Ken Beecham studied Economics & Statistics at the University of Exeter, graduating in 1967.
He initially worked in international shipping, moved into management consultancy, and joined Touche Ross Management Consultants in 1986, becoming a partner in 1989, and then joining Andersen Consulting as partner from 1995 to1999. At Touche Ross, Ken led the European Pharmaceutical and Environmental Consulting practices and many governmental policy assignments. At Andersen, he added media and communications to his portfolio, and his focus continued to be strategy development and implementation in large complex organisations.
Ken led consulting teams in the design and setting up of the European Medicines Evaluation Agency; the establishment of the Environment Agency in England and Wales; the successful GMTV franchise bid; and setting the BBC licence fee in 1993. He also helped develop business strategies for the converging worlds of broadcasting, communications and internet, notably for the BBC. Ken’s most memorable experiences have included assisting a large South African organisation work through the strategic, organisational and cultural implications of the transition to the New South Africa, and helping Brazil’s leading forestry and paper concern enhance its environmental performance following the Rio Earth Summit (where he was a delegate for the international business community).
Ken was also an entrepreneur in his own right, with Semstar Shipping Ltd. in 1978, and CMS Consulting in 1980. Ken & his wife Sheila set up American Round-Up Ranch Holidays in 1984, and Oxenways Country House Retreat and Activity Centre in Devon in 1998. From 2001 to 2010 he was Finance Director, then Chairman, of Premier Cottages Ltd. He now spends winters in Arizona, USA and summers in Somerset.
Ken served on the Plymouth University’s Board of Governors from 1999 to 2008, giving invaluable support to the University, including acting as Chair of the Audit Committee from 2003 to 2005, and as Vice-Chair of the Board from 2005 to 2008.
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Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. In 1961 he moved with his parents to the United Kingdom, settling in Birmingham, where he was one of nine children living in a small two-up, two-down, terraced house. His love of the outdoors and dream of owning a farm began when, as the eldest boy, he had the responsibility of helping his father tend the family allotment.
As an adult, Wilfred worked in the catering industry. Having initially left school with no qualifications, after a brief spell in the army he took a number of dead end jobs before he talked his way onto a BBC graduate trainee scheme, which led him to a job working for Peter Bazalgette on the BBC television series Food and Drink. He continued to work in television, as a producer and director, for fifteen years. He is credited with bringing many of the top celebrity chefs to the small screen, including Gordon Ramsay, Antony Worrall-Thompson, Brian Turner and James Martin. Subsequently, he founded a food and drink marketing company in London, which specialised in challenger food and drink brands including Loyd Grossman sauces, Kettle Chips and Plymouth Gin from the distillery in Southside Street in Plymouth.
Wilfred’s marketing career gave him the capital to buy West Kitcham Farm in Devon, which he continues to farm to this day. He became known to the locals who helped him initially with farming techniques as “The Black Farmer,” which inspired him to set up a brand of the same name, whose products include award-winning sausages, bacon, chicken, cheese and sauces.
Wilfred has since become involved in setting up The Black Farmer Young City Farmers scheme, which aims to encourage underprivileged youngsters living in the inner cities to experience life and work in the rural community, an area where traditionally they have been under represented. This formed the basis of a Channel 4 TV series, Young Black Farmers, which sees him take a group of nine inner-city school leavers from ethnic minorities on a scholarship to his Devon farm.
Wilfred’s entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to encouraging under-represented groups to consider different careers echoes the University’s own mission and values.
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Dr Anthony Falconer DM FRCOGTony Falconer is a graduate of the University of Bristol. He undertook his medical training in Edinburgh, Nottingham, and Cape Town, South Africa.
On 1 January 1986, Tony was appointed Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology to the Plymouth Hospitals, Devon. He made a major contribution within the region to the development of cancer services and hysteroscopy, being a co-author of the first paper supporting the use of this technique in an outpatient setting. He was subsequently appointed to the positions of Clinical Director and Divisional Director, and as part of his hospital management responsibilities he has been involved in service reconfiguration, standards-setting, guideline formulation and the audit of surgical activity.
For twenty years, Tony has been active in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, having been elected to the Council in 2001. Between 2007 and 2010 he was Senior Vice-President with responsibilities for international work, and during this time he was able to build on his interest in and experiences of working in Africa. His main role has been to ensure that the specialty is actively involved in helping to fulfil the UN Millennium Development Goals through reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in under-resourced countries. To that end, he has overseen the development of the College’s international development policies at a strategic level. At a tactical level, he is a firm advocate of capacity building and has advanced the College’s efforts in knowledge - and resource - sharing with healthcare professionals through the Life Saving Skills – Emergency Obstetric Care courses run in partner countries. In 2010, Tony was elected President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Tony is an exceptional clinician and trainer. He is passionate about women’s health in different and disadvantaged communities, and has also done much to improve local services. He remains committed to the needs of patients, while recognising the need for imaginative and ambitious ideas to tackle the challenges facing the NHS
Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt. OBE
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, better known as Ran Fiennes, was born in Windsor in 1944, just after his father was killed in action in the Second World War. Ran inherited his father's baronetcy, becoming the 3rd Baronet of Banbury, at birth. After the war the family moved to South Africa, where he remained until he was twelve. Ran then went to Sandroyd School, Wiltshire, and then Eton. He joined the British Army, serving initially in his father's regiment, the Royal Scots Greys, before joining the Special Air Service, where he specialised in demolitions and became the youngest Captain in the British Army. But he was removed from the SAS and sent back to the Scots Greys after blowing up a Film set in Wiltshire. He spent the last two years of his service seconded to the army of the Sultan of Oman, where he received the Sultan’s Bravery Medal.
In 1970, Ran launched a series of record breaking expeditions. He led the first hovercraft expedition up the White Nile, and on Norway's Jostedalsbreen Glacier. Perhaps his most famous trek was the Transglobe Expedition he undertook from 1979 until 1982, when he and two fellow members of 21 SAS, Oliver Shepard and Charles Burton, journeyed around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, covering 52,000 miles and becoming the first people to visit both poles by land. In 1992, Ran led an expedition that discovered the lost city of Ubar on the Yemeni boarder. The following year he and Dr Mike Stroud achieved a world first by completing the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic Continent. In 2003, just three and a half months after suffering a massive heart attack and undergoing a double heart bypass operation, Ran joined Mike Stroud again to undertake seven marathons in seven days on seven continents in the Land Rover 7x7x7 Challenge for the British Heart Foundation.
