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Work Background
University of East LondonAssociate Director: Data Governance and Statutory Returns
Dec. 2024London Area, United KingdomServing as the operational lead for UEL’s Regulatory Returns and Data Governance Framework, I oversee the suite of tools and processes used to track data quality and statutory compliance. I collaborate with local data quality teams across the institution to ensure that statutory returns are delivered accurately and on time, while spearheading initiatives to improve overall data quality and reduce the effort required for future returns. In addition, I act as the University’s expert on sector-wide data implications, advising senior leaders on external uses of statutory data—such as league table metrics—and identifying strategic responses to changes in statutory and regulatory frameworks. My remit also includes driving innovation to modernise UEL’s data governance practices and helping departments embed lessons learned into their day-to-day processes. Key Achievements and Responsibilities
- Institution-Wide Compliance: Successfully led the timely submission of high-priority statutory data returns, ensuring full compliance with deadlines and regulatory requirements.
- Data Governance Leadership: Established and refined data governance policies, improving the quality and consistency of UEL’s data assets and providing a clear roadmap for statutory returns.
- Cross-Departmental Support: Coordinated with local teams to streamline submission workflows, cutting down duplication of effort and reinforcing best practices to maintain high data standards.
- Strategic Advisory: Provided expert counsel on the interpretation and impact of externally reported data—especially league table metrics—thus enabling data-informed decision-making across UEL.
- Innovation and Framework Evolution: Guided the adoption of updated statutory and regulatory frameworks, incorporating novel solutions and methodologies that enhance UEL’s ability to respond quickly to policy shifts.
University of East LondonData Management Consultant (HESA Consultant)
Mar. 2024 - Dec. 2024London Area, United Kingdom• Managed and delivered HESA returns for OFS, UKRI, and other regulators at the University of East London.
• Oversaw the completion of HEBCI, HESES, Student Return, AFR, TRAC, and other crucial returns.
• Implemented data management strategies to ensure accurate and timely submission of regulatory reports.
Royal Holloway, University of LondonAssistant Director - Service Delivery
Dec. 2023 - Jan. 2025London, England, United KingdomAs Assistant Director of Service Delivery at Royal Holloway (maternity cover), University of London, I led the comprehensive management of support services to ensure effective operations university-wide. My focus was on developing strategies and policies that enhanced service quality and met the university's goals, as well as providing a critical voice and leadership on projects. My role was pivotal in not just maintaining, but significantly enhancing the service delivery framework at Royal Holloway, underpinning the university's mission with robust, efficient, and innovative IT and support services. I developed service delivery strategies and policies to improve support services while monitoring performance indicators to pinpoint and rectify service gaps, elevating service standards. Key Responsibilities and Achievements:
- Led on the successful move over to a HPE GreenLake solution, with cloud transformation and migration programme to migrate four separate virtual environments across two independent hypervisor technologies.
- Developed a strategy and delivered stage 1 of a move to inTune and Azure AD.
- Led on the implementation of a move to a fully enabled Cohesity environment.
- Worked with Softcat on delivery of a business analysis deep dive and solution for a full IAM system.
London Metropolitan UniversityHead of Applications (Development, Systems and Data Analysis)
Mar. 2023 - Dec. 2023London, England, United KingdomAs the Head of Applications at London Metropolitan University, I had the privilege of leading the strategic and operational direction of all business applications critical to the university's mission. My role was pivotal in ensuring the seamless integration and management of major business-facing applications including ERP, SITS, Timetabling, EDP, Finance, HR, among others, across various departments. My leadership fostered a collaborative environment that aligned IT solutions with the university's core operations, enhancing efficiency and productivity. Key Responsibilities and Achievements:
- Data Cleansing Programme: I successfully completed a comprehensive Data Cleansing program, streamlining 15 years of data and 7.6 million records in SITS, ensuring our information was accurate and useful as well as fully GDPR compliant.
- Department Growth: I played a key role in restructuring and expanding our department, adding 20 new staff members to better meet our goals and challenges.
- Applications Function Redevelopment: I revamped the entire Applications department to focus on data delivery, significantly enhancing our operations and effectiveness.
- First stage ERP delivery: Delivered stage 1 of a £5m ERP, including all data mapping between Finance, HR and Student records, as well as integrated processes.
