The following people are standing for election to the Board of Trustees
Office holders
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Emma Woodcock - nominated for the position of Deputy Chair CIO |
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Emma Woodcock is an experienced Senior Leader who has worked within a variety of complex organisations. She has held several IT Leadership Roles and works regularly at Executive level; she has also held IT Operational roles as well as Change Management and Programme/Project Management roles and is currently a UCISA Trustee.
She has experience of working in Higher Education, Local Government, and the Private Sector.
Emma forged her early career within the private sector where she was involved in implementing process improvements and organisational change, many of which overlapped with the introduction of new technologies. Emma’s career evolved alongside the growth and evolution of IT as a professional discipline, she has witnessed the development and adoption of professional standards such as ITIL and has experience in managing their adoption and use. She is a qualified ITIL Expert, MSP Practitioner and Scrum Master.
In her personal life Emma brought up two sons on her own and understands the challenges of juggling a demanding career with the commitments of family life. Emma is particularly interested in how to support more women into digital careers.
Emma has held several voluntary roles including a school governor, Sheffield Steelers lacrosse junior section manager and membership secretary and is currently treasurer for Sheffield Harmony, a large women’s acapella choir.
Emma started working in the HE sector 12 years ago at Sheffield Hallam University and is currently in the role of CIO at York St John University with responsibility for IT operations and the delivery of an ambitious Digital Strategy. At the heart of this strategy is a commitment to design the digital campus with as much care and attention as the physical campus and empower the University community to get value from all its digital resources.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
Higher Education is a challenging sector to work in as an IT leader – the open nature of a campus combined with the demands of research and a varied curriculum presents some unique challenges especially in areas such as cyber security. I understand these challenges from holding leadership roles in both one of the largest UK Universities and one of the smallest. I have found being a UCISA trustee to be extremely rewarding and I believe that I can offer value as deputy chair.
I can offer a marriage of experience accumulated in the fields of IT management and organisational change management. I have learnt lessons the hard way and carry the battle scars of failed initiatives and I understand the impact of issues such as poor decision making, poor levels of scrutiny, lack of challenge, poor stakeholder engagement, and poor supplier management. I will use these experiences and the ways in which I have overcome these kinds of issues to support UCISA in the delivery of its strategic plan.
I have experience of the challenge’s that IT leaders face to maintain services during periods of accelerating digital change. I understand the pressure to deliver innovative solutions to meet the way in which HE is evolving. I am an advocate of good digital design and believe passionately about technology adding value in education. I have experienced the reality of this on the ground and understand the sector specific nuances that add complexities to the way in which we manage IT services.
Finally, I care deeply about the development of the profession of IT within HE/FE. I have worked hard to “professionalise” and raise the profiles of two HE IT departments, bringing industry standard practise to teams that had previously suffered from a lack of recognition and low morale. I care about the way IT itself needs to evolve to gain greater recognition and Executive level support. This aligns with so much of what UCISA wants to achieve with its members. Sharing good practise, supporting the development of its members, and helping to win the ear of Executive teams. I am keen to continue my support of UCISA and explore how its membership benefits can enhance the ability of our members to become trusted strategic partners within their organisations.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
The simple answer to this question is that I have benefited enormously from the work that UCISA does, my first experience being the support of the Project and Change Management Group when I first joined the HE community just over 12 years ago. The resources and networking opportunities were invaluable. I became a Trustee in 2021 and I feel that I can now offer value back to UCISA by offering to become Deputy Chair.
The role of UCISA has never been more important to the sector, the pandemic has catapulted IT and digital firmly into the spotlight. I am passionate about retaining the momentum and respect that IT departments across our sector have achieved in the last 2 years, which were debated widely at our leadership conference in March. It is clear to me that UCISA is playing a key role in bringing the IT leadership community together to navigate the post pandemic challenges that we all face. I am hugely motivated with what this community can potentially achieve together.
