THE PANEL CHAIRS

Charlotte Hopes

Head of Marketing
​UWE Bristol
Charlotte Hopes is the Head of Marketing at UWE Bristol, leading multiple teams that include market insight, campaigns, content, communications, and stakeholder management. Since joining UWE Bristol as the Marketing Manager for Creative Arts in 2009, she has held roles as Marketing Manager for the PG, Business and Research portfolio, Head of Channel Engagement, and Head of Marketing Campaigns.
 
Charlotte is a strategic marketing leader with over 20 years’ experience also spent at the University of Brighton and at the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She is passionate about the transformative nature of HE, ethical marketing practice and the power of collaboration to drive creativity and excellence.​
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Charlotte Renwick

Director of Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment
​Aston 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 and FMCG brands. She specialised in crisis management, media relations and was an early pioneer of content marketing.  In 2009 Charlotte joined the University of Bradford to lead communications, alumni and development, before becoming Acting Head of Marketing & Communications. In 2014 she joined Leeds Beckett as Associate Director (Student Marketing & Recruitment) leading digital, global student marketing, UK recruitment and Widening Participation, and was Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions there from August 2022. Her passions include digital transformation, user experience, personalisation and brand development. She completed her MBA in 2020 and has devised a number of successful staff development programmes to help colleagues reach their full potential.
 
Charlotte joined Aston University on 25 March as Director of Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment.
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Dan Beynon

Director
​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 culture, brand 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.

Paul Woods

Group Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Communications London South Bank University
Paul has worked in higher education marketing for almost 20 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 and a multi-academy trust. He is excited to promote transformational education at all levels in South London – an area he has called home since moving to London from the north of England in 2009 – as well as raising the profile of diverse education pathways more broadly. He is also a fan of new technologies and innovative ways to bring university experiences to life – and loves seeing how universities continue to develop in this space. 

​THE JUDGES

Alex Causton

Lead Strategist - Education & Youth
​Havas People
Alex is the Lead Strategist for Education and Youth at Havas People, heading up the insight, strategy, planning and consultancy offer for universities and early careers employers. With 15 years' experience in marketing, Alex has a variety of experience in developing and delivering education and philanthropy focused brands and campaigns for a wide range of blue chip businesses, higher education institutions, public sector bodies and charities. From developing a primary schools programme for the Premier League to rebranding National Air Ambulance Week, driving school pupils to get their eyes tested for Boots Opticians to developing an insight-based multi-channel student recruitment campaign for Imperial College Business School, Alex has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience from his time working both client and agency side.

Alongside his passion for education, Alex also cares deeply for diversity and inclusion in brand communications and advertising. As such, he is the Co-Chair of Havas Pride, leading a programme of events and activities to further the representation of LGBTQ+ lives at one of the largest communications networks in the world.
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ALI FREER

Associate Director of Marketing and Advancement/Head of Brand, Digital and Creative Production
​Loughborough University
Ali, the Associate Director of Marketing and Advancement at Loughborough University, has a career that spans over 25 years in the field of creative marketing for Higher Education. As the Head of Brand, Digital and Creative Production, Ali leads a team of more than 60 creative professionals. This team, know for its exceptional talent in producing creative and innovative content for multi-channel campaigns, includes experts in Web and Digital, Brand and Creative, and Print and Post services.

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ANDREW hOWELLS

Chief Marketing Officer
​NCUK
Andy is the Chief Marketing Officer for NCUK, a leading global pathway provider. He has worked in higher education for over 15 years in senior marketing and student recruitment roles at Royal Holloway, University of London, the University of Southampton and most recently, Universities UK International (UUKi).

Andy has won several awards including ‘Best Issues and Crisis Campaign’ at the PR Week Global awards in 2022 for UUKi’s We Are Together campaign, and ‘Education Campaign of the Year’ at the CIPR Excellence Awards in 2023 for UUKi’s Twin For Hope campaign. In 2023, Andy led the relaunch of the UK higher education sector’s, #WeAreInternational campaign. 

Andy is a father of two young children and his claim to fame is delivering his second child himself, in his car, in a supermarket car park during the first weeks of Covid lockdowns!  ​
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Chris Rogers

Managing Director
​Education Cubed
Education Cubed’s Managing Director, Chris Rogers, has a unique blend of account management and operational experience with a demonstrable track record of success in the Digital Media Marketing and Higher Education landscapes, combining strong strategic and cross-functional team leadership skills. Chris has built Education Cubed from a team of 3 to 60 over the past 6 years, with over 15 years of experience in HE marketing, successfully leading teams of marketing professionals. Chris has substantial experience in delivering complex marketing projects across the public sector, global non-profit professional bodies, and for-profit Education Institutions.
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Deon-Nadine Butler

Director of Marketing and Communications
​London Metropolitan University
Deon is Director of Comms and Marketing at London Met. She has spent the last three years leading the Marcomms team, inspiring them to deliver award-winning and mission critical campaigns that showcase the impact the university has on students, staff and the wider community. Deon is a CIM qualified marketing professional with a sixteen year B2B and B2C career in marketing and comms.
Her roots in the education sector began in ed tech, leading to a ten year stint in Housing and Whitehall, where she led on the rebrand of Homes England, the government housing agency. 
 
