Stephen Mayes is Executive Director of the Tim Hetherington Trust. Across twenty-five years he has managed the work and careers of top-level photographers and artists in the diverse areas of art, fashion, photojournalism and commercial photography. As creative director and as CEO he has written successful business plans and reshaped operations for American, Asian and European imaging companies.
Stephen was Creative Director of eyestorm.com, working with artists such as Damien Hirst, Ed Ruscha, Richard Misrach. As Director of the Image Archive with Art + Commerce, he represented the archives of Robert Mapplethorpe, Steven Meisel, David LaChapelle and others. Stephen was part of the founding management team of Getty Images and his work as SVP and Group Creative Director helped to launch the company as the world’s commercially most successful image supplier. He has deep experience in world-shaping photojournalism as Director of Network Photographers in London and, most recently, as CEO of VII in New York, both high-profile co-operatives of leading photojournalists. From 2004 to 2012 he took an annual assignment as Secretary to the World Press Photo competition in Amsterdam.
Often described as a “futurist” Stephen has broadcast, taught and written extensively about the ethics and practice of photography.