Mr Stephen Cox CVO (Chairman)
Stephen became Chairman of College Council in November 2011.
Stephen was Executive Director of the Royal Society for 14 years from July 1997 until his retirement in February 2011. During his time there, he led the Society’s 350th anniversary celebrations.
He started his career by joining the Overseas Career Service of the British Council in 1969 and was posted to Warsaw after language training. Stephen spent time in West Africa, notably Ghana and Togo, with the British Council. He was then Education Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington DC in the early 1980s.
In 1985, Stephen joined the Royal Society where he ran the international office until 1990 before becoming Executive Director in 1997. From 1991-97, he was Director General of the Commonwealth Institute, an organisation he remodelled in the light of reducing government grants. He was also Chief Executive for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, where he worked closely with both Houses of Parliament to support institutions in the emerging democracies of central Europe, the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa.
Stephen is a Trustee of the International Polar Foundation, the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics and the Frederick Soddy Trust. He also chairs the Board of Atlantic College in South Wales. In the 1997 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was made a Commander ( CVO). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded an honorary DSc by Lancaster University.
Mr Iain Ross (Vice Chairman)
Iain is an alumnus of the College (BSc Biochemistry, 1975 Royal Holloway College) and Chairs the Alumni Advisory Group. He has been Vice Chairman of College Council since 2011 and an alumni representative on Council since 2007.
An entrepreneur with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector, Iain is Chairman of both Ark Therapeutics PLC (a FTSE listed biotechnology company) and Pharminox Ltd. He has considerable experience of mergers and acquisitions in both the UK and USA and raised substantial funds both publicly and privately.
He has also held senior commercial and general management positions with an array of large firms such as Hoffman-La-Roche, Reed International and Sandoz AG. He is a Chartered Director of the UK Institute of Directors and a Trustee of the Peter Samuel Royal Free Charity.
After graduating, he was Vice President of the Students’ Union in 1975. He is married to fellow alumnus Barbara.
Mr Paul Blagbrough
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Paul has been a member of College Council since 2006.
Whilst at the Save and Prosper Group in the 1980s, Paul helped to establish the Senior Management training programme at Royal Holloway. Now a business consultant, he is Chairman of Remote Diagnostics Technologies Ltd. He was also Director of Finance of the Labour Party until 1997.
He was a Councillor for Woking for 14 years and Mayor of Woking in 1983-84 before becoming involved in the development of mutual funds and their application during the process of mass privatisation in Eastern Europe during the early 1990s.
Cllr Stephen Cooksey
Stephen joined College Council in 2009.
Stephen has been a member of Surrey County Council since 2005 and a member of Mole Valley District Council since 1992.
He retired as Deputy Director of Open University Validation Services in 2009. Previously, he was Registrar of the University of Buckingham and the Roehampton Institute (now Roehampton University).
Whilst at the former, he worked as an auditor for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) of the Roehampton Institute (now Roehampton University).
He has served as a city and county councillor for 40 years, initially as a member of three local authorities in Yorkshire.
Stephen was Leader of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat Groups on Leeds City Council from 1981-89 and Leader of the Opposition on Mole Valley Council from 2000-05. He was appointed an honorary alderman of the City of Leeds in 2008.
Mr Gurpreet Dehal
Gurpreet joined College Council in 2010.
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As a Managing Director within the Equity Division of Credit Suisse Investment Bank, Gurpreet’s role is focused on the Risk Management of its Prime Services Business across both Europe and Asia.
He has more than 20 years' experience of Financial Risk Management gained across major firms in both London and New York, which enables him to provide appropriate solutions for global clients.
Mrs Christine Goodyear
Christine joined the College Council in October 2012.
Christine qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and has spent the greater part of her career as a partner of one of Surrey’s leading law firms. As Head of the Business Services Group in that firm, she was responsible for its development into one of the largest in Surrey.
