Speakers

This year there are over 140 speakers who are speaking/presenting at the CASE Europe Annual Conference.

View a list of all the speaker profiles.

Opening Plenary Speakers

Eric Thomas
Vice-Chancellor
University of Bristol

Eric Thomas has been vice-chancellor of University of Bristol since September 2001.

He graduated in medicine from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1976 and proceeded to obtain his MD by thesis in research into endometriosis in 1987. He trained as an obstetrician and gynecologist and worked at both the universities of Sheffield and Newcastle. In 1991 he was appointed professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southampton and then became head of the School of Medicine there in 1995 and dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences in 1998. He was a consultant gynecologist from 1987 to 2001.

Thomas is vice president of universities UK, chair of its England and Northern Ireland Council and chair of the Research Policy Committee. He is also a member of the Universities UK Board. He is a member and trustee of the Universities and Colleges Admissions service. He chaired the government Taskforce into Increasing Voluntary Giving in Higher Education which reported in 2004. He served as chair of the Worldwide Universities Network from 2003–2007 and was a member of the board of the South-West Regional Development Agency from 2002–2008.

He is a deputy lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol.

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Will Hutton
Executive Vice Chair
The Work Foundation

Will Hutton is executive vice chair of The Work Foundation. Regularly called on to advise senior political and business figures and comment in the national and international media, Will is today one of the pre-eminent economics commentators in the country. Prior to joining The Work Foundation, Will spent four years as editor-in-chief of The Observer, for which he continues to write a weekly column. He also regularly contributes to The Guardian and the Financial Times. Will's best-known book is probably The State We're In. Since then he has published The State to Come, The Stakeholding Society, On The Edge (with Anthony Giddens), and The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century. His latest book, Them and Us:Changing Britain - Why we need a fair society, was published last year.

Outside The Work Foundation, Will is a governor of the London School of Economics, where he is also a visiting professorial fellow at the Centre for Global Governance. He is currently the chair of the Commission on Ownership which is examining to what extent and how ownership matters which is due to deliver its findings in autumn 2011. He also led the Public Sector Fair Pay Review which published its final report in March 2011.

Will Hutton has been announced as the new principal of Hertford College, Oxford University and he will take up his post in September 2011. He will remain executive vice chair of The Work Foundation until summer 2011 and then continue as chair designate of a major new initiative from the Foundation on innovation.

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Thomas Estermann
Head of Unit Governance, Autonomy and Funding
European University Association (EUA)

Thomas Estermann is Head of Unit at EUA with responsibilities for governance, autonomy and funding. He has over 10 years experience in senior management in universities and was member of the HUMANE Executive Committee and chairman of WSAN. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal "Perspectives".

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Nancy Rothwell
President and Vice-Chancellor
University of Manchester

Nancy Rothwell was appointed on 1 July, 2010. She is also president of the Society of Biology and a non-executive director of AstraZeneca. She has recently served as president of the British Neuroscience Association and as a council member of the Royal Society, MRC, BBSRC and Cancer Research UK. In 2003, she won the prestigious Pfizer Research Prize and, in 2004, she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. She was honoured with a DBE in 2005. Professor Rothwell takes an active interest in public communication of science and regularly gives talks to schools and the public and contributes to television, radio and press.

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Michael Tipper
Business Thinking, Learning and Memory Development Specialist

Michael Tipper is an award-winning international speaker with a special interest in the development of thinking and learning abilities. Tipper is the author of three books on memory improvement; more than 100,000 people have experienced his live presentations and more than half a million young people have benefitted from his programmes.

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Closing Plenary Speaker

Lorna Somers
Vice President, McMaster University Foundation
McMaster University

Working in University Advancement since 1988, Lorna Somers has been involved in fundraising programs spanning the Annual Fund to establishing the first office of Gift Planning and the Major and Principal Giving programs. She is recognized internationally as a speaker on philanthropy, the charitable sector and fundraising and teaches throughout the world. Somers has helped in the development and delivery of diverse, bespoke programming such as that sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of NY and the MacArthur Foundation where she works on site with the academic leadership of East and West African universities. Closer to home, she leads the most popular program offered by the Alumni Office on business, dining and international etiquette.

A much-published author, Somers is co-author of Canada's best selling volume on fundraising, now in its third edition, and is one of only two Canadians formally recognized as outstanding teachers by Washington DC-based CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education). As well as the CASE Crystal Apple for excellence in teaching, Somers was awarded CASE's prestigious international Ashmore Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession in July 2011.