In March 2007, despite a morbid, lifelong fear of heights, Ran climbed the North Face of the Eiger, raising £1.8 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Delivering Choice Programme. In May 2009, Ran successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the oldest British person to achieve this. He continues to compete in UK based endurance events, and has seen recent success in the veteran categories of some Mountain Marathon races. To date he has raised £14.2 million for different UK charities.
Ran's career as an author has developed alongside his career as an explorer, and he is the author of eighteen fiction and non-fiction books.
Ran has received numerous awards in recognition of his achievements, including an OBE in 1993 "for human endeavour and for charitable services". In 1984 he was awarded the Polar Medal ‘for outstanding service to British Polar exploration and research’. In 1995 he was awarded a second clasp to the Polar Medal, having visited both poles.
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Jim French was born in Berwickshire, Scotland. A strong advocate of the regional airline industry, he began his thirty-six year aviation career in 1970 with Caledonian Airways.
Jim joined Flybe in 1990 (when the airline was called Jersey European Airways). He was appointed as Commercial Director shortly afterwards and subsequently became Deputy Chief Executive. In June 2001, Jim was appointed as Managing Director of the airline and formulated the plan which transformed Flybe into one of Europe’s largest, fastest growing and dynamic airlines. Jim was appointed to the combined role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in March 2005, and has played a pivotal role as the driving force behind Flybe’s continued success.
Jim has been voted Airline Executive of the Year twice, in 2002 and 2004, by Regional Airline World. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society for his contribution to aviation in 2004, and in 2007, Jim and his team were named the Best Management Team in the Air Transport category at the annual global Flight Awards organised by Flight Magazine. In 2008, Jim was awarded the Regional Leadership Award in the airline Global Strategy Awards in recognition of ‘demonstrated excellence in leading a regional carrier’. In 2009, Jim accepted Air Transport World’s Regional Airline of the Year award in recognition of Flybe’s ‘strong commitment to safety and operational integrity’.
The University is proud to have worked with Flybe in developing qualifications which match the training and development needs of some of its staff.
Caring passionately about regional development, Jim is active in the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and is currently Chairman of the CBI’s South West region. Jim was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2009 Birthday Honours for services to the UK airline industry.
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Dame Margaret Fry was educated at Tavistock Grammar School, and while at school played hockey for Devon. Married to a farmer with three sons and living in Broadwoodwidger in Devon, she has had a long-term connection with the South West and has been involved in the work of various campaign and charity groups in the South West Peninsula.
Dame Margaret is also a former member of the South West Regional Health Authority, former Chairman of the Southwest College of Nursing, and Chairman of Torridge and South-West Devon College of Health. She was a founder member of the Primrose Appeal, which supports breast cancer services, raising money to build the Primrose Centre at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, and is the present Chairman of Trustees of the Primrose Foundation.
Dame Margaret has been a valuable contributor to the work of the University, in particular as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry fundraising Foundation, and continues to support the work of the College alongside her other commitments to healthcare.
Dame Margaret has also had a distinguished political career. She served as Chairman of the National Union of Conservatives in 1990, and President of the Torridge and West Devon Conservative Association. She is now its patron.
Her interests include her Church, sport and conservation.
Dame Margaret was awarded an OBE in 1982 and a DBE in 1989.
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Linda Gilroy attended school in Ottery St Mary and the Maynard School in Exeter. In 1972, she graduated with a 2.1 Honours degree in History from the University of Edinburgh.
After graduating, Linda spent seven years in the national office of Age Concern Scotland, latterly as Deputy Director. In 1979, she returned to Devon to run the Plymouth-based South West office of the Gas Consumers Council, covering the activity of the gas industry in seven south west counties. During the period she was there, the industry was privatised and in 1996 parts of the South West became the pilot area for domestic gas competition – a global first.
Linda was the Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton for thirteen years between 1997 until 2010. During her Parliamentary career, she was Parliamentary private secretary to Local Government and Science Ministers, Assistant Minister for the South West, a Member of the Defence Select Committee, the Arms Export Control Committees and the Science and Technology Select Committee. Throughout this period, she was dedicated to the interests of the City and a key supporter of and campaigner for the defence sector. As part of a Royal Society parliamentary pairing scheme, Linda shadowed three scientists, including two at the University of Plymouth, during her period of office.
Linda has been very involved in the work of Plymouth University. Her proudest achievement as an MP was to play a part in helping to ensure a successful outcome to the bids for the Peninsula Medical and Dental Schools. She also has a keen interest in enterprise, supporting small business and science.
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Professor Sue Hill OBESue Hill's professional background is as a clinical scientist specialising in respiratory medicine. Following a PhD in the pathogenesis of chronic lung disease, she has been active in basic & translational research and global clinical trials, working with collaborators in the US and Europe. She has published & presented widely and trained & educated many medical & scientific staff while still providing direct care for patients. Sue spent nearly three decades at what is now University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and as an academic at the University of Birmingham Medical School. She holds a personal Chair in Respiratory Medicine at Birmingham.
Sue was appointed as Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health in 2002. In that role, she is the professional head of the 53,000-strong healthcare science workforce in the NHS and related organisations. She has a broad portfolio of policy responsibilities across diagnostics and scientific services, providing expert advice to ministers and senior government officials. A significant part of her role involves working across government and with external stakeholders to deliver strategic change for patient benefit.
She is also committed to raising the profile and importance of science in health, engaging the public and inspiring young people to become the next generation of scientists.
In addition, Sue is the National Director of the Audiology and Physiological Diagnostics programme, the DH Science & Society Lead, the joint National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease and heads up both the Home Oxygen Service programme for England & Wales and the UK Modernising Scientific Careers programme.
Alongside Sue’s professional abilities, it has been her passion, commitment, leadership and strong sense of purpose that has made her such an effective champion for healthcare science, in particular, and the wider values of innovation, scientific achievement and overriding patient focus that are so important to the development of modern healthcare.
Sue was awarded an OBE in the 2005 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to healthcare science.
Chris Hines is one of the nation’s most notable campaigners and speakers on environmental issues and sustainability. A native of the South West, Chris started surfing at the age of five. His love of the beach moved him to take a stand for it, founding the nation’s Surfers Against Sewage campaign in 1990. Through his time as Director of the campaign for Surfers Against Sewage, he helped deliver a £5 billion clean-up of the UK coastline. He has become a popular public figure, appearing on everything from BBC’s Panorama and Newsnight to children’s television and the BBC World Service, and has given evidence to House of Commons and Lords Select Committees and the European Parliament and Commission.
