UCISA25 Leadership Conference

With 20 years of experience and renowned for her dedication to delivery excellence, Kristiane specialises in enterprise application implementations and project recovery. Her diverse career spans the automotive, travel, charity, and education sectors. Kristiane is a member of the APM and holds degrees in Business Administration, Information Technology, and Psychology.

Professor Chrisina Jayne is the Dean of the School of Computing & Digital Technologies at Teesside University (TU) and TU London. Her research is in artificial neural networks. Chrisina is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) CITP. She is deeply passionate about gender equality, social inclusion, and diversity.

Jo has 25 years experience in the HE sector including leadership roles in academic and central departments, and specialist institutions. Jo has a particular interest in service design, process innovation, transformation and positive change. She is an AHEP Fellow, holds an MBA in Higher Education Management and a PGCert in Change Management.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As Executive Head of Library and Learning Resources at UWTSD my primary role is to provide overall leadership, development, strategic and operational management across the full range of activities relating to the provision of library services for the University. I have been at the institution since 2007, and have worked in a variety of roles during this time. I have over 30 years of experience of working the HE sector, and have particular interest in public sector organisational structures and hierarchies in the context of succession planning and leadership development.

I am a member of the WHELF (Welsh Higher Education Libraries Forum) Board, and the CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and information Professionals) Cymru Wales Committee. I am also a regular mentor for the Advance HE Aurora programme, and the Equality seat on the UCU Wales Council.

Andrew joined Amazon Web Services as Executive Lead for UK Education in January 2022 with a focus on helping leaders achieve their strategic aims through technology, innovation, and culture. He has over 15 years of digital leadership and transformation experience across the UK public sector including five years as a Pro Vice-Chancellor for the University of Staffordshire

Andrew Gill is an experienced people and technology leader and deputy director of IT & Digital Services at Teesside University. With a background in business technology consulting, manufacturing and M&A; Andrew’s motivation is the pursuit of improved student and staff experiences through innovation, technology adoption and collaboration in Higher Education.

Michelle has over 17 years' of experience in the EdTech industry, working with companies that impact student engagement, retention, internationalisation, employability, and skills. Now Director of Marketing for AppsAnywhere, Michelle and her passion for how technology enhances learning, provides equal access to education, and impacts student success to bring market insights to the event.

Clare Forde has 15 years’ experience in Australian Higher Education managing and supporting the design, approval and quality assurance of curriculum and related policies. After obtaining her Master of Education (Educational Technologies) she has for the last 5 years overseen the University of South Australia’s program and course management system, a product built in-house which at the time of its release in 2011 was industry leading. She is currently Senior Project Manager for the implementation of a curriculum management system for the new Adelaide University that will open its doors in January 2026.

Joseph Talbot is Senior UX Consultant at the University of Oxford. Joseph has been designing and building websites and systems for the University of Oxford for nearly 25 years.

Carol has worked with Australian/New Zealand universities facilitating the design and implementation of future-focused digital curriculum environments to improve the student experience as well as streamlining university processes. Leading the project implementing a new digitised curriculum management solution for the new Adelaide University, she has experience with a variety of digitised curriculum management solutions. Previously Director of the University of Newcastle, Australia's Centre for Teaching and Learning and Associate Vice-President Academic (Teaching and Learning) at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, Carol’s research interests include quality improvement in university curricula and constructive alignment in assessment strategies.

Tracey Jessup is Chief Transformation and Resources Officer at De Montfort University, and leads, develops and manages comprehensive changes to how the university operates its business, including delivery of a critical multi-year transformation journey to align the technology and campus, the people and the ways of working.

As an experienced technology leader in Higher Education, Rachael joined Bath Spa in 2016. She is currently engaged in delivering an ambitious programme of Digital Transformation, in close collaboration with academic leaders across the organisation. Rachael is passionate about using digital technology to support Bath Spa’s strategic priorities.

Valerie is responsible for leading strategy and initiatives for Higher Education, Research, K-12, EdTechs, and outcome-based education worldwide. Her Skills to Jobs team enables governments, education systems, and collaborating organizations to deliver skills-based pathways to meet the acute needs of employers around the globe, match skilled job seekers to good paying jobs, and advance the adoption of cloud-based technology. In her over ten-year tenure at AWS, Valerie has held numerous leadership positions, including driving strategic customer engagement within AWS’s Worldwide Public Sector and Industries.

With over 20 years in Higher Education technology and leadership roles and currently the interim IT Services Director at the University of Kent, Paul is passionate about delivering digital solutions and services that enhance student and staff experiences, ensuring that technology drives innovation, efficiency, and long-term success.