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Sarah Cockrill - nominated for the position of Treasurer Director of Digital Strategy & Information Technology |
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My current role is Director of Digital Strategy & IT at Canterbury Christ Church but having worked in the sector since 2005 and been involved with UCISA since 2014 I am sure many of you will already know me. I started as a member of PCGM back in 2014, progressed to Co-Chair in 2018 and have been a Trustee since 2020. I remain as passionate as ever about the work UCISA does and the fantastic ethos we have in our HE community of sharing and supporting each other. I would like to take on the role as Treasurer for UCISA so that I can continue to support UCISA in delivery our new strategy 22-27.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
Having worked in the HE IT sector for over fifteen years I have an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities we have and I have a thorough understanding of the suppliers that have offerings in our space. I have been involved with UCISA since 2014 working as part of a special interest group, the Leadership Council and now board level means I understand where we have come from, where we are and where we aspire to. I also understand the workings of UCISA as a charity.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
I would like to apply to take on the role as Treasurer as having been on the board for the last two years I now feel I can offer further support by taking on this role. I have experience of managing budgets up to £8m and have sound basics in financial management.
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Mat Flower - nominated for the role of Secretary Assistant Director and Head of Digital Architecture |
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With an IT career spanning more than twenty-five years, Mat is currently Assistant Director & Head of Digital Architecture in Digital Services at the University of Wolverhampton. He and his team have strategic and technical design responsibility for the University’s core infrastructure and services, ensuring that they both support and enable the delivery of the overarching Digital Strategy and broader University strategies. In addition, Mat also chairs the Digital Services Change Advisory Board, and represents the department on several University committees. More recently Mat has initiated and is leading in establishing a departmental Enterprise Architecture function, as well as the replacement project of the University’s core compute and storage infrastructure.
Mat has been an active member of the UCISA community since joining the Infrastructure Group (IG) in 2013. Since then, he has planned and delivered multiple events and conferences, held the role of IG Chair and overseeing the merger of IG with the Networking Group to form the Digital Infrastructure Group. Since 2021, Mat has been a member of the UCISA Board of Trustees and is also a member of USL Board of Directors.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
With an IT career spanning more than twenty-five years, the majority of which have been in the Higher Education sector, I believe that I am ideally placed to help UCISA deliver its strategic plan. As Assistant Director & Head of Digital Architecture within Digital Services, I have strategic and technical responsibility for architecting of the University’s digital infrastructure, ensuring that this is aligns and supports the delivery of both departmental and organisational strategy.
I have been an active member of UCISA since 2013 when I first became a member of the Infrastructure Group. Since then, I have gone on to:
- Plan and deliver multiple events and multi-day conferences.
- Served as Chair of IG, during which time I oversaw the merger with the Networking Group to form the new Digital Infrastructure Group.
- Served as an active member of the UCISA Leadership Council.
More recently, I was co-opted onto the UCISA Board of Trustees and am also a member of the UCISA Infrastructure Sub-committee. I am also a member of the UCISA Services Limited (USL) Board of Directors.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
From my first involvement with UCISA joining as a member of the Infrastructure Group in 2013, as Digital Infrastructure Group Chair and now as a member of the Board of Trustees I continue to be extremely proud of the value and benefits that UCISA continues to deliver to its membership at both an institutional and individual level. Being part of the UCISA community has been both thoroughly rewarding and fundamental in my own professional development. This in turn has equipped me with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to take on new roles and challenges within UCISA.
My motivation for applying to continue as a UCISA Trustee is twofold:
- Firstly, I would very much like the opportunity to continue to use my skills and knowledge to continue to support UCISA in the delivery of its strategic objectives.
- Secondly, I very much want to continue to support UCISA in delivering and developing the value that it offers to its membership. This is value at an institutional level membership, but based upon my own positive experiences, also at an individual level.