From 2001 to 2007, Chris was Sustainability Director at the Eden Project where he conceived and implemented the Waste Neutral concept. This was based on the idea that waste streams should be minimised as far as possible, and all remaining waste to either be recycled or composted. It ensured that sustainability was always at the forefront of the Eden Project’s thinking, and helped cement the organisation’s reputation for sustainable development. He also worked on the highly successful Eden Africa Calling Live 8 event, with international musicians performing in Cornwall and reaching a global audience. In 2009, Chris worked with the Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry to establish the ground breaking Blue Gym project which looked at the positive mental and physical health benefits from using the water environment for activities. This work is being continued via a collaboration between the Department of Psychology at Plymouth University and the European Centre for Human Health and the Environment in Cornwall.
Chris is responsible for the development of the world’s first environmentally friendly surfboard, made of a plant-based foam core, which was a story covered by CNN which has helped catalyse change in the surfing industry. His new initiative is A Grain of Sand, an organisation working to inspire and drive positive solutions to problems which make a difference to the world we live in.
Chris has been awarded the Emerald Path Award by ‘The Surfers Path’ international magazine, and was awarded an MBE for services to the environment in the 2008.
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Philip Hoare was born and brought up in Southampton, where he still lives. In 1976, at college in London, he became involved in the punk movement and produced fanzines, managed groups and designed record sleeves. After working for Virgin and Rough Trade, he set up his own independent label in Hackney.
In 1990, Philip published his first book, Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant, an account of the outrageous and reclusive aristocrat which appeared on bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic. This was followed by Noel Coward: A Biography, and Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy and the First World War.
In 2001, he wrote about the vast military hospital at Netley, close to his childhood home. Spike Island: the Memory of a Military Hospital was part history, part memoir, described by W.G. Sebald as ‘astonishing…not only for what it contains but also for its synoptic vision’. It was followed by England's Lost Eden: Adventures in a Victorian Utopia, a study of eccentric 19th-century sects. Philip’s most recent book, Leviathan or, The Whale, is the product of his lifelong interest in cetaceans. The Observer called it ‘the book he was born to write, a classic of its kind’, and it won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.
Philip’s work for television includes BBC2's Arena:The Hunt for Moby-Dick, which he wrote and presented, and three short films on whales which he wrote and directed for BBC 4’s Whale Night. In 1998, with Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, Philip curated a Photographer’s Gallery exhibition of photographs of Coward for the 20th-Century Blues project. In 1999, he co-curated Icons of Pop at the National Portrait Gallery, an exhibition of British pop photography which drew a record number of visitors to the gallery. He also writes extensively on contemporary art, and in 2010 was writer-in-residence at Ruskin College, Oxford.
Philip is one of the most significant contemporary British writers of creative non fiction, and his ability to bring the ‘arts’ and ‘sciences’ together has won him an especially wide international audience. He has appeared at festivals around the world and is a regular commentator in the national and international press.
In the past year, Philip has been particularly active at Plymouth University, and was appointed as the Leverhulme Artist-in-residence at the Marine Institute. Along with Peninsula Arts personnel, he helped to curate Angela Cockayne’s major Peninsula Arts exhibition, Dominion, and the ground-breaking Peninsula Arts symposium on The Whale, the first such celebration of the subject in Britain.
Tim Jones was born and educated in Bedford, and qualified as a chartered surveyor after studying at Reading University. Tim established himself as part of a family business with a general surveying practice, which covered large parts of Devon. From 1989 to 1994 he was the commercial property director for Chesterton International Plc. Since then, he has been part of a commercial property development consortium covering five counties throughout the South West.
Tim has spent a considerable time involved in supporting the local community and economy. He was Chairman of Okehampton Chamber of Trade, and since 2000 has been Chairman of Devon and Cornwall Business Council, which comprises a network of approximately 44,000 businesses. He holds a number of Chairmanships, principally in public sector organisations dealing with economic regeneration, including the Devon Economic Partnership. His has been actively involved in both working and monitoring groups for European Grant Aid, which included preparing and delivering projects under the Objective 1 and Objective 2 programmes. Tim also Chairs Finance Cornwall and Finance South West. Most recently he has held a central role in the preparation of the Devon and Somerset local Enterprise Partnership.
Tim is also involved in a wide range of criminal justice issues. He is a Special Advisor to HM Prison Services, and serves on the South West Regional Offending Board. He is a trustee of Broadreach, which deals with a wide range of drug and alcohol services, and is a Patron of Tomorrow’s People. Tim has served for twenty-two years as Chairman of the Princes Trust for Devon and Cornwall, and as a South West Regional Board Member. He has been involved for over thirty years in a wide range of property issues, and is now extensively involved in commercial property development across the South West Peninsula.
Tim served on the University of Plymouth’s Board of Governors from 2002 to 2008, bringing valuable business and financial acumen to the role. His commitment to the economic regeneration of the region reflects that of the University.
Mary King is a British Olympic equestrian sportswoman who has represented Great Britain at five Olympics, winning one silver and one bronze medal in team three-day eventing. She has won two gold medals in the World Equestrian Games team eventing, and six team gold medals at the European Eventing Championships. Nationally, among her many achievements she has been the British Open Champion five times, and won the prestigious Badminton Horse Trials twice. Mary is still competing at the top level – her most recent success was at the Kentucky Rolex three-day event, where she came first with Kings Temptress and second on Fernhill Urco. She is now focused on aiming for what will be her sixth Olympics next year.
Mary’s first pony, when she was six, was the ancient ‘cast off’ from the local vicar’s children. Inspired by a visit to Badminton Horse Trials, Mary realised she wanted to become a professional three-day event rider, and became head girl at a top eventing stables. A longing to travel and a love of the sea led her to apply for a sailing bursary and she subsequently joined the tall ship, Sir Winston Churchill. Mary returned to Devon to set up her own stables, where she looked after other people's horses, gave riding lessons and bought and sold horses to help fund her eventing career. In 1985 she made her Badminton debut. Funding proved even more difficult when she started competing professionally. This changed, when after being offered good money for Divers Rock, the horse she had ridden at Badminton, she turned the offer down commenting "I'd rather be famous than rich". It proved to be the right decision because she secured her first sponsorship deal on the back of her success. In 1992, Mary added her name to the famous Badminton trophy with her horse King William, and she achieved her second Badminton victory in 2000 with Star Appeal. In 2001, whilst exercising horses at her home, she had a fall which broke her neck. Less than a year later she was back at the top of the sport, recording top ten placings at major international events including a third placing at the Burghley Horse Trials.
