Dr. Susan Kay-Williams has served as chief executive of the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) since 2007. During this time, she has introduced a hand embroidery degree and diploma, updated the tutor training program for aspiring RSN teachers and launched the school’s online program. Since 2011, she has curated bi-annual exhibitions at the RSN’s base in Hampton Court Palace. In 2022, Susan curated the content of the Royal School of Needlework’s 150th Anniversary Exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London and wrote the book on RSN’s history titled An Unbroken Thread. 
 
With a research interest in the history of dyes in textiles, Dr. Kay-Williams is a qualified Arts Society lecturer, a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers and the author of The Story of Colour in Textiles. She is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and president-elect of the Society of Dyers and Colourists.