DEE REID
Dee Reid joined Leeds Beckett University as Director of External Relations in September 2017 where she leads internal and external communication, public affairs, alumni, events and partnerships, brand and creative and university marketing services. She has over 20 years’ experience in strategic communications, working in senior roles in local government, education, the NHS and the private sector. Before joining Leeds Beckett, she was Head of Communications and Marketing at Leeds City Council, leading communications for the UK’s third largest city and prior to that, Head of Communications for Education Leeds, providing support for the city’s 265 schools. |
MARK GARRATT
Mark has spent over 34 years in senior roles in Marketing, Communications and Customer Relationship Management in a variety of high-profile private and public sector organisations worldwide. He joined the Higher Education sector in 2009 and has been Director of Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment for City University London and the University of West London and Director of External Affairs for the University of Bradford, where he led a multi-award-winning team for seven years. In 2020 he held the post of Interim Director of Marketing, Recruitment and International at Swansea University. He was appointed Chair of CASE Europe Universities Marketing Forum in January 2021 and is a Board Member of Leeds City College, Bradford UNESCO City of Film and the Bradford Literature Festival. He is a campaigner for equality, diversity and inclusion and is an ambassador for AWLO (African Women in Leadership Organisation) and the White Ribbon campaign. |
PENNY ECCLES
Penny Eccles is the Director of Penny Eccles Ltd and former Director of Marketing and Communications at NTU. Penny is a chartered marketer and Fellow of the CIM. She has worked in Higher Education marketing and student recruitment for 20 years at seven universities (Birmingham City, Newcastle, Aston, Leicester, University of South Wales and Gloucestershire). Penny spent her last two years at Nottingham Trent University as Director of Marketing and Communications on the Executive team. In the two years she was responsible for student recruitment, NTU became the largest recruiter of undergraduate students in the UK (2018 and 2019). She is currently on a mission to champion ‘proper’ marketing in HE. |
Andy has been a long-standing Heist judge. After a career in print publishing, he co-founded FindAUniversity in 2001. Over 20 years FindAUniversity has grown to a team of over 50 staff and leads the way in postgraduate student recruitment in the UK. Earlier this year FindAUniversity became part of the Keystone Academic Solutions group. Together both companies have over 64 million unique visitors each year to their websites.
Andy continues to work at FindAUniversity helping to make the most of the synergies between Keystone and FAU to grow and improve the services they offer. He is also an investor and director at UniTasterDays Ltd. |
Claire Brown is Director of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment at the University of Manchester. Claire began her marketing career in the FMCG sector but then moved into Higher Education, joining the University of Liverpool in 2000 where her career culminated in her appointment as Director of External Relations, Marketing and Communications. Claire is a Fellow of the CIM and a former trustee of CASE Europe.
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Dan is a social and digital media consultant, speaker and trainer. He specialises in developing solutions and bespoke workshops for people and businesses who want to up-skill and connect with their audiences through social media. Before founding 448 Studio he worked with the University of Glasgow, Vancouver & London Olympic Organising committees as well as the Commonwealth Games.
Since launching 448 Studio Dan has had the opportunity to deliver social media workshops and consultancy for the likes of: Lancaster University, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, Santander Universities, UCAS and the National Assembly for Wales. Dan also runs Forumm the ‘all-in-one’ virtual event platform and is a co-founder of the 24 hour online conference All Day All Night. |
Fiona has worked in Higher Education marketing and communications for more than for 20 years. She began her career at the University of Surrey where, following a year as President of the Students’ Union, she spent eight years working in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, managing a diverse portfolio of strategic projects and stakeholder engagement activities. Fiona joined the University of Reading in January 2009 as a senior member of the External Affairs team responsible for the institution’s corporate relations and events.
From August 2014 to August 2016 she was Deputy Head and subsequently Head of Engagement and External Relations, which included the management of UK student recruitment. During her time in the post she led the transformation of the University’s prospective student experience. In August 2016, continuing her career at Reading, Fiona was recruited to the post of Head of Marketing Operations which she undertook for just one year ahead of being appointed as the University’s Director of Marketing, Communication and Engagement in July 2017. |
A career marketer with over 30 years of experience of working in private and public organisations; since 2009 Gary has worked with various providers in higher education, further education, digital learning and apprenticeships.
Currently leads the marketing, recruitment and communications team at Aston University, the Guardian’s University of the Year and the Entrepreneurial University of the Year as awarded by Times Higher Education. Delighted to be appointed as one of the judging panels for the 2021 Heist Awards - been a long-time professional and personal fan of the awards, which reward marketing excellence in education. |
Currently the Director of Marketing and External Relations for Edinburgh Napier University, he leads a 360-degree integrated team responsible for all the marketing, digital, events, PR, reputation, brand, Alumni and fundraising development functions for the #1 modern university in Scotland. Napier recently took top place for overall student satisfaction of all Edinburgh universities.