Mary has written four books, produced a number of DVDs, and continues to give inspirational lectures and demonstrations. During her career, she has become one of British eventing's icons and is a great ambassador for the sport. She has also been involved with ‘Riders for Romania’, a charity set up to help the lost children abandoned in orphanages. Offering practical help, she and a number of other riders made three consecutive trips to Romania with their horseboxes loaded with supplies.
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Brian MacArthur
Brian MacArthur started his career as a writer on education - he was northern university correspondent of The Guardian, and education correspondent of The Times where he wrote the front page 'splash' on his first day - about international student fees.
In 1971, Brian became founder editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement, now known as The Higher. Brian was given a staff of six - one of whom, Peter Scott, has recently retired as a university Vice-Chancellor, and another of whom, historian Peter Hennessy, has just been made a life peer. Although The Higher is now an established part of the higher education landscape, it was then a perilous enterprise and could easily have failed. Rival publishers Macmillan planned to start a newspaper for higher education, and The Times was determined to protect its own publication. Brian was told that he needed six pages of classified advertisements if the paper was to be profitable. Still today, forty years later, whenever he sees The Higher he first checks the pages of job advertisements at the back.
This was a period of growth, optimism and expansion. The new universities set up after the Robbins Report of 1963 were in their infancy and the thirty new Polytechnics - of which Plymouth was one - were just starting. One of Brian's major editorial decisions was to devote as much attention to the polytechnics as to the universities, and there was a dedicated Polytechnic Correspondent from the start. Another decision which helped to boost the paper's circulation was the publication of the James Report on Teacher Education. Brian, unaware of the copyright implications, printed the report in full, enabling teachers to read the report free instead of having to pay £10 for an official copy. Her Majesty's Stationery Office was most concerned but the deed had been done, and was accompanied by a significant increase in circulation. When Brian moved back to The Times as news editor in 1976, the future of The Higher was secure.
Brian has been a journalist for forty-eight years, and has worked for the Daily Mail, Guardian, Times, Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph. He has been editor of The Western Morning News and founder editor of Eddy Shah's newspaper Today which helped to revolutionise the industry. In a long and varied career he has been news editor, features editor, travel editor and books editor and for eighteen years wrote the weekly Paper Round column on the British Press for the Sunday Times and The Times. He has edited several anthologies, notably The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches and is the author of Surviving the Sword, Prisoners of the Japanese, 1942-1945.
Michael Mack
Michael Mack was born in Zimbabwe, and studied Law at Nottingham University, qualifying as a solicitor in 1990. In the early 1990’s he left behind the legal profession and the City of London to pursue his interest in photography and his desire to work in the arts. He edited a number of photography books for a small gallery press and then wrote two important books on contemporary photography.
In 1994, Michael met Gerhard Steidl, a pre-eminent German printer and literary publisher. Over the past 17 years they have built one of the leading independent art publishers and most highly regarded producers of photographic books in the world. Michael has been personally responsible for over 300 books in a variety of capacities: as editor, writer, designer, and publisher. In 2000, Michael established a commercial book production and literary agency, With Grace, acting on behalf of clients such as Michael Schumacher and David Beckham. Grace has been credited with creating a new genre of high quality illustrated autobiography, winning design awards with mainstream best selling books. MACK publishing was established in 2010 as an independent imprint and Michael also established Qbook, the first gallery in London devoted to the exhibiting of books and the exploration of the book as object.
In 2011, Michael launched MAPP Editions, a digital publishing imprint with the ambition to make digital versions of photography and art books suited to tablet computers and other screen based hardwares. MAPP’s collaborations with major institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum have already resulted in ground-breaking advances in digital publishing.
Michael is an international ambassador and advocate for photographic teaching and research at Plymouth University, acting as advisor and consultant to the new Photographic research group.
Michael’s work with artists has been internationally recognised, and has resulted in many awards, including a DandAD Award, the Kraszna Kraus Award, the Arles Rencontres Author Award, the British Publishing Book of the Year Award, the Most Beautiful Book in the World Award, and the Deutsche Borse Prize.
Russell Maliphant was born in Ottawa, Canada. He trained at the Royal Ballet School, and joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet Company before leaving to pursue a career in independent dance, working with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark & Company, Laurie Booth and Rosemary Butcher.
In 1996 he formed his own company, seeking to integrate and explore through form and dynamics, elements from body practices and techniques, including yoga, structural integration, ballet, contact improvisation, and tai chi among others. His work is characterised by a unique approach to flow, energy and a deep focus on the relationship between movement, light and music. For over 17 years, Maliphant has worked closely with pioneering lighting designer Michael Hulls to explore and realise these ideas. In addition to creating with his own company, Russell has made works with renowned artists including the French ballerina Sylvie Guillem, The Canadian Theatre Director Robert Lepage, The Ballet Boyz, and The Batsheva Ensemble. He was awarded an Arts Council Fellowship in 2000 and received The Time Out Live Award for Outstanding Collaboration in 2002 for the work ‘Sheer’.
In 2003, Russell was commissioned by The Royal Ballet and George Piper Dances and created Broken Fall for Sylvie Guillem, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. Broken Fall opened at The Royal Opera House and received an Olivier Award that same year. It was restaged by Sadler’s Wells in 2004, and was awarded a Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography. In 2005, Russell was reunited with Sylvie Guillem in a new programme entitled PUSH, for which he received a South Bank Show Award and an Olivier Award. He worked with Sylvie Guillem again and with Robert Lepage on Eonnagata which premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 2009, and continues to tour internationally. In 2010, commissioned by Sadlers Wells, he created the piece ‘Afterlight’, which received The Critics Circle Award for Best New Dance Production and was nominated for an Olivier Award.
Russell has shown work at the Theatre Royal Plymouth. He has also been involved in research with choreographer Adam Benjamin (Plymouth University) for a number of years. In 2010 he and Adam created A Holding Space for the Ethiopian Dancers Junaid Sendi and Addisu Demissie as part of the Destino Project. The work was produced and previewed at the University before premiering at Sadlers Wells.
Russell is currently Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells and has been at the forefront of British Dance for the past two decades. His interest in somatic body practice and his reliance on improvisational devices are key features of his work. His award-winning choreography, his ability to transcend barriers within dance and the arts, and his stature as a world-class teacher are outstanding.
