Board of Governors
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Constitution
The University of East London is a higher education corporation as defined under the Education Reform Act 1988. The powers of higher education corporations are defined by that act and include the power to provide higher and further education and to carry out research. The University of East London is an exempt charity under the terms of the Charities Act 2011.
Key Info
Minutes of Meetings
The minutes of meetings for University of East London board of governors.
Access the minutes from our meetings
Legal Information
Read our data protection policy, annual reports and financial statements below.
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Sub-Committees
Constitution, Membership and Terms of Reference of the Board of Governors and its Sub-committees.
Find information on our sub-committees
Remuneration Committee Annual Report 2021/2022
This report outlines the work of the Remuneration Committee for the 2021/22 academic year.
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Independent Members
John Garwood (Chair of the Board)
John Garwood qualified as a solicitor in 1982. Since 1985 he has had extensive corporate governance and legal experience with APV plc, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Smith New Court plc and Caspian Securities Limited and has sat in Audit and other Board committees for over 25 years. From 1999 until his retirement in 2020 he was Group Company Secretary of Canary Wharf Group plc experiencing full London Stock Exchange Listing, AIM listing and two takeovers. He became a Managing Director of Canary Wharf Group plc in 2015 with responsibility for the Internal Control/Audit, Insurance, Pensions, Corporate Legal/Secretarial and Corporate PR functions.
John was Chair of the Tower Hamlets Further Education Trust which provides support for vocationally-related further education for residents of Tower Hamlets from 2004 until 2020. John was also Chair of the Ocean Estate Bursary Scheme which financially assists residents of the Ocean Estate seeking support for University education and is a member of the East End Community Foundation.
Steven Armstrong
Steven Armstrong has worked within the auto industry for over 40 years, 35 of which have been within Ford Motor Company's global operations, having left school at 16 to take on an apprenticeship. During his career, Steven has worked in the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden, Germany, Brazil and China in a variety of senior management and purchasing positions for Jaguar, Mazda, Volvo, and Ford. On January 1, 2014 he was elected a corporate officer of Ford Motor Company.
Steven is currently VP & Transformation Officer, Ford South America and India. Prior to this position he was President, Changan Ford, in China, where he led Changan Ford's successful turnaround. Previous to that role Steven was Chairman, President and CEO, Ford of Europe, where he transformed and led Ford's Europe, Middle East and Africa business units. During this time, he served on the boards of directors of Ford Sollers and Ford Otosan.
Steven has served as President, Ford South America responsible for all Ford's South American operations and previously at Volvo Cars as SVP Purchasing and ultimately Chief Operating Officer, prior to overseeing the divestiture of Volvo Cars to Geely Automotive Holdings Ltd. Steven also held the position of Chief Operating Officer, Getrag-Ford Transmissions, a Ford joint venture and tier 1 supplier to the auto industry.
He has been recognised with several awards, including being named a Eurostar by Automotive News in 2005, and "Most Influential Brit in the Global Auto Industry" in the Auto Express "Top 50 Brit List", 2020.
Steven was born in Luton in the UK, he is married to Kay and they have two grown up children. In his free time he enjoys cycling, motorsports and he and Kay have a passion for wine!
He has a BA (Hons) in Business Studies & Economics and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of East London.
Jazz Bhogal
Photograph and biography to follow.
Ben Buckton
Ben is Chief Marketing & People Officer (Partner and group board member) at professional services group Ampa LLP, a board member at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, and has extensive experience across financial, professional & technology services (B2B & B2C) having worked across EMEA, North America and Asia. He has previously held senior positions at global firms including Experian, Axa, Allianz and RSA.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), and a Leadership Fellow at the Society of Leadership Fellows, St George's House, Windsor Castle. Ben studied Business Economics (BSc) at Manchester Metropolitan University, followed by post-graduate qualifications with the Chartered Institute of Insurance (ACII), Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), and a Masters in Marketing & Communications Leadership from Schulich School of Business (York University, Toronto).
