Who we are

James Wharton, Lord Wharton of Yarm, was appointed chair of the OfS board on 1 April 2021.

He was elected MP for his home constituency of Stockton South in May 2010 and served as Northern Powerhouse Minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government and then Africa Minister at the Department for International Development.

In September 2020, he took his seat as a member of the House of Lords.

He is director of a consultancy company providing strategic and management advice to a wide range of organisations.

His early career was as a solicitor working for a firm in the north-east of England.

Arif is Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the Office for Students. He took up his position in August 2023.

Just before taking up his present appointment, Arif was a Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. He has held visiting academic posts around the world.

For many years until 2021, he was a trade union representative and caseworker for the University and College Union. 

In 2021 he was awarded an MBE for services to education and the 2021 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Trustee Award.

John is Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students. He took up his position in January 2022.

Prior to joining the OfS, he was a senior leader and researcher in the schools sector, leading on public affairs and curriculum research and design for Ark, policy and strategy for Now Teach, and History initial teacher education for the Harris Federation.

John has also worked as Head of Education and Social Reform for the think tank Policy Exchange, was a founder governor of Oak National Academy, and served as an advisor to the government on reforms to initial teacher training and continuing professional development.

Martin is deputy chair of the board and chairs the Provider Risk Committee.

He is a member of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) board and he chairs the CMA Panel whose members investigate markets and mergers. Martin is a quondam fellow of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge.

Early in his career he was a Law lecturer and he has held board or similar positions at the University of Kent, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Police Now, The Higher Education Funding Council for England and the global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Elizabeth is a former CEO and non-executive chair of Boots UK and Republic of Ireland. She is currently chair at the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. She is also a non-executive director of pooling solutions company, Brambles Limited.

She is a former president of ISBA (Incorporated Society of British Advertising) and of the Women in Advertising and Communications Club, and was a member of the ASA Council for six years. Elizabeth received an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University in 2018.

In January 2020 Elizabeth received a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list for her services to gender equality in business.

Katja has held a number of senior communications, sustainability and marketing roles in private sector organisations. Most recently, Katja was Interim Director of Corporate Affairs at ASOS where she was responsible for communications, public affairs and corporate events. Her previous roles include Chief Corporate Affairs and Marketing Director at Capita and Group Head of External Affairs and Sustainability at HSBC.

Between 2011 and 2015, Katja was Chief Policy Director and Deputy Director-General at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and led CBI’s policy development and advocacy work in the UK and internationally. At the start of her career Katja worked in HR at the BBC.

Verity has been Principal and chief executive of Leicester College since 2013. Prior to that she worked at the Skills Funding Agency in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

She currently chairs the Student Loans Company’s Advanced Learning Loans Stakeholder Group, is a board member of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, and a member of the Lifelong Education Institute Advisory Board.

She is also a trustee of the Skills and Education Group and of the National Space Centre, and a director of Leicester Community Sports Arena Ltd.

Rachel is a former assistant headteacher and Director of Training and Staff Wellbeing in a large 11-18 mixed comprehensive school in the north-east of England. She read Modern Languages at Oxford before returning to the north-east to train to teach in the school she attended as a student.

Rachel is passionate about social mobility and ensuring that students of all backgrounds are supported to access higher education. Throughout her career, she has worked with the Oxford Access Scheme and Cambridge outreach programmes to encourage young people from the north-east to consider higher education as a pathway to success.

Rachel was designated a Specialist Leader in Education and was a member of the Leadership Partner Schools Network. She was selected for the DfE Get Into Teaching case study and nominated for a regional ‘Inspirational Secondary School Teacher of the Year’ award.

Susan was appointed chief executive of the OfS in September 2022. She served as its interim chief executive from May 2022. Before this she was its director of regulation, which carries responsibility for the OfS’s approach to regulation and the way this is deployed in relation to individual higher education providers.

She has a background in the higher education sector, having held senior roles at various universities and colleges and at the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Simon is the managing partner and co-global chief executive officer of the global law firm DLA Piper. He is a visiting professor and lecturer at Imperial College Business School.

Dayo is currently the principal of Brampton Manor Academy and executive principal/CEO of Brampton Manor Trust. Prior to that he held various leadership positions in education including as an Ofsted inspector and National Leader of Education.