Melody Mason was born and grew up in England, and began her career as a social worker in London after gaining a degree in Sociology in 1969. She went on to obtain a Masters in Development Economics and then served in El Salvador, Central America, as a United Nations volunteer. Melody worked for the World Bank in Washington, DC, from 1975 to 1980 as a senior economist specializing in the economic, financial, social and organizational aspects of transport, energy and water supply projects. She later gained an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
She has worked in Russia as well as twenty four other countries in Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In 1982, she set up her own consulting business in Canada, specialising in research to determine aid effectiveness, particularly in the energy sector, resettlement and development assistance policy work. Melody returned to the World Bank in 1988 and worked on developing road and urban transport projects in Russia and Turkmenistan and advised senior government officials on transport policy issues. She has several World Bank publications to her name. In the late 1990’s, she returned to the UK and became involved in charity fundraising and trustee work.
Melody served on Plymouth University’s Board of Governors from 2001 to 2008, serving also as Chair of the University’s Finance Committee. During this period, she supported the University through some challenging times, bringing her talents to bear on a range of policy issues.
David McKee was born in Devon, and attended Tavistock Grammar School and Plympton Grammar School. He went on to study at Plymouth Art College, and while still at college, started selling one-off cartoons, particularly to the national press.
After completing National Service, he attended Hornsey College of Art. When he left, he earned his living by drawing regularly for, among others, Punch, Reader’s Digest, and The Times Educational Supplement. David has always been a storyteller, and during his time at college began telling stories to his friends. When he discovered children’s picture books, it seemed a natural next step. His first book, ‘Two Can Toucan’, was published in 1964. Since then, David has produced book series which have introduced several well-known characters, including King Rollo and Mr Benn. His most famous creation is Elmer the Patchwork Elephant; Elmer is now published in more than twenty languages. David has written and illustrated well over a hundred picture books as well as illustrating other children’s fiction titles.
The BBC used some of his books on television and this led to David’s first films, a series about Mr Benn. Five films for the Save the Children fund followed, then a series of films based on the King Rollo books. With two friends, Clive Juster and Leo Nielsen, he formed King Rollo Films Limited. The company is still very successful, and has been responsible for films including Tony Ross’s Towser, Eric Hill’s Spot, and Lucy Cousins’ Maisy.
In recent years, David has stopped working on films and concentrates on picture books and painting. He deplores the fact that picture books are automatically labelled as children’s books, and likes to work for adults and children at the same time. He is proud of being labelled by one critic as ‘master of the modern fable.’
The Right Reverend Jonathan Meyrick was born in 1952. He read Theology at St John’s College Oxford and trained for the ministry in the Church of England at Salisbury and Wells Theological College. He was ordained in 1977, and his first post was a curacy at Bicester after which he became Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford, then Vicar of Taplow, Rural Dean of Chalke Valley, and Canon Pastor and Head of the Department of Education and Visits at Rochester Cathedral. He retains an interest in educational work in Cathedrals and large Churches through the Chairmanship of Cathedrals Plus, which seeks to inspire and facilitate the contribution of these bodies nationally to education and learning. In addition to a number of parish appointments, he spent three years teaching Old Testament Studies at Codrington College in Barbados.
In May 2005, Jonathan was installed as the 69th Dean of Exeter. The position was established in 1225, 175 years after the founding of the Cathedral. Within the Diocese he chaired the Diocesan Council for Mission Unity and companion links with the wider church. During his time at Exeter, Jonathan placed a major emphasis on continuing and expanding the Cathedral’s place in the wider community of the diocese. As part of this, he wrote a weekly column in The Exeter Express and Echo under the name ‘Johnny Dean’. While the University retained campuses at Exeter and Exmouth, Jonathan made students and parents very welcome at graduation ceremonies held in Exeter Cathedral.
Jonathan was consecrated Bishop by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 2011, and installed Bishop of Lynn in Norwich Cathedral on 29 June 2011.
Jonathan was consecrated as the Bishop of Lynn by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 2011.
Sara Murray was born in Lancashire, and was educated at Malvern Girls’ College and St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, where she was awarded an MA in Physiology, Psychology, and Philosophy. After University, Sara worked initially with ZS Associates as a management consultant specialising in pharmaceuticals in Chicago, and then with Hambros Bank in the City of London. She went on to establish her own firm, Ninah Consulting, which uses proprietary software to advise a range of clients including GlaxoSmithKline, Diageo, Comet and Coco-Cola on marketing effectiveness. The company was eventually sold to Publicis, the French Media Group in 2002.
In 1999, Sara founded the online company inspop.com, which she then sold to the Admiral Group and renamed it Confused.com. Sara then founded and now runs buddi, which is the world's smallest assisted GPS personal tracker with emergency support to help protect the vulnerable such as elderly parents or relatives, children, and those with learning difficulties. Not only can it locate the wearer within minutes if they are lost or fail to return home, it can also send an alert if they have fallen and are struggling to get up again.
Sara has been a non-executive Director of Schering Health Care, and is a founding board member of Seedcamp, a start-up school for technology entrepreneurs. She is a Governing Board member of the Technology Strategy Board, and works closely with the Cabinet Office on business matters, particularly regarding SMEs. She combines her business role with flying helicopters, and as an intrepid yachtswoman who helmed an America’s Cup boat across the Channel at night.
Sara was a finalist in the 2008 Blackberry Awards for Women in Technology and the Real Business First Woman Awards, and was selected as Entrepreneur of the Year at the Orange National Business Awards in 2009 and BT Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2010. Sara has succeeded as a serial entrepreneur in a variety of companies and sectors, and is an inspiration to all who meet her.
Noel Olsen is an independent public health physician and campaigns in areas where medical evidence justifies social policy and legislation. He trained at St George’s Hospital Medical School.
As a junior doctor and a patient in the early 1970’s, Noel became fascinated by ways in which the effectiveness, efficiency and acceptability of medicine could be measured, and he developed an early interest in medical audit. In 1975 he was given a travelling fellowship to compare quality assurance in the USA and UK. Noel’s first consultant role in the NHS was as a chest physician in East London, where his concern about the poor results of lung cancer treatment led him to preventive medicine and advocacy. He became National Honorary Secretary of Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) and retrained in public health at the London School of Hygiene where he later taught.
Noel held consultant NHS and honorary university posts in Cambridge, London and Plymouth and spent seventeen years as a NHS Chief Officer, but left the NHS in 1996 and was appointed to chair the Public Health Medicine Consultative Committee of the UK. He subsequently acted as a consultant adviser to the Department of Health on health and environmental impact assessment and health action zones. He then worked with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, advising on the health aspects of housing and fuel poverty, and on health inequalities.
