UCISA24 Leadership Conference

Penny Mallory is a former Rally Champion and the first and only woman in the world to drive a World Rally Car for Ford. Although her interest began with automotive performance, her passion quickly shifted to human performance and Mental Toughness.

Now, as a leading Authority on Mental Toughness, Penny is a TEDX speaker, and delivers keynotes, webinars and workshops to help individuals, teams and organisations to develop their confidence, commitment, focus and determination.

As a troubled, runaway homeless teenager, she hit rock bottom in London. Against all the odds, she turned her life around and made the impossible possible to become a Champion Rally Driver. Her own life experience means she is well equipped to work inside and alongside many world class teams (including F1) to develop the qualities a high performing team needs to succeed.

Penny has presented many TV shows including Driven, Used Car Roadshow, World Rally Championship and has hosted hundreds of events. She continues to challenge what conventional thinking says she simply can’t - from competing in multiple marathons, enter the boxing ring twice, conquering two of the world’s highest mountains….and now she is preparing to row the Atlantic in Dec 2023.

Jason Oliver joined University of Sussex in September 2018 as Director of IT and was tasked with shaping the strategic leadership and direction of IT Services. His remit has since grown to cover wider transformation initiatives including the creation of Sussex Projects which covers all capital investment across the institution, forming and embedding the University’s sustainability team leading Sussex to a top 4% global ranking in its first THE Impact submission, and by becoming a Board Member at Sussex Estates and Facilities (SEF) – the University’s total facilities management (TFM) joint venture with Mitie.

Prior to this he was Director of IT at the Science Museum Group, where he built a sector-leading team and delivered a large-scale transformation agenda and step-change in organisational culture. Before this he was at Royal Opera House, where he helped to deliver their biggest ever technology modernisation programme.

In each of the past 5 years, Jason has been named one of CIO UK’s top 100, celebrating the UK’s most disruptive and transformative technology leaders, he is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and he is a Governor at a local primary school.

David Goddard, Head of Digital Student Experience at UCL. David has 20 years experience working in the HE sector and his goal is to improve the life and learning outcomes of all students using digital technology.

A servant leader experienced in application development and product management, with almost a decade of experience at notable organisations like London Business School and Anthony Nolan. Skilled in strategic thinking, team leadership, and quality assurance, with a proven track record of driving innovation and excellence in technology-focused roles.

David has been at Sunderland for over 24 years and, has the responsibility for technical support comprising University IT, Academic Technical Support, Information Governance, Cyber Security, Business Resilience, and Programme Management Office.

Emma co-chairs the UCISA UX Group and heads up the UX Service within Learning, Teaching and Web Services at the University of Edinburgh. She’s interested in helping colleagues understand the positive impact UX can have and encouraging the holistic adoption of user-centred practices and approaches within Higher Education.

Ben Watson, Head of Digital Accessibility at UCL. He has experience of working with all UK education sectors (primary, secondary, further and higher education) and many years experience of working to improve both the physical and digital accessibility of education organisations.

Andy Smith Joined UCL in May 2020 as CIO and before that he was the Global CIO for Arm from 2014 to 2019. Arm is one the world’s leading technology companies with its processor designs in more than 150 billion chips including almost every phone in the world. Prior to this Andy spent 5 years as a Government CIO working for one of the agencies in the defence sector. Before that he worked for 20 years with BP in a variety of roles and locations around the world including 6 years in Alaska. Andy lives in Cambridge with his wife and two daughters. He is a keen sportsman who has recently discovered the game of Real Tennis.

Simon’s core day job is to provide strategic leadership and management of the University’s IT Service. He is also responsible for the vision and delivery of the IT Strategy and acts as an advisor and advocate with key stakeholders, to maximise opportunities for innovation and technology change across the University. Simon is responsible for all the technology infrastructure across the University, including the network, storage, servers, and end user computers ensuring that these are resilient, reliable and secure for all staff and students. He is responsible for the technical customer support, to provide a responsive customer-focused service to all staff and students and the delivery of multiple technical change programmes to support the University strategy and vision.