- Data Warehouse Delivery: I led the delivery of a data warehouse, providing a robust foundation for data storage, management, and analysis that supports all university functions.
Shaw Education TrustDirector of Digital Transformation and IT
May. 2021 - Mar. 2023Stoke-on-Trent, England, United KingdomPlanned, lead and delivered an effective digital strategy across the whole of Shaw Education Trust in order to ensure that; pupils, students and learners accessed digital technology that enhanced their learning and all SET staff are now able to access and use digital technology in order to perform their roles with efficiency, effectiveness and with the greatest impact on the communities they serve.
Developed digital structures across SET to be effective and efficient and allow them to effectively communicate with all stakeholders, with a primary focus on the families of the pupils, students and learners. Key Responsibilities and Achievements:
- Created and successfully launched a Digital Strategy that focused on developing provision for the next 3-5 years.
- Delivered £4m+ of network upgrades across 26 sites
- Delivered a 1:1 device strategy putting a device in the hands of every teacher and student (circa £3m spend - 18,000 devices) leading to 52 hours per year of recovered time for teaching and learning. This project is currently saving around £4m in overall costs due to cost savings in other areas from this.
- Created a simplified management strategy to allow for the focus of digital technologies, leading to a £1.2m reduction in expenditure Trust wide while delivering improvements.
- Developed and delivered a robust cross-site/country training programme to develop computer literacy for all staff and students, leading to a reading age improvement of Primary of 2-4 years.
- Developed a Data Strategy to centralise and co-ordinate data management for the Trust, leading to significant improvements in operational efficiency.
- Created a digital community of practitioners to develop and cross work across the Trust to better develop digital skills and 'grow our own', while providing a support group.
Bishop Grosseteste UniversityHead of Data Systems and Strategic Planning
Apr. 2019 - May. 2021Lincoln, United KingdomAs the Head of Data Systems and Strategic Planning, my role was centered on transforming complex challenges into actionable insights and structured strategic solutions. I leveraged data to support stakeholders in executing solutions that drive data management initiatives and analytics insights. Managing a budget exceeding £2 million and indirectly overseeing an income of £9 million, I led my department in identifying trends and providing recommendations for enhancements and improvements while technically managing the University's data systems. I developed strong relationships and embraced cross-boundary collaboration to influence peers and other senior executives across the organisation, while directly managing a team of 9 staff members and a further 14 through matrix leadership. Key Responsibilities and Achievements: - Successfully guided the University from an OFS ‘requires improvement’ status to ‘Assured Status’ within 18 months by implementing a focused action plan and robust process changes.
- Actively participated in the Senior Management Group, Data Oversight Group, and Quality Management Group, providing thought leadership and strategic direction.
- Led a cross-business team in developing a comprehensive business planning process for the national and international portfolio, resulting in a 22% year-on-year income increase.
- Provided oversight in audit management by leading on audit recommendations, implementing action plans, and enforcing strong change management to drive business improvements.
- Directly interfaced with external government bodies (HESA, OFS, HESPA, UCAS, etc.) to ensure regulatory compliance for the University.
Bishop Grosseteste UniversityVisiting Lecturer
Sep. 2017 - May. 2020Lincoln, United KingdomVisiting Tutor in Business Management
Visiting Tutor in PGCE Secondary: Computer Science
Bishop Grosseteste UniversityHead of System Development and Integration
May. 2016 - Mar. 2019Lincoln, United KingdomAs Head of SDi I managed a team of 6 to drive business improvements with regards to systems engineering, data management and process mapping. This was as well as developing a full data infrastructure and requisite supporting systems to drive the university forward, with a budget of £1.1m. Over 3 years I led on a project to drive enhanced data capability as part of the University’s strategic plan, leading to increased data knowledge and decision making in the University. I am well versed in the data created and used in the HE environment, having helped rewrite and create a more data driven process in: Key Responsibilities and Achievements:
- Redevelopment of Validation Processes leading to reduction in time taken to validate a programme from 6 months to 2 months.
- Developed capacity with a new Timetable system that allowed direct monitoring of business processes, which in turn led to a Workforce Allocation Model that reduced costs by 27%.
