Underpinning excellent pastoral and specialist support in higher educationWe provide tailored consultancy and training in the core areas of the management of student services, personal tutoring, safeguarding and mental health.We deliver training to managers, teams and frontline staff in areas such as managing distressed students, mental health awareness, the management of serious student incidents, safeguarding, coaching skills, and change management. We also work with teams to re-model or review services, draft new policies based on best practice, and deliver ad hoc consultancy support. www.plinthhouse.com

An interim management post, recruited via Odgers Interim, to cover a vacant Director-level post. I led a division made up of six student-facing services, which provide 1:1 specialist support to students, and the university’s frontline student enquiry service. As examples of the change I led during this time, I:• Led the creation of a new Student Mental Health & Wellbeing Report and 2-year Strategic Plan for the university as a whole.• Developed a vision for a new support services hub for King's in Bush House, Strand Campus, working with architects and the building project team to design the space which opened in July 2018. My design was based on principles of the flexible/shared use of space, centralising student-facing services to minimise our ‘bouncing’ of students, and breaking down silo working between teams. See link below for more about the design and space. • Led a project to detail requirements for a new customer relationship management (CRM) system for our management of student enquiries/appointments.• Re-modelled our Counselling & Mental Health Support Team to deliver enhanced support at the higher end of the risk spectrum (through enhanced case management, external service liaison, risk assessment) and at the lower end of the spectrum (through online self-help programmes and peer community support).• Developed a relationship between our support services and an academic faculty at King’s, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), to deliver research, service evaluation and student consultation work. This work helped us to better understand and evidence how students access our services and how our services impact positively on student wellbeing and retention.• Planned a new central Academic Support team to deliver a step change in how King's supports pastoral support in faculties (including personal tutoring, departmental peer-to-peer support schemes, and the embedding of wellbeing content in the curriculum).

• I manage a portfolio of student services teams which include: welfare support, student finance support, international student support, UKVI sponsor and immigration compliance, counselling and mental health support, disability and dyslexia support, equality and diversity compliance (students), and a new student progress team (which supports students who are considering, or at risk of, withdrawing from their programme early). In addition, I oversee the activities of our multi-faith chaplaincy and faith advice team, which works with both students and staff.• In a recent survey, almost 80% of the students who accessed our Student Support and Wellbeing services stated that the support had a positive impact on their academic work. In relation to our underpinning of student retention, 1 out of every 12 students who accessed support from us last year told us that they would "definitely have left the University without this support"​.• Our work in Student Support and Wellbeing is commended at a national level. Most recently, in June 2015, our team won the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award (THELMA) 2015 for the UK's most 'Outstanding Student Services Team'​. The previous year, we were runner-up for The Guardian Student Experience Award 2014, in recognition of the work we delivered to remodel our counselling and mental health services. Our service has also received the Customer Service Excellence (CSE) award which recognises national leaders in customer service. • I chair the University-wide panels/case conferences convened to coordinate our response to the most serious student welfare cases/incidents. I also chair a range of University committees and structures related to the student experience and to student life here at Northumbria.• In 2013, I was elected to the national board of management of AMOSSHE - the UK's Student Services Organisation (formerly known as the Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education).

Managed the Equality Services at the UK's second largest university. The department was made up of the University's equality & diversity Team, disability and dyslexia support service, transcription service, student mental health support service and staff mediation service. Overall, the service employed over 110 members of staff and 50 volunteers and had an annual turnover of £1.2million.

Interim Senior Management Team position at this national charity/higher education organisation to cover key responsibilities of the vacant Chief Executive position. ECU is a national body working in the higher education field. I managed the organisation's policy, communications and IT functions and represented the organisation externally.

Advisor to the senior management team and board on equality policy matters, co-ordinated a wide range of practical initiatives to ensure the Parliament's compliance with anti-discrimination legislation, and provided information to the Parliament - for example, evidence to public committee sessions - on the internal workings of the Parliament.

Led the Commission's policy work covering all aspects of the public sector. Lobbied for, and secured, amendments to legislation to place new duties on public sector bodies. Led on preparing responses to government consultations and influencing policy at a national level, both at Westminster and Holyrood. Managed the Commission's campaigns work, including a Millenium Commission-funded national campaign and events programme in Scotland called 'Threads in the Tartan'.

Carried out research into parliamentary voting records, responded to public enquiries and provided interviews and statements to journalists - primarily to further the organisation's campaign for an equal age of consent, but also to underpin its broader public relations and campaigns work.