Council

Professor Ian Jacobs - Chair of Council

Professor Ian Jacobs is an academic, doctor and university leader. He commenced the role of inaugural Chair of Council at City St George’s on August 1st, 2024.

Ian has held senior leadership roles in higher education as Dean of Biomedical Sciences University College London (2004-11), Vice President University of Manchester (2011-2015) and President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales in Sydney (2015-2022). He has an international reputation for his research in cancer screening and early detection which has led to >400 publications and 30 years of experience working in the NHS as an obstetrician & gynaecologist and then a consultant surgical oncologist at The Royal London Hospital, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and University College London Hospital.

Whilst in Australia he served as Chair of the Group of 8 universities and held a number of board roles including Research Australia, Ovarian Cancer Australia, Universities Australia and The Conversation. His current roles include: Non-Executive Director Cambridge University Hospitals NHS; Trustee Eve Appeal Charity which he founded in 1985; Board member African Stem Education Initiative; Emeritus Professor UNSW Sydney; and Honorary Professor University College London.

(Prof.) Sir Anthony Finkelstein CBE FREng – President

President, Professor Anthony Finkelstein joined City, University of London in June 2021.

Read more about the President's appointment.

Godfrey Allen

Godfrey is a Non-Executive Director at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, having been a NED at Croydon Health Services and Wandsworth PCT, as well as the Chair of NHS South West London Support Services Partnership Board. The former founding Chair of South Thames Colleges Group, Godfrey remains a board member on two International NGOs, including the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates. Godfrey has held CEO and MD roles since he was 27 in the public, private and charitable sectors.

Godfrey holds a MSc in Public Service Management and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Chartered Institute of Management, and the RSA.

Professor Robert Allison CBE

Professor Robert Allison has held senior leadership roles in a number of top UK universities, most recently (2012 to 2021) as the Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough.

During Professor Allison's time at Loughborough, the University rose up into the top 10 in every national league table and named University of the Year an unparalleled five times. He oversaw significant expansion, which included opening the University's London campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and developing the UK's most rapidly growing Science and Enterprise Park. Bob was the driving force behind the Loughborough student experience, widely recognised as one of the best in the UK.

Since stepping down from his role at Loughborough University, Bob has developed a portfolio of responsibilities, including appointments as a Trustee of The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the St Philip’s Centre, Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Air Ambulance Service and Children’s Air Ambulance and Senior Non-Executive Member of Chapter at Leicester Cathedral. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Leicestershire in 2022.

During his career Bob received the Cuthbert Peek Award from the Royal Geographical Society, the Charles Lyell Award from the British Association of the Advancement of Science and the Jan de Ploey Prize from the International Association of Geomorphologists. He was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Council for Advancement and Support in Education in 2019 and was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2021 for services to education and supporting young people’s talent, equality and achievement.

In his spare time Bob is a keen gardener and mountain biker.

Ms Adrienne Fresko CBE

Adrienne is an experienced independent director and advisor to public and charity boards, specialising in higher education and healthcare. Most recently as vice chair of Council for the University of Sussex and a member of the joint board of Brighton and Sussex Medical School, until July 2022.   She sits on the advisory board of a social purpose consultancy.

She has a depth and breadth of expertise in the development of governance and board effectiveness as well as a special interest in leadership and strategy development.

Adrienne’s professional experience includes:  Partner lead for the leadership and governance practice in GE Healthcare Partners;  co-founder of Foresight Partnership, a specialist consultancy supporting effective governance in healthcare and public services.  She has led the development of highly respected key national guidance for boards in public services.  Before establishing Foresight Partnership, she worked as the Head of the Centre for Public Governance at the Office for Public Management.  Her early career included human resources director level  roles for Citicorp in Europe and the US and as a consultant specialising in change management and coaching in the private sector.

Adrienne’s previous public and charity sector appointments include: Vice Chair of the Health Foundation; Deputy Chair of the Audit Commission and acting chair of the Commission for a year.  Adrienne chaired Croydon Health Authority for eight years.

She has an MA in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, London.  Adrienne was awarded the CBE in the 2003 Queen’s birthday honours.

Josh Joshi

M ‘Josh’ Joshi joined the Council in 2021. Josh has over 25 years’ experience as a senior executive of international businesses. Josh is currently Executive Director of AtlasEdge, a pan-European edge data centre platform, and Operating Partner of DigitalBridge, a leader in global digital infrastructure.

Previously Josh was chief financial officer of Interxion Holding NV, a pan-European datacentre business, publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and headquartered in the Netherlands.

Before joining Interxion, Josh worked as group finance director for Leisure and Gaming plc and Telecity Group plc, both publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. He was also one of the founders of the private equity-backed alternative network Storm Telecommunications. Early in his career Josh worked in professional practice, latterly with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Josh holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Ms Rachel Lock

Until July 2023, Rachel served as an independent member of the Council of the Open University for 8 years. She was also a member of the Open University Audit Committee and Chair of the Remuneration Committee.