Nominees for the two elected positions on the UCISA Board of Trustees
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Vipin Ahlawat Director of IT Services |
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Vipin joined Loughborough University in 2014 and before that held a range of technology leadership roles in higher education and in the public and private sectors, including at the University of Leicester and Pearson Education Ltd. Vipin has been a member of the Board of Trustees of UCISA since June 2021 and also serves on the audit committee of the Manufacturing Technology Centre.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
I have a twenty-five year track record of successful IT delivery and leadership, with over sixteen years in the education sector and the last ten years leading IT in higher education. My achievements in that time include the development and implementation of transformational digital strategies, leading established teams through substantial, positive change and moving IT from being perceived as just a technology provider to being sought out as a trusted innovation partner by the rest of the organisation.
My successes have been achieved through building partnerships, connections and mutually-beneficial coalitions to drive positive change, which I feel closely aligns with UCISA’s strategic aims and inherent strengths. My diverse experience in higher education and the public- and private-sectors means that I have a broad perspective, sector knowledge and a commercial mindset, which I believe will be valuable in identifying opportunities for collaboration, both amongst HEIs and with leading vendors. I will also bring the experience of leading an IT team that has been rated 1st in England for student satisfaction in the six most recent National Student Surveys.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
Having served as a co-opted trustee for the past year, I have developed a much deeper understanding of UCISA’s work, it’s opportunities and challenges, and the factors behind its success over recent years. As IT teams have coped with unprecedented demands, security threats and the need for constant adaptation, UCISA has been seen as a trusted partner for those teams in brokering partnerships (between institutions, with suppliers and with other sector stakeholders), advocating the importance of digital for the sector and showcasing best practice. I am personally convinced that these traits will be more important than ever as the education sector moves into a period of growing uncertainty and financial pressure, and I would very much like to support UCISA in delivering its new strategic plan. UCISA now faces exciting opportunities to provide ever more responsive support and valuable leadership to the sector, and as a trustee I feel I can contribute to identifying and delivering those opportunities.
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Karen Bates Director of IT, Delivery Capability |
Pen profile
I have worked in the Higher Education Sector for the last 7 years after almost 20 years in Local Government. I have been leading Digital and Organisational Transformation Programmes for the last 14 years, and have a strong background in Programme, Change and Contract Management. In 2020 I completed an MBA specialising in Strategic Leadership to support my personal and professional aspirations.
I pride myself in working in a collaborative and coaching way to support my teams and organisation to success, leading my example and exhibiting strong and positive leadership behaviours. I have been able to bring the experiences of leading efficiency programmes in local government to the HE sector, exploring new ways to still deliver high-quality services in the most cost effective and efficient way. I enjoy bringing together the high-level strategic aims, and translating into actionable, achievable programmes of work. The pandemic has enabled us all to work in a much more agile, responsive and risk-based way, and I am keen to ensure that the sector uses that to accelerate change and innovation.
I believe through building strong, trusted and collaborative relationships, both within our sector and beyond to enable growth and positive influences. I have led on several cross-organisation programmes, pitched successful bids to government for funding, such as the DCMS superfast broadband scheme, and believe that Higher Education also has a civic responsibility within our communities. We have the opportunity as technology leaders influencing and supporting those institutions in FE and beyond.
I am a person who will always do the right thing, not necessarily the easiest thing, and seek out new challenges in my career and personal life to stretch myself and expand my networks. I lived mostly overseas as a child experiencing an enriched and multi-cultural education. As an adult I have settled on the south coast of England where I have three children, two dogs and a husband who works in the emergency services. I love to give back through volunteering and through mentoring try and inspire young professionals in their career to have the confidence to pursue their aspirations.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
I have worked in leadership roles for over 15 years, spanning both the Higher Education and Local Government Sector. I have experienced first-hand the challenges faced to deliver and keep pace with the digital agenda and the pandemic has accelerated much of the change needed. I would embrace the opportunity to help create and environment where they UK Education Sector continues to share, learn and innovate to ensure we are enabling the delivery of world class higher education.
