A sneak peek into SSG23, what why and how

I fell into my Higher Education IT (and overall tech) career at the University of Leeds IT Service Desk in 2012, transitioned to Application Support as an IT Operational Lead in 2021 and now Interim Application Support Manager as of March 2023. From my career and life experiences, I am passionate about customer service, mental health, equality, equity and diversity within the HE and Tech community (and beyond!)

I am the Service Desk Manager at the University of Wolverhampton and have been in post since Nov 22 so am relatively new to the Education sector. I have a passion for Service Improvements and making the Digital Services Service Desk and Operations Services the best that they can be. Since working at the University I’m proud of the achievements I have made so far including recruiting and establishing a high performing Service Desk Team, being part of the set up and support of multiple Student Enrolment Hubs and Making many core service improvements including maximising the collaboration and relationship with our Out of Hours supplier Norman Managed Services. In my spare time I love to watch films, especially scary ones and have a large collection of movies and film memorabilia.

After finishing a BA in textiles and some facilities & PA work I found myself at Leeds University in 2010 managing faculty timetables. I snuck into IT after a restructure in 2016 and completed a whirlwind course of shadowing most teams and then settled in Client IT for a few years. I joined the Server team in 2019 and then M365 team in 2021. I then made the leap to management as IT operational Lead 9 months later. I can't help but be enthusiastic about understanding people, building others self-confidence, Halloween, communication and creative problem solving.