THE PANEL CHAIRS

Angelina Bingley

Chief Marketing and Engagement Officer, University of Leicester
Angelina Bingley is Chief Marketing and Engagement Officer at the University of Leicester. Responsible for setting the strategic vision for all aspects of the student recruitment journey – from initial point of contact through to enrolment - and enhancing the profile and reputation of the University across the globe. Angelina’s background is in marketing and communications and she worked for many years as a consultant in the private sector for FTSE 100 companies before moving into Higher Education. She has previously worked at UEA and the University of Southampton. Angelina is also Vice-Chair of the Universities Marketing Forum.

Dan Beynon

Head of Education, SMRS
Dan has been working with UK and international universities for more than 20 years helping them navigate the ever-changing global Higher Education sector. Since 2013 he has led the education team at SMRS working with institutions to tackle their brand, culture and communications challenges and delivering campaigns, research and consultancy projects. He is a passionate advocate of our great universities, working closely with the Universities Marketing Forum and other sector bodies to support colleagues in Higher Education Marketing and Communications.
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Helen Litvak

Director Of Brand & Marketing, King's College London​
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.

Jim Tudor

Founder, Future Index
Jim is the founder of Future Index®, a trends and strategy consultancy, specialising in Higher Education marketing. The team works with an exclusive membership network of universities, providing regular updates and benchmarks from across the world, as well as offering a bespoke service to institutions needing an injection of inspiration. Jim specialises in the full marketing spectrum, from product development to promotion, and his work has proved a catalyst for university visions, portfolio development, research storytelling, student recruitment campaigns, alumni engagement and much more. He has taken the Future Index® to over 40 campuses, from Monash in Melbourne to the University of Manchester in his home city, and has delivered keynotes at conferences in the UK, US, Sweden and the Netherlands. Jim is also a hands-on practitioner and is a founding director of Waterfall, a multiple-award winning creative agency in the sector. The agency’s portfolio includes the highly acclaimed ‘Snowflakes’ and ‘Thinking Without Borders’ work for UEA and the ground-breaking ‘Who Cares’ campaign from the University of Gloucestershire. 

​THE JUDGES

Ashleigh Rice

Head of Student Recruitment, Royal Northern College of Music
With over 10 years’ experience in higher education and arts marketing, Ashleigh is Head of Student Recruitment at the Royal Northern College of Music, one of the world’s most dynamic and forward-thinking conservatoires.

Here she has responsibility for planning and implementing the College’s recruitment strategy and research, and for driving creative and targeted campaigns. With a passion for customer service and brand management, she also oversees the RNCM’s full admissions process and marketing events, ensuring applicants receive an outstanding experience from the first point of contact to enrolment.

No stranger to the Heist Awards, Ashleigh was instrumental in securing recognition for the RNCM’s Marketing and Student Recruitment Team on three occasions, including winning Silver in last year’s Marketing Team of the Year category. 

​Camilla King

Director of Client Partnerships UK, IDP Connect
Camilla King is the Director of Client Partnerships, UK Domestic, at IDP Connect. As a member of the IDP Connect Senior Leadership Team and co-chair of IDP Connect’s Domestic Client Advisory Panel, Camilla oversees and leads on all UK home client partnerships, helping universities to attract high-quality best-matched students through a suite of student-centred digital solutions. Her team builds strategic and trusted relationships with UK universities, colleges, private providers, and online providers to ensure the delivery of successful outcomes for clients.

Charlotte Hopes

Head of Marketing, UWE Bristol
​Charlotte Hopes is the Head of Marketing at UWE Bristol, leading a team that includes Marketing Campaigns, Marketing Communications, Market Insight and Faculty Marketing. Joining UWE Bristol as the Marketing Manager for the School of Creative Arts back in 2009, she has since held roles as Marketing Manager for the PG, Business and Research portfolio, as Head of Channel Engagement, and Head of Marketing Campaigns.