Working collaboratively as a body of organisations facing many of the same challenges will allow for collective improvement and influence on the market. Maintaining and improving opportunities across the supplier markets to create advantageous environments for our institutions, using collective influence and a single voice to shape change. I have worked with several vendors and advisory bodies across the sector and also central and local government and am able to build strong relationships across a number of disciplines. Whilst in Local Government I led the Portsmouth bid to be a super connected city under the DCMS superfast broadband scheme. One of the differentiators of the bid I designed was a collaboration with the University of Portsmouth to allow for Eduroam to also be accessible to students in public buildings across the city, not just the university buildings, raising the profile an presence of Higher Education within the city and building on the desire for most HEs now to increase their Civic presence.
Another key area I would like to support UCISA with is the attraction and retention of highly skilled technical professionals within the sector. It’s an issue for many of our institutions, and as mentioned in the UCSIA vision, working together to provide ‘professional development of individuals and enhance the collective expertise of our community’.
I would be interested to understand the levels of engagement across the sector and find ways to reach out to institutions who have not been an active voice in UCISA to understand how that relationship can be improved and maintained.
Having completed a Masters in Strategic Leadership, it forced me to reflect on my own leadership style and approaches to organisational problems. In 2020 I gave a talk to a group of CIO and COOs across HE, Central Government and Health Services. The focus was on delivering transformation through a pandemic due to the achievement and approach I took when at the University of Portsmouth. Much of the message was about recognising our common challenges and pain points, ensuring that UCISA has a central role of influence beyond its member institutes is something I would be keen to support, and during my time in local government was involved in responding to many consultation papers.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
I have always participated in additional work or roles outside of my ‘day job’. For several years I was a governor at a challenged inner-city school in Portsmouth. I was able to bring my professional and personal abilities to the governing body to help guide their transition from two separates schools through federated to full primary status. Working alongside the school through Ofsted inspections and funding challenges.
Since completing my Masters and commencing my new role at London Business School in October 2021, I am keen to find a way to both support the Higher Education Sector, but also grow further as an individual and ensure that I am giving back. The opportunity to have a greater involvement within UCISA, help to support and enhance the sector whilst expanding my network is something that I have a strong desire to achieve. I believe my background in both the Local Government Sector and Higher Education, as well as not being a pure technologist, but a grounding across a range of disciplines can hopefully be an advantage to the Board of Trustees.
I have engaged in several UCISA events, online and in person, and the value gained from the openness and collaboration of the sector is unique and all benefit from the collective knowledge sharing.
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James Crooks Director of Learning & Information Services |
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James is the Director of Learning & Information Services at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). He joined UCLan from the private sector in 2008 after several years in IT Service Delivery. James was appointed Director in 2017 and is responsible for the University’s library, IT, and technical support services. In 2019 he launched the Digilearn Sector Community, which continues to provide academics and technologists alike, with opportunities to share and promote digital practice across the world. He now leads the ongoing development and delivery of the University’s Enabling Strategy for Information & Technology.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
A key challenge for all organisations is that digital, technology, systems and data are no longer solely the responsibility of the IT team. These are all enterprise-wide capabilities that must be embraced, owned, and used by everyone, and I look to bring colleagues, students, researchers and partners together to enable, build, and grow this digital capability. I truly believe that the organisations who can openly acknowledge and embed this understanding across their communities and culture, are the ones who have the most to gain – whether through increased market share, adopting new and different business models, or simply the flexibility to scale their operations up or down with ease, and at pace. The digital age brings such significant, but often untapped, potential for transformation across all areas of business, education and research.
In 2017 I wrote a Digital Masterplan for UCLan, which included a new strategic approach to the development of learning and teaching. In collaboration with academic and professional services leaders, and a small number of external partners, I led a two-year programme of investment in our people, our facilities and our technology, including a new framework of academic development known as “DigiLearn”. In partnership with Microsoft, I hosted an external conference in for academics and technologists, focused on digital transformation in education. This has become an annual event, and at the close of our 2019 conference I announced the relaunch of DigiLearn as a sector-wide community, with an open invitation for all to join. Within 9 months the community had grown to over 1,200 members from institutions and partners from all over the world, all supporting each other and sharing practice in online discussions, webinars and presentations, all through Microsoft Teams. Digital Advocacy I have always been a passionate advocate of the enabling capabilities of digital technology, and can confidently articulate, present, and share this with people and groups of all levels of experience, status, and understanding.