Simon Hill is a Senior Executive Partner at Gartner with experience across education, travel, and the public sector. He advises and coaches in areas such as CIO leadership, IT cost optimization, and business value of IT, and is an experienced transformational leader. Simon has also been the EXP Chair for the Gartner Symposium and CIO Leadership Forum.

Claire has been Director of Information Services at Edinburgh Napier University since 2019, having had a varied career in banking, utilities and justice. As a board member of HEFESTIS, and the current chair of HEIDS (HE IS Directors in in Scotland), she is committed to developing shared services that support organisations in sustainable delivery of their individual ambitions. She is a TOGAF certified enterprise architect and is passionate about user-centric design to deliver excellent services

Andrew is COO at the London School of Economics. A biologist by training, Andrew has worked as a technician, a Departmental and then Faculty Manager at Newcastle University before becoming COO at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and then COO at LSE in 2016.

Baba is a Professor of Digital Education and Transformation and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, recognised for leading digital initiatives that enhance learning. He is Director of Digital Transformation at newly merged City St George’s, University of London, and formerly Director of Digital Education at St George’s.

Sarah Knight is director of digital transformation at Jisc. Sarah and her team are supporting universities with their digital transformation using Jisc’s framework and maturity model. During her time at Jisc, Sarah has led large institution-wide transformation projects on curriculum and assessment design, digital capabilities and learners’ experiences of technology.

Heather is the Chief Operating Officer at the Royal College of Art and has worked in the higher education sector for over 20 years.    As COO, Heather's remit includes Technology and Digital Transformation, Portfolio Management and Business Operations, Estates, People and Culture, Risk, Resilience and Safety, Environmental Sustainability and College Governance. Heather is responsible for the leadership, development and effective delivery of professional services across the College.  

Rob has been Chief Operating Officer at York St John University for the past nine years and leads all the Institution’s professional services teams. Prior to entering the HE sector, he held senior roles at Network Rail and in management consulting. A chartered surveyor, he holds degrees from Lancaster University, the London School of Economics and the Universities of Leeds and Bath, with recent publications in the areas of internationalisation and financial diversification.

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.

Raja-Saleem’s role is to oversee and lead the university’s ambitious digital transformation programme, which underpins Warwick’s growth and development as a world class institution. Working closely with his senior leadership team and colleagues across the university, Raja aims to develop and improve Warwick’s systems, networks, and technologies so it can continue to meet the fast-changing needs of its community and stakeholders.

Imogen is the Head of Portfolio in the Digital & Technology department at the University Of Arts London, and is responsible for providing strategic coordination, reporting, planning and governance of the digital portfolio to ensure it meets UAL’s strategic ambitions. Prior to working in the higher education sector, Imogen worked for several London Boroughs on major transformation programmes including the setting up of shared digital services.

Ant is a digital transformation strategist with a decade of experience solving complex challenges for global brands and third-sector organisations. He recently led digital transformation initiatives at the Social Mobility Foundation, including the design of a new product to help more held-back young people succeed in education and work. Ant now works with several charity and fundraising organisations at manifesto including Breast Cancer Now, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the Salvation Army. Ant's approach is rooted in empathy. His passion for understanding human behaviour also underpins his academic interest in music and language, and he graduated in MA Applied Psychology of Music as a mature student in 2020. He previously worked on brand strategy for the likes of Airbnb, Diageo, Nissan, Sennheiser and Starbucks.

As Director of Technology, James is experienced in developing and leading IT teams, systems and services aligned to student and staff requirements and industry best practices. He has overall strategic and operational responsibility for college-wide IT operations, infrastructure, support and services. With his leadership, IT move rapidly to develop multiple and competing projects and tasks, delivering world class services for RCA students and staff

Seema is currently the Deputy Director of Digital Products at the Royal College of Art and has been working in the higher education sector for over 20 years. As a Deputy Director of Digital Products, she specialises in creating and developing digital products that meet business needs, guiding teams in adopting a product led approach, and driving meaningful change within the organisation.

Eileen has been Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary at the University of Stirling since 2014. She has overall responsibility for the University’s professional services. A graduate of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen she holds a BA Business Studies and following graduation she qualified as an accountant.

James is the HE lead for Higher Education at ServiceNow and has spent the past 10 years supporting Public Sector customers digitally transform the way they deliver services. The last 5 years have been spent solely focused on supporting the Higher Education sector working with a wide range of Universities across the UK. James focuses on aligning technology to business problems in order to modernise institutions, drive efficiencies and enable great staff & student engagement.