Simon is responsible for defining and delivering the IT Strategy and service that will deliver the technology elements of the business outcomes set within the wider University strategy. At University Executive, Simon supports colleagues as to how technology can support achievement of organisational wide ambitions, providing resilient infrastructure enabling business outcomes around teaching, research, and Knowledge Exchange.

Deborah joined UCISA as CEO in May of 2019, bringing with her a wealth of marketing and Higher Education experience, most recently as Director of Student Recruitment at the University of Hull following five years as Chief Executive of Marketing Leeds and 5 years at Leeds Beckett University, where she was a member of the Executive Board. She is no stranger to leading member organisations, having led the Law Society’s regional team earlier in her career, supporting 14,500 solicitors in Yorkshire and the North East and introducing a wealth of new initiatives and services, resulting in her receiving the Yorkshire Enterprise Award and being recognised as Yorkshire Lawyer of the year in 2007 for her services to the profession.

Matt Searles is a Vice President and responsible for Ellucian’s business in Europe and Asia Pacific. Matt is passionate about enabling digital transformation and student success, having worked in the technology industry for 25 years primarily in the Higher Education sector.

Emma started working in the Higher Education sector 14 years ago at Sheffield Hallam University, she moved to York St John University in 2019 to take up the role of CIO where she has responsibility for IT Operations, Technology Enhanced Learning and for the delivery of an ambitious Digital Strategy. Emma is a Trustee and current Chair of UCISA, the professional body for IT professionals working in education. In the last four years, she has supported UCISA with the development of its Strategy and has been involved in supporting its communities of practice to grow, evolve and share their valuable expertise. She has represented the UCISA membership on several high-profile pieces of representation work with key digital suppliers and she is a member of the UUK/Jisc software negotiation strategy group.

John has led King’s approach to operating models and frameworks to professionalise IT. This has been key to our transformation and journey towards service excellence. Now BTS and HERM are here, King’s no longer “build our own” but we adopt frameworks supporting collaboration and accelerated service excellence within King’s and across the HE sector.

Karen joined London Business School as Director of IT, Delivery Capability in Autumn 2021 to ensure successful delivery of their Digital Transformation. Prior to that Karen spent 7 years with the University of Portsmouth leading their technology portfolio. The first 20 Years of my career was across Local Government, latterly leading Business and Digital Transformation. 

Adrian Ellison is Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor and CIO at the University West London, where he is a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive and responsible for Academic Administration, Academic Registry, Academic Quality and Standards, Library and IT services and the Institute for Policing Studies. He has been in UK higher education for 24 years at four universities. Adrian has written about and spoken widely on the use of technology and analytics in the HE sector.

Gareth Davies, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at RNIB. Gareth has worked for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) for over 7 years. He has held several roles focused on improving the accessibility of physical and digital environments for blind and partially sighted people in sectors such as health, retail, sport, and transport. Gareth was registered blind himself ten years ago and brings his lived experience to the projects he is involved in.

Fraser Muir is Global Director of Information Services at Heriot-Watt University and leads the provision of a converged information service provision to the University's 5 campuses. This includes library, technology support, infrastructure, network, security, research support and technology enhanced learning. Fraser also leads the University digital strategy and digital transformation initiatives.

Nick is a seasoned leader in the technology industry, bringing a unique understanding of digital from senior roles across government, media, higher education, and private enterprise. As a former Chief Digital Officer for the South Australian Government, Nick drove the development of the government's digital strategy, digital inclusion commitment and led its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Managing Director for Squiz, Nick leads a team of dedicated digital specialists, transforming the online experience of customers, citizens, and students for leading organizations across the UK and Europe.

