UCEA Board Membership
UCEA was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (number 02914327) on 30 March 1994. The four members of the company are the CUC, GuildHE, Universities Scotland and Universities UK.
Board membership comprises Vice-Chancellors, Principals and University Council Chairs or members nominated by the four members. The Board includes six CUC representatives, two GuildHE representatives, two Universities Scotland representatives and eight UUK representatives. This ensures that the Board membership is representative of subscribing institutions. UCEA is a membership organisation which all Universities and HE Colleges in the UK
UCEA Board membership (at September 2011)
Chair of the Board
Professor Paul Curran, Vice-Chancellor, City University London
Paul joined City University London in 2010 having served previously as Vice-Chancellor at Bournemouth University and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton. He received a BSc from the University of Sheffield in 1976, an MBA from the University of Southampton in 1998 and PhD and DSc from the University of Bristol in 1979 and 1991 respectively. Appointed to the Chair in Physical Geography at the University of Swansea in 1990 Paul had previously held a research post with the NASA Ames Research Center in California, and academic posts at the Universities of Sheffield and Reading. At the University of Southampton, from 1993, he held the Chair in Physical Geography, was Head of Geography, Dean of Science and Head of Winchester School of Art before being appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Paul is a member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and its Audit Committee and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Board and its Audit Committee. He chaired the HEFCE Higher Education Workforce Steering Group and is President of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society.
Deputy Chairs
Professor John Brooks, Vice-Chancellor, Manchester Metropolitan University
John has been Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University since 2005, following seven years as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton and various posts at Sheffield Hallam University. John gained his Physics degrees from the University of Sheffield and has an interest in the development of vocational education and the improvement of educational opportunities at all levels. He was heavily involved in regeneration in the Black Country and established the Wolverhampton-Telford Technology Corridor. He is a member of the Scrutiny Panel for Degree Awarding Powers and University Title for the QAA. John sits on the Board of UUK, and is a member of the Longterm Strategy Group.
Paul Jagger MBE, Pro Chancellor and Chair of Council, University of Bradford
Pro Chancellor and Chair of Council at the University of Bradford, Paul is also Vice Chair of the CUC. He has a long career within the trade union movement, including ten years at the National Union of Public Employees, and between 1984 and 2005 was Regional Secretary for Yorkshire and Humberside TUC. Paul is also a Non Executive Director and Vice Chair of Yorkshire and the Humber Learning and Skills Council, Member of the LSC National Capital Committee, Chair of Barnsley Community Solutions, a board member of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Chair of Sheffield PCT Provider Services. He was Vice Chair of Sheffield Hallam University's Board of Governors between 1998 and 2002 and was awarded an MBE for services in the Trade Union movement in 2002.
Directors
Keir Bloomer, Chair of Court, Queen Margaret University
A CUC nominee, Keir joined the UCEA Board on the 1 November 2010. He is an independent education consultant, Chair of the Tapestry Partnership, Vice-convenor of Children in Scotland and Chair of the Dunblane Development Trust. During a long career in local government, he was Director of Education and subsequently Chief Executive of Clackmannanshire Council, a post from which he retired in May 2007. He was a member of the review group which wrote “A Curriculum for Excellence”, Scotland’s national curriculum policy statement, having previously been one of the advisers to the Scottish Parliament in connection with its Inquiry into the purposes of education. At various times he has been Vice-Chair of Learning and Teaching Scotland, Depute General Secretary of the EIS and a member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
Richard Bullock, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Nottingham Trent University
Richard has been Chairman of NTU since September 2009. He was educated at Henry Mellish Grammar School, Nottingham and Christ Church, Oxford (MA in Modern History) before working for the National Coal Board as a management trainee, an industrial relations officer and Assistant Secretary of Coal Products Ltd before returning to study law at what is now Nottingham Trent University and Liverpool John Moores University.
Richard is Head of Legal Practice at Freeth Cartwright solicitors, working in commercial litigation, especially employment law. The firm has over 430 staff in Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Birmingham and Manchester, with over 80 partners. He is Vice President of Newstead Colliery Welfare Band, Under Sheriff - Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and Deputy Lieutenant – Nottinghamshire and was also Secretary and a Council Member of the Shrievalty Association.