The evolving cyber landscape is another key challenge for all organisations. Security is now always front-of-mind, but particularly for me since March 2021, when UCLan suffered a particularly disruptive cyber-attack that disabled our entire IT environment. From the very beginning of the incident all the way through to the formal standing down of the emergency management team some weeks later, I personally led the response and the recovery effort on behalf of the entire University, balancing the need to recover our business quickly whilst restoring services safely. The experience was incredibly challenging, both personally and professionally, but one I that I am determined to use to benefit both my own institution and others through collaborative engagement with the sector, something as a trustee of UCISA I would be in an ideal position to do. I have delivered presentations on a range of topics to senior leadership teams, external suppliers, and communities at various organisations, conferences and other events both nationally and internationally, and would be keen to continue to support these opportunities for sharing and advocacy in my role as trustee.
My leadership style acknowledges the importance of balancing authority and confidence, with humility and service, which is essential in any organisation but particularly so in Higher Education, where so many of our colleagues are proven experts - often world-leaders - within their field. I believe this balanced and customer-centric approach, continues to serve me well in tangibly leading and building relationships based on trust and confidence, in the wider sector community.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
I have applied to be a UCISA Trustee for a number of reasons, but mainly because I think there is a nice balance to be struck in my participation and involvement with UCISA, between helping and supporting me in my current role at the University, and the benefits I think I can bring to UCISA and its members. I really do think being involved in the strategic planning and decision making of an organisation whose role it is to work with and support 100s of other University IT Directors and their teams, will be really helpful to me in shaping and developing some of our internal capabilities more effectively at UCLan, but similarly I think all of the skills and experiences I have highlighted above, provide me with the ability to help shape the future strategic direction of UCISA in the best interests of its members.
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Nathalie Czechowsk CIO |
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Born and raised in France, I migrated to the UK at the end of my studies to further my English proficiency and never went back. I have held a number of roles in many different corporate industries (Nestle, Mondi Packaging) and join the Higher Education sector as a programmer in 1999.
Over the years, I have developed my leadership skills and I have learnt the importance of building a diverse team around me so that we can together deliver successful outcome .
Over the years working closely with UCISA in different capacities I have appreciated the power and the positive impact of the benefit of its collaborative approach that it brings to the sector overall. On a personal level, my engagement with UCISA has enable me to grow professionally and allow me to continuously stretch myself.
I am an executive leader with extensive experience in driving strategic digital change within the Higher Education (HE) sector at CIO level with a clear focus on business outcomes, and a strong record of reducing costs and transforming the business.
I have a passion for Higher Education and what is stands for and especially our commitment to widening participation.
I am well versed in developing and delivering an institution digital strategy informed by a strong understanding of potential policies changes in UK and Wales. Our latest one focuses on creating a borderless connected on/off line communities of learning and working, utilising emerging technologies to create new authentic and immersive learning, as well as developing our smart campus initiative that enables personalised experience, reduce cost and deliver on the university sustainability commitment; whilst ensuring a safe and secure physical and digital environment.
I am driving our change towards a connected data environment that enables predictive and prescriptive analysis which is central to enabling and delivering on my institution strategy to increase student educational success, reducing overheads and achieving carbon net zero ambition. All of these threads are common issues / opportunities that we as a sector are facing together, and therefore I will be able to support UCISA in its mission to help the sector navigate these challenges.
My leadership relies on my strong interpersonal skills, enabling me to maintain competent motivated teams to deliver in a fast-paced, multicultural global environment. I foster a team ethos which is based on openness and driven a culture of trust, constructive challenge, and innovation. I am an excellent communicator, regularly conveying complex information to audiences at all levels. My work as lead of the Digital Strategy Board involves provoking difficult and sensitive decisions around challenging themes where new approaches need to be ‘sold’. I also have a well-established wide professional network of relationships across the sector domestically and internationally, having sat on many cross-University committees and worked on international projects. I can bring this expertise to support UCISA in its delivery of its own strategy and lead on some of the more complex sector challenging discussions especially with changes surrounding cyber security /and cyber essentials.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
I have a twenty-five year track record of successful IT delivery and leadership, with over sixteen years in the education sector and the last ten years leading IT in higher education. My achievements in that time include the development and implementation of transformational digital strategies, leading established teams through substantial, positive change and moving IT from being perceived as just a technology provider to being sought out as a trusted innovation partner by the rest of the organisation.