Yasir has nearly 20 years’ experience of working across a variety of industries and market sectors with particular specialty in Higher and Further Education. He is known as a technological leader who can bring true value to teaching and learning environment and digital transformation through changes in core network infrastructure, audio video configurations and customer services skills to bring the best & secure experience for end users and stakeholders.

With a background in electronics and electrical engineering and Information Systems, Yasir earned his way up the ladder from a technician to technical lead, Audio Video Architect and Campus End User Manager at Kingston University London. He has been featured on number of AV channels and magazines for his achievements. Currently Yasir is heading the IT service delivery team at Nottingham College, supporting 25k+ students and 1.5k+ staff spread across complex and multi-campus environment.

As the lead for Business Development and Customer Success in the UK at ManageEngine, I specialize in advancing our IAM and SIEM product suite. My expertise lies in fostering growth and ensuring exceptional service, cultivating strong client relationships, and steering innovative solutions in the tech landscape.

Priyanka leads strategy and sales, across all Education sectors. Priyanka builds high performing, and diverse global teams, to accelerate delivery of digital and business transformations. Passionate about education and development, Priyanka co-founded the Good Growth Community, was instrumental in driving the TCS Sustainathon, and actively promotes STEM through Founders4Schools and Maths4Girls.

Professor Alison Honour has been the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) since 2021. Prior to this, she held two Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of Faculty roles at Birmingham City University and De Montfort University.At CCCU, Alison's leadership priorities are focused on the successful implementation of the university's new Strategic Framework Vision 2030 and driving key initiatives to deliver an outstanding student experience and outstanding student outcomes. Alison's role includes reviewing the systems and processes to improve how the curriculum is developed, managed and monitored with the university's new partnership with CourseLoop and the rollout of its end to end Curriculum Management Platform.

Harry is a Solutions Director at Hays, and leads Hays Skills, a new business in the Hays portfolio, supporting our customer network to develop skills development programmes that open up employment opportunities to ‘undiscovered talent’ communities. After beginning his career in recruitment, he then worked in VC backed start-ups and scale-ups for six years across two different portfolios before joining Hays.

With over 15 years’ experience specialising in Technology recruitment across public services with a focus on Higher Education, Amanda has been fundamental in establishing the national Higher Education Technology business at Hays. Amanda has worked in partnership with a large number of CIOs across the sector to understand the challenges and work with universities to develop solutions that enable them better access to technology talent in a competitive landscape.

Alex Goffe is Associate Director Technology at the University of Manchester.

Arthur is CTO at the University of Sheffield where his role covers architecture, strategy, development, cloud and digital transformation. He has previously worked in Cyber Security, Research IT and Infrastructure within UK HE

Dr Tom Crummey is the Director of IT Service and Operations at University College London, looking after the main centrally provided Digital Platforms and Services (including Infrastructure and Enterprise Applications). Tom has been at UCL for 27 years working both in an Academic Department (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) and in Central Services. As part UCL's Modernise, Digitize and Differentiate strategy, Tom has led on the implementation of Agile ways of working in Service and Operations and also on migrating critical services to Cloud, whether as Software as a Service or Infrastructure as a Service.

Gavin is a Computer Science Graduate from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia and he also holds an MBA from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California with a major in international business.

For the past ten years Gavin has held senior IT posts in the UK Higher Education sector. Since February 2015 Gavin has held the post of Chief Information Officer and Librarian to the University of Edinburgh. At the University of Edinburgh he is responsible for the strategic development and efficient delivery of a wide range of services, including IT infrastructure, library collections, digital curation, and learning & teaching services. In addition, he plays a crucial role in ensuring that the University remains at the forefront of technological innovations that promote a world-class user experience for staff and students including a major University wide Digital Transformation programme; a replacement of all the core enterprise business systems and a University wide distance learning programme.

Gavin is also active as an advisor to Scottish government, acting as the co-chair to the Scottish Funding Council’s Higher and Further Education Sector ICT advisory group; as a member of the Scottish Digital Directorate’s Digital Public Services Sponsor group; and as the chair of the Scottish Government expert group on the Online Identity Assurance programme.

