Who we are

Our board and committees

Our board is responsible for setting our strategy and making sure we deliver it. The board normally meets four times a year.

Board members:

James Wharton (Chair)

Lord Wharton 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.

John Blake

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 Coleman

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 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 and the global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Nicola Dandridge

Nicola is chief executive of the Office for Students. Nicola was appointed as the first chief executive of the Office for Students in 2017, taking up her role in September 2017.

Prior to joining the Office for Students, Nicola was chief executive of Universities UK, the representative organisation for the UK’s universities. Before that she was chief executive of the Equality Challenge Unit, the higher education agency which promotes equality and diversity for staff and students. Nicola started her career as a qualified lawyer working in private practice. She is a trustee of the Council for At Risk Academics.

Elizabeth Fagan

Elizabeth is a former Senior Vice-President and Non-Executive Chair at Boots UK and Republic of Ireland. She is currently Chair at the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, which works with businesses, local authorities, skills and training providers and community and voluntary sector organisations, to grow the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire economy. She is also a Non-Executive Director of pooling solutions company, Brambles Limited.

She is President of ISBA (Incorporated Society of British Advertising) and is a member and past President of the Women in Advertising and Communications Club. She was also a member of the ASA Council for six years. In August 2013, she became a Fellow of the Marketing Society and, in the same year, was awarded a Cosmetic Executive Women UK, Achiever Award. 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.

In December 2021 Elizabeth was reappointed to serve on the OfS board until December 2024.

Katja Hall

Katja was until recently Chief Corporate Affairs and Marketing Director at Capita, responsible for all internal and external communications, including employee engagement and public affairs. Previously, she was Group Head of External Affairs and Sustainability at HSBC where she was responsible for external communications, public affairs and sustainability.

Prior to joining HSBC, Katja was 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 Hancock

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, and is a board member of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.

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.

Kathryn King

Kathryn is a full-time PhD doctoral research student in the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford. She also tutors at Magdalen College Oxford. In addition, she is a lay tribunal panel member and as a disciplinary panel member at the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service and Council of the Inns of Court.

She was previously Chief Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales.

Kate Lander

Kate is Chief Executive Officer of Ivy House London, a company that delivers life-changing professional and personal development to exceptional young talent, empowering them to become the leaders of the future.

Kate started her career as an accountant before moving into financial education, she then spent over a decade working in senior banking roles before moving back into the education and development sector.

Simon Levine

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.

In September 2020 Simon was reappointed to serve on the OfS board until December 2023.

Martha Longdon

Martha is a PhD doctoral research student in Biosciences at Nottingham Trent University having previously been awarded a MSc in Neuropharmacology at that university.

She has also worked as a research coordinator in the outreach team at Nottingham Trent University and was student union president there in 2017-18. Prior to that she studied psychology at University of West London, graduating in 2015.

She was the deputy chair of the natural sciences panel in the 2017-18 Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) subject pilot, and was a member of the WhatUni Student Advisory Board. She is currently a community governor at Djanogly Northgate Academy in Nottingham.

Martha chairs the OfS student panel.

In September 2021, Martha was reappointed to the OfS Board for 15 months from 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2022.

David Palfreyman OBE

David is the bursar and a fellow of New College, University of Oxford. He is also the director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies. He is a council member and trustee as honorary treasurer of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE). He is the author of several publications on higher education.

In September 2020 David was reappointed to serve on the OfS board until December 2023.

Monisha Shah

Monisha is former chair of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. She is also a member of the Ofcom Content Board, a senior independent member at the Arts and Humanities Research Council and a lay member of the Queen's Counsel appointments panel.

Monisha is a serving trustee of ArtFund, an independent fundraising charity for art.

Board members’ register of interests

PDF, 221Kb

Members' relevant personal or business interests

Board proceedings and code of conduct

PDF, 150Kb

The arrangements and standards through which the OfS board will conduct its proceedings and carry out its business

Approach to corporate governance

PDF, 282Kb

The standards to which the board and all employees of the OfS are expected to operate

Scheme of delegation

PDF, 283Kb

22 September 2020

Policy on gifts, hospitality, fees and awards

PDF, 160Kb

The OfS's policy on gifts, hospitality, fees and awards for staff, board members and committee members

View OfS board papers

Our committees

A number of committees advise the chief executive and the board.

