Professor Evelyn Welch is the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bristol. Evelyn has a notable career path in research intensive institutions,and took up the Vice-Chancellor post at Bristol in 2022. In this episode, we explore a number of current regional, national and international initiatives under her leadership. We also discuss a wide range of other topics including the student experience, university finances, the importance of modern languages in HE, collaboration between institutions - a...
Nov 26, 2025•43 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Professor David Mba is Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham City University, and in this episode he talks about developing the vision for the University as being an exemplar anchor institution and how its work is intertwined with the city of Birmingham. He shares more about the innovative way in which science, technology, engineering, mathematics - and the arts - come together at the University, including what goes on in the unique Steamhouse, and we also discuss cultural change to reduce the degree at...
Nov 12, 2025•32 min•Season 3Ep. 11
My guest in this episode is Professor Damien Page, Vice-Chancellor at Buckinghamshire New University. Damien has progressed significant change at the University in his first few months in role and he talks in this episode about how things are being done differently at BNU to make a greater impact for students and staff, and to increase organisational efficiency. He reflects upon why operational understanding for a leader is just as important as strategic direction, and he also takes a reality ch...
Oct 29, 2025•42 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Clare Marchant DBE is Vice-Chancellor at the University of Gloucestershire. She holds what currently looks like to be a unique position in UK Higher Education being a female Vice-Chancellor who has also come from a non-academic route, and one of the topics we discuss in the episode is the opening up of the Vice-Chancellor role to a more diverse community, and why this is important in leading the sector into the future. Clare also talks about the vital role of connectivity in leading an instituti...
Oct 14, 2025•39 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Guests: Andy Winter, Interim Director of Student Life at the University of Kent; Helene Usherwood, Senior Partner at Anderson Quigley; Jeremy Shute, Fortune 500 Leader and Co-Founder Ignition Strategy. The Higher Education sector is adapting to the changing strategic and financial environment, and a particularly visible part of this adaptation is restructuring within many institutions. In this episode, 3 guests from inside and outside HE reflect broadly upon restructure and redundancy – how we t...
Oct 07, 2025•53 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Joe Cooper is Director of People and Culture at the University of East London. In this episode we discuss how the University has evolved during recent years and where his focus has been as the executive HR lead. Joe also talks about his unique career path from Students’ Union Chief Executive into University HR, and the importance of remembering that students are always at the heart of university life. This episode is kindly sponsored by Anderson Quigley which builds better leaders for a better s...
Sep 28, 2025•37 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Simon Goldsmith is Head of Sustainability at the University of Greenwich. He works with colleagues across and outside the institution to help embed environmental sustainability into all aspects of university life, and to support the strategic goal of the University of Greenwich being a recognised leader in this field by 2030. Simon explores various strategic initiatives that the University is progressing, discusses the different opportunities at the 3 different campuses, and reflects upon the im...
Jul 08, 2025•40 min•Season 3Ep. 6
My guest in this episode is Steph Glen. Steph has been a Higher Education professional since 2007, initially working her way through a series of progressively senior roles in Timetabling including nearly 10 years at the University of Nottingham, and since December 2024 holding the newly created strategic role of Head of Teaching Space Operations at UCL, the UK’s largest university. In this episode, I find out from Steph about the significant impact she has made within her career so far to improv...
Jun 24, 2025•34 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Jenny Jenkin and Tessa Harrsion have each had 25 year+ careers in Higher Education, and both held registrar positions at various institutions. During the past few years, they have each forged new career directions outside universities but still working with HE. The episode explores the motivation for change and how they have experienced their transitions. They also reflect upon the similarities and differences they now find in comparison with institutional life, as well as thoughts about the cur...
Jun 10, 2025•47 min•Ep. 16
My guest in this episode is Anna Quinn, Head of Student Services at the University of Northampton. In addition to leading her large team, Anna contributes to the strategic development of the University such as its bid for the University Mental Health Charter and work on student suicide prevention. She also talks in this episode about the work she has led since 2017 on addressing sexual misconduct, and the grounding this has offered the University in addressing new Office for Students requirement...