Previously, Mr McLachlan has worked at University College London (UCL) as Deputy Divisional Director for the Information Services Division and Director of Technology and Research IT Services.

Prior to working at UCL, he held a number of senior IT management positions in private sector organisations across the IT managed service, educational IT service, insurance and apparel industries spanning a 30 year career.

Louw Labuschagne is a Chartered IT Professional (MBCS) specialising in Business Architecture. With over two decades of experience in Enterprise Architecture, Louw brings a wealth of knowledge from diverse sectors including Mining, Banking & Insurance, Utilities, and the Public Sector across Southern Africa and the Middle East. Since joining Newcastle University's architecture team in 2022, he has been instrumental in applying his expertise to the Higher Education sector in the UK. Louw's commitment to the field extends beyond his role at the university; he actively contributes to the EA community through his involvement with the UCISA EA Group, HERM working group, and the Architecture Exchange community forum. His previous contributions to the TOGAF standard and various industry forums underscore his dedication to advancing the field of Enterprise Architecture.

Paul Harness retired as CIO of Lancaster University in 2022 and now spends his time travelling, playing golf, and enjoying time with his granddaughter. Paul has continued to undertake a few consultancy projects including this work for UCISA.

Dieter has been CIO for nearly 20 years, including 3 Universities. Joining ARU in 2017 his focus has been on transforming the IT Organisation into a strategic partner focusing on Digital Strategy, Transformation/Automation and Product Management in addition to Business Continuity, Cyber Security, Cloud adoption and modernisation of the digital workplace.

Mat is (Interim) Deputy Director & Head of Digital Infrastructure/Information Security at the University of Wolverhampton, where he is responsible for shaping and planning the University’s digital architecture encompassing core infrastructure and information security. Mat is also UCISA Secretary and a Director of USL.

Director of Digital Services, Stephen is responsible for the IT- enterprise strategy of the Coventry University Group. With more than 20 years of experience in higher education, he's always strived to deliver connected and connecting experiences for students, employees and external parties alike and enable operational efficiencies at scale through digital transformation.

As Director of Digital Information, Krish is responsible for the Computing and Library Services delivering a range of services to the University including central IT function and library services. He has led the development of University’s Digital Strategy 2019-2025 and is responsible for delivering the Digital Strategy initiatives improving student experience, efficiencies through streamlined business processes with robust technical and architectural foundation.

Greg has over 20 years’ experience in the Higher Education. Prior to this he completed 11 years in the Army including operation service in Cambodia with the United Nations.

John O’Brien serves as the president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit organization seeking to inspire the transformation of higher education in service to a greater good EDUCAUSE serves over 2,000 member colleges, universities, and organizations from 41 countries who themselves collectively serve over 14 million students.  He speaks and writes on a variety of topics related to higher education, technology, and the crucial intersection where the two meet. Throughout his career in higher education, John has served as an academic, technology, and institutional leader, from professor to provost and president—and deputy CIO in the mix as well.

Lindsay is an Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the information/digital technology and services industry. She's held various leadership roles and directorships at digital technology companies and in academia supporting the higher ed ecosystem. After her decade long career at WestGrid, supporting the HPC research community, she was appointed as the inaugural ED & COO for the Quantum Algorithms Institute, where she worked closely with the Board of Directors to build BC’s quantum ecosystem. Early in her career, Lindsay worked as a Laboratory Manager where she did research on gene therapy and immunology, which eventually led to a publication in Nature. Lindsay was an Advisory Board member of the first international and Canadian chapter of Women in HPC, which works to improve the gender balance in HPC. Lindsay serves on several boards and advisory boards. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and recently received her designation from the Director’s Education Program through the Institute of Corporate Directors. She was the recipient of the 2022 Women of Inspiration Award. She lives in BC, Canada with her husband and two sons.