With over 16 years’ marketing and communications experience in HE, also spent at the University of Brighton and at the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Charlotte is an established marketing professional. She is passionate about HE and the power of cross-team collaboration to create insight-led, content-driven, digital-first campaigns that disrupt the market, while always keeping the audience at the heart.

​Charlotte Renwick

Director – Marketing, Recruitment & Admissions (Acting), Leeds Beckett University
Charlotte has worked in marketing and communications for over 20 years and spent the first eight years of her career in PR and digital agencies, handling clients such as the BBC, NHS trusts, FMCG brands and tourism organisations. She specialised in crisis management, media relations and was an early pioneer of content marketing.  Charlotte joined the University of Bradford in 2009 to lead communications, alumni relations and development, before becoming Head of Marketing and Communications. She joined Leeds Beckett University in 2014 to lead global student marketing, marketing intelligence, UK recruitment and Widening Access & Participation, and more recently added admissions to her portfolio. Charlotte’s passions include digital transformation, user experience and brand development, having delivered several rebrand projects, new university websites and CRM developments. 

Hannah Burchell

Director of Marketing, Communications & External Relations, University of Salford
​Hannah Burchell is Director of Marketing, Communications and External Relations at the University of Salford. With over 20 years’ national and international marketing and communications experience in a range of sectors, she joined Salford in 2016. Since joining Salford her role has expanded and she now leads and multi-disciplinary team that includes marketing, staff and student communications, events, public affairs and alumni and development. Hannah is passionate about pushing boundaries and testing new approaches to ensure that the audiences at the heart of the teams’ work have their needs met. She holds professional and academic qualifications in both marketing and PR and is a strong believer in continuous professional development.

​James Lazenby 

Director of Marketing & Communications, Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies (part of Nottingham Trent University)
​Over the past two decades, James has worked in the creative industries, professional sport, events and education spanning across B2B and B2C. He’s held a number of advisory positions and supported industry competitions. 

He currently works for Confetti Media Group. The group – now owned by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) – comprises of six established brands, plus Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies; a growing further and higher education provider in the creative and entertainment industries with a strong reputation for delivering industry-ready degrees in world-class facilities. 
James is responsible for the marketing and communications operations for Confetti’s two campuses; Confetti Nottingham and Confetti London, located in Whitechapel. 

Prior to joining Confetti, James spent ten years at NTU holding various senior positions in marketing and student recruitment. As Confetti’s parent company, James continues to work closely with NTU.

Jane Johns

Director of Education, Penna
Jane has a wealth of education marketing specific experience, spanning more than 30 years. Her natural enthusiasm and lateral thinking have contributed to making her an excellent communicator and influencer, with an enviable track record of inspiring loyalty in both clients and colleagues alike. 

Jane launched her career in the recruitment advertising department of The Guardian Newspaper and successfully developed it within the sales teams of various national newspapers and specialist publications, culminating in the role of Head of Sales and Marketing at the Times Higher Education before moving agency side in 2010.

Jane currently heads up Penna’s education team, working across a range of university accounts, which include both Russell Group and post 92 institutions. In addition, she’s responsible for all aspects of contract management for the education portfolio at Penna leading teams across all HEI student marketing and human resource accounts.

Jane Oswald

Head of Marketing Strategy, University of Sunderland
Jane Oswald joined the University of Sunderland in July 2017 and is currently Head of Marketing Strategy within the External Relations Directorate. She leads on brand, corporate and student recruitment marketing, media buying, creative and applicant communications. Her teams have been Heist Gold award winners on more than one occasion, both for FE and HE. She has over 25 years’ experience in marketing and communications, working in roles across professional sport, local government and further and higher education, concentrating on both B2C and B2B audiences. With a strong focus on results and performance she is a professional with a degree in marketing.

​Jonathan Nicholl

Account Director, Group GTI
Jonathan, Account Director at Group GTI, boasts over 25 years of experience in working with educators, employers, professional bodies and further education providers. HIs areas of specialism include strategy, engagement and delivery across a number of education, early careers talent acquisition and further study sectors. His knowledge covers a wide range of channels including platform-based solutions, experience events and insight.