Geoff is also currently acting Director of People and Services; responsible for HR operations and both student and school support services. Previously the Managing Partner at Jackanory Public Relations LLC in New York, working with national brands, international agencies and private clients on brand engagement and reputation management. Day has also held prior positions working on behalf of the Buckingham Palace Press Office and in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the U.K. government. He began his career in local radio journalism in Edinburgh. He is an alumnus of Edinburgh Napier and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 2003 for his services in building and extending Napier’s USA networks and outreach. |
Helen Litvak is an experienced high achieving senior Director with a demonstrated history of working in the technology and telecommunications industry, joining King’s from Microsoft in 2017. Leading teams of over 70 across many b2b and b2c organisations, Helen’s core capabilities are developing and leading on all marketing strategies including brand, product, acquisition & retention, digital, and CRM. Strongly focused on results and high performance she is a professional with a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
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James Seymour is Director of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment at the University of Gloucestershire. James has worked in University student recruitment and admissions for 25 years including posts at Aston, Buckingham, Leeds, Northumbria and Sheffield Universities, before joining Gloucestershire in November 2019. The University has campuses in Cheltenham and Gloucester and has around 9,000 students. James is on the editorial and advisory group for the Complete University Guide. James is a high school governor and a member of the UCAS Qualifications and Marketing Heads Group, Cambridge Assessment HE stakeholder group and an active member of International ACAC – the global organisation representing admissions and recruitment to University. James has a Masters in Marketing from Aston Business School, Aston University.
Twitter: @JamesSeymourUni |
Joanne Conroy-Wilson is the Group Head of Marketing & PR for Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG), formed in 2016 following the merger of Newcastle under Lyme College and Stafford College. Four years later, driven by the ethos ‘Committed to Excellence’, the Ofsted Outstanding college is rightly proud of its position as the highest performing General Further Education (GFE) college in the West Midlands, placed consistently in the top 10% of GFE colleges nationally for achievement rates amongst learners aged 16-18.
Having joined NSCG in 2015, Joanne leads the College marketing team, and is responsible for marketing and recruitment strategy, brand, campaigns, digital, communications, public relations and CRM. Prior to joining NSCG, she held a number of B2B and B2C marketing roles spending the bulk of her career working in the fashion and travel industry, where most notably she led significant rebrand, repositioning and retention projects with the Co-operative Travel Group. A creative thinker, with a close eye on ROI, Joanne has a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and is currently completing a MBA with Keele University. |
Jonah has over 15 years of experience in student recruitment and marketing both domestically and internationally. His main interests lie in developing digital marketing solutions and using data to aid strategic decision making. He joined Hotcourses Group as Chief Marketing Officer in the summer of 2017, leading the company rebrand to IDP Connect and is now in the role of Director of External Relations.
At IDP Connect Jonah oversees the company brand and B2B marketing strategy as well as stakeholder engagement, communications and partnership work, working closely with colleagues across the sector and globally. Prior to this, Jonah was Director of External Relations at Birkbeck University of London where he developed Birkbeck’s branding and visual ID and introduced highly successful data driven digital student recruitment campaigns. He was also responsible for leading the digital transformation project, including the implementation of a new student recruitment website. |
Dr. Katie Bell has extensive leadership experience across both corporate consumer goods and higher education sectors. She spent her early career at Nestle UK in various brand marketing roles based around the UK before taking the opportunity to work in Porto, Portugal as marketing director for Symington’s port wine company, and then in Barcelona, Spain as managing director of the European University business school. Her return to the UK saw her promoted through a number of marketing, innovation and board-level strategic planning roles at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, where she was most latterly Vice- President of the Global Digital Marketing function.
Katie left GSK to take up a role as Chief Marketing Officer at Middlesex University, London, where amongst other things, she evolved the university-brand, redesigned the admissions service, and most recently led on the launch of higher and degree apprenticeships at the University. She recently completed her professional doctorate in higher education leadership. Katie is currently Chief Marketing officer at UCAS where she is responsible for marketing, sales, communication and PR for both UCAS charity and for its commercial fund-raising business, UCAS Media. Her main focus is in reshaping student admissions towards widening participation and access to higher education goals, and also in driving growth and innovation in the commercial activities within UCAS Media which underpin the charitable objectives. |
Kenon Man is currently Head of Digital Marketing and Creative Services at Swansea University. He and his team are responsible for website development, content, social media, student recruitment marketing, brand and design.