With a career in public service management, now leads Université Laval's IT Department, emphasizing a people-first, Lean-Agile strategy for a sustainable tech ecosystem.

Val Theron is General Manager of HEITSA since the inception of the association in 2010. She is responsible for implementing strategy, day to day operations and coordinating and managing various projects and activities that are of benefit to the Higher Education Information Technology sector in South Africa.

Her Information Technology career started in 1989 as a developer, and she worked in the insurance sector before entering into the higher education space in 1998. She has managed SMEs in the sector and consulted directly with a number of universities. She represents the twenty-six public universities of South Africa on various forums and committees.

Gill has extensive senior management experience in HE and has led and advised on the implementation of IT to support all areas of teaching, research and administration. Her expertise includes areas such as technology-enhanced learning, curriculum design, assessment and feedback and the design of learning spaces as well as good practice guidance in strategic planning and the project and change management needed to deliver enhancements in learning, teaching and research. She has directed projects in support of the strategic goals of the English and Scottish HE funding councils and advised on the development of e-learning strategies for England and Wales.

Gill is the author of a number of reference works widely used in the UK HE and FE sectors and has published a number of major reports, journal articles and peer reviewed papers on themes relating to technology enhanced learning, curriculum design, assessment and feedback and lifelong learning as well as information management and business processes improvement for the education sector. She has been an invited keynote speaker at many UK and international conferences and is currently the leader of the EUNIS e-Learning Task Force.

Zoe Kleinman is the BBC’s first ever Technology Editor, appointed to the role in 2021. With over 20 years broadcasting experience, Zoe has spent most of her career as a specialist presenter and reporter covering all areas of the tech agenda. She has also presented BBC Radio 4's PM Programme.

From gadgets and games to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, she makes tech news accessible to a mainstream audience of millions across national and international BBC Radio, TV and online outlets including Radio 4’s Today programme, BBC World TV and the UK’s most watched news shows.

Zoe has raced drones in the Nevada desert, taken a backseat drive in a driverless car, spent the night in a house full of robots and climbed Mount Everest in Virtual Reality. In 2023 she led the BBC’s coverage of the UK government’s AI Safety Summit. Apple CEO Tim Cook is among the global technology leaders she has interviewed. She’s also reported on Elon Musk’s controversial takeover at Twitter, the volatile world of cryptocurrency, the gender bias in Silicon Valley, Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, and her exclusive reports about the parents whose children accidentally spend thousands of pounds inside video and mobile games was discussed by politicians and led to a parliamentary committee hearing on gaming and gambling.

Zoe’s wider journalistic skills are hugely respected across the BBC and in 2020 Zoe was asked to work as a senior journalist on the BBC News team covering the Covid-19 pandemic.

A confident and entertaining speaker who is in demand as a host, chair, panellist and lecturer, Zoe’s expertise and knowledge of the tech sector is brought to life by her engaging style. Her networking skills and ability to engage with people from all walks of life ensure many repeat bookings.

Claire works at the intersection of business analysis and customer success, integrating responsible AI innovation with tangible positive outcomes for businesses. She is a Cloud Business Analyst and Responsible AI Centre of Excellence Programme Manager at Microsoft UK. Claire holds a graduate degree in AI Ethics and Society from the University of Cambridge, specialising in researching the socio-technical dynamics of AI systems and human-computer interaction.

Dr Cris Bloomfield is a Senior Industry Architect within Microsoft who works with Higher Education institutions across Europe, Middle East and Africa. With past roles in the financial services and retail industries, he is also former academic researcher and lecturer who went on to leadership roles in IT Services at a number of Russell Group universities. He has over 25 years of broad experience working in Education and has led large scale infrastructure modernization, digital innovation initiatives and new build projects across a wide range of technologies. Cris is currently supporting a number of current digital transformation initiatives that are looking to leverage generative AI capabilities in both teaching and learning and professional services contexts.