education work. Whilst the education work is having a very real effect on the lives of people in the North of England, we've seen companies from Brazil to China admiring and being inspired by what is done here.”

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Lord Falconer, a barrister for Gibson Dunn, was Housing, Planning and Regeneration Minister in 2001 and, in 2002, he became Criminal Justice Minister. In 2003, Lord Falconer became Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor. In 2007, he became the first Secretary of State for Justice, bringing together courts, prisons and justice policy for the first time.  Lord Falconer stepped down from his ministerial posts when Tony Blair was succeeded by Gordon Brown as prime minister.

(Watch this space - Lance.)