Elle Bateman is Head of Assurance at the University of Cambridge, providing strategic direction and leading the overall administration of the University's assurance activities. She also ensures that the University collaborates efficiently and effectively with the outsourced internal audit function and manages the University's obligations in a number of areas of regulatory compliance, including risk management. Elle has worked in Higher Education for 10 years, initially at the University of Warwick, where she was involved in REF preparations and strategic planning, before moving to the University of Cambridge in 2015.
Craig Chapman-Smith is the director of Risk and Strategic Projects at the University of Glasgow. He has over 30 years experience in strategy, portfolio, programme and project management across both public and private sectors. In the last 2 years, he has helped the University of Glasgow transform their approach to risk management towards a strategic management tool that links risk to strategy, performance, investment and governance. Alongside this, he has led on the streamlining of academic and corporate governance processes aiming to drive a more structured and systematic Business Assurance Framework.
Jon Darling is Head of Internal Audit at the University of Birmingham and a chartered accountant with over 20 years of experience in internal audit and risk management. He has held previous roles at Midcounties Cooperative, npower, Birmingham City Council and KPMG. He is also vice-chair at an adult education college, chair of trustee board at a domestic violence charity and chairs the IIA Aspire committee which supports early career internal auditors. Jon is a big sports fan, supporting Sheffield Wednesday, Yorkshire CCC and Minnesota Vikings. He loves reading crime novels and Calvin and Hobbes cartoons, and has a wide and varied Spotify playlist, from Doris Day to Metallica via Divine Comedy.
Dr Fola Ikpehai is a Principal Consultant with SUMS Consulting. She specialises in process improvement, organisational change and transformation, training development and delivery, programme and project management, and leadership. She combines her expertise as a coach and mentor with strong analytical skills and a practical understanding of the challenges of implementing benefits-led change in complex organisations. Specialising in change and transformation means that Fola’s work spans a number of service areas. Her key passion is supporting the delivery of long-term outcomes and realisation of benefits from “the Change” or “Transformation Programme”. Fola joined SUMS Consulting in 2018 following a varied career in academics and research, local government, management consultancy and transformational change. She has a Doctorate in Cellular Parasitology as well as professional training in project and programme management, training and development, and business and financial management.
Mohammed Ilyas is the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Hertfordshire. He has more than 25 years experience in the equalities, diversity and inclusion (EDI) field working in various sectors including Local Government, Higher Education as well as the Voluntary and Community Sectors. Mohammed has been passionate about Equality, Human Rights and Social Justice from a young age. Growing up as a child of immigrant parents, a young Pakistani Muslim unsure of his identity in the midst of the multi-cultural metropolitan that Britain was morphing into during the 1980s afforded many challenges. However, the challenges and his experiences empowered his identity and ignited his passion to challenge cultural and societal expectations and norms, barriers and disadvantage. He is also a passionate activist for inclusion and change to ensure others don’t have to face the same challenges, barriers and lack of acceptance that he did.
Rob Jones is a Director with KPMG and an experienced assurance professional with a wide range of exposure to Internal Audit and financial management, gained primarily in the public and non-profit sectors. His specific experience includes risk-based assessments, managing teams and delivering projects. He has extensive experience of helping clients navigate risk and policy. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CPFA) and a proud Mancunian who is committed to a healthier planet.
David Kernohan is Acting Editor of Wonkhe. Until June 2016, he worked at Jisc as a programme manager and senior co-design manager, after being seconded from HEFCE in 2006. He has also worked for the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales). As Associate Editor, David has responsibility for the development and delivery of a variety of editorial content. His key areas of wonkishness include teaching quality enhancement policy, funding policy, sector agency politics and history, research policy, and the use of technology and data in Higher Education. David has written for Wonkhe since foundation, and also maintains a personal blog.
Susie Palmer-Trew worked within or for higher education institutions for 12 years, predominantly in project, change and strategy environments. She led the PMO at the Open University to win the APM PMO of the Year Award in 2017 and championed collaborative and partnered approaches to improving the University’s project and change maturity. She has also delivered across other sectors including retail and construction. Susie’s motivation is to affect how organisations change and to help them to be responsive and respectful of the people inside them. Her personality and ambition drive her role as a catalyst, a game changer striving to achieve potential in both business and people. She is a Doctoral candidate in Organisational Change building on an MSc in Project Management.
Andy Youell is Executive Director, Regulation, University College of Estate Management. His career in HE began at the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council in 1991 and has included spells at HEFCE and HESA.In 2013 he was appointed Director of the Higher Education Data & Information Improvement Programme (HEDIIP) which was created to reduce the burden and increase the value and accessibility of data and information about HE. He has worked as a freelance consultant advising HE providers and related organisations on data and regulation issues. He has advised governments in Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia and Oman and he worked on a UN project in Jordan that developed statistical reporting for universities across the Middle East. Andy is a former member of the DfE Information Standards Board and was a member of the independent review of 2020 qualification grades which was commissioned by the Welsh Government.