- First stage Data Warehouse created in order to deliver on analytics requirements of the University leading to a retargeting of processes and an increase of 25% of student numbers.
- Streamlined all businesses processes by adaptively integrating multiple systems into one coherent data ecosystem.
Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher EducationCurriculum Manager: Digital, Computing and Games
Nov. 2014 - May. 2016Grimsby, United KingdomManager of Curriculum development in the Education sector. The role was designed in order to develop industry practice within an educational teaching department. It focussed on business development, by showcasing industry standard staff and tools in order to make the department run as a real business. My achievements included:
- Management of 11 members of staff and a budget of £2.2m and income of £2.7m
• Growth of the bottom line in terms of footfall and income from £234k to £2.2m in 2 years (due to growth in student numbers)
• Implemented links with GCHQ and National Cyber Security Bodies.
• Led the department from an under performing 4 to an Outstanding 1 within a year, and then maintained it.
PearsonAssessment Associate
Jan. 2013 - Dec. 2023London, England, United KingdomServing various roles as an Assessment Associate in the following roles:
- Examiner
- Lead Examiner
- Subject Specialist (Computing, Business, IT, Media)
- Standards Verifier
- SSV
- Writer
- Sector Advisor (Computing, Business, IT, Media) Working as an Assessment Associate at Pearson Education allows me to make a tangible impact on education by supporting the development of assessments that accurately measure student learning, inform instructional decisions, and drive educational improvement. I am proud to be part of a team dedicated to advancing educational outcomes and empowering learners worldwide. It has all been IT, Data, Systems and Education consultancy, with business training, working nationally and internationally (Europe, Asia, Middle East) with experience of developing systems and delivering training and business improvements in a variety of sectors. Key Duties:
- Data Analysis and Visualisation
- Delivery of Program goals through critical thinking and complex problem analysis
- Developing innovative technical solutions to meet project requirements
- Delivery of training and education sessions My achievements include:
• Creating a data analytics platform (Tableau) for a training organisation in Jordan that allowed it to baseline its skillsets and develop bespoke training for the staff, reducing the need in the training budget by 30%.
• Developed a Data Resiliency Architecture (SQL/Process Mapping) for the Uzbekistan Govt to look at its spending and allocation of funding to international organisations leading to a spend reduction of equivalently £40m.
- Developer of training materials and content for the new T-Levels and EDSQ qualifications
Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher EducationProgramme Leader : Computing
Nov. 2012 - Oct. 2014GrimsbyResponsible for managing a series of programmes of study of technical qualifications. Managed staff to effectively promote industry practice. Taught skills including; Python, SQL, Design Thinking, Project Management . My achievements included:
• Introduced a system for improvement that gained us Microsoft Partner Status within a year
• Changing the department to be ‘skills led’ which in turn led to us being asked to be the National Showcase partner for IT and Computing for the entire Educational Sector at Government ran events.
Who Needs Design ltdCreative Director
Oct. 2010 - Apr. 201636 High Street, CleethorpesWeb Designer and Developer as well as internet marketing and brand marketing consultancy. Specialists in social media marketing, and Web Site Design and interactive shopping cart development. Covering large scale projects including development of branding and marketing and eCommerce solutions for local and international businesses.
Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher EducationLCMR Manager
Sep. 2005 - Oct. 2012GrimsbyDevelopment manager who designed and co-built the Institutions video management online system, encompassing static and video content into a learning development platform. Strategic development role that led on all elements of legal guidance for the Institution in regards to IT systems.
Franklin Sixth Form CollegeIT Technical Lead
Dec. 2003 - Aug. 2005Grimsby, UKDelivery of excellent customer service, while using data analytics to advise on stock control, and system maintenance. Achievements included:
• Development of a training platform to allow for new staff to understand the LMS system in a short time.
• Responsible for developing a ‘data first’ mindset within the institution
PlaytrainingProject Coordinator
Apr. 2000 - Jun. 2005GrimsbyPrimarily focussed on managing National Lottery funding of £100,000 a year over 3 years, and creation of the computer systems and processes to allow this to function smoothly. My achievements included:
• Development of data cleansing tools (in Excel and Access) to reconcile all funding and spending.
• Successfully applied for another £75,000 worth of continuation funding that was managed for a further 2 years.
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