May 27, 2025•33 min•Season 3Ep. 3
My guest in this episode is Gemma Kenyon, Director of Careers and Employability at City St George’s University of London. Gemma shares more about her role and how she has successfully directed and embedded a student employability and career focus into institutional life. We talk about how she and her team have gone about collaborating successfully with academic colleagues to achieve this goal, how work is prioritised to best support student success and what the future focus of careers and employ...
May 13, 2025•34 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Dr Brooke Storer-Church is Chief Executive Officer of Guild HE which represents around 70 diverse institutions in the Higher Education sector. In this episode, Brooke reflects upon why diversity is so important to UK Higher Education, and talks about the way in which Guild HE is working to support and champion this part of HE . She also discusses her career pathway into and through Higher Education, as well as what’s been her focus, along with that of her team, since she became CEO in June 2024....
Apr 30, 2025•37 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Kerry Shepherd and Ben Tucker are founders and partners of the executive search firm, Minerva, sponsor of this Leadership Reflections Mini-Series. In our discussion, we explore some of the themes from earlier episodes of the mini-series and put those topics into the wider Higher Education leadership context of 2025. As professionals who have contact with a significant number of institutions and leadership candidates, Kerry and Ben also share their observations of the leadership qualities that ar...
Apr 08, 2025•36 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Professor Pip Beard is Professor of Viral Pathology and Head of the School of Life Sciences at Keele University. Pip took her up post as Head of School following the initial part of her career in practice and subsequently in research institutes, and she continues to hold a national and international government advisory role in her professional field. In this episode, Pip reflects upon taking up a Head of School role and how she has found the first two years in post. She considers the value of le...
Mar 19, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 14
My guest in this episode is Jim Irving, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students and Governance) at Southampton Solent University, who has developed his higher education career over the past 25 years across a series of progressively senior professional services posts. Jim reflects on his leadership path so far and delves into a range of topics including what motivated him to pursue a career in Higher Education leadership, successfully navigating relationships across an institution and how he’s responded to...
Mar 05, 2025•42 min•Season 2Ep. 13
My guest in this episode of the Leadership Reflections mini-series is Professor Randall S Whittaker, Principal and CEO of Rose Bruford College, one of the UK's leading specialist performing arts Higher Education Institutions. As a renowned figure for his work on representation and diversity, Randall reflects upon his leadership journey including what he has learnt along the way, how creativity forms a core part of his leadership approach and why engaging with the wider sector is so important for...
Feb 19, 2025•35 min•Season 2Ep. 12
My guest in this episode of the Leadership Reflections mini-series is Professor Shân Wareing, Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University. In this episode, Shân shares more about her professional background and progressing her career through an educational development route and into senior leadership. With a prime motivation to want to see students flourish and for institutions to work effectively, Shân reflects upon her pathway to becoming a Vice-Chancellor, including what she learnt along the way,...
Feb 05, 2025•34 min•Season 2Ep. 11
My guest in this episode is Erica Conway, Chief Financial Officer at the University of Birmingham and Chair of the British Universities Finance Directors Group ( BUFDG ). In this episode, Erica offers insight into the role of Chief Financial Officer, and how she works in partnership with university colleagues and governors to enable the institution to achieve its strategic goals. She also offers her reflections on the financial state of the wider sector, how finance professionals can be supporte...
Jan 22, 2025•39 min•Ep. 15
Holly Duglan is a Registrar and Secretary who had a leading role in managing the market exit of Writtle University College and its merger with Anglia Ruskin University in February 2024. In this episode, Holly talks about what led to the decision to exit the market as an autonomous institution, the 'red lines' determined by the Board of Governors to secure the future of its specialist provision and the role she took as Registrar and Secretary in navigating the process. She also reflects upon mana...
Jan 08, 2025•33 min•Ep. 14
Vivi Friedgut is Founder and CEO of Blackbullion , the learning platform for students who want to gain control of their money. Vivi is recognised nationally as one of the top 10 tech influencers and in this episode she shares more about why she set up Blackbullion, how it has evolved and how she works with numerous institutions across the UK and beyond. She also reflects upon the current financial position of the HE sector and talks about what she would like to see looking better for students in...
