Speakers and Planning Committee - Speakers

Joëlle has been Director of Development at King’s College, Cambridge, since September 2006. Prior to this, she was Director of Alumni Relations at INSEAD for five years, having previously assumed the role of MBA Admissions Manager. Joëlle also holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Sessions:
Getting the senior teams' attention - how to advance your professional practice where you are
International ambassador programmes - transforming the home team into Alumni Relations advocates

Robert is Director of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. He was previously Director of the Rayne Foundation, Deputy Director of Operations at the Heritage Lottery Fund, and Programme Director at Arts & Business. He is a member of the Boards and Development Committees of the Museum of London and the University of Bristol.
Sessions:
Hallmarks of a good proposal

John is the Associate Vice-President for Alumni Relations at Boston College. For the past twenty years, he has been a leader in the Alumni Relations field, and has served on the CASE Commission on Alumni Relations, and as President of the Council of Alumni Association Executives. He has edited two CASE books.
Sessions:
Will history repeat itself? A look into the future of Alumni Relations and Fundraising
Creating star chapters: how to build and manage effective clubs and chapters
You think you had it bad? Coping strategies for the hard times

Sean is well-placed to communicate the benefits of university education. He has been a journalist, an academic, a university administrative manager, Press Officer, Marketing Manager, and now Head of Public Relations & Communications at Northumbria University. Sean's special areas of expertise include branding, corporate identity management, internal communications and communications policy.
Sessions:
"Wouldn't it be nice - to get on wiv me neighbours..." Insights into institutions' need for good community relations

Steven is a Research Group Director at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) where he specialises in studies concerning education. Since 2007 he has directed NatCen's team that conducts the Ross-CASE Survey of Gifts and Costs of Voluntary Giving to HE in the UK.

Sessions:
Whys and Hows of the Ross-CASE Survey of Gift Revenue and Costs

After a decade in e-commerce, Ben moved over to "e-philanthropy," leading an ambitious web-personalisation project as part of the $50 million annual giving programme at the United Way of Calgary and Area. Following that, he managed the roll-out of a new alumni online community and e-communications strategy as part of the Oxford Brookes University development programme.
Sessions:
The online community agenda: how to get the most from the web

Liam runs Working: Communications Strategies, a consultancy specialising in change, training and the organisation of communications teams. He has worked with government, non-profit and corporate organisations in the UK and internationally. Liam helped found the Black Belt programme of training for communicators and was one of the authors of the definitive guide to competencies for internal communicators.
Sessions:
What makes a great internal communicator?
Handling change - understanding the change journey and how communications helps

Robert is Vice President of Grenzebach Glier + Associates, joining in July 2008 having previously served as Director of Development at the University of Edinburgh since 2005. Prior to that, he was Director of Development at Trinity College of Music and Head of Sponsorship Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Sessions:
Raising funds in America - a 'how-to' guide

Hannah's skills portfolio includes extensive Marketing and Design experience. After graduating she was recruited to develop the Marketing Strategy for a Birmingham-based Engineering Consultancy. She has since returned to the city where she gained her BA in Marketing to head up the University of Bristol's Direct Mail Programme.
Sessions:
Challenging conventions in Annual Giving: should we copy and steal everything?

Maggie is Head of Operations for the Enrolment Management Technology (EMT) division at Hobsons. Maggie has worked in the technology industry for the past ten years and, for the past five years, exclusively with Higher Education institutions. Her specialities include Web 2.0 tools, online user communities, and channelling user feedback into product design.
Sessions:
Harnessing technology to enhance your marketing and recruitment processes

Brian Gilliland

Brian has been working in the educational sector for more than ten years, and has a long list of university clients, from Aberdeen in the north to Brighton in the south. Brian previously worked for the Natural History Museum in London and Age Concern England. He guides creative at Nurtural, and is the company's resident copywriter.
Sessions:
Delightful data versus pretty pictures

Ron joined Loughborough University as Director of Development and Alumni Relations in January 2008, where he works closely with the Vice-Chancellor and Director of External Relations. Previous to this, Ron was Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Warwick where, over five years, he expanded the office and implemented a major gift fundraising programme.
Sessions:
You're the new Major Gifts Officer: what next?

Amanda Gregory

As Business Development Director at HEIST, Amanda's role traverses all aspects of the business and she is heavily involved in developing Heist Services to meet the demands of the changes in tertiary education marketing. With over 17 years working within education marketing, she believes passionately in offering high-quality communications solutions to an increasingly diversified market.
Sessions:
Creating and delivering award-winning projects and campaigns

Prior to founding Illuminate Consulting Group as Managing Director, Daniel served as a consultant with BCG and Director of Business Development with SAP. He holds a D.Phil. and M.Sc. from Oxford, an MA from Brandeis, and he also trained in Bonn and Berkeley. He served as an Oxford alumni branch president, and on the board of Bonn's Universitätsgesellschaft.
Sessions:
What do Alumni really want? How well do you know global behavioural trends?