A passionate leader with over 20 years' experience in marketing, people and transformation strategy; he leads growth for the Ampa group of companies - delivering this through brands, clients, markets, people and culture. As the first in its sector to seek B Corp accreditation, Ben is driving the groups' responsible business ambitions to ensure inclusion for all stakeholders - their people, communities, environment and investors.
Ben lived in Tower Hamlets (Bow) for over a decade and is a passionate advocate for East London communities. He is also an Advisory Board Member for the Vulnerability Registrations Service, an NFP data provider that helps vulnerable consumers protect themselves against debt and financial problems. He is a Business Mentor for Ingenuity Impact supporting social impact entrepreneurs and a Mentor for the Managing Partners Forum.
Jackie Craissati
Jackie Craissati is a consultant clinical and forensic psychologist and director of Psychological Approaches, a community interest company working with individuals with complex mental health needs.
She has 30 years' experience of working in the NHS and with the criminal justice system and was clinical director of a forensic mental health service in south-east London for many years.
Jackie has held recent roles as external examiner for the forensic doctorate programme at the University of Nottingham, and occasional examiner of PhD theses. She has a particular interest in new ways of working with individuals with complex mental health needs and offending behaviour and has published widely in this area. She was awarded an MBE for her work in mental health in 2014.
Jackie has an interest in strategy and governance and has taken on a number of board roles in recent years: she is a trustee on the board of Samaritans, vice chair of Kent & Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust and chair of 28a Supported Living. She has lived in East London for almost 30 years and is delighted to be part of the University of East London community.
Reverend Trevor Critchlow
Trevor Critchlow is 52nd Rector of Stepney, an office stretching back to 1233. Trevor has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Ethics from Lancaster University and King's College London and has an interest in business ethics. Trevor was Chair of Governors at an East London secondary school that made rapid progress from being in Special Measures to Outstanding in record time. He also has wide experience of charity governance at the board level. Trevor lives in East London and is the chair of numerous local charities.
Professor Sir Leslie Colin Ebdon CBE DL
BSc PhD DSc (Hons) DUniv ARCS DIC MCIWEM C.WEM FRSA CChem FRSC
Professor Sir Les Ebdon CBE DL is a widely recognised leader in the fields of social mobility, higher education and analytical chemistry. As Director of Fair Access to Higher Education from 2012 to 2018, he enabled the number of disadvantaged students in Higher Education to rise to the highest level ever, including a 53 per cent increase at the most selective universities. An award-winning analytical chemist, he has published over 260 refereed publications. He has enjoyed highly successful periods as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Plymouth and as Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Bedfordshire.
From 2003 - 2012 he transformed the reputation of the University and increased student numbers to over 25,000 and the income from £38m to £134m. He has played various national roles in higher education including chairing the university group Million+, for five years, served as a board member of Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association, as well as chairing the Association of Universities of the East of England for five years.
He was awarded a CBE in 2009 for services to national and local higher education and in 2018 was knighted for services to social mobility and higher education. In 2011 he was appointed HM Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.
Currently he is Chair of the National Equal Opportunities Network (NEON), the Council of the University Centre Peterborough and is President Elect of the European Association of Professors Emeriti.
Sarah Fahy
Sarah is a chartered accountant and member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and spent over 30 years in senior International Finance roles in large multinational organisations including Sony and Pepsi. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Birmingham.
Sarah brings a wealth of experience in risk management and governance procedures, as well as a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. She was head of the Sony Pictures Gender Equality Group, is a Trustee of the Sony Music Pension Fund, and acts as a mentor under various programmes including the University of Birmingham's Alumni Leadership Mentoring Programme, Cancer Research's Women of Influence Programme, and the Girls' Network. She ran a highly successful student internship programme for many years and is particularly interested in strengthening links between the University and business, and ensuring students are supported and prepared as well as they can be as they transition into the world of work.
In her spare time, Sarah loves exploring the great outdoors and cooking for family and friends.