For a number of years, she was also Chairman of the firm before setting up a niche commercial law practice with two other partners in 2010. Called Goodyear Blackie Herrington LLP, it is dedicated to providing pragmatic legal advice on business matters to SMEs and charities as well as individuals in relation to their business affairs.
She has always taken a special interest in education and is highly regarded as an adviser to independent schools. Christine acts for a large senior and preparatory schools in London and the South East, regularly speaking at conferences and events for the sector.
Currently, Christine is a Director of Enterprise First (Southern) Ltd, a not-for-profit enterprise agency and has previously been Chairman of Guildford Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Professional Services Group of Guildford Business Forum.
Mr Majid Hawa
Majid is an Honorary Fellow of the College. He joined College Council in 2011.
Born and educated in Nairobi, where he began as a freelance photographer, Majid came to the UK and settled into a sales career for 3M.
In 1988, he moved to Englefield Green – at the time when the College was contemplating a Muslim Prayer Room. Being aware of the additional support that Muslim students might need, from breaking fast during Ramadan to assisting with trips to Mecca, Majid helped form the Islamic Welfare Association of West Surrey.
He was its Chairman for seven years, and, with his fellow elders, has lent great support to Muslim students of Royal Holloway. Majid stays in touch with graduates who have returned to their homelands and “moved into greater and better things”.
Dr Jackie Hunter CBE
Jackie is an alumna of the College (BSc Physiology & Psychology, 1977 Bedford College;
PhD Psychology, 1981 Bedford College). She joined College Council in 2011.
A leading scientist and bioscience innovator, Jackie was Head of Science Environment Development at GlaxoSmithKline. She helped develop new ways of working with academic and other publicly funded bodies in this role.
Prior to 2008, she was Head of the Neurology Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline and led the discovery and development of new therapeutics for neurological and gastrointestinal disorders. For most of her industrial career, Jackie has focused on the discovery of drugs for serious neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, migraines and epilepsy.
She is a former Council member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Neuroscience and Mental Health Board of the Medical Research Council and the Board of the Science Foundation for Ireland, as well as serving on other Panels and Boards in the USA and Europe.
Currently, Jackie is a member o f the Science Advisory Boards for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff.
She has lectured at the College, firstly at Bedford College and then at Royal Holloway, where she was an Honorary Research Associate. She was awarded the CBE in 2010 for services to the pharmaceutical industry and is a Non-Executive Director of Proximagen Neuroscience. She is CEO of OI Pharma Partners, which is dedicated to promoting open innovation in bioscience.
Mrs Margaret Jack
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Margaret joined College Council in 2011.
Margaret has held a number of senior roles in the higher education sector, including Deputy Academic Registrar at South Bank Polytechnic, Assistant Director (Programmes) at the Polytechnics Funding Council and Director of Quality Assurance at BTEC.
Most recently, she was Chief Executive of Guildford Chamber of Commerce and Business Development Manager at Hart Brown Solicitors. Margaret is a Trustee of the Guildford Institute and three other charities.
Mr Jeremy McIlroy
Jeremy joined College Council in 2010
Jeremy is a Chartered Accountant who spent his entire career with Ernst & Young, one of the “Big Four” accountancy firms, until his recent retirement. During his career, he undertook a number of roles in management as well as advising clients. Jeremy acted as the head of the London tax department for a number of years too. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Mr Mark Newlands
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Mark joined College Council in 2010 and has been a co-opted member of the Audit and Compliance Committee since 2005.
Mark is Head of Risk Management and Business Assurance at Anglo American Plc. He is responsible for internal audit, risk management, business integrity, compliance and insurance. He was previously Director of Risk Management for the BOC Group. Mark has an MBA from Henley Management College and is a Fellow of the Institute of Risk Management.
Mrs Chris Shoukry
Chris joined the College Council in October 2012.
Chris is an experienced project and programme manager and expert reviewer of large and complex public and private sector projects and programmes. This is in addition to being a
specialist in public procurement and contract management.
Her key strengths are in the translation of policy and strategy into reality and in the management of complex multi-stakeholder programmes and projects spanning an array of sectors from ICT, science and services through to construction.