Under Dayo’s leadership, Brampton Manor converted to academy status and opened a sixth form provision in 2012 which has enabled hundreds of students to progress to top Russell group universities (including Oxbridge) and to secure rewarding careers in various walks of life.

Dayo passionately believes that good quality education is a key ingredient in advancing social mobility. In 2016, he was awarded an OBE for services to education.

Michael has been President and Provost of University College London (UCL) since January 2021. Prior to this he was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney, which under his leadership rose to first in Australia and fourth in the world for graduate employability. He was also responsible for the largest philanthropic campaign in Australian history, raising a record one billion Australian dollars.

He is recognised internationally as a leader in the field of intellectual property theory and holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he headed Oxford’s Law faculty and Social Sciences division.

In 2017, Michael was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia for service to leadership of the tertiary education sector, to the advancement of equitable access to educational opportunities, to developing programmes focused on multidisciplinary research, and to the Anglican Church of Australia. He is an ordained Minister in the Anglican Church. 

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 is currently employed as the Safeguarding Manager for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, having spent over seven years in secondary education as a Safeguarding Lead. Appointed as the youngest Magistrate for the Ministry of Justice in 2017, Caleb is now a member of the National Magistrate's Leadership Executive and further volunteers his time sitting on the board of trustees for the Youth Hostel Association (England and Wales).

Caleb chairs the OfS Student Panel.

Two board members serve on the Provider Risk Committee:

• Martin Coleman (Chair)
• Elizabeth Fagan

Independent members:

• Nisha Arora
  Nisha is Director, Cross Cutting Policy & Strategy at the Financial Conduct Authority. She was previously Senior Director, Consumer at the Competition and Markets Authority and Acting Senior Director at The Office of Fair Trading. Nisha’s experience builds on an earlier 20-year legal career in private practice and as a senior Government lawyer.
• Michael Grenfell
  Michael is a Competition Lawyer. From 2015 to February 2024, he was Executive Director of Enforcement at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and an executive member of the CMA Board. Prior to the CMA’s establishment he was a partner in legal practice at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP (previously Norton Rose), where he specialised in competition law for 25 years, including as Head of the firm’s London Competition Group.
• Charles Ilako
  Charles is a sub-Committee Member of the Law Society in England and Wales and until recently was a Trustee Director of PwC’s Pension Schemes. Previous roles he held included Chair and Financial Services Supervisor of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in St Helena, Head of Banking Supervision at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and Lead Partner of PwC’s EMEA Financial Services Regulatory Practice for a number of years.
• Juliet Lazarus
  Up until August 2021 Juliet was General Counsel and Director of Competition at the Office of Road and Rail and has now taken up a position as a member of the CMA’s Panel of independent experts which investigates major mergers and markets and hears regulatory appeals.
• Simon Wilde
  Simon is a partner at Oxera Consulting LLP, and up until 2023 was an Executive Committee member at Ofgem, most recently as Senior Director of Markets and Gas Crisis. Prior to joining Ofgem, he had over 25 years investment banking experience primarily in the energy markets and lectured at a number of UK business schools.

Provider Risk Committee: Register of interests

Two board members serve on the Quality Assessment Committee (QAC):

• Simon Levine (Chair)
• Dayo Olukoshi

Independent members:

• Dr Jagjeet Jutley-Neilson
  Jagjeet is a Director of Student Experience and Progression in Psychology at the University of Warwick. She is responsible for enhancing students' learning experiences and strengthening the student voice. Jagjeet is also involved in educational research which explores Black, Asian and minority ethnic and disabled students’ learning experiences in Higher Education.
• Paul Gratrick
  Paul is the Head of Operations in the Student Enhancement and Experience team at the University of Liverpool. Previously, Paul has worked in faculty business partner roles at the University of Liverpool and University of Manchester, working with senior academic and professional service colleagues on employability and student experience initiatives. Alongside this Paul is also a director for the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and a member of the Research and Policy Steering Group for the Institute of Student Employers (ISE). Currently Paul is also a part-time PhD student at Durham University, researching student perceptions of value for money at UK higher education institutes.
• Professor Graeme Pedlingham
  Graeme is Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience and Professor of English at the University of Sussex and also has strategic responsibility for assessment across the institution. He has expertise in curriculum design and management, and in supporting student transitions in higher education. An academic in English literature, Graeme has experience of working across education sectors and in developing cross-institutional collaborations. From 20 September 2022 to 20 September 2023, Graeme was seconded on a full-time basis to the OfS from the University of Sussex as a principal assessor to assist the OfS with its programme of quality assessments. During that time, Graeme stepped back from his role as a member of QAC and did not attend QAC meetings. Graeme resumed his membership of QAC following the end of his secondment.
• Professor Deborah Rafalin
  Deborah is Professor of Psychology at City, University of London where she is Academic Lead, Educational Outcomes and an Associate Dean. Across her career, Deborah has worked at a senior level in education, health and social care, in partnership with service users and their families, educators, health and social care professionals, commissioners, and regulators. Deborah is an Hcpc Registered Psychologist who works in the field of adolescent and adult mental health. She is also an Executive Coach and has supported clients across private and statutory sectors to improve quality of provision and stakeholder experience. Deborah has also served as a Lead Assessor for OfS assessments of the quality of academic experience at higher education providers.
• Dianne Rainsbury
  Diane is Registrar at Istituto Marganoni London where she has institutional responsibility for governance, quality assurance, academic standards and regulatory compliance. She has extensive experience of higher education in similar roles across a diverse range of institutions, having led various strategic and capacity building projects working with a wide range of stakeholders. She is also active in a wide range of sector groups, has undertaken various external quality reviews and has a specific interest in comparative education systems and policy analysis.
• Ramita Tejpal
  Associate Professor Ramita Tejpal is Dean of Academic Quality and Policy at BPP University. Ramita has significant experience across both the higher and further education sectors and has held advisory roles across the sectors on strategic and policy-based matters, additionally working closely with statutory and regulatory bodies as a reviewer and inspectorate. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of her extensive work in, and contributions to, the sector. In addition to her professional roles, Ramita is also pursuing a Professional Doctorate in Education at the University of Glasgow.
• John Kirkpatrick
  John is Deputy Chief Executive at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Until October 2023, he was Investigations Delivery Director at the UK's Trade Remedies Authority. Up to 2018, he was Senior Director, Research Intelligence and Advocacy at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and advised government on regulatory policy design.

Quality Assessment Committee: Register of interests

Board members on the Risk and Audit Committee:

• Katja Hall (Chair)

Independent members:

• Suzanne McCarthy
  Suzanne holds a number of non-executive roles in the public and charitable sectors, including as chair of the Fire Standards Board and as a non-executive director of the Fundraising Regulator. She was previously chair of the University of London’s audit and risk assurance committee.
• Margaret Monckton
  Margaret is Chief Finance Officer at the University of Nottingham. Prior to her roles in higher education, she worked at Nottinghamshire Police as Assistant Chief Officer. She is also a director at Nova Education Trust, a multi-academy trust in the East Midlands, and was previously a governor at Stoke College.
• Satish Jeram
  Satish has held a range of finance and executive roles in the private space specialising in Finance, HR and Internal Audit. He has worked for a variety of SMEs and blue chip companies across several sectors in the UK and overseas. His last role was as a Finance Director with Qmatic. He is currently pursuing work in the voluntary sector.

Risk and Audit Committee: Register of interests

Three board members serve on the Remuneration and Nominations Committee:

• Rachel Houchen (chair)
• Caleb Stevens
• James Wharton.

Independent members:

• San Johal
  San has extensive senior human resources and organisational development experience across a number of sectors. She is the Group Chief People Officer at Calisen, and previously was Chief People Officer for EDF Renewables UK and Executive Director of HR and OD at Highways England. She has also run her own HR consultancy, supporting clients in all sectors to deliver people strategies and solutions as well as cultural/organisational transformation.

Remuneration and Nominations Committee: Register of interests

We have established the TEF Panel as a time-limited committee of the board. The panel will carry out assessments and make decisions on the ratings to award to providers for the current Teaching Excellence Framework exercise.

The rules of procedure and membership of the panel have been published on our TEF Panel page.