Lisa Williams has worked in the Development and Alumni Relations team at Exeter for over 17 years. During that time, Lisa has held a variety of roles including regular giving, legacy and major gift fundraising. In 2014 Lisa was appointed to the newly created role of Head of Operations and now oversees the prospect research, data and insight, finance and donor relations functions.

Chris Connew is Head of Administration & Finance for Development and Alumni Engagement at the University of Oxford. He is an experienced senior leader in advancement operations, with responsibility for strategic planning, financial management, project management, and organisational change.

Chris has held leadership roles at Queen Mary University of London, Imperial College London, and UCL, where he has led multi-functional teams spanning Data & Insight, Gift Accounting, Prospect Research, CRM transformation, and Regular Giving. He has delivered major systems implementations, embedded sector-leading performance management frameworks, strengthened due diligence and gift governance processes, and supported campaign readiness and long-term fundraising strategy.

A former finance professional, Chris combines management expertise with data-led insight to drive operational excellence and sustainable fundraising performance across complex institutions.

Paula joined the fundraising and alumni relations office at Sheffield seven years’ ago and now heads up the planning, coordination and delivery of the University’s first major philanthropic Campaign. Her role has evolved and grown to cover all aspects of project development and narrative, reporting, governance, strategy, budget, stewardship, gift acceptance and disbursement. As Associate Director of Campaign Management, she is a member of the Senior Management Team and leads the 'operational engine' of CAR that currently comprises Data, Gift Management, Prospect Research and Campaign Projects.

This is Paula’s third role at Sheffield, having previously held positions in research development and income growth. Prior to this, she worked in media relations and communications at the University of Leeds and ran her own science/healthcare journalism and copywriting business.

When she’s not studying finance spreadsheets, digging into data or conjuring up new fundraising propositions, Paula enjoys fell-running, hill-walking, cycling, baking (mostly cakes containing fruit or veg) and gardening. She ventured into community fundraising in spring 2019, raising over £1,200 for University of Sheffield student scholarships by completing her first ever cross-country ski marathon.

Ben joined the University of Leeds in October 2023 and heads up the prospect research function there. He and the team have responsibility for all aspects of prospect research, including prospect identification and qualification, portfolio management, due diligence and gift acceptance, data management and CRM usage. In addition to these core elements of prospect research, his role also encompasses team planning, strategy and target setting.

Prior to his current role in HE, Ben spent just under five years in the charitable sector working in the Prospect Development team at the Science Museum Group. In his time there he worked to support fundraising efforts at all five of the group’s locations across the country.

Malina is responsible for providing leadership to Operations teams within Philanthropy and Global Engagement at LSE, including income management & services; data, insight & systems and planning, office & business management.  Prior to joining HE sector, Malina had been working in the charity sector for nearly 15 years, heading fundraising operations, supporter engagement, volunteering, compliance and data functions.

Stuart Thompson leads the Advancement Services team at Durham University. His portfolio comprises data and information management, data governance and compliance, alumni and stakeholder systems, reporting and analytics, training and user support, prospect research, gift processing, and stewardship.

Stuart has developed many new systems and processes, to improve and expand the Development and Alumni Relations functions at Durham including the development of an Alumni Engagement Pyramid.