Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Birkbeck, University of London | About Birkbeck | Governance | Current Governors' biographies
Document Actions

Current Governors' biographies

Ex Officio Governors

  • The Master. Professor David Latchman
    David Latchman has been Master of the College since 1 January 2003 having previously been Dean of the Institute of Child Health, UCL.  He holds the title of Professor of Genetics both at Birkbeck and, by virtue of a continuing part-time appointment, at UCL. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2010 for his services to Higher Education.
  • The Vice-Master.  Professor Philip Dewe
    Philip Dewe is Vice-Master of the College and Professor of Organizational Behaviour in the School of Management and Organizational Psychology.

Academic Board Governors

  • Professor John Kelly
    John Kelly was elected as an Academic Board Governor in 2011. He is a Professor of Industrial Relations in the School of Business, Economics and Informatics. He is a member of the Academic Board and its Executive Committee.
  • Professor Julian Swann
    Julian Swann was reelected for a second term as an Academic Board Governor in 2012.   He is a Professor of Early Modern History in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy.  He is a member of the Academic Board, its Executive Committee and the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

Academic Staff Governors

  • Dr Alex Colas
    Alex Colas is a senior lecturer in International Relations in the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy. He was elected as an Academic Staff Governor for a three year term in 2011. He is a member of the Academic Board and its Executive Committee.
  • Dr Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
    Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick is a lecturer in Management in the School of Business, Economics & Informatics.  She was reelected for a second three year term in 2012.  She is a member of the Academic Board and its Executive Committee.

Non-teaching Staff Governor

  • Richard Abbott
    Richard Abbott is a Registry Assistant in Registry Services. He was elected for a three year term as a Non-teaching Staff Governor in 2012. He is a member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

Former Student Governor

  • Eamonn Moyles: Eamonn Moyles was elected by the Birkbeck Alumni for a three-year term from 1 October 2010. He graduated from Birkbeck with a BA in Philosophy in 2007 and an MSc in International Security and Global Governance in 2009. A career civil servant, Mr Moyles currently works in human resources but also has experience in policy formulation and delivery, resource management, international relations and risk management.

Student Governors

  • Annabel Jones
    Annabel Jones is Chair of the Representatives' Council of Birkbeck's Student Union. She is a member of the Academic Board and its Executive Committee.
  • Pierre Smith Khanna
    Pierre Smith Khanna is Chair of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees of Birkbeck's Student Union. He is a member of the Academic Board and its Executive Committee.

