Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, 8th Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI)

Sir Hilary is a distinguished academic, international thought leader, United Nations committee official, and global public activist in the field of social justice and minority empowerment.

Sir Hilary received his higher education in the United Kingdom. He has lectured extensively in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, and has published over 100 peer reviewed essays in scholarly journals, and over 13 books on subjects ranging from Atlantic and Caribbean History, gender relations in the Caribbean, sport development and popular culture.

Sir Hilary has had widespread Caribbean and global recognition for his academic achievements and leadership expertise. He was called upon by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to serve as an inaugural member of his Science Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.

In 2013 Sir Hilary was invited to coordinate Caribbean governments’ policy positions on the global reparatory justice conversation. In this capacity he was asked to Chair the newly established Caribbean Commission on Reparations. Under his guidance the University of the West Indies has established “The Caribbean Centre for Reparations Research”. In 2018 he was appointed President of Universities Caribbean, the Association of Caribbean Universities and Research Institutes.

Nicola Owen, Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), Lancaster University and AHUA Chair

Nicola Owen is the Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) at Lancaster University. Together with the Director of Finance, she leads the Professional Services at Lancaster. As Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), she is the Head of Administration and has responsibility for Strategic Planning & Governance, Recruitment, Admissions & International Development, Facilities, Human Resources and OED, Information Systems Services, Communications and Marketing, Alumni and Development, Research and Enterprise Services and Student Based Services.

Nicola was elected to the position of Chair of the Association of Heads of University Administration , a three year tenure which started on 1 April 2020.

Prior to moving to Lancaster University, Nicola was Deputy Registrar at the University of Warwick.

Richard Billingham,  Executive Director of HR and Organisational Development, Aston University

Richard has extensive experience working with leaders and organisations, across public and private sectors, both in the UK and internationally, to bring about change.

He has previously held a number of executive level roles focusing on leading complex workforce and culture change. He joined Aston from Bristol City Council where he was Director of Human Resources and Change.

Richard is a governor of Aston University’s Engineering Academy and also a pension trustee. He is recognised by friends and colleagues as an out and out, total enthusiast (and cricket fan)! He is passionate about working with organisations and people, to help them become the very best that they can be.

Fiona Duggan, FiD

Fiona is the founding director of FiD, a London-based consultancy set up in 2006. Using a combined background in architecture and organisational psychology, Fiona works at the place where users and buildings meet, seeking ways in which the design and use of space can support academic and/or organisational change. Over the past 33 years she has worked in teaching, research and consultancy roles across more than 200 organisations and institutions.

Ian Dunn, Provost, Coventry University Group

Ian is Chief Academic Officer and takes responsibility for driving the highest standards of academic excellence and supporting the leadership of the Education & Student Experience, Research and Enterprise & Innovation pillars of the corporate strategy.

Ian has worked at Coventry University since 1992, beginning as an academic in the Engineering Faculty and has subsequently taken many roles in Engineering and Computing before being appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 2010, Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2013 and Provost in 2018.

Ian led the development of Coventry University College in 2011 and was involved in the subsequent developments to create campuses in Scarborough and Dagenham. He led the creation of Coventry University Online in 2017 to create a suite of fully online degrees available in partnership with FutureLearn.

Ian is highly engaged with the higher education sector both nationally and internationally. He is a member of the QAA Advisory Committee for Degree Awarding Powers in the UK and a member of the European University Association steering committee for learning and teaching. In 2016 Ian was voted “Inspiring Leader of the Year” at the Guardian Higher Education Awards. He is highly engaged in his local communities, working with schools, the justice system and charities.

Alex Crow, Mindreader

Alex served for 15 years in the Metropolitan Police in London and then left to pursue his wild dreams of performing for a living as a mindreader.  After years of studying body language, NLP, psychology and with a healthy dose of intuition and many other techniques, Alex is now regarded as one of the top mind readers in the UK.

“This week I was lucky enough to witness Alex doing his show virtually. I couldn’t imagine how it would work without interacting face to face, but he completely amazed me with his skills. Completely and utterly mind blowing! If you get the chance to see this man do not hesitate.” Jill Goddard (corporate client)

Alex Russell, Partner, Mills & Reeve

Alex specialises in advising higher education institutions on immigration and employment issues.  His experience includes advising on strategic people issues, complex employment tribunal claims, restructures and senior severances, international collaborations, mergers and the transfer of staff, and amendments to constitutional documents.  Alex also leads the Mills & Reeve national immigration team and supports institutions in recruiting talent from the global labour market and managing related compliance obligations.  Recent work includes helping institutions to navigate the new post-Brexit immigration system.

John McMillian, Managing Director, EAB

John is responsible for the development of all of our ongoing operations Internationally outside of North America. John has been with the broader firm for over 9 years and has extensive experience working with our members to ensure partnership success. As the Managing Director of EAB International, John is responsible for developing consultative partnerships with our members to help solve their strategic and operational challenges in an effort to optimize their enrolment goals, student experience, and financial sustainability. John has spent the last two years building our work specific to the challenges and nuances of Higher Education across Europe.

John spent the prior three years developing out a new recruitment analytics initiative to support the enrolment growth of non-traditional adult learners across our member Universities throughout North America.

John received his undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 2005, and most recently received his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business in 2017.

Dr Adam Stoten, Chief Operating Officer, Oxford University Innovation Ltd

Adam has since 2017 acted as COO for Oxford University Innovation Ltd (OUI), leading teams responsible for translating the University’s expertise, ideas and IP into societal benefits in the form of new products, services and companies, and supporting major transactions such as the licence to AstraZeneca for Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Adam has worked for more than 15 years in commercial roles encompassing general management, business development and licensing, new venture formation, product development and lobbying/advocacy.

Prior to his current role Adam led the Life Sciences Licensing & Ventures Group at OUI, where he oversaw the formation of more than 20 new spin out companies and led the creation of LAB282, a £13M partnership with Oxford Sciences Innovation plc and Evotec AG to accelerate Oxford drug discovery activities.

Between 2010 and 2013 Adam worked as Deputy General Manager for the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd, a joint venture between the University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions Inc, which raised more than $30M to conduct the first ever efficacy study of a next generation TB vaccine in infants. Prior to this Adam worked in healthcare consulting and then in increasingly senior commercialisation roles at OUI.

Dr Phil Clare, Deputy Director, Research Services, University of Oxford

Phil’s responsibilities at Oxford include leading or contributing to Knowledge Exchange across the University.  He works closely with Oxford University Innovation Ltd, the University’s wholly-owned technology transfer company, on major projects, and is part of the Strategic Business Team, leading industry-facing initiatives. He works with the University’s Pro Vice Chancellors to support the regional agenda and is determined to find more ways to contribute to the growth of Oxford’s Innovation Ecosystem.  He led regional teams that undertook Oxfordshire’s Science and Innovation Audit and crafted the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Innovation Strategy.

Phil worked previously at the Universities of Bath and Bournemouth in a variety of roles related to Research Management and Commercialisation, and for the UK Research Office in Brussels focusing on European research funding.

He is a Council member for Research England, former director of and Ambassador for PraxisAuril, the UK professional association for Knowledge Exchange Practitioners, and has previously been on the board of ARMA, the Association of Research Managers and Administrators. He is a registered technology transfer professional (RTTP), a Member of the Institute of Directors (MIoD) and is also a director of Fluvial Innovations Ltd.  He has an MBA from Oxford and an MA in Intellectual Property Management from Bournemouth University.  He used to be a chemist, courtesy of King’s College London and the University of Bath.