Following a successful 20 year career in major project procurement and project management for the National Grid Company (specialising in construction and operational ICT), Chris was TFL programme manager for the implementation of the London Oyster card smart ticketing programme.
Since then, as a board director of the ALCO Group LTD and Gateway™ review team leader for High Risk Projects, she leads reviews for numerous high profile and public sector clients including UK Central Government agencies, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Scottish Government, Government of Northern Ireland, the UK National Health Service, Transport for London and various governments in Australia.
She is also a reviewer of Major Projects for the Major Projects Authority and has led or participated in seven Major Project Reviews to date.
Outside the Gateway™ process, Chris works internationally conducting project and programme reviews for both public and private sector organisations as well as consulting on a wide variety of major projects and programmes including the smart ticketing projects for Vancouver and Melbourne.
Mr David Spence
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David joined College Council in 2010.
David was a partner in Grant Thornton UK until 2005. A Chartered Accountant, he has been a Department of Trade and Industry Inspector and has specialised in corporate finance, investigations, audit, forensic and expert witness work.
He was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, chairing their research committee. He has also been a member of the UK Auditing Practices Board, Chairman of the Chartered Accountants Joint Ethics Committee and Convenor of the ICAS Research Committee.
Currently, David is Chairman of the Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research. He is a member of the Rules of Golf Committee of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club as well as a Trustee and Treasurer of health charity DEBRA too.
Mrs Sarah Tyacke, CB
Sarah is an alumna of the College (BA History, 1968 Bedford College), Honorary Fellow and Leverhulme Emeritus Research Fellow 2006-9. She has been a member of College Council since 2004.
Sarah was the Keeper of Public Records, the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner and Chief Executive of The National Archives of England and Wales until 2005. She was responsible for the construction of the new building at Kew in 1997 and the move from Chancery Lane as well as t5he foundation of the National Archives in 2003. This incorporated the Public Record Office and Historical Manuscripts Commission.
Previously, she was Director of Special Collections at the British Library. Her own specialism is map history. She Chairs the International Records Management Trust and the Foundation for the International Development of Archives (FIDA) for the International Council on Archives.
She was Chair of the Mount Everest Foundation and President of the Hakluyt Society. In 2010, Sarah was awarded the British Academy’s President’s Medal for “signal service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences”.
From 2009-12 she was a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel as the adviser on the archives and website for disclosure.
Ms Colette Wilson
Colette is an alumna of the College (BA Honours Economics and Public Administration, RHUL 1993). She joined the College Council in March 2012.
Colette is a Chartered Accountant with 17 years’ experience in audit and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
In her current role in Ernst & Young Global, she is part of a small team building a single global internal audit function for Ernst & Young and is responsible for devising and delivering the programme of internal audits.
Previously, in Ernst & Young she worked with a number of FTSE 50 organisations to assess the performance of their internal audit and risk functions and identify areas for improvement. Colette’s previous roles include European Audit Director for American Express and internal auditor, financial and IT auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is an independent member of the Corporation and Chair of the Audit Committee at Richmond upon Thames College, Twickenham. She lives in Egham.
Professor Paul Layzell, Principal
Mr Doug German, President of the Students' Union 2012-13
Mr Joseph Rayment, Student Union Chair 2011-12 and 2012-13
Professor Clare Bradley, elected by the Academic Teaching Staff
Professor Anne Sheppard, elected by the Academic Teaching Staff
Professor Johannes Zanker, member elected by the members of the Academic Board from among the members of the Academic Board who are members of the academic teaching staff
Mr Andy Alway, elected by the Non-Academic Staff
Mr John Brannan, elected by the Non-Academic Staff
Mr Richard Mallett, elected by the Non-Academic Staff
Contacts
The Registrar, Simon Higman|, is also responsible for the duties of the College Secretary.
Deputy College Secretary: Rachel Knight|
Governance Assistant: Hilary Baker|
Tel: 01784 443899/ 01784 276244