My successes have been achieved through building partnerships, connections and mutually-beneficial coalitions to drive positive change, which I feel closely aligns with UCISA’s strategic aims and inherent strengths. My diverse experience in higher education and the public- and private-sectors means that I have a broad perspective, sector knowledge and a commercial mindset, which I believe will be valuable in identifying opportunities for collaboration, both amongst HEIs and with leading vendors. I will also bring the experience of leading an IT team that has been rated 1st in England for student satisfaction in the six most recent National Student Surveys.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
Having worked on representatives group over the past year, I have developed a much deeper understanding of UCISA’s work, it’s opportunities and challenges, and the factors behind its success over recent years. As IT teams have coped with unprecedented demands, security threats and the need for constant adaptation, UCISA has been seen as a trusted partner for those teams in brokering partnerships (between institutions, with suppliers and with other sector stakeholders), advocating the importance of digital for the sector and showcasing best practice. I am personally convinced that these traits will be more important than ever as the education sector moves into a period of growing uncertainty and financial pressure, and I would very much like to support UCISA in delivering its new strategic plan. UCISA now faces exciting opportunities to provide ever more responsive support and valuable leadership to the sector, and as a trustee I feel I can contribute to identifying and delivering those opportunities.
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Nick Gilbert Chief Information and Digital Officer |
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I am a passionate proponent of the power of digital to make a fundamental difference in how we educate, conduct our research and administer our organisations. I’ve practiced this over my 22 years in the sector, first in Australia and now in the UK. Active in CAUDIT (UCISA’s ANZ sibling), it was conversations with UCISA members, and a visit to Bournemouth Directors conference in 2018 that led me to take the plunge and move halfway around the world to the UK to join the sector here, and despite the rocky few years so many of us have had, I’m finally established, starting to sink my teeth into issues impacting the sector as a whole and keen to contribute where I can. I’ve led digital for large and smaller Universities, partnered and fought with tech suppliers big and small, drafted procurement policies and whole of admin target operating models and developed two university economic models. I have run (and brought back from voluntary administration) a leading Australian performing arts organisation, reconstituting it and its board. I’m keen to bring my deep sector specific knowledge, and broad business and administration skills to bear in service to the sector.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
I am a Higher Education focused Digital Transformation and IT Executive, working as Chief Information and Digital Officer at the University of Surrey and prior to 2019 as Director, IT Service Management at the University of Sydney. I am a sector specialist, having worked in Higher Education for 22 years’ experience across two major Higher Education geographies, moving to the UK in 2019 to bring my trade and experience from Australia to bear in the UK sector and make a difference here.
Today I operate as the strategic and direction setting leader of our digitisation journey at the University of Surrey, acting as the face of IT, providing direction for its resources and service offerings and leading and evangelizing for the delivery of large sections of our organization-wide strategy. In previous roles at the University of Sydney I have directly led all IT operations for a globally recognised highly ranked University, leading a team of 250+ staff and driving significant and rapid customer service and digitisation transformation for the University.
I have experience leading technology for a top 60 University with 70,000 students, and a smaller University with under 20,000, have a deep operations and financial understanding of the sector, having redesigned end to end services and budget approaches for both organisations. I have also worked as a professional singer, and operated as GM of an arts company, joining to bring it out of voluntary administration and reconstituting its board, returning it to profitability and sustaining its vital place in the (small) Australian Performing Arts landscape.
My career and experience has focused on the opportunities that technology affords to transform the Higher Education sector, bringing learnings from the sector, and inter-sector conferences and my networks to help modernize and digitise a sector that has existed in the UK for almost 1000 years. I care deeply about the sector and the value that education and research provide to society and humanity, and it is delightful (and an obligation) to be working in a sector in which collaboration is so prolific.