Oliver Blackburn

Group Digital & Insight Manager, Luminate Education Group
​Oliver Blackburn is responsible for producing digital & insight led strategies which supports Luminate Education Group with student recruitment. With accountability for overseeing the planning, implementation, optimisation, and reporting of all digital marketing campaigns and delivering over 800 paid advertisements annually, Oliver is experienced in managing resources and suppliers to ensure efficient and cost-effective delivery without compromising quality. By continuously evaluating and analysing campaigns, they gather valuable insights that inform future strategy development.

Oliver’s insight & marketing expertise within the FE & HE sector enables the development of innovative strategies that engage and convert students across various channels. Their experience in managing and leading cross-functional teams drives successful integrated campaigns that deliver exceptional results.

With a deep appreciation for the positive impact educational marketing has on young people’s lives, Oliver's commitment to delivering exceptional results and achieving business objectives drives their success in their current role. 

Paul Woods

Group Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Communications, London South Bank University
Paul has worked in higher education marketing for 18 years, in roles covering UK and international marketing, student recruitment, admissions, market insight and communications across four universities. He currently leads the marketing, recruitment and communications activity for the London South Bank University Group – a unique group of education institutions including the University, South Bank Further Education Colleges, a multi-academy trust and the first technical college opened in a generation. He is excited to now be promoting transformational education in South London – a place he has called home since moving to London from the north of England in 2009.  He is also passionate about how technology can enable significant changes in how we can bring university experiences to life, and at all stages of a seamless student journey.

Priti Patel

Director of Marketing and Widening Participation, Queen Mary University of London
​Priti Patel is an innovative senior marketing professional with 20+ years’ experience in both the Further and Higher Education sectors. She has significant experience across marketing, admissions, WP, outreach, events, market intelligence and digital functions to meet student recruitment ambitions both locally and globally.  Priti has occupied leadership roles within Marketing across a number of institutions ranging from generalist, specialist, and most recently, the Russell Group where she is Director of Marketing and Widening Participation at Queen Mary University London. Priti is also a Trustee for the University Schools Trust (UST), a Queen Mary sponsor academy. Prior to her time in education, Priti read Business and Marketing at the University of Westminster and started her career in digital advertising and direct marketing (agency-side).

​Rebecca Lee

Content Strategy and Governance Manager, University of Plymouth
Rebecca is Content Strategy and Governance Manager at the University of Plymouth. She has 25 years’ experience in the education sector, from development work to fund Welsh language teaching, central London undergraduate programme admissions and student experience, to research communications, leading university website transformation projects, social media and university-wide content management. She currently heads up Faculty marketing teams at Plymouth to develop marketing strategy. 
 
Rebecca is passionate about solving problems, defining objectives, analysing and observing, before considering solutions and how their success can be measured. She believes working in Higher Education gives the continual ability to learn, helping teams develop to innovate as our world and its needs evolves.  

Richard Shepherd

​Head Of Strategic Marketing, Staffordshire University
​Richard is an experienced strategic Chartered Marketer with more than a decade and half’s experience in Marketing and Communications roles. He has spent the last six years working in Higher Education at Staffordshire University, where he currently heads up the strategic marketing team, looking at recruitment across the whole institution including Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Apprenticeship campaigns. He is also a Board Member of the CIM's Higher and Further Education Group.
 
Richard specialises in customer engagement and advertising, 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.

RoB Flattery

​Marketing Manager, Royal College of Art
Rob has spent 15 years supporting post-secondary providers brand and student recruitment strategies. With expertise in marketing and recruitment, communications and digital, and alumni relations, Rob understands the unique challenges faced by HEIs of all sizes and specialisms and looks forward to bringing this awareness to the judging panel.

