Senior commercial operator & adviser
Commercial leadership for growth-stage consumer businesses.
BCG-trained. Chief Commercial Officer and Board Director at Secret Cinema through its $100m exit, then CCO at State of Play Hospitality across the UK and US.
Available to founders, investors and CEOs for interim commercial leadership, advisory, or a defined project.
Track record
Click a card for the detail.
State of Play Hospitality
CCO · 2023–2025
The social entertainment group behind Flight Club USA, Hijingo and Bounce: 13 sites, UK and US.
State of Play Hospitality
Commercial leadership across the group. I led the UK team across sales, marketing and digital, set the pricing strategy, delivered a complete brand redesign, and owned customer insight and experience. I also rebuilt the Hijingo tech stack, created new differentiated shows, and led the product team behind the group's game technology, including its AI-enabled ping pong tables.
Secret Cinema
CCO & Board Director · 2016–2023
On the board within a year, through private equity investment to the $100m acquisition in 2022.
Secret Cinema
I held commercial ownership of the UK business across seven years, building the sales, marketing and brand functions from scratch. Audiences doubled to 120,000+ per production, and I led the shows into the US and China with P&L ownership, including a 300,000-attendee production in Los Angeles.
Before that
BCG · INSEAD · Oxford
Five years at BCG, an MBA from INSEAD and an MSc in Economics from Oxford.
Before that
At The Boston Consulting Group I worked on growth strategy, pricing, range and brand positioning, and commercial due diligence for private equity transactions across consumer, retail and media. Earlier still, a senior economist advising the government of Papua New Guinea, where I learned to navigate genuinely complex stakeholder environments.
Known for: P&L ownership · sales and marketing · pricing and revenue optimisation · product and proposition innovation · customer experience · international expansion · scaling teams · AI-native ways of working.
Sectors: location-based experiences, retail, leisure, hospitality and entertainment.
Working through something like this in your own business?
Let's talkWork with me
Commercial leadership
Stepping in on an interim basis to lead the commercial agenda for a defined period, with full accountability from first day to handover.
Advisory
Ongoing advice for a founder, investor or CEO on strategy, proposition, pricing and growth.
Commercial sprints
A focused commercial diagnostic or value-creation project. For example, a proposition redesign, a pricing review, or a growth assessment.
Not sure which shape fits? Start with a conversation.
Get in touchWhat people say
"What has always impressed me most about Nicola is her commercial judgement. She has an excellent instinct for balancing strategic opportunity with operational reality and combines that with a remarkable ability to get things done."
"Nicola has a superb analytical intelligence. She sees opportunity and risk and works to capture one and offset the other. A key figure in the very successful sale of Secret Cinema."
Speaking & media
I speak on leadership, value creation and commercial excellence in consumer and experience businesses.
Get in touch
The best way to reach me is email or LinkedIn.
Based in London. Working with businesses across the UK and internationally, in person or remotely. Questions first? They're answered here.
Looking forward to hearing from you,Nicola