Rebecca is the Communications Manager at the University of Brighton. Prior to this she worked as PR manager at Sussex Police. She has also worked at a London-based PR agency, the Home Office and at Brighton and Hove City Council. Today she oversees a team responsible for internal communications, press relations, corporate sponsorship and events.
Sessions:
Working with the regional media - panel discussion with representatives from local broadcast and press organisations

Abigail is programme director for BA and MA art courses at the University of Leeds. Abigail has been in charge of undergraduate and postgraduate admissions and recruitment in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies since 2001, and over this time she has been responsible for introducing and managing a market-aware admissions process. Currently the School has some of the best recruitment and conversion results in the University and against the sector. She has worked extensively with the Student Recruitment Team with an aim to bridge the gap (perceived or actual) between academic and administrator to maximise the student experience of the admissions process.
Sessions:
Using research to develop a market-focused portfolio

After graduating from Leicester University, Emily ran national training events for an educational charity in Cambridge before moving to a children's hospice in Birmingham where she set up a major events fundraising programme. Emily then moved on to Warwick Business School before joining the University of Birmingham where she has been Head of Alumni Relations for the last three years.
Sessions:
Exciting, engaging and enabling: the truth about Alumni Relations

Emma has been Alumni Relations Manager at Imperial College London since 2006, previously working in logistics in her native Sweden and for a UK Chartered Institution. She oversees alumni relations programmes for Imperial's 140,000+ alumni and, with a third being based overseas, a major part of Emma's role is developing international alumni relations activities.
Sessions:
International ambassador programmes - transforming the home team into Alumni Relations advocates

Richie founded Yucca in 1997 and represents the technologically creative force behind the agency. In search, he helps clients to define how best to use the medium to meet their objectives. Richie is involved in the evolution of online strategies, identifying relevant technology trends and applying them in unique and creative ways.
Sessions:
Internet search - the journey has only just started

John joined Brakeley in 1990 and became Managing Director in 1991. He is currently President of Brakeley, based in London, and provides fundraising consultancy services to clients throughout Europe, the USA, and Asia. John has been a pioneer in successfully introducing American fundraising methodology to European non-profit institutions.
Sessions:
A tale of two campaigns

Having worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon, building new audiences at home and overseas, Tracey joined the University of Birmingham in 2003 to establish a new directorate of Marketing Services. Her role oversees international and home recruitment, market analysis and publications. In 2005 she managed the University's radical re-branding.
Sessions:
Getting the senior teams' attention - how to advance your professional practice where you are
Is the model of commercial brands relevant in the HE sector?

Peter Larsen

Peter has wide experience in the not-for-profit sector, designing the sector's first fully web-enabled donor database and on-line donation solution for CommittedGivingT. Peter's team also created the first purpose-built targeting system for British universities to use as a fundraising aid. Peter is Nurtural's expert on information management and knowledge discovery.
Sessions:
Delightful data versus pretty pictures

Simon is a Development Executive at the University of Birmingham. He joined the University in August 2004 and headed up the Annual Fund for one year before moving into Major Giving. Previously he worked for a fundraising consultancy based near Oxford.

Sessions:
Meet the donors

As President of CASE since 2004, John provides strategic and operational leadership for the world's largest association of education-related institutions. John joined CASE in 1999 as Vice-President for Communications and Marketing. Prior to this, he was Associate Vice-Chancellor for Advancement at the University System of Maryland, having began his career as a Humanities teacher.
Sessions:
Getting the senior teams' attention - how to advance your professional practice where you are

Stephen Macdonald

As CEO of Higher Education software developer Azorus, Stephen's responsibilities include working to set the strategic direction for the corporation and managing the business development and marketing efforts to ensure that the Azorus suite of products is always relevant to the company's clients and more importantly, to their clients (students).
Sessions:
CRM for student recruitment - a practical session on how to successfully select and implement CRM

Matt has been a Development Executive at the University of Birmingham since 2005, where he has secured many leading gifts from individuals and companies towards the University's Capital Campaign. Prior to this Matt worked for 7 years in sales and marketing for major blue-chip companies including Coca-Cola Enterprises in the UK.
Sessions:
Meet the donors

Jeff is a former college Vice-Principal who is Head of Education Research at Barkers. He has considerable experience of branding research and has led on many types of branding projects in the Higher Education sector.

Sessions:
Market Research for Brand Development - a case study on Birmingham University

Donald McLeod

Donald has over 13 years marketing experience, including 10 years at the University of Hertfordshire, where he is Head of Marketing Services and spearheaded the marketing effort which resulted in a 52% increase in undergraduate applications in a three-year period and building the UK's leading team of marketing executives.
Sessions:
Differential branding is key to future success - an insider's view from the University of Hertfordshire

Pamela is the Head of Digital Media and Marketing for the Communications Division at Imperial College London. She has ten years of Higher Education communications, events and project management experience, and was recently responsible for managing the redesign of Imperial's website and the College's centenary celebrations in 2007.
Sessions:
Listening to our users: an audience-based approach to website redesign

Sean Montgomery

Sean is Managing Partner of Ten Nine Ltd. Providing student recruitment solutions for the HE market has been part of Sean's working life for the last 18 years. Having worked nearly in equal length for both media owners and advertising agencies, Sean co-founded Educ@te in 2001 before launching TenNine in 2004.
Sessions:
Differential branding is key to future success - an insider's view from the University of Hertfordshire

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