At London Met, Deon was tasked with reimagining the marcomms function as one integrated unit, rather that standalone departments, which involved blending two teams and combining their specific disciplines to enhance the service. Over the past three years, she has crafted a compelling brand position, with leading campaigns like The Real London.

A passionate leader, she's also an experienced change manager and insight fanatic, with a proven track record of motivating, empowering and developing high-performing teams, creating a culture of continuous improvement.

No stranger to Heist, the London Met Marketing Team won gold Marketing Team of the year at the 2023 awards, and its flagship campaign, The Real London, took home the silver award for Best Campaign​.
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​Emma Bridge

Director of Marketing
​IDP Connect
​Emma has worked in marketing and communications within Higher Education for 20 years. She has previously worked at the University of Bradford as the Associate Director (Marketing and Communications) and University of Leicester as the Director of Communications and Events. 

After working in universities she joined Springpod, in 2022, as their Director of Higher Education and at the start of 2024 she joined IDP Connect to lead their marketing team (Domestic B2C). In her role she leads the B2C marketing and content teams in order to drive IDP’s B2C growth strategy in the domestic market. 
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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.
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Helen Bower

Director of Student Recruitment, Global Marketing and Business
​Northumbria University
Helen is a highly experienced HE marketing professional, with over 20 years of education marketing, sales, communications, and student recruitment experience. Helen is Vice Chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Higher and Further Education group, a Chartered Marketer, Executive MBA graduate and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Helen has particular expertise in commercial marketing strategies and campaigns, professional sales, student recruitment, events and outreach. 
 
Helen is Director of Student Recruitment at Northumbria University. In this role, she has ownership of Northumbria’s student recruitment acquisition and conversion strategies, Northumbria’s applicant services function and all widening participation, access and outreach activity. Helen is recognised as an expert advisor in relation to student recruitment and marketing challenges in the sector, with extensive experience and knowledge of regional, national and international trends.​
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Jack Neenan

Deputy Director of Marketing
​SOAS University of London
Jack Neenan has spent over 14 years in marketing and communications roles, helping brands position themselves competitively on the UK and global stage. 
 
Jack moved into the higher education sector 10 years ago and is now the Deputy Director of Marketing at SOAS University of London. He leads on brand and design, web development, media buying, market intelligence, CRM,  events, and content marketing. Since taking on a leadership position, his team has been shortlisted 3 times for HEIST Awards, including the 2023 Marketing Team of the Year category. A major professional goal of his is to finally win one!
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Jacqui Bowen

Associate Director Marketing, Recruitment and International
​Swansea University
​Jacqui Bowen is currently Associate Director of Marketing, Recruitment and International at Swansea University, with responsibility for strategic communications, both internal and external. Jacqui has over 25 years experience in comms; she started her career as a journalist and worked in press and PR for Welsh Government before moving into Higher Education communications and marketing roles. Jacqui is an accredited practitioner with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and is passionate about continuous improvement. She has led teams who have won multiple HEIST, CIPR and Chartered Institute of Marketing awards, and is also a former judge of the Education Journalism awards.
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James Seymour

Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment
​University of Northampton
James Seymour is Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment at the University of Northampton. James has worked in student recruitment, marketing and admissions for 30 years including posts at Aston, Gloucestershire, Buckingham, Leeds, Northumbria and Sheffield Universities, before joining Northampton in December 2023.  The University is located on a new purpose-built green campus in the town centre and has around 13,000 students. James is on the editorial and advisory group for the Complete University Guide. James has been high school governor for 13 years and is a member of the Cambridge Assessment HE stakeholder group and an active member of International ACAC – the global organisation representing admissions and recruitment to university. James has a Master’s degree in Marketing from Aston Business School, Aston University. 
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Twitter/X: @JamesSeymourUni
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Jane Robinson

Associate Dean Marketing & Recruitment
​Teesside University
​Jane is an innovative, senior marketing professional, who is passionate about education and the transformation it can bring to people’s lives, and she has over 20 years’ experience in both the Further and Higher Education sectors. She joined Teesside University recently, as an Associate Dean, specialising in Marketing, Student Recruitment and Portfolio Development. Previously Jane spent 7 years with the University of Sunderland, where she led on marketing, brand, media buying and campaigns across a wide range of audiences. 