I’ve built coalitions both within and without my University. Since joining Surrey I have worked with our senior planning/strategy lead in revitalizing and refreshing our strategy (which now has digital spun through it, rather than relying on a separate digital strategy), pivoted our board to making data driven decisions around investment opportunities/business cases and scrapped and refreshed our budgeting approach to drive accountability and buy in to strategic goals, driving real-time, data-driven objective and budget setting.
I joined Surrey during a 5 year decline in National Student Satisfaction Survey results, with the University dropping from top ten in the UK to bottom 30 in 2020. Partnering closely with our Pro-Vice-Chancellor Education during the global pandemic, we drove a massive range of activities that saw an 86 point rise in NSS ranking when results were released mid last year. Unachievable by technology alone, we built a coalition of the willing, tag-teaming as evangelists and delivering a huge portfolio of digital, process and culture change transformations, during the pandemic and with a fully remote workforce and off-campus learning experience.
I helped draft the University of Sydney’s Procurement Policy (and have been similarly involved at Surrey), have a strong background in contracting and awareness of contract law and drafting, have an undergraduate degree in psychology (with significant focus on org. psych and culture change) and have strong (but not unyielding) opinions, an authentic communication style and an ability to operate with humility, emotional self-awareness, and to bring various coaching, mediating and counselling style (including various therapeutic counselling modalities) to the table.
At the University of Sydney I co-authored the University’s first (and subsequent) Disability Action Plan(s), and served as a member and at various times the chair of the Disability and Accessibility Committee. My experience in the UK has suggested that we are not as far advanced as some of the Universities that I was able to work with in Australia on EDI matters, and I work closely with my HR and EDI colleagues on whole of organisation issues well outside the remit of technology to learn the best bits of approach here, but bring some of the best practice from the ANZ region to bear.
I’m very happy operating in a liaison role, connecting into peers in Australia, and with the world finally opening up again am recommencing regular travel to Australia, where I naturally meet previous colleagues (who are now distributed across the sector).
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
I love Higher Education, the ever-increasing importance of digital in our sector, and believe in the vital role of UCISA in this country to support IT departments and Universities make a difference to our communities, and to the world.
It was a conversation with a UCISA Trustee, then speaking with some UCISA members on a brief holiday to the UK, and then eventually attending UCISA Directors 2018 in Bournemouth that started me thinking about, and then making up my mind to make the move to the UK. The openness, energy, enthusiasm and passion that I saw from peers here made it somewhere that I wanted to be. Moving right before the global pandemic meant that in the mad rush we all went through to move online, and then sustain online business I missed the opportunity to connect with many peers in my first 18 months. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to close the loop with attendance at UCISA Directors 2022 in Manchester this year.
I have a deep and abiding passion for the sector and a desire to support an organisation that has supported me. I have a great respect for many current, outgoing and previous members of the UCISA Trustee’s group that I know, and I submit this application under advice that it is a fulfilling, important and worthwhile role, and one in which I could meaningfully contribute.
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Gareth McAleese Head of Enterprise Applications and Data |
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Gareth is currently Head of Enterprise Applications & Data at Ulster University. He has been at ulster for over 20 years having worked in a variety of senior technology roles. Gareth and his team are responsible for the strategic development and delivery of the Enterprise Application Portfolio, Collaboration, Data Management and BI solutions supporting the Digital and business strategies at Ulster.
During his career he has been involved in a range of national initiatives, such as the HERO research portal and more recently representing UCISA on the HESA Data Futures Programme board and its Technical Design authority.
Gareth is currently a co-opted member of the UCISA board and a member of the UCISA Corporate Information Group, having previously held various roles including chair and has been involved with UCISA since December 2011.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
I have 20+ years’ experience in Higher Education with 10 years at an IT senior manager level but also experience of all areas of a modern university.