Amanjit Jhund
Amanjit is currently the Deputy CEO of Whipps Cross University Hospital in East London. He is a fully qualified and General Medical Council licensed medical doctor having studied medicine (MBChB) and physiology (BSc) at Edinburgh University. Amanjit has worked in hospitals in both Scotland and England as a front line medical doctor and he completed his postgraduate studies (MPH-EPI) in epidemiology and public health at Harvard University. He has served on the board of several NHS Trusts including Croydon University Health Services NHS Trust and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Amanjit is also an award winning entrepreneur, having previously won awards from Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Business Gateway for his ventures. He has advised some of the largest healthcare institutions in both the UK and Internationally on their strategic issues while working as an expert on healthcare systems and services for the international management consultancy McKinsey and Company.
Amanjit is also passionate about politics having stood for the UK Labour Party at both the 2010 and 2015 General elections. In 2015 Amanjit was the candidate for Scottish Labour's number one target seat and his home town seat in Glasgow.
Although he is originally from Glasgow, Amanjit has lived in East London for the past eight years and is particularly passionate about the role of education in improving not just the economic prospects but also the health and wellbeing of the local population.
Bindi Karia
Bindi is incredibly passionate about all things start-up in Europe and connecting the dots between investors, founders, corporates, and government. As a result, she has worked in and around technology start-ups for most of her career.
She has worked as a consultant (PwC Consulting), as a corporate (Microsoft BizSpark /Ventures), as a start-up employee (Trayport), as an Advisor (Startup Europe, Startup Weekend Europe, Tech London Advocates), as a Connector (GQ UK, the IoD and Evening Standard have all recognised this) and until recently, as their banker (Silicon Valley Bank). The entrepreneurs have influenced her so greatly over the years, that she is building a boutique advisory firm, focused on advising and connecting across four core Innovation pillars (Corporate, Start-up, Investors and Government and Community) for commercial success.
She currently sits on the advisory boards of seven start-ups and one Venture Debt fund, as well as Digital Advisory Board of Shop Direct plc (£1.9bn t/o business), the advisory boards of European Innovation Council, Startup Europe (EU), Tech London Advocates, Ambassador for Innovate Finance. She has just finished a term as trustee for Techstars Startup Weekend Europe.
She is a strong advocate for promoting Women in Tech, and as such, seven of her advisory board roles are for female-founded businesses.
Bindi was born in the UK, raised in Canada, her entire family is from Kenya, but the lure of Europe, especially London, brought her back and kept her there!
Tommy MacDonnell
Tommy is a European Regional Director with Blue Hive, a global integrated marketing and communications company. The company is part of WPP Plc - the world's largest marketing group. He also worked with Saatchi & Saatchi International helping them expand and build their network in the Middle East.
He has a particular interest in reputation management in the digital age and is seeking to build reputation models that reflects the complexity and challenges organisations face. Along with this- he is passionate about creating marketing effectiveness models that tangibly measure outputs and value for money. He is an economics and administration graduate of Trinity College Dublin, and postgraduate of the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium.
Doris Olulode
Doris has extensive global human resources experience gained in a career at Ford Motor Company at the operational and strategic level, across a range of disciplines. Doris has held executive positions in the UK and overseas including head of HR, Ford Motor Company, Australia & New Zealand and HR director, Ford Motor Company for Europe, Middle East & Africa. Doris also led the African Ancestry Network at Ford and was named by Autocar as being in the top 100 most influential women in the auto industry. Doris currently freelances as an HR consultant.
She holds non-executive directorships for the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge University Hospital Foundation Trust, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. She is also a lay member to the HMCTS (Employment Tribunal).
Gary Stewart
Gary is the Managing Director of Wayra UK. He graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and received his law degree from Yale Law School. After working at a series of white-shoe law firms, he co-founded a start-up that raised over four million euros in funding before being sold. Gary was previously an associate professor at IE Business School and is an advisor to the Amos Bursary.
Janette Withey
Janette has a career spanning 40 years in the recruitment industry from corporate to SME with an emphasis on turning around failing business to operational successes. She has a close relationship with the business community and acts as a business mentor for the recruitment industry and small business. Janette is managing director of her own recruitment business based in the Docklands, supplying office support staff to private and public sector organisations.
Ex-Officio Member
Amanda Broderick
An eminent social scientist, Professor Amanda Broderick joined University of East London as Vice-Chancellor and President in September 2018.