Noel has acted as a consultant on poverty and health to the World Health Organisation and on heart disease to the European Commission and been involved in a wide-range of evidence-based health advocacy groups. He spent a total of thirty five years first as Honorary Secretary of ASH, and later of the International Agency on Tobacco and Health. He was also Hon Sec of the National Heart Forum and continues as a trustee. He chaired the Alcohol Research Council and the SW Consumer Council of Ofwat. He is on the executive committee of the Alcohol Health Alliance, and is a member of the Government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group.
Noel served on Plymouth University’s Board of Governors from 2005 to 2011. He has given invaluable support to the University, notably in the continued championing of the student experience and issues concerning student health.
Sir John Parker was born into a farming family in County Down, Northern Ireland. He studied Naval Architecture and Mechanical Engineering at Queens University, Belfast, and joined the ship design team at Harland & Wolff in 1964. His early career was in shipbuilding and he became Managing Director of Austin & Pickersgill (Shipbuilders) in Sunderland in 1974 at the age of 32. Following nationalisation of the industry, he was appointed to the Board of the British Shipbuilders Corporation in 1978, later becoming Deputy Chief Executive.
Sir John has served in over 20 Board Rooms. He has focused on leading companies and their boards through periods of transformation. He returned to Harland & Wolff in 1983 as Chairman and Chief Executive, to lead a transfer from the public to the private sector during the Northern Ireland Political turbulence. In 1993 he became Chief Executive, and subsequently Chairman, of Babcock International during a period of significant group turnaround and transformation. In 1997, he became a non-executive director of British Gas, and following demerger, Chairman of the Lattice Group. When Lattice merged with the National Grid in 2002, Sir John was appointed Chairman of the combined company, National Grid Transco, leading the significant investment necessary to secure our energy supplies. In the same year he became Chairman of the RMC Group, leading its turnaround and subsequent take over by Cemex of Mexico in 2005.
In 2005, Sir John became Chairman of P&O, leading its sale to a Dubai- based company the following year which is shortly to be listed again on the London Stock Exchange. As the Chairman of the Court of the Bank of England he was at the heart of the historic rescue operation of parts of the financial services sector in the Autumn of 2008, and with the Governor planned significant reforms to the court itself. In 2009 he became Chairman of his fifth FTSE 100 Company Anglo-American, one of the world’s biggest mining companies at a time when the company was resisting a hostile takeover bid.
Sir John is, among other roles, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering (from July 2011), an Elder Brother of Trinity House, a governor of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and was President of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 2010. He was knighted in 2001 for services to the defence and shipbuilding industries.
Marion Reid trained as a medical technologist at the North East Metropolitan Blood Transfusion Services in Brentwood, UK, under the direction of Laurie Marsh. She went on to obtain an MA in Clinical Science, and a PhD in Biochemistry from CNAA under the supervision of David Anstee in Bristol.
Marion started her career as a medical technologist, and emigrated to the United States in the 1960’s. She recently retired after twenty years dedicated service to the New York Blood Center, where she was Director of the Immuno-hematology Laboratory. In this role, she became a world leader in blood group serology, stemming from her experience of serological, molecular, and biochemical blood groups and their application to human genetics and clinical practice. Her research has led to the publication of well over 300 articles, reviews and chapters. She is co-author of the Blood Group Antigens Facts Book, a treasured reference manual for everyday use in the immunohematology laboratory. Marion has maintained a research role in the NYBC Immuno-chemistry Laboratory.
A much sought-after lecturer, both nationally and internationally, Marion shares her knowledge and expertise with a wide range of people, from school children to leading experts. She is an enthusiast for immuno-hematology, DNA/RNA analysis and above all, helping patients and those who care for them.
Marion has served on numerous committees and editorial boards, and is a reviewer for a number of journals, including Blood, Transfusion, and Vox Sanguinis.
Marion is a recognised expert in her field, and has been honoured with awards and accolades by numerous professional bodies, including a teaching award from the Department of Laboratory Medicine in California. In 2006, she was the recipient of the prestigious International Woman in Transfusion Award. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science in Hematology, Blood Transfusion and Blood Group Serology.
Professor Paul RobertsonPaul Robertson is a distinguished violinist who has performed throughout the world for nearly forty years as leader of the internationally renowned Medici String Quartet, of which he was a founder member. Throughout this time, he has also worked alongside leading scientists to explore the neurological and scientific basis of music, shaping thinking about the power of creativity. This work reached a wide public with the highly acclaimed Channel 4 television series Music and the Mind.
In 2001, Paul was awarded a fellowship by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) to explore the musical, mathematical and spiritual foundations of Bach's work for unaccompanied violin, ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Earth’. He was Singapore’s first Artist in residence, and his collaboration with Ashridge Management College created a programme in which members of the Medici Quartet explored conflict resolution within performance. This was presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Paul was a Cultural Leader. He believes that music as therapy is likely to have a profound impact on three of the main medical issues for the future: dementia, depression and pain control.
Following a major cardiovascular emergency in 2009, Paul now focuses much of his time on the Music, Mind, Spirit Trust, of which he is Joint CEO with his wife Chika. This was set up to generate research, information, educational events and dialogue on the relationship between music and our spiritual, emotional, intellectual and neurophysiological experiences of the world. As a performer, he has recently focused on ‘Towards Silence’, by Sir John Tavener, a spiritual piece for four string quartets and Tibetan Bowl, composed for him and the Medici quartet. Characteristically, he is currently also writing up and interpreting his experiences of “ITU psychosis” following major surgery.
The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry has been privileged to have Paul as its first Visiting Professor of Music and Medicine. This is an innovative post, probably the first in the UK, and is part of the College’s Medical Humanities programme, to which Paul continues to make an outstanding contribution as teacher, scholar and ambassador. Paul’s lectures have proved compelling, and have stimulated much debate and reflection. He combines discussion, questioning and the sharing of information and insights across a wide canvas, with performance of illustrative pieces confirming his skills as a musician of the top rank. He has created an exceptional e-learning resource about music and medicine. He is also a great ambassador for PCMD, raising awareness of the Medical Humanities programme both nationally and internationally.
Phillip Schofield was brought up and educated in Newquay, Cornwall. He began his media career on Hospital Radio Plymouth at the age of just fifteen, making the weekly trip to Plymouth by train. He had been writing letters to the BBC since the age of ten and in 1979 the Corporation caved in, offering him the job of Outside Broadcast bookings clerk in BBC Broadcasting House, London. At the age of seventeen, he was the youngest person in the building.
