Ben joined LSE in February 2018. Ben serves as one of nine members of the university’s leadership team, is Chair of LSE’s International Strategy Board and has strategic oversight for philanthropy, alumni engagement, corporate engagement, international strategy, and global academic partnerships, and leads on the most significant philanthropic and partnership opportunities for LSE, travelling extensively overseas. Since joining LSE, Ben has created and overseen the launch and development of LSE’s Shaping the World philanthropic and volunteering Campaign, with a goal to raise £750m, with over £420m and over 130,000 volunteering hours raised to date. 

Outside of LSE, Ben is former Chair and now Vice-Chair of the Ross Group, Chair of the Ross EDIB Sub-Group, which he formed during the pandemic, is a former member of CASE Europe’s Council, formerly served as a member of the CASE Global Advancement Leaders’ Summit Planning Committee, was Chair of the Pitt Rivers Museum Advisory Board in Oxford and has been a trustee of nursery and out of school care provision. Prior to LSE, Ben worked at Oxford University for eight years, overseeing the University’s fundraising teams, where the Oxford Thinking Campaign grew from £800m to £2.7bn. Prior to Oxford, Ben spent 10 years at Warwick University, initially in international marketing and recruitment, then overseeing philanthropy, alumni and corporate engagement at Warwick Business School and serving the wider University, leading on international alumni engagement and philanthropy in East Asia.

Having secured a music scholarship to attend a private secondary school, and having received funding for undergraduate and graduate study, Ben is a passionate