Rachel is an experienced HR professional having carried out various HR Director roles in her 33 year career with Lloyds Banking Group.  More recently she served as the HR Executive Director for TSB Bank.

Rachel’s area of expertise is managing large scale people change, employee engagement and communication, remuneration policy and union relations. She has a strong record in building effective executive teams and Boards and encouraging employees to be the best they can be.

Now retired, Rachel enjoys keeping fit, gardening and socialising.

Ms Catherine McGuinness

Catherine is a financial services professional and an elected member (Common Councillor) of the City of London Corporation.  She served as the City’s Chair of Policy & Resources 2017 – 2022, leading on its work with the financial and related professional services sector.

As Policy Chair she also served as a vice chair of London Councils, the cross-party body representing London’s 32 boroughs plus the City, liaising with London government on issues of common interest or challenge, most notably the Covid pandemic.

Catherine has a long interest and involvement in education, and has chaired the City of London Corporation’s Education Board, the City of London Academies Trust, and the governing body of The City Academy, Hackney.   She has also previously chaired the board of governors at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and the board of the Barbican Arts Centre, where she was particularly keen to foster outreach and inclusion.

Catherine is currently leading a government-commissioned taskforce aimed at boosting socio-economic diversity at senior levels in UK Financial and Professional services.

A solicitor by training, her career until becoming Policy Chair was in financial services law. Catherine studied PPE at St Anne’s College, Oxford.

Gillian Norton

In 2016 Gillian took up the role of Chairman of St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, having joined the Trust as a non-executive Director in June 2016. In October 2019, Gillian also became Chairman of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Gillian was Chief Executive of Richmond Council from 1999 to 2017 after a long career in local government including being Chief Executive of Wokingham District Council from 1994 to 1999. She was awarded the OBE for services to local government. She is a Deputy Lieutenant of London, and Representative Deputy Lieutenant of the London Borough of Richmond.

Ms Julia Palca 

Julia Palca graduated from the University of Durham. She enrolled as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1980 at the beginning of her long and distinguished legal career. She continues to sit as an Employment Judge at the London Central Employment Tribunal.

She is also Chair of Mines Advisory Group and a trustee of other significant non-profit organisations.

Mr Anant Prakash

Anant Prakash is General Counsel Europe and Asia Pacific at Ultra Electronics, a FTSE 250 company listed on the London Stock Exchange, serving the defence, security, transport and energy sectors. In his role, Anant advises Ultra’s Board and its businesses on a broad range of legal and commercial matters – including significant contractual disputes, complex regulatory investigations, and strategically-important governance and compliance transformation initiatives.

Prior to joining Ultra, Anant worked at Slaughter and May, a leading international law firm headquartered in the City of London, where he developed a broad Corporate and Commercial practice with a particular focus on M&A. Whilst at Slaughter and May, Anant also gained valuable experience living and working in Madrid and Hong Kong. Originally from India, where he was born and was raised until the age of 11, Anant now lives in West London.

Damian Reid

Damian Reid became an independent member of Council in 2024 having joined the Council of St George's, University of London in 2018. He is an experienced finance and strategy professional and has been responsible for leading finance teams for over 15 years.

Most recently, Damian was CFO at Upp Corporation Limited, a business that provided broadband to residential and business customers over its full fibre network in the East of England. Prior to that Damian was interim Finance Director at Sports Supplements Limited, an e-commerce business selling sports nutrition products in the UK and Europe under the Bulk brand, CFO of Pro Bono Bio, a developer and marketer of innovative nanotechnology-based healthcare products and CFO at Augere, a broadband services provider using wireless networks in emerging markets trading under the Qubee brand.

Damian has also held the positions of Executive Vice President, Strategy and Planning at France Telecom (now Orange), a pan-European telecoms service provider and Chief Strategy Officer at Marconi, which was a major UK listed technology business. Damian started his career as an investment banker at SG Warburg (now part of Union Bank of Switzerland) having qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1987.

Christine Swabey

Christine has operated at a senior level in the commercial, public and third sectors, with significant experience of leadership through strategic change. With a particular focus on delivering consumer focussed service improvement, notably in education, health and social care, Christine has delivered strong governance within complex accountability frameworks, forging strong relationships with multiple stakeholders.

Following an early career in financial services, working for a US commercial bank managing major client relationships in Europe and the Middle East, Christine has held a number of public sector roles, including Chair of Kingston Hospital NHS Trust and Non-Executive Director of South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust, as well as broad-ranging charity experience. Her most recent appointment is as Trustee of the Shaw Trust, a leading charity working with government to enable vulnerable adults to secure sustainable employment.