Jane’s teams in both FE and HE, have been Heist Gold award winners on more than one occasion, and she was a HEIST judge in 2023. Jane has also worked in marketing, PR and communications for number of professional sports and is currently a Board member of the Association of Colleges Trust, as well as being on a number of marketing advisory boards.
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Kim McLellan

Managing Director
​Hunterlodge Advertising Ltd
Kim has been working at Hunterlodge for over 25 years. His education experience has involved working with HEI’s on the 3R’s - reputation, recruitment, and retention. He believes that the key to success is being insight and data driven, and utilising these to develop fundamental strategies to win market share and beat the competition. 
 
In his time at Hunterlodge Kim has worked with a vast number of universities on a multitude of different challenges – ranging from global reputation of some of the top-placed universities in the world, to solving recruitment challenges for the vital challenger HEI’s.
 
He loves great thinking executed with science and precision. He is proud and excited to be selected as a judge at Heist.
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Laura-Jane Gould

​Director of Marketing
​Manchester Metropolitan University
​LJ is the Director of Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University. With over 20 years marketing leadership experience across HE, B2B and consumer markets, LJ has driven significant change in brand, campaigns, digital and user focussed content design, putting audience and user need at the heart of marketing strategies using data and insight to inform decisions. Evaluation and measurement are at the heart of LJ's "test and learn" ethos, helping to achieve business goals and inspire teams to be innovative, creative and achieve their best.

Lisa Wilkisky-Dick​

Director of Marketing/Deputy Director of Communications,
​Marketing and Recruitment
​University of Stirling
Lisa has spent over 25 years in senior roles within marketing and communication (both b2b and b2c). She leads an award-winning marketing team at Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence in Stirling, with responsibility for the strategic direction of marketing including brand and reputation, global recruitment, web and digital, content and paid media.  

Lisa started her marketing career at one of the largest blue-chip retailers in South Africa, Foschini Group before moving to Scotland, where she advanced her career in marketing and communications within the retail and media sectors at brands such as Levi Strauss, House of Fraser and Optical Express. She has led change management (mergers and acquisitions), multiple rebranding campaigns, developed strategy and worked with board management to demonstrate the critical and influential contribution that marketing makes to organisations.  

Lisa also represents the University of Stirling as a member of the Universities Scotland International Branding Group, working to raise the reputation of Scotland as a destination for studying in the UK. She was appointed by the Scottish Government in 2010 to the Children’s Hearing System where she continues to serve as Chair and panel member in Stirling.  ​
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Lizzie Burrows

Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions
Imperial College London
Lizzie is the Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions at the Imperial College London, having held senior roles at the Universities of Surrey, Oxford and Essex. Her role involves the strategic oversight of the pre-enrolment student journey, from enquiry to enrolment. Lizzie believes University can be truly transformational, and has spent her career raising aspirations, and providing advice and guidance across the globe to students, teachers and advisers alike on UK Higher Education. Lizzie is a Chartered Marketer and on the committee of the Universities Marketing Forum. 
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Nuala Dalcz

Head of Communications - Special Projects
Ulster University
Nuala Dalcz is Head of Communications, Special Projects at Ulster University. A Senior Marketing and Communications professional, Nuala has more than 25 years of marketing, communications, stakeholder engagement and development experience at the local, national and international level for private, public and voluntary sector companies. With a passion for engagement and benefit realisation embedded in People, Place and Partnership, Nuala recently led the comms around the opening of Ulster University’s new £350m Belfast campus which saw an additional 15,500 staff and students come into the city to study, learn, research and work.
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Paul Cernicharo-Terol

Sales Director
The Student Room
Paul has over fifteen years’ of commercial experience in the higher education sector, working both media and agency side.

As part of the senior leadership team at The Student Room, Paul is responsible for the continued commercial success, finding new ways for our university partners to interact with The Student Room's audience, and helping develop new and innovative products that are underpinned by the rich data we hold.

Rebecca Hollington

Interim Marketing Consultant
​Aston University
Rebecca has 14 years’ experience working in higher education in a variety of roles covering admissions, recruitment, outreach, marketing, alumni development, PR and communications, policy, and business engagement. Rebecca is practised in working with college and education partners, policy organisations, industry and sector partners, prospective students of varying backgrounds, parents/carers of prospective students, external associations, and local government.

In her current role at Aston University, Rebecca provides strategic leadership for marketing and communications, with particular focus on UG and PGT conversion and plans for the 24/25 cycle. Rebecca is taking up the role of Director of Student Recruitment at Birmingham Newman University later this summer.
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Victoria Littler

Chief Commercial Officer
Revolution Viewing
For the last ten years, Victoria has helped hundreds of universities, colleges, Students’ Unions and consumer brands to enhance their marketing strategies and connect with students in meaningful ways. From how many wooden spoons are needed for the goody bags at a Freshers’ Fair, to enabling over half a million students to explore their university choices through an immersive virtual experience. 

Victoria’s commitment to higher education marketing is one of continuous learning, collaboration and curiosity to deeply understand the unique challenges faced by our sector as the landscape rapidly evolves and she is on a mission to distil complex concepts into simple, fresh and actionable advice.
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