Dec 18, 2024•30 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Reverend Ian Worsfold is Coordinating Chaplain at City St George’s University of London , who, with his team of chaplains from different faiths, play a central role in supporting the pastoral needs of the highly diverse student and staff body. In this episode, Ian discusses how the role of chaplaincy has evolved at the institution during the past ten years, considers the importance of adapting to the needs of different communities, reflects upon what it means to ‘disagree well’ in a societal era...
Dec 04, 2024•32 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Dr Monika Nangia is Academic Registrar and Director of Student & Academic Services at Durham University. She is also leading The Power of Storytelling Project as part of the Higher Diversity Coalition . Data shows that ethnic diversity in professional services leadership - especially in student and academic services leadership - is concerningly low. In this episode. Monika discusses her motivation for gathering stories from senior colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds, shares themes...
Nov 20, 2024•33 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Kelli Wolfe is Deputy Academic Registrar at the University of Roehampton . In this episode, Kelli talks about her role as Deputy Academic Registrar as well as the career path that led to it. She also shares background to her recent research entitled ' The Impact of High-Performance Work Practices on Employee Burnout Experience in UK Higher Education: A Professional Services Perspective ' which was published by Taylor and Francis in August 2024. Kelli additionally offers reflections on solutions ...
Nov 06, 2024•31 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Dr David Gilani is Head of Student Engagement and Advocacy at Middlesex University . In this episode, David shares more about his leadership of, and thoughts on, student engagement and what that means to support student success. He also reflects upon his own career path to date, and how and why the student engagement professional niche has become so much more prominent across the sector in recent years. David also offers insight about the benefits of being part of an institution’s board, and loo...
Oct 22, 2024•36 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Dr Diana Beech is the Chief Executive of London Higher , the largest representative body of its kind in England. In this episode, Diana shares more about the role of London Higher and the type of work that she and her team lead to support the success of HE. She also delves into her career path to date, including her time at the Higher Education Policy Institute, and at the Government's Department for Education where she supported four different Ministers of State. This episode is kindly sponsore...
Oct 08, 2024•31 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Akhil Yerneni and Claire Carter are both partners at the Executive Search firm, Anderson Quigley. In this episode, Akhil and Claire demystify the role of an executive search firm in relation to both permanent and interim roles for HE professional services and academic staff and, amongst other topics, offer advice on how and when to work with firms to maximise engagement. This episode is kindly sponsored by the Academic Registrars Council (ARC). ARC is the national forum of senior managers respon...
Sep 24, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Andrea Bolshaw is an Interim Registrar and Secretary. She started her Higher Education career as a Graduate Trainee, and subsequently carved out a career path through increasingly senior positions that took her to becoming a Registrar and Secretary in a permanent role. In 2023, she took a major professional decision to leave permanent employment and move into the freelance world. Since that time, she’s been Interim Registrar and Secretary at two institutions, and in this episode she shares her e...
Sep 10, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Professor Susannah Quinsee is Vice-President (Digital and Student Experience) at City, University of London and Ian Anderson is Principal Enterprise Architect at Ellucian. In this episode, Ian and Susannah reflect upon many of the themes that have arisen across the mini-series and consider how institutions are managing change. They draw together thoughts on how this might be done while also providing some sense of stability, consider the critical importance of building human connections, discuss...
Jul 16, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Luke Phillimore is Associate Director of Change at the University of Nottingham and is also the Network Coordinator for the Association of Higher Education Professionals Change Network. In this episode, Luke focuses on why people are at the core of change, the importance of empowering people through the change process and why the most relevant outcome of change is people's acceptance to adopt it. As part of this discussion, Luke also explores the role of the Lean Six Sigma methodology, how to in...
Jul 09, 2024•34 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Krissi Sanft is Managing Director of Portare Solutions , a boutique consultancy firm focused on change and transformation. Portare Solutions has a strategic partnership with Ellucian to accelerate, support and enhance the transformation to Software as a Service (SaaS) student information systems for HEIs. In this episode, Krissi provides an overview of her career path and the work of Portare Solutions, reflects upon the similarities and differences in managing change in HE compared with other se...
Jul 02, 2024•27 min•Season 2Ep. 6