Professor Keith Burnett CBE, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Sheffield
Keith became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield on 1 October 2007. He is an eminent scientist with an outstanding leadership track record. Before moving to Sheffield, Professor Burnett was Head of the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences at the University of Oxford. Prior to that he was Chairman of Physics at Oxford, where he enjoyed a successful career of almost 20 years. His academic career started in Colorado, United States, as a research associate at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, he went on to become an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was a Lecturer in the Physics Department at Imperial College for four years before returning to Oxford in 1987 as a university Lecturer in Physics & Fellow of St John´s College. Keith is also a member of the Employers Pensions Forum.
Professor Steve Chapman, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Heriot-Watt University
Steve has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University since September 2009. Following the receipt of his Ph.D. from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1983, Steve moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a NATO fellowship. In 1986 he took up a lectureship at the University of Edinburgh where he worked as Head of the School of Chemistry between 2000 and 2005. Steve was made Edinburgh’s Vice-Principal for Planning, Resources and Research Policy in 2006. Steve received the Interdisciplinary Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry for his ground-breaking work at the interface of Chemistry and Biology in 2001 and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2005.
Geoff Dawson, Chair of the Board of Governors, Sheffield Hallam University
Geoff joined the Board of Sheffield Hallam University in 2006 and became Chair of its Board of Governors in March 2010. He has been a senior executive in global organisations providing strategic consulting and IT services. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and Loughborough University, where he read Mechanical Engineering and played 1st XI cricket, his early career encompassed technical roles with British Rail, GEC and British Aerospace, before joining Scicon, the IT subsidiary of BP in 1979. He took up his first Director level role, in Sales and Marketing, in the mid 80’s. Wide international business experience followed, living and working in more than 30 different countries including five years in Singapore as a Regional Director for Electronic Data Systems. On retiring early from EDS in 2006, he re-entered university life, obtaining an MA in Ancient History from UCL. He is also the Chairman of Sporrance Ltd, a management consulting company.
Professor Les Ebdon CBE, Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive, University of Bedfordshire
Appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Luton in 2003, Les led the successful merger with the Bedford faculty of De Montfort University to form the new University of Bedfordshire in 2006. Previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Plymouth, he championed the establishment the Peninsula Medical School. He obtained both his BSc and PhD at Imperial College, London and his research interests are in environmental analytical chemistry. Les is Chair of Million+, the Association of Universities in the East of England and the Universities UK Student Experience Policy Committee. Les is also a member of the Universities UK Board, the Universities UK Health and Social Policy Committee and the Universities UK Expansion Project Steering Group. He also serves on the Editorial Boards of the British Journal of Higher Education in Further Education and the Times Higher Education.
Professor Chris Gaskell, Principal, Royal Agricultural College
Principal of The Royal Agricultural College since 2007, Chris is a University of Bristol veterinary science graduate where he also obtained his PhD and held the post of Lecturer. He was appointed Professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool; Dean of the Faculty from 1995-2001, and was appointed as Pro Vice Chancellor in 2003. Chris is currently Chairman of the Chief Scientific Adviser’s (CSA) Science Advisory Council (SAC) for Defra, and has been involved in reports to the CSA on science and policy and on social research. He is a member of the CSA for Wales’ SAC, was appointed Vice-Chair of GuildHE in 2009, and is also Chairman of the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council’s Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Panel, a Board Member of the Countryside and Community Research Institute, is a member of the Board of the Animal Health Trust and of the BBC’s Rural Affairs Advisory Committee.
Professor Sir Peter Gregson, President and Vice-Chancellor, Queen's University Belfast
President at Queen's University Belfast since 2004, Peter also serves on the Northern Ireland Economic Development Forum, the Council of CBI Northern Ireland and the Steering Group of the US - Ireland Research and Development Partnership. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of Belfast, a Non Executive Director of the Rolls Royce Group plc; a Fellow and Council Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering and a Companion of the Management Institute. Peter was formerly Professor of Aerospace Materials and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton and has served on the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC).
Mrs Julie Lydon, Vice-Chancellor, University of Glamorgan
Julie was appointed to the position of Vice Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan on 5 April 2010. She previously held the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University which she joined in April 2006. She commenced her career in HE in 1989 at the University of Wolverhampton Business School, which she joined as a lecturer progressing through promotion to the post of Associate Dean. In 2003 she moved to a directorate role at the University of the West of England, where she was an Assistant Vice Chancellor. Following completion of an honours degree in Economics, she worked for the Tube Investments group for ten years. She has a strong reputation of academic leadership including major change projects in strategic academic development, curriculum design, widening access, partnerships and quality. Her research interests and publications are in the fields of organisational change and collaboration within higher education.