I have been involved with UCISA for almost 10 years where I am currently chair of the UCISA Corporate Information Systems special interest group and a member of the UCISA Leadership council. I have also been chair of the annual CISG conference and delivered several successful workshops and conferences.
I have extensive experience of working with sectoral bodies and key suppliers to the sector and currently represent UCISA on the HESA Data Futures Technical Design Authority and have a deputy role on the HESA Data Futures Programme Board.
I have worked with people of different levels from across the sector to delivery sectoral projects and change initiatives. I have written articles and contributed to case studies and presented at a wide range of conferences and workshops and see myself as knowledgeable and trusted within the sector.
I hope my experience, background and wider network would provide a valuable resource to the UCISA board and would welcome the opportunity to contribute to the development and delivery of the UCISA strategic plan and its contribution to my own ongoing personal development.
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
Having been involved in UCISA for nearly 10 years, most recently as chair of CISG I see this as an opportunity to build on this experience and a key opportunity to aid in my personal development and the opportunity to contribute at board level and hopefully provide a full contribution to the ongoing development of the UCISA strategic plan and UCISA as an organisation.
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Samuel Massiah CIO |
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I am a values based, transformational and strategic information and technology leader. My leadership experience includes running large IT departments, library services, technology enhanced learning, business intelligence, utilising multi-million operational and capital budgets. After 25 years as an IT service leader I remain as passionate and excited as ever about the potential for technology to transform the lives of people and organisations for the better.
I have a track record of working across organizational boundaries to deliver pan-organisational solutions. I aim to be an effective communicator, motivator and enabler, developing and mentoring managers and teams alike.
I feel it’s important play an active role in thought leader IT community. I have developed and implemented innovative IT strategies at UCL (‘Technology Transformation’), Royal Holloway (‘2020IT’) and St Mary’s University (‘Go Digital’).
I am currently CIO at University of Northampton, providing strategic leadership for the IT and Records Management and Business Intelligence functions. I sit on the University Management Team and provide advice and guidance on governance groups for risk management, data governance and operational management. I am the accountable officer for data security.
I firmly believe that effective technology needs effective leadership and am committed personally professionally to advancing the leadership capability of myself and contributing to leadership development of others.
Please describe how your experience will support UCISA delivering the strategic plan
I have experience of leading in a variety of scenarios:
- leading a central university IT function
- leading a departmental IT function working with central IT
- leading a hybrid IT function that spans central and local IT
I have experience of running a range of IT services ranging from infrastructure, e-learning, library, data management, end user devices, training and support and incident management. I have experience of working with suppliers across the IT spectrum. I have experience of outsourcing services and insourcing back into the university. I have leading the development of services in the complex arena of data privacy and cyber security. I have developed services in partnership with other HE providers and across into the NHS.
I am a collaborator at heart and my mantra is “life is a team sport”. I believe in the power of collective input and the ability of teams to do way more that any individual can. I am also an enabler and educator at heart. I love seeing others thrive, whether colleagues, customers or peers.
I am a customer service provider at heart and judge success based on the customer’s success. The customer of UCISA are the member institutions and I am committed to serving them to the fullest extent of my ability through my role in UCISA. I will bring extensive experience of working with IT colleagues and IT customers to develop the right services for organisations at the right time. <
Please describe your motivation for applying to be a UCISA Trustee or USL Director:
Having been in the sector for 25 years, working across a number of institutions, in a variety of IT leadership roles, I would now welcome the opportunity to add my voice, my ideas, my practical contribution, my experience and even my challenge in service of taking forward the UCISA mission. I believe that the collective voice of the sector is a powerful and necessary asset in these rapidly changing and volatile times. Suppliers will continue to represent the interests of suppliers, government agencies will represent their perspective and priorities and it is therefore essential that the HE IT practitioners have a large, collective voice that represents those delivering services at the coal face. Harnessing the collective strength of our membership voice, we will provide the IT and digital practitioners in the UK Education Sector with the tools to be leaders in digital transformation and IT developments; representing our sector with transparency and authority; influencing; and enhancing the depth and breadth of engagement with UCISA in the UK and beyond.