Robert Pepper 

​Managing Director, psLondon
Robert Pepper is Founder and MD of brand and creative agency, psLondon. Robert spent nearly 20 years in senior client-side roles at Orange, Sky, Virgin, T-Mobile and Air Miles, before joining the agency world in 2005, and then launching psLondon in 2007. Since then PS has worked with dozens of HEIs and associated education brands in the UK and overseas. Robert’s passion is to help his clients create brands and campaigns that are authentic, focused and that deliver results.  Robert particularly enjoys engaging with University leadership teams to debate and develop clear propositions that they can  be proud of. He is also on a personal mission to persuade Vice Chancellors across the UK that university brands are assets to be proud of, and that a successful institution should love, nurture and protect its brand, and see it as the guiding light for everything it does.

Sam Uzzell

Head of Market Insight and Data, ​University of Surrey
Sam is Head of Market Insight and Data at the University of Surrey. In his higher education career of over fifteen years, Sam has focused on furthering the role and impact of market insight across strategic and operational decision making. During his career at Surrey, he has also led other marketing and communication functions including CRM, open days, corporate events and enquiry management.

As well as chairing the UCAS HE Marketing Services Advisory Group, Sam also administers the Higher Education Market Research Forum, the nationwide network of over 200 market insight professionals at over 70 UK universities.

Sam has recently been a governor at a leading sixth form college. Prior to working in higher education, Sam worked in labour market and skills analysis, supporting regional and national economic development across both further and higher education.

Shelley Ramsey

Head of Marketing, New College Durham
Starting my career in the private sector in manufacturing over 15 years ago, I moved into the education sector in 2014 joining Durham University Students’ Union as Director of Marketing and Communications. In this role I uncovered a passion for education and being able to change lives for the better. I joined New College Durham as Head of Marketing and Student Recruitment in 2018. Working in an FE college with a high quality HE provision gives us the opportunity to make a genuine impact on our students’ lives. I oversee all marketing activity including events, campaigns, digital channels, the student journey, communications, and all marketing materials. New College Durham are the proud winners of the 2020 Heist Gold award for the Best Open Day Experience and the 2022 Bronze award for the Best Prospective Student Journey. 

Tash Kyndt

Business Director - Education, ​Havas People
Tash loves fresh ideas and solutions and looking for what’s new.  Her focus is to help clients to achieve against their strategic and business goals, while day-to-day managing the Havas Education team at an operational level. She likes to seek out new ways of working and to see how we can improve on what’s already available in market. Her background, with her father in the advertising business, always led Tash to want to work in this fast-paced industry.

Tash has worked media side and agency side, with over 23-years of experience in the talent communications industry, having worked supplier side for seven years, followed by 16-years in an agency; fifteen of which have been at Havas People and Havas Education. Tash has been an Account Manager, headed up the media department, and now leads the education marketing team. Her clients have always predominantly spanned the Higher Education sector; she's worked with universities such as the University of Portsmouth, UWL, University of Reading, Staffordshire University, and NTU to name but a few. Tash has also been involved globally with international clients including Canadian University Dubai; and has employer marketing experience across the Commercial and Public sectors (from entry-level roles through to experienced hire). ​

​Tom Greveson

CEO, Revolution Viewing
​In 2004, Tom founded Revolution Viewing (RV), a Visual Content and technology business. Over the years, RV have had the pleasure of partnering with 110 universities, delivering digital content and experiences that engage future students, capture leads and drive enrolment.

Tom thoroughly enjoys working closely with his team and clients to understand their online recruitment and conversion needs. Self-admittedly, Tom has an almost unhealthy liking for numbers, asking the question ‘why’ and driving ROI. 
 
Tom gets a buzz out of product innovation and helping clients to share and communicate all that is great about their institutions. Whether it’s Vepple (RV’s personalised virtual experience software), personalised videos or 360s, RV hope to change lives by partnering with universities to help prospective students to find their perfect university. Tom is immensely to lead a team that readily unites behind RV’s core values of honesty and integrity, along with the RV mission to Empower People to Make Life Changing Decisions!
 
He has been a Heist judge on a number of occasions and is regularly bowled over by the innovation in the sector.