Committee rules of procedure

PDF, 142Kb

These rules of procedure apply on and from 1 April 2021 to: the Provider Risk Committee, the Risk and Audit Committee, the Quality Assessment Committee and the Remuneration and Nominations Committee

Provider Risk Committee

Three board members serve on the Provider Risk Committee:

Martin Coleman (Chair)
Elizabeth Fagan
Kathryn King

Current independent members:

Nisha Arora
Nisha is Director, Consumer and Retail Policy 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 Executive Director, 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.
John Kirkpatrick
John is Investigations Delivery Director at the UK's Trade Remedies Authority. Until 2018 he was Senior Director, Research Intelligence and Advocacy at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and advised government on regulatory policy design.
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 who investigate major mergers and markets and hear regulatory appeals.
Meghna Tewari
Meghna heads the Retail Market policy team in the Office for Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) responsible for vulnerability policy, small business market and Ofgem’s Innovation Link service. She is an economist with significant regulatory experience in energy and in developmental finance in the UK and India. Meghna is an advocate of diversity in the workplace to address gender and ethnicity related disparity. In 2021 she was appointed as the Disability and Accessibility ambassador for the energy sector by the Minister for disabled people, health and work.

Provider Risk Committee: Register of interests

Quality Assessment Committee

Two board members serve on the Quality Assessment Committee:

Simon Levine (Chair)
Monisha Shah

Current independent members:

Professor Mary Bishop
Professor Bishop, Visiting Professor of Student Experience at Staffordshire University, has held executive roles in industry, higher education and professional bodies, including Director of Learning at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). A Principal Fellow HEA, she is a strategic education consultant with a portfolio of roles and is a frequent contributor to policy think tanks.
Professor Amanda Chetwynd
Professor Chetwynd is emeritus Professor of Mathematics and was formerly Provost for the Student Experience, Colleges and Library at Lancaster University. She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2003 and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Nils Franke
Nils is Dean of Higher Education at University Centre Colchester, where he has strategic responsibility for academic programme development and innovation. He is widely experienced in the design and delivery of a range of academic and vocational programmes.
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 Careers and Employability 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.
Dr Graeme Pedlingham
Graeme is Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience 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.

Quality Assessment Committee: Register of interests

Risk and Audit Committee

Three board members serve on the Risk and Audit Committee:

Kate Lander (Chair)
Katja Hall
Vacancy

Current 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

Remuneration and Nominations Committee

Three board members serve on the Remuneration and Nominations Committee:

Monisha Shah (Chair)
James Wharton
Martha Longdon

Current independent members:

San Johal
San has extensive senior human resources and organisational development experience across a number of sectors. Currently she is the Chief People Officer for EDF Renewables UK and prior to that she held the role of 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

Last updated 05 January 2022 + show all updates

05 January 2022: Register of interests updated for the board and the Risk and Audit Committee, and some biography updates.
01 January 2022: Details added for John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation.
16 December 2021: Board register of interests updated
03 December 2021: Elizabeth Fagan's bio updated
11 November 2021: Rules of procedure, PRC, QAC and RAC committee members and register of interests updated
27 October 2021: Board register of interests updated
13 October 2021: Updated member list and register of interests for Risk and Audit Committee.
01 October 2021: Update to reflect the reappointment to the Board of Martha Longdon.
17 September 2021: Board members and register of interests updated
18 August 2021: Board register of interests updated
12 August 2021: Board register of interests updated
05 August 2021: Board register of interests and Gurpreet Dehal's biography updated
20 July 2021: Board members’ register of interests document updated
29 June 2021: Katja Hall's job title updated
04 June 2021: Board members' register of interests and board members updated
27 May 2021: Risk and Audit Committee: Register of interests updated
21 April 2021: Board members’ register of interests document updated
01 April 2021: Updated to reflect new chair James Wharton
05 February 2021: Board members’ register of interests document updated
15 January 2021: Board members’ register of interests document updated
30 September 2020: Board register of interests updated
29 September 2020: Two board members' bios updated
22 September 2020: Scheme of delegation updated
18 September 2020: Updates to board register of interests and one board member's bio
17 September 2020: Updates to board register of interests and two board members' bios
22 July 2020: Board register of interests and bio for Gurpreet Dehal updated
03 June 2020: Uploaded version 10 of the OfS scheme of delegation
04 May 2020: Board register of interests updated
15 April 2020: Remuneration and Nominations Committee register of interests updated
01 April 2020: Quality Assessment Committee register of interests updated
02 March 2020: Board register of interests updated and biographies updated for Martha Longdon and Suzanne McCarthy
25 February 2020: Quality Assessment Committee register of interests updated
21 January 2020: Risk and Audit Committee register of interests updated
15 January 2020: Board members' biographies updated
24 December 2019: Quality Assessment Committee register of interests and terms of reference updated
16 December 2019: Risk and Audit Committee register of interests updated
05 December 2019: Board proceedings and code of conduct updated
05 December 2019: Remuneration and Nominations Committee terms of reference updated

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Who we are

Our board and committees

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