Nicola leads EY’s higher education consulting practice for the UK, and the wider local public services team for the North region. Nicola began her career in local government, where she spent 10 years working across a range of corporate strategy and transformation roles. Since moving to consultancy in 2011, she has worked as a trusted advisor across a wide range of public services, including; local councils, police, health, regional transport and higher education. She specialises in shaping and delivering complex transformation programmes in the public sector, and is currently working with a number of UK universities to deliver technology enabled change programmes.

Tom is a senior digital strategy leader with 30+ years in technology and services, including 20 years as an advisory consultant. He specializes in digital transformation, disruptive technologies and delivering data insights. Passionate about user experience, collaboration, and innovation, he has extensive expertise across most industry and government sectors.

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.

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.

Steve Bowden is the Director of Learning and Information Services at the University of Chester, leading its Digital Transformation program, Digital Chester. With 24 years of experience in IT management across Higher and Secondary Education, he specialises in IT infrastructure and driving innovative digital solutions in education.

Alex is currently the Director of Academic Services at the University of Lincoln and has been working at the University for over 20 years. As a Director of Academic Services, her responsibilities encompass Student Registry Services and she is currently leading the University's Lincoln Connect initiative which aims to provide a student-centric digital experience through the creation of a unified view of services for students.

Ben Rogers is the former Chair of the Academic Registrars’ Council (ARC) and Director of Registry Services at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Ben has been a member of a number of Universities UK Advisory Groups, chairs national conferences and led strategic reforms through modernising the digital infrastructure. Ben champions innovation, collaboration, and student-focused leadership.

Mike has worked in HE for almost 30 years. He is currently the Director of Students and Registrar at the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, having previously worked in senior roles at UCLAN and the University of Manchester. Mike is currently leading LIPA through the degree awarding powers process at his Institute.

Henrik has gathered his experience of leading people through change and digital technologies from many sectors including Publishing, Tour Operating, Housing and, lately, Higher Education. Having worked in a variety of leadership roles encompassing operational management and strategic delivery, he is an experienced communicator at many levels. Henrik has spent the last decade in two leading universities creating successful Service Delivery and Operations departments with a focus on strategic goals and business outcomes, underlined by a culture of empowerment and achievement. He is the vice-chair of the UCISA Sustainability Group, member of the UCISA Support Services Group, an eager contributor to UCISA projects, and enjoys voluntary work, latest for tuition charity The Access Project. Continuous learning is a core principle to Henrik, he completed a Master’s degree with distinction in Management not long ago, and he perpetually embraces opportunities to learn through a variety of platforms. He is a keen architecture buff (having recently built a house to his own design) and loves a good cup of tea!

Paul is a digital strategist, business designer, programme manager, and scaled agile practitioner who brings a wealth of hands-on transformation experience to advise on how to structure and deliver a successful multi-year roadmap. Paul has been responsible for the strategic leadership and delivery of projects including helping The University of Edinburgh to redefine its digital estate, creating a central web service that meets the needs of both students and staff, co-designing RSPCA’s new innovation model and process, defining Save the Children International’s five year martech roadmap, and leading Breast Cancer Now’s digital unification programme across its digital experience architecture. Paul is focused on how businesses best utilise their people, skills and technology to achieve strategic goals.

Google Head of Education - UK, Ireland, DACH, Italy, Central Asia. Anna leads Google for Education across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, as well as several other European and Asian countries. Her role is to support education organisations in schools, FE and HE so that they get the most out of Google technologies such as Google Workspace for Education, Gemini and ChromeOS. This includes improving learning outcomes with the appropriate use of technology; providing professional development training in technology, and making processes more efficient with innovative solutions. 

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. 

A CIO for over 30 years in education, public and charitable sectors, Laura Dawson's focus is building high performing teams and helping organisations make the best use of their data and technology. Laura was CIO of LSE till 2023 and now is a Governor and Charity Trustee and Founder for Leaderly Consulting.

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.

EMEA Google Workspace for Education and Gemini Lead, Simon Fasolo, empowers learning communities with tools like Gemini, driving innovation in learning with AI, to elevate teaching, learning, collaboration, and productivity. Simon supports K12 and higher education institutions with the world's safest and most secure platform, Google Workspace for Education.

Sir Chris Husbands is a public servant, academic and university leader who was knighted for services to education in 2018. For eight years, he led Sheffield Hallam University, one of the UK’s largest, most diverse universities, and before that led the Institute of Education, University of London, a specialist research institution rated first in the world in three successive years. He chaired the UK Teaching Excellence Framework, the Higher Education Statistics Agency and serves on a range of advisory and executive boards. His writing, conference addresses and journalism includes more than 750 outputs and he has lectured and consulted in four continents. He is now a Director of Higher Futures, a specialist consultancy supporting strategic change and development in higher education and a visiting professor in the King’s Policy Institute at King’s College.