Her interest in health and education is broad-ranging, encompassing a deep engagement with special educational needs, notably autism, serving both as a Trustee of Ambitious about Autism and Chief Executive of leading medical research charity Autistica. She served as a Governor of St John’s School Leatherhead, a leading co-educational independent school for children aged 11-18 years, and as Vice Chair of Kingston University. Christine has served on the Board of the Manchester-based Northern Consortium, a group of UK universities delivering transnational educational programmes with international partners to facilitate the progression of international students to UK universities. Christine served as Chair of the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which provides assurance to the Department for Education and parents of the quality of education in independent schools in England and internationally.

Mr Ronald Zeghibe

Ron Zeghibe has 25 years experience in leading management buyouts, start-ups and corporate turn-around situations. Since 2010, he has been a Founder and Chairman of Hailo Network Holdings Ltd. which is transforming the iconic London licensed taxi market. They have just announced a merger with My Taxi in Germany to become the leading taxi app in Europe.

Most recently, Ron has become Chairman of two FinTech companies, Xenomorph Holdings Ltd. and The Money Cloud Ltd. He was also Chairman of the successful UK based start up, Hassle.com, from 2012 until its sale in July 2015.

From 2006 until 2010, he was the CEO of Evanesco Ltd., an advisor to TPG Capital L.L.C., as well as a non executive director and advisor to a number of young European technology companies.

From 1993 to 2006, he was the CEO of the Maiden Group plc, which he led through two stages of private equity funding before its floatation in 1996 and subsequent sale in 2006. Maiden was the largest independent outdoor media company in the UK.

In the past, Ron’s personal interests have included his roles as Chairman of the Friends of the Royal Academy of Art and as an advisor to Global Health Futures, an international health care research foundation and database.

Ms Ayla Hamzayeva

Ayla was elected as the President of City, University of London Students' Union in July 2024.

Professor Elisabeth Hill

Professor Elisabeth Hill joined City in September 2022.

Elisabeth was previously Deputy Warden at Goldsmiths, University of London. She held this role since 2017 and the role of Pro-Warden (Learning, Teaching and Enhancement) since 2015.

The Deputy President has responsibility for shaping and delivering the Strategic Transformation Programme which will enable City’s new strategic plan.

Joe Kenwright

Joe is the Deputy President of Education (Tooting) at the Students' Union for 2024-25. He was a BSc Paramedic Science student at St George's as well as a member, treasurer and social secretary of the university’s Football team. Joe ran for President with the aim of increasing honesty and transparency within the students’ union and the university, and constantly strives to increase student representation and enhance the student voice.

Professor Debra Salmon

Professor Debra Salmon, Dean of the School of Health & Psychological Sciences, joined City, University of London in September 2015. She is Professor of Community Health and completed a BA in Sociology at Warwick University, followed by an MSc in Policy Studies at Bristol University in1996.

During the 1990’s she also completed her health visitor and nurse teacher training at the University Of Wales College Of Medicine, where she worked as a health visitor and lecturer in Cardiff.

In 1998, she moved to UWE, Bristol where she completed a doctorate focused on understanding how mothers and teenage daughters understand and respond to risk, in the context of negotiating independence.

During her time at UWE, Bristol she undertook a number of research and management roles. These included leading the UWE Public Health and Wellbeing Research Group and the South West Region’s HEI response to the Department of Health’s National Health Visitor Implementation Plan (2011-2015).

She was also the Associate Head of a large Nursing and Midwifery Department between 2008 and 2010, which included a period as REF lead for UOA 3.

Her research has focused on researching community health, the needs of ‘hard to reach groups’ and service improvement. In 2010 Debra was awarded a Chair in Nursing and is an invited expert member of the Female Genital Mutilation National Clinical Group and the HEE/NIHR ICA Clinical Lectureship and Senior Clinical Lectureship: Expert Review Panel (2012 to date).

Professor Andre Spicer

Andre Spicer is Professor of Organisational Behaviour. He is an expert in leadership, corporate social responsibility and organisational theory. As Dean of Bayes, he focuses on strategic oversight of the School, faculty issues, working with the wider university, and representing Bayes in many external forums.

He is a member of City University's senior leadership team. He previously led the Faculty of Management, the largest department at the University.

Andre joined Bayes in 2011 and took up the role of Dean in January 2022.

Ms Helen Watson

Helen joined City as Chief Operating Officer in February 2022, after five years at Goldsmiths University of London as Registrar and Secretary.

Previously, she worked for six years at the University of Oxford where she was Director of Planning and Resource Allocation, Head of the Council Secretariat and a Fellow of Exeter College. Before that she worked in a variety of roles at City University London including Head of Administration for the School of Allied Health Sciences and Deputy Academic Registrar; she also set up and led City's Strategy and Planning Unit. Helen read music at Exeter College, Oxford and has a Masters in Higher and Professional Education from the Institute of Education.

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