Who we are

Verity was Principal and Chief Executive of Leicester College from 2013 to 2025 and has been a member of the OfS board since 2019. Before that she was a senior civil servant with roles at the Skills Funding Agency and Learning and Skills Council within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Verity is a former trustee of the National Space Centre, the Skills and Education Group and the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

In June 2025, Verity was awarded an OBE for services to further education in the King's Birthday Honours.

Josh Allerson is Managing Director of Corndel College, London.

Denise Brown is the Group Chief Executive Officer of South Essex College of Further and Higher Education, known as the South Essex Colleges Group — Essex’s largest provider of technical and vocational education. With over 35 years’ experience in further education, including more than 25 years in senior leadership, Denise previously led Stoke on Trent College and has held roles in curriculum, quality, and strategy. At South Essex Colleges Group, Denise drives the 2023-27 plan, which focuses on community transformation, skills development, and widening participation, working with employers and universities to meet labour market needs.

Denise has guided South Essex College of Further and Higher Education through a period of growth and quality improvement, resulting in a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) outcome of Silver, Gold, Silver, with an overall Silver for the work undertaken in our University Centre South Essex, an Ofsted ‘Good’ grade, and improved financial health. Denise is an independent member of Council for Royal Holloway, University of London, and chair of their People and Remuneration Committee.

Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE is Principal and CEO of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Artistic Director for The National Black Theatre of Sweden. Prior to this, she served as Director of Acting at Stockholm University of the Arts and Artistic Director for The National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble Tyst Teater Riksteatern.

Josette is an award-winning actor and director whose career has included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Manchester Royal Exchange. She was the chair of the Community Advisory Group for the Mayor of London’s Black on the Square festival 2024-25 and is co-chair for the Clean Break theatre company. She is also a trustee of Hackney Empire and the University of London.

In 2016, Josette was awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts. Her other awards include H.M. The King’s Medal 8th Order of the Seraphim by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf, CinemAfrica Arts and Culture Award 2023, Freedom of the City of London 2024, The Judy Craymer Award for Innovation, and Southbank Cultural Diversity Award.   

Clare Connor has been Chief Executive of The Place and London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS) since 2017. She has led the organisation through its 50th anniversary and developed a transformative ten-year vision for 'a world with more dance', driving significant growth and increasing turnover by a third.

Under her leadership, LCDS became an independent higher education provider and achieved 'world-leading specialist provider' status from the OfS, recognising its global innovation and leadership. Clare has championed and expanded The Place's artistic and public programmes, prioritising independent artists, audience engagement, rural and outdoor touring, international collaborations, and hyperlocal community participation, with access and wellbeing at its core.

With a career in the creative industries spanning 25 years, she was named one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 most influential people in dance (2018) and awarded the Freedom of the City of London (2024). Clare also serves as a trustee of Sadler’s Wells, an advisor to the Sir Robert Cohan Legacy CIC and is an Executive Group member of GuildHE.

Debra Gray is Principal and Chief Executive of Hull College. With more than 25 years’ experience across further and higher education, Debra is a nationally recognised leader in digital transformation, skills policy and inclusive education. She has led Hull College’s journey from a period of sustained challenge to sector-leading performance, with a particular focus on workforce development, sustainability, AI-enabled learning, and improving outcomes for learners from the most disadvantaged communities.

Debra is currently completing a doctorate in education focused on the readiness of English further education for the fourth industrial revolution, examining leadership capability, curriculum reform, workforce development and the ethical use of data and AI in public education.

She is vice-chair of the board at Jisc and sits on a number of national and regional advisory groups, bringing a strong system-leadership perspective to governance. She is also chair of the Association of Colleges’ HE Policy Group and a member of the CBI Economic Growth Board, ensuring that the voice of further education is represented in national debates on productivity, skills and social mobility.

Professor Nick Jennings is Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University. He is also the Vice-President for Fellowship Engagement at the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was previously the Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London, the UK government’s first Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security, and Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

Professor Jennings is an internationally recognised authority in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, cyber-security and agent-based computing. His research focuses on developing AI systems for large-scale, open and dynamic environments. He has been involved with a number of start-ups and is a board member of Midlands Mindforge.