Two years later, looking to get in front of the microphone, he followed his parents to New Zealand, where he began hosting TVNZ’s weekly pop magazine show Shazam and his own show on Auckland’s number one station, Radio Hauraki. After four successful years and numerous other television and radio milestones, Phillip decided to return to the UK. In 1985, he became the BBC’s first ever network in-vision continuity announcer for Children’s BBC. The Broom Cupboard was invented and saw the creation of Gordon the Gopher. Phillip then moved to presenting six years of the award-winning show Going Live on Saturday mornings. During this time he also fulfilled a lifetime ambition to become a Radio 1 DJ, presenting weekly shows on the Radio 1 Roadshow and the Breakfast Show.
Whilst continuing to create and present television programmes for both the BBC and ITV, in 1993 Phillip astonished everyone by stepping into the role of Joseph at the London Palladium. After exceptional reviews and the discovery that he loved the stage, he quickly made the part his own. What should have been six weeks turned into two years at the Palladium, and a further two years touring. This was quickly followed by another West End success and world premiere as the Doctor in the acclaimed production of Doctor Dolittle. After a further performance as Jack the Ripper in the stage production of The Lodger, Phillip returned to television and in recent years has hosted Winning Lines and Test the Nation for the BBC, then moving to ITV to host Dancing on Ice and The Cube, and he currently presents This Morning. In 2010, Phillip launched Radio Plymouth, where he is also an investor in the station. He is a patron of the charity CHASE, hospice care for children, an ambassador for the children’s charity Kidscope, and an ambassador for the Prince's Trust.
He has twice been voted ‘All time Favourite Children’s Presenter’ by readers of the Radio Times, and has received a number of coveted awards.
Dame Margaret Seward DBE CBE
Dame Margaret Seward was born in Weymouth, and received her schooling at Palmers Green High School and the Latymer School before studying at The London Hospital Medical College in Whitechapel, where she qualified and specialised in oral surgery. She became full time editor of the British Dental Journal in 1978, and later also editor of the International Dental Journal. A leading figure in the World Dental Federation, she served on its Council and was admitted to the List of Honour in 2008.
Dame Margaret is a leading national and international figure in dentistry, and has profoundly influenced the role of women in the professions. During her distinguished career, she has held the top three posts in dentistry: she was the first woman to be elected to the profession’s governing body, the General Dental Council, in 1976, becoming its President in 1994; in 1993, she was appointed President of the British Dental Association; and she served as the Chief Dental Officer for England at the Department of Health from 2000 to 2002.
She has lectured extensively throughout the world and published numerous articles, distance learning materials for the dental team and books, including her memoir ‘Open Wide’. Her research topics include the provision of care by women dentists and strategies for retraining and returning to the work force.
Dame Margaret has been highly supportive of the Peninsula Dental School, attending the opening ceremonies and acting as professional mentor and guide to the Inaugural Dean. She continues to be an ambassador for the School and its educational ethos, helping to promote and promulgate its success.
Dame Margaret was appointed a CBE in the New Year's Honours list in 1994, and in further recognition of her contribution to dentistry became a DBE in the New Year's Honours list 1999. She is the first ever Dame in dentistry.
Professor Sir Adrian Smith, who was born in Devon, is a distinguished British statistician. He read undergraduate mathematics at Cambridge University, followed by postgraduate work in Statistics at University College London.
Before taking up his present position as Director General, Knowledge and Innovation in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, he spent ten years as Principal of Queen Mary’s College, University of London. Previously he held posts at Imperial College, Nottingham University, the University of Oxford, and University College, London.
Sir Adrian has been the treasurer of Universities UK, a member of the governing body of the London Business School and a chair of London Higher. He served on the Advisory Committee to the UK Government Office for National Statistics, and has worked for the UK Department of the Environment as a statistical advisor to the Nuclear Waste Inspectorate, and for the Ministry of Defence as an advisor on Operational Analysis. Sir Adrian has also undertaken key roles with the UK Higher Education Funding and Research Councils, and has been deputy chair of the UK Statistics Authority.
Sir Adrian is a past President of the Royal Statistical Society and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001 in recognition of his contribution to statistics. In statistical theory, he is a proponent of Bayesian statistics and evidence-based practice. He co-wrote an influential paper in 1990 which revolutionized statistical theory and practice. He was also co-author of a seminal paper on the particle filter, a technique that allows the analysis in real time of high frequency data such as financial information.
Sir Adrian led the team which produced the ‘Making Mathematics Count’ report on secondary mathematics education in the United Kingdom in 2004. More recently, he led the team that produced the ‘One Step Beyond: Making the most of postgraduate education’ report, a team which included Professor Wendy Purcell, Vice Chancellor of the University of Plymouth. That team has now reformed to consider the potential impact of the new undergraduate tuition fee regime on postgraduate education.
Sir Adrian received a knighthood in the 2011 New Year Honours List.
A Devonian by birth, Professor David Southwood attended Torquay Boys Grammar School before taking his degree at Queen Mary College, London. After graduating in 1966, he went on to obtain a PhD in Physics from Imperial College. He became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he later taught as a visiting professor. In 1971, he returned to Imperial College, where he was Head of the Blackett Laboratory from 1994 until 1997. David has been involved in space missions and space exploration since 1966.
In 1997, David became Head of Earth Observation Strategy at the European Space Agency, where he introduced a new programme in Earth Science, called 'The Living Planet'. After a brief return to higher education, in May 2001 he was invited back to the European Space Agency to lead its Space Science programme. At present, the magnetometer, which he built, orbits Saturn aboard the NASA Cassini spacecraft. A highpoint of his career was the agreement in Plymouth in June 2009 of a plan for long-term cooperation in Mars exploration between Europe and the United States. David retired from the post of Director of Science and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency in April this year. David is currently President Elect of the Royal Astronomical Society, and will become President in May 2012. He has also been appointed a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of CalTech.
David is credited with more than two hundred publications and scientific articles. He has chaired a number of committees associated with space science in Europe, including the Space Science Advisory Committee and the Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency. In addition to his distinguished research career, David is also widely known for his lectures around the world and on television on space science topics. Recently, David has been involved in advising and researching University of Plymouth space science opportunities, and has accepted the position of ‘special advisor’ for the University to help facilitate these opportunities.
Jill Stein was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire one of three daughters. At eighteen, Jill moved to Cornwall seeking seasonal work and for several years worked in hotels around the North Cornwall area, where she met Rick Stein.