Professor Seamus McDaid, Principal & Vice-Chancellor, University of the West of Scotland
A Universities Scotland nominee, Seamus joined the UCEA Board on the 1 September 2010. He has been Principal and VC at the University of the West of Scotland since 2007 after leading the process for merger between the University of Paisley and Bell College. Previously Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Paisley, he joined as Vice Principal in 1997 and led on the process for the creation of the Crichton University Campus in 1999, after a career at Glasgow Polytechnic (now Glasgow Caledonian University) stretching back to 1976. Joining as a lecturer, after a career as an accountant, he became Head of Department of Finance and Accounting in 1987, and the Dean of the Faculty of Business in 1991. Seamus’ specialist academic area is public sector management, in particular financial management, and he has undertaken many major international consultancy assignments on behalf of the ODA (now DFID), the World Bank and the EU, mainly in Africa and Eastern Europe.
Professor Shirley Pearce, Vice-Chancellor, Loughborough University
Vice-Chancellor since 2005, Shirley was previously Pro Vice-Chancellor at University of East Anglia (UEA), responsible for the health and professional schools, where she led the successful bid for a new medical school for the East of England. Prior to joining UEA, Shirley held an academic post in the Department of Psychology at University College London with clinical leadership for Health Psychology in Camden and Islington.
Shirley is currently a member of the Board of the Equality Challenge Unit, Universities UK Employability, Business and Industry Policy Committee, HEFCE Board Strategic Advisory Committee for Business and Community, the Universities UK Health Committee, the Podium Steering Group (Further and Higher Education Unit for 2012), Member of the Council for Industry and Higher Education and the HEFCE League Tables Research Project Steering Group. Shirley was appointed to the Board of HEFCE in November 2009.
Linda Pollard OBE JP DL, Pro-Chancellor/Chairman, University of Leeds
Linda was appointed Chairman of NHS Leeds on 1 March 2009 where she fulfils three key roles; as guardian, steward and ambassador. She also holds roles as Deputy Chairman of Yorkshire Forward (RDA), Regional Chairman of Coutts Bank plc, and was until February 2011 on the Board of Welcome to Yorkshire. Whilst Linda’s business career was as a private sector entrepreneur, she has held posts as a former Chairman of the West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority, Bradford District Care Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust and Regional Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council. Linda is a non sitting magistrate and also a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and in 2004 she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the community.
Professor Paul Webley, Director and Principal of SOAS
Paul took office as Director and Principal of SOAS in August 2006. Paul’s undergraduate and postgraduate education was at the London School of Economics. Following a short term at the University of Southampton, he moved to the institution that was to become his academic and professional home for 26 years, the University of Exeter. At Exeter he held several senior positions including Head of the Department of Psychology, Head of the School of Psychology and, latterly, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Paul is Chair of the Bloomsbury Group of Colleges, and Chair of London Metropolitan Network, and serves on UUK's International and European Policy Committee. As a scholar, Paul’s general aim has been to explore the contribution that psychology can make to our understanding of problems that have traditionally been seen as the concern solely of economics.
Andrew Wilkinson, Chair of the Board of Governors, University of Wales, Newport
Andrew has been Chair at Newport since early 2007 and is also the Chair of CHEW, the Welsh regional group of the Committee of University Chairmen that comprises the Chairs of all the higher education institutions in Wales. He spent much of his working life at HSBC Bank where he became a Divisional Credit Controller. He is now a self-employed business consultant. He is also Chair of the Wales Management Council and Newport and Gwent Enterprise Agency, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce.
Simone Wonnacott, Principal, Leeds College of Art
Simone was appointed Principal of Leeds College of Art in 2009, having previously served as Vice Principal since 2004. An MBA graduate of the University of Leeds with a background in HR, she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Having led a number of significant management and workforce re-structuring projects during her career, in August 2011 Simone steered the College through its transition to the HE sector.
Secretary to the Board
Helen Fairfoul, UCEA Deputy Chief Executive
Observers
Andy Westwood, Chief Executive Officer, GuildHE
Paul Clark, Director, Policy Development, Universities UK