Professor Jennings was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the New Year Honours List in 2016 for his services to computer science and national security science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Larry Kramer has been President and Vice Chancellor of the London School of Economics and Political Science since 1 April 2024. Previously, he served as President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from 2012 to 2024, and before that spent most of his career in the academy, most recently as the 15th Dean of Stanford Law School.

Larry has taught and researched American law and legal history at several top universities, and was a law clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States following his education. He serves as board chair of iCivics and has been a director on the boards of numerous nonprofit organisations.

Dr Matt Lilley is President of Hult, an international business school with campuses in London, the US and Dubai. Previously Matt worked at Prudential PLC for 14 years where he was Director of Strategy, Director of Investor Relations and for seven years CEO of Africa, responsible for building and managing Prudential's insurance operations across eight countries. Prior to this he worked as an investment analyst at Sanford Bernstein and Lehman Brothers, and at Boston Consulting Group.

Matt obtained his PhD in particle physics and cosmology from the University of Cambridge in 2000.

Matt has previously worked as an academic and taught at university-level for six years. He has also acted as a school governor in Sheffield and London. He has experience of sitting on and reporting to boards of directors. This includes as Strategy Director presenting to the group board, and for six years as a non-executive director and chair of several Prudential Africa companies, their risk, audit and finance committees.

Matt is also a member of Sheffield Hallam University’s Audit and Risk Committee and Honorary Awards Committee.

Professor David Mba was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham City University in October 2023. Leading the institution’s strategic direction and long-term ambitions, he has overseen significant change in his time at the helm, including the development of BCU’s Strategy for 2030.

An experienced senior leader, Professor Mba was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise at the University of the Arts London. He also served as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at De Montfort University and Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media. His earlier career includes senior academic leadership posts at London South Bank University and Cranfield University.

Professor Mba is chair of the Birmingham Cultural Compact, co-chair of Black Leaders in Higher Education UK, and a member of the Advance HE Board. Trained as an aerospace engineer, he holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Cranfield University and has published more than 300 academic papers. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor Karen O’Brien has been Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University since January 2022. She has led Durham through a significant period of strategy renewal, with a focus on key areas of research growth (particularly in the sciences), access and inclusion, financial sustainability, equality and inclusion, and sustainable development goals, both in North East England and globally.

She has previously served as Head of the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford, Vice-Principal for Education at King’s College London, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of Birmingham, and chair of the Russell Group Pro-Vice-Chancellors for Teaching and Learning. She was part of the first Teaching Excellence Framework panel.

She is a former Harkness Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, a Fellow of the English Association, and an Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and of St Cross College, Oxford.

Professor Mark Power is the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of Liverpool John Moores University.

Mark has a long established and significant track record in higher education leadership and management, driving transformational evidence-based innovation and change leadership both within Liverpool John Moores University and in an advisory capacity for organisations regionally, nationally and internationally.

He has been the lead instigator and negotiator in bringing research, knowledge exchange and inward investment to the Liverpool city region and developed talent pipelines to create viable and sustainable employability for students and graduates to fulfil the region’s skills agenda. 

Mark is a director of several companies with local to global reach, he is also a member of a number of boards within the university sector and across the Liverpool city region. He has been recognised by the Purpose Coalition for his leadership in prioritising social mobility and inclusion.

Caleb is a postgraduate student at the University of Exeter studying an MBA apprenticeship degree. He was previously awarded an MA in diplomacy and international relations at Lancaster University and a BA (Hons) in public services at the University of Plymouth.

Caleb brings extensive experience as a safeguarding lead across public bodies, including in education, and currently serves as the Parliamentary Safeguarding Lead for the UK Parliament.

Alongside his operational responsibilities, he has held a range of governance roles and was appointed the youngest magistrate in 2017, later becoming the youngest Presiding Justice in 2024 for the Ministry of Justice. A committed advocate for youth representation, Caleb actively champions the inclusion of young people’s perspectives within formal governance structures.

Caleb is the chair of our Student Interest Board and sits on the OfS board.