In 1975, Rick and Jill started The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. Rick ran the kitchen with Jill running front of house. With Rick’s natural cooking abilities and Jill’s instinctive customer service, interior design and business skills, the business has continued to expand, with the addition of new outlets in Padstow and beyond. They employ between 350 and 450 staff, 90% of whom are local to Cornwall, and the company boasted an impressive annual turnover of nearly £14,000,000 for 2010. The business now includes a further five restaurants, a pub, forty guest bedrooms, a cookery school, deli, patisserie and gift shop. Jill continues to be instrumental in the growth and development of all areas of the business.
The Seafood Restaurant is recognised world-wide for its sound business ethics and support of local and sustainable produce and services, supporting local suppliers as much as possible. It has also received many restaurant and hotel awards, and an AA Award for English Seafood Restaurant of the Year. Most recently, the Company was awarded the PwC Business of the Year for the South West region.
Jill’s passion for interiors led her to establish Jill Stein Interiors in 2009 and she is currently working on several projects through this company, including a £2.5 million development on the North Cornish coast.
Jill was named as one of the top 100 women in hospitality by Women 1st, which recognises female excellence within the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism industry.
Professor Michael Walker was recently appointed Head of School for Natural and Mathematical Sciences at King’s College London. Prior to this and until his retirement in September 2009, he was the Group Research and Development Director for the Vodafone Group of companies, with responsibility for the Group’s research, intellectual property and technology standards worldwide. He also led technology innovation and managed engagement with start-up companies for Vodafone, and was a member of the board of the venture capital arm of Vodafone Ventures.
Before joining Vodafone, Michael was Head of Mathematics at Racal Research, and prior to that an academic at the University of Tuebingen in Germany. Michael is the current President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. He is a Vodafone Fellow and an Executive Technical Advisor to the company, and chairman of the Board of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. He holds the Vodafone Chair in Telecommunications at Royal Holloway, University of London, as a part-time professor, and until recently he was a visiting professor at the University of Surrey.
Michael is also Vice-Chairman of the mobile Virtual Centre of Excellence – a group of universities and industries researching mobile communications. He sits on scientific advisory boards for the Universities of Warwick and Surrey, and has been a member of the academic advisory board of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. He was a member of the UK Technology Strategy Board, and currently sits on the UK Government’s OFCOM Spectrum Advisory Board. Michael has also taken a non-executive director role in a number of start up companies.
Michael is an eminent mathematician, committed to the importance of technology and its implementation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and has just completed a term of office as a member of Council of the Academy. He was recently made a Fellow of the Wireless World Research Forum. Michael was appointed an OBE in June 2009 for services to the telecommunications industry.
Ellen Winser studied Archaeology and Anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge. After early appointments as a graduate trainee at the John Lewis Partnership and Assistant Office Manager at the Film Producers’ Guild, she began her career on the Stock Exchange as a Research Assistant. She went on to work for the London firm of stockbrokers, James Capel & Co, where she was the first woman to be taken into partnership in London and one of the first women Members of the Stock Exchange. Ellen resigned in 1990 to fulfil an ambition to sail the Pacific with her husband, and over the next five years they visited forty countries and sailed 50,000 miles. On her return, Ellen became involved with a variety of commercial organisations including Sutton Harbour Holdings plc based here in Plymouth which she chaired between 1998 and 2007, Liontrust Asset Managment plc which she also chaired between 1996 and 2004 and Pendennis Shipyard based in Falmouth She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall in 2003.
Ellen has a longstanding interest in education. She served on the governing body of Benenden School for thirty years and joined the Governing Body of what was then Truro College in 2001, becoming Chair in 2004. Ellen brought to the role not only business and financial acumen acquired during her career in the City, but also a strong commitment to education as an empowering force in people's lives and a determination to ensure that the College provided the best possible learning and teaching experience for its students. She has overseen a period in which the College has doubled in size, including in 2008 a successful merger with Penwith College, and has been instrumental in fostering a culture of effective governance, highlighting the role of the Board as a supporter, adviser and critical friend to the executive team.
Ellen was appointed to the University of Plymouth’s Board of Governors in 2005 and served until 2010. She brought the same qualities and commitment to the University, serving on its Finance Committee for many years and providing valuable insights as the University developed a new financial model.
Ellen has a record of considerable public service in many fields, including service on the Boards of charitable companies such as the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and Cornwall Care , and continues to play a key role.
Ellen remains deeply committed to the regeneration of the economies of Cornwall and Plymouth and is a board member of the South West Regional Development Agency. She firmly believes that high quality education, is and will remain, a key part of that regeneration.
Mr BAI Zhangde studied at Peking University, where he successfully completed a BA (Hons) in French Language and Literature in 1975. In 1995, he completed his Master of Arts in Administrative Management at the same prestigious University. Following a highly successful career as an academic, he joined the Ministry of Education in 1983. For the next twenty years, he worked in various departments at the Ministry including Human Resources, Foreign Affairs and the National Office for the Administration of Foreign Loans, assuming the positions of Deputy Director, Director, and Director-General respectively. Mr Bai then worked for ten years in the education sections of Chinese Embassies in various European countries. In 2002, he was appointed as the Minister Counsellor (Education) at the Chinese Embassy in France.
In 2008, Mr Bai was appointed Director-General of the Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange. The Centre was established 1989, and is a not-for-profit organisation, affiliated to China’s Ministry of Education. Specialising in joint international education cooperation, the Centre offers a comprehensive range of services for incoming and out-going academic staff and students on international scholarly exchanges.
Mr Bai been active both in education overseas and international education in China, facilitating Sino-European institutional linkages. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Higher National Diploma programme was introduced into China in 2003, and has since been jointly operated by the Centre and the SQA. Under Mr Bai’s pioneering leadership, this programme has gained nationwide recognition. The Centre has also established partnerships with sixty eight international higher education institutions, and to date, over 10,000 SQA HND graduates have successfully completed their studies at Chinese universities, been awarded their HND Diplomas by SQA, and continued their undergraduate study to successful completion at partner universities overseas. Plymouth University has a long history of accepting graduates from the SQA HND programme in China. Plymouth University’s relationship with the Centre was further cemented last year in Beijing when the respective organisations signed a joint cooperation agreement, and Plymouth University is now the Centre’s key strategic partner in England.
Mr Bai’s distinguished career in higher education has played an important role in developing international relationships between Chinese universities and overseas universities.