His team are familiar with the HEIST Awards. They have won Silver for Best Website in 2019 and 2020, Gold for Best Undergraduate Prospectus in 2020 and winning Silver for Marketing Team of the Year. Kenon is an active member of the sector and is keen to discuss and share best practice with colleagues. He has spoken at various Higher Education marketing conferences, and he is vice-chair of CIM Higher and Further Education interest group and a member of CASE Europe District Cabinet. He is also committed to equality and diversity as he co-chairs the CASE Europe Multi-Cultural network, which aims to promote EDI within the sector. Before joining the HE sector, Kenon worked in the Arts sector in various roles, from education to marketing. He has continued his interest in the Arts by performing in multiple orchestras; his highlight has been performing with the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin with Sir Simon Rattle. |
Martyn is an award-winning global marketing and non-executive director, and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, with over twenty years leadership experience in educational institutions.
Through his long career, Martyn has led successful university and college teams in the UK and abroad, with work including the development and launch of new university brands, institutional strategies and multi award-winning campaigns and publications. A respected marketing and communication strategic consultant, Martyn advises leaders, institutions and sector bodies. As well as his role as professional director, Martyn led work for Universities Scotland with government agencies to deliver the innovative Scotland is Now international marketing campaign. He has been strategic communications consultant to Universities UK and is the Chair of the Board for a digital marketing company. A noted conference speaker and industry awards judge, Martyn is a strong advocate of continuous professional development. A Chartered Institute of Marketing Fellow, he is a founder member, and the former Chair, of the CIM Higher and Further Education Group. |
Patricia joined the University of Plymouth in December 2020 as Director of External Relations. She leads a team of professional staff responsible for marketing, communications, recruitment, admissions, development and alumni relations.
Until December, Patricia had been Director of Marketing and Communications at Birmingham City University, a post she held for five-and-a-half years. She was responsible for reputation and recruitment, and contributed to a significant increase in student numbers during that time. Prior to this she was Director of Marketing, Admissions, Recruitment and Communications at the University of Bedfordshire, where she led the merger (rebranding) with De Montfort University’s Bedford campus. She also has experience in the private schools and health sectors. Patricia has a BA (Hons) English (2:1) from Cardiff University, an MSc in Public Relations from the University of Stirling and is a qualified journalist. |
Hi, I’m Paul Cernicharo-Terol, the Sales Director here at The Student Room. I have spent over 10 years working within the Higher Education industry working across the agency (Penna and BAM Agency) and media owner landscape (Educate and The Student Room), I have a passion for how marketeers and universities can use data and love few things as much as a well manipulated pivot tables!
As part of the senior leadership team at The Student Room, I am responsible for our continued commercial success, finding new ways for our university partners to interact with our amazing engaged audience and work alongside our Commercial Operations Director in developing new and innovative products that our underpinned by the rich data held at The Student Room. |
Paul has worked in higher education marketing for over 15 years, in roles covering UK and international marketing and student recruitment across three universities. He currently leads the student marketing function at Middlesex University and has delivered positive results by bringing together the digital and ‘real-life’ experiences of prospective students across a joined up journey – harnessing the power of new technologies to achieve cut-through and impact.
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Richard is an experienced strategic marketer with more than a decade and half’s experience in Marketing and Communications roles. He has spent the last three years working in Higher Education at Staffordshire University, where he currently heads up the strategic student recruitment marketing team, looking at recruitment across the whole institution including Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Apprenticeship campaigns.
Richard specialises in customer engagement, including campaign management, CRM and Social Media marketing as well as having an extensive background in print media and design/content marketing roles. Prior to joining Staffordshire University, Richard spent the bulk of his career in the Leisure industry, most recently working in digital engagement and brand roles at Alton Towers Resort. This background in experience marketing is an approach that he has carried over to the University sector as a way to increase engagement and sell the emotional experience of university. |
Smita Chohan joined the University of Derby in July 2018 as the Head of Student Recruitment and is currently the Interim Director of Marketing and Communications. Heading up a team which includes Admissions, Communications, Alumni Relations, Recruitment Events, Outreach and campaigns across all markets.
Having completed a Marketing degree from Manchester Metropolitan University, and a postgraduate qualification in Strategic Marketing, Smita has 17 years experience of higher education marketing in a variety of roles. Prior to joining the University of Derby, Smita was at De Montfort University where she played a key role in successful recruitment initiatives. Smita is passionate about an insight led approach, ensuring the student journey is at the heart of decision-making with innovation and creativity being key. Smita is also an active contributor to the University’s equality and diversity initiatives. |