Professor Broderick was previously Chief Executive Officer at Newcastle University London and has held Chairs in International Business and Marketing at multiple institutions in the UK, and Visiting Chairs internationally. She has a strong leadership track record and rare insight into a cross-section of strategic groupings of universities.
Before moving to Newcastle University, she was Pro-Vice Chancellor (International Priorities) and founding Executive Dean of the College of Business & Law, University of Salford; Principal of St. Cuthbert's Society (a Durham University College) and Deputy Dean of Durham Business School. She also led the development of the disruptive 'challenger institution' - University Academy '92, founded by the Class of '92 and Lancaster University and launched in September 2017.
Her leadership track record highlights her expertise in strategy development and execution; strong financial management and business planning; global education innovation; business partnership development; and, turn-around change management. She holds an entre- and intra-preneurial skills set and in-depth knowledge of alternative educational models and new business ventures in both charitable and for-profit environments.
An award-winning researcher, her expertise lies in the fields of international business, marketing psychology and strategic communications with particular application to the digital and social business agendas. Her research has appeared in many leading business journals and she has authored two seminal texts in her field.
Professor Broderick provides strategic and academic leadership for the University, with overall responsibility for 1,300 members of staff and 17,000 students, spread across campuses in London Docklands and Stratford.
Staff Members
Regina Everitt
Regina Everitt is Director of Library, Archives and Learning Services at the University of East London. She began her professional career as a technical author/trainer working with computer companies that developed bespoke software for the manufacturing, pharmaceutical and financial sectors in the US and UK. She later transitioned into the Higher Education sector developing and managing libraries, social learning spaces, and other learning resources.
Concerned about the low representation of BAME staff members in leadership positions in academic libraries, she co-project managed SCONUL research to document BAME staff experiences in LIS with a view to working with the sector to change the trend. She is also a member of a number of library boards and committees including the CILIP BAME Network Steering Group, M25 Consortium of Libraries Steering Group, Senate House Library Board and the British Library Council.
Matthew Almond
Biography to follow.
Sophia Bokhari
Dr Sophia Bokhari is Head of Psychological Sciences, School of Psychology at the University of East London. Having worked in Higher Education for over two decades, she is well versed with HE landscapes and can horizon scan. Holding a PhD in Education, she advocates for academic achievement; creatively designing targeted interventions addressing and leading to academic success, progression, employment and social mobility. She has worked across Russell Group and Post '92 universities, holding both research and teaching positions. Moving into senior management, Sophia leads by example, staying grounded and connected to the student body. Prudent, pragmatic, data-driven and fiscally cautious as a leader, Sophia manages efficiently, resourcefully and equitably. This year she has created a talent pipeline model, with graduates returning to embark on their academic careers at UEL. Sophia is reflexive and known for her criticality and due diligence. She is a trained university investigating officer for complaints and misconduct cases.
Her tenacity has led her to win numerous HE awards in the past two decades. She recently led the winning team for the inaugural UK Pearson HE Innovate Most Innovative Approach to Supporting Students Award. Sophia is now a Pearson HE Judge and Collaborative Partner.
She has held Principal Investigator roles locally, nationally and internationally, successfully working with hard-to-reach/seldomly heard communities and influencing local and central government policies. Partners co-produced with include: Refugee/asylum seeker, Looked After Children and SEND. Most recently she sat on the British Psychological Society Expert Reference Group - From Poverty to Flourishing.
Student Members
Pippa Evans
Photograph and biography to follow.
Lavanya Rajendran
Lavanya Rajendran is the wellbeing and community officer at UEL Students' Union. She completed an undergraduate degree in computer science and engineering in Tamil Nadu, India in 2019 before graduating with a master's degree in information security and digital forensics at UEL in 2021. She has undertaken placements as a security analyst and an IT analyst.
Lavanya's priorities this year include leading a campaign to reduce students' and the University's negative impact on the environment, raising awareness about the nature and extent of sexual violence incidents on campus, and improving the provision of peer support through the Students' Union's community groups. She will also work on the learning and teaching quality parts of the education officer portfolio.