Independent Governors

  • John Biggs
    John Biggs was appointed as an independent Governor in 2009 and is a member of the Estates Committee.  He has been a member of the City and East London Assembly, Greater London Authority since 2000.   He has served as Vice-Chairman for the London Development Agency and as Deputy Chairman for the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.  He is a former student of the College and gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science in 1998.
  • Julia Collins
    Julia Collins was appointed as an independent Governor in November 2011. She is currently the Senior Bursar of Gonville & Caius College. Previously she was the Operations Director for the management consultancy practice Langsdale Crook LLP as well as a client service partner specialising in financial management advice. She began her career working for PMM & Co (now KPMG) where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and then worked for several years in finance line management roles with Reed International and Taylor Woodrow. Ms Collins worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers from 1986 to 2002, being appointed to the partnership in 1995 and undertaking several roles including EMEA leader of Learning, Knowledge Management and Methods. From 2002-2004 she took a sabbatical and studied fine art at West Suffolk College and Anglia Ruskin University, specialising in stone sculpture.
  • Hugh Ferrand
    Hugh Ferrand was appointed as an independent Governor in 2011. He is the head of the Invesco Perpetual Institutional Division. Prior to working at IP, Mr Ferrand was an investment manager, initially, with Adam Bank, which was the first new bank to be established in Scotland in almost 150 years. He joined Blairlogie, another Edinburgh based start up company, in 1993. He worked with Blairlogie as a specialist Asian fund manager, and for their parent company, PIMCO, until 1997. He then moved to a small Korean company in the US as Chief Investment Officer for a year before the parent company succumbed to the Asian credit crisis. Mr Ferrand’s career began at Cazenove in 1981 where he worked for 11 years selling Asian equities. He started work in London and subsequently worked in Australia, Hong Kong, New York and finally again in London as head of the Asian sales desk. At Birkbeck, Mr Ferrand was co-opted to the (then) Investments Sub-Committee of the Finance and General Purposes Committee in 2007 and in 2010 also joined the Finance and General Purposes Committee as an external expert member.
  • Joy Manners
    Joy Manners was appointed as independent governor in 2005 and is now in her third term.  She is a geography graduate of University College London and had a 30 year career in Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd., initially in Planning and later as a Public Affairs executive.  She represented the RD/Shell Group in industry bodies and intergovernmental bodies and was in dialogue with governments, other multinational companies and pressure groups on a variety of issues.  On retiring she completed consultancy projects in St Paul’s Cathedral School and City University.  She became active in the national arts charity, NADFAS, becoming Chairman of the Westminster Society 2000-04 and NADFAS London Area Chairman 2007-10.  She was appointed a lay member of the Council of the University of London, 1999 – 2008, and was member of the Audit Committee, External Degrees Committee and the Appointing Panel which selected new lay governors to the revamped University Council in 2008.  She has served on the Birkbeck College Audit Committee since 2008 and was appointed Chairman in 2012, is on the Nominations Committee and also served on a grievance procedure panel for 18 months.
  • Harvey McGrath
    Harvey McGrath was appointed as an independent Governor and elected Chair of Governors from September 2010. He is the Chairman of Prudential plc; Chairman of the London Development Agency and Vice Chair of the Mayor of London’s Skills and Employment Board. He is the former Chairman of Man Group plc. Prior to taking on the Chair of the London Development Agency he was Chairman of London First, the capital’s influential business campaign group, a director of Gateway to London, the inward investment agency for the Thames Gateway and Chairman of the East London Business Alliance, a partnership of substantial businesses engaged in the social and economic regeneration of East London. He is also a trustee of New Philanthropy Capital; a trustee of the Royal Anniversary Trust which operates the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education; Chairman of the Prince's Teaching Institute; Chairman of icould.com; and President of Children and Families across Borders.
  • Elizabeth Meek
    Liz Meek CBE chairs the Centre for London, a new think tank looking at the issues facing the capital. She is also a member of the Schizophrenia Commission, a board member of film London and Sanctuary housing. Until March 2011, she was Regional Director of the Government Office for the North West. She began her career working in the Department of the Environment, and subsequently worked as the Private Secretary for several ministers, as the First Secretary of the British High Commission in Lagos, as the Government link for the 1993 Manchester Olympic bid, and the Head of the London Policy Unit. She led the team that created the Greater London Authority, took a secondment to hold the position of the Director of Communications and Public Affairs at TfL and then became the Regional Director of the Government Office for London from 2001 to 2007. Mrs Meek was appointed as an Independent Governor at Birkbeck in 2011.
  • Stuart Popham
    Stuart Popham was appointed as an independent Governor in 2011. He is currently Vice-Chairman of EMEA at Citigroup, and was previously the Senior Partner at Clifford Chance.  He studied at Southampton University before joining Clifford Turner in 1976, starting in litigation and then moving to banking. He became a partner at Clifford Chance in 1984, and was appointed Head of Finance in 2000, before becoming Senior Partner in 2003.
  • Paul Shelton
    Paul Shelton is Deputy Chair of Governors and Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee. He was appointed as an independent Governor in 2009 having served as a co-opted external member of the Audit Committee from November 2007-October 2009. He is currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board at NTT Data Deutschland, Chairman of Bestoutcome Ltd, Chairman of SureCloud Ltd and a non-executive Board Member of the Board at Deloitte, Turkey. He is also a Trustee of the Letchmore Heath Trust and a Member of the Advisory Board at the IV Pillars Network. He was previously a Partner at PwC and an executive at IBM. He has also run a executive search firm. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He studied PPE at Worcester College, Oxford.
  • Dr Ruth Thompson
    Ruth Thompson was appointed as an independent Governor in 2009 and is now in her second term. She retired in 2009 as Director General for Higher Education in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.  A career civil servant, she has also worked in senior roles in the Department of Trade and Industry, HM Treasury and the Department of Social Security.  Most recently (2011-12) she was interim Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education.  Among other current roles, Dr Thompson is a member of the advisory board of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a Governor of Staffordshire University, a Board member of London TravelWatch, and a non-executive Director of Fusion Lifestyle and Moat Homes Ltd. She also sits on the Audit Committee of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). At Birkbeck she is a member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee and the Remuneration Committee.
  • Peter Zinkin
    Peter Zinkin was appointed as an independent governor in November 2011. He has previously been a member of the Leadership Governance and Management Committee of the Higher Education Funding Council, was a Governor of the University of North London until it merged to become London Metropolitan University, and was a trustee of the United Synagogue for six years. He joined Balfour Beatty plc in 1981 and was appointed Planning and Development director in 1991. He is responsible for the merger, acquisition and divestment activities of the group, strategy, property and other corporate finance, regulatory, and pension matters. He is a graduate of Cambridge and the London Business School and has guest lectured to MBA classes at the London Business School for several years.