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Alumni Relations Track Plenary Speaker

Gretchen Dobson
Senior Associate Director, Domestic and International Programmes
Tufts University, USA

As Tufts' Senior Associate Director for Domestic and International Programs, Gretchen travels the world to facilitate alumni engagement and serves as a development officer. Gretchen presents regularly at conferences and events around the world, consults with institutions on international advancement issues, and is the author of Being Global: Making the Case for International Alumni Relations (CASE, 2011). Gretchen received her B.A. and M.A. from Boston College and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Communications Track Plenary Speaker

Martin Hall
Vice-Chancellor
University of Salford

As well as Vice Chancellor of the University of Salford, Martin is also Professor Emeritus, University of Cape Town, where he is affiliated with the Graduate School of Business. Previously Professor of Historical Archaeology, he was inaugural Dean of Higher Education Development and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor at UCT (from 1999 to 2008). He is a past-President of the World Archaeological Congress and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and of the University of Cape Town. He is an accredited mediator with the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement. He has written extensively on pre-colonial history in Southern Africa, on the historical archaeology of colonialism and on contemporary public culture. He currently carries out research on the intersection of the public and private sectors, entrepreneurship, and the role of "knowledge organizations" in advancing development in highly unequal societies.

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Fundraising Track Plenary Speakers

Roger Makanjuola
Immediate Past Vice-Chancellor
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

Roger is a psychiatrist, who served as Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University from 1999 to 2006 and, prior to that, as Chief Executive of its teaching hospital. He was President of the West African College of Physicians in 2007/2008, and is currently Chairman of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria. During his period as Vice-Chancellor he pioneered advancement activities in the institution. He has been a resource person in CASE advancement workshops for African universities since 2006.

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Joanna Motion
Partner
More Partnership

Joanna started her career with Oxfam, and worked for 20 years for universities in the UK and Australia. During her decade with CASE, latterly as vice president for international operations, the organisation has seen dynamic growth in advancement activity across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America. The University of Kent and Loughborough University have awarded Joanna Honorary Doctorates in recognition of her championing of change encouraging philanthropy and service on many government-led advisory groups and forums. Joanna joined More Partnership in September 2011.

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Gemma Peters
Executive Director
King's College London

Gemma joined King's College London in 2004, becoming Development Director in 2006. In November 2010 King's launched a major new campaign, World questions|King's answers to raise £500 million by 2015. In January 2011 the King's Development Office merged with the fundraising offices at their four partner NHS Trusts to create Europe's first integrated education and health fundraising team. Gemma is now Executive Director of the integrated hospital and University operation.

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Marketing Track Plenary Speakers

John Brooks
Vice-Chancellor
Manchester Metropolitan University

John was appointed Vice-Chancellor in September 2005, where he joined from the University of Wolverhampton. He was previously Assistant Principal at Sheffield Hallam University. Since joining MMU, John has steered a £250 million investment in new teaching and learning facilities as the university consolidates from seven to three campuses.

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Betheny L. Reid
Associate Vice-Chancellor and Foundation President
Dallas County Community Colleges, USA

Betheny has more than 30 years of professional experience in marketing and communications, public affairs, and development in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. During her tenure as president of the DCCCD Foundation and associate vice chancellor of the district's development office, she has been responsible for doubling the organization's assets, securing the largest gifts in the foundation's history and launching the internationally recognized Rising Star scholarship program. Reid recently launched the Foundation's current multi-million-dollar initiative to push the district's excellence in six areas: health professions; the arts; science, technology, engineering and mathematics; green economy; community campuses; and sports complexes. Betheny serves on the CASE Board of Trustees.

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Peter Slee
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
University of Huddersfield

Professor Peter Slee is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Huddersfield. Peter is responsible for strategic planning and resources at Huddersfield, and has held previous posts at Northumbria, Durham, Aston and Manchester universities, and at the Confederation of British Industries.

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Tracey Lancaster
Director of External Relations
University of Birmingham

Tracey Lancaster's responsibilities include building international relationships, corporate events, marketing, media relations and public affairs as well as student recruitment at all levels around the globe, admissions and a creative media team. In 2005, Lancaster undertook a major re-branding of the university which has enabled the university to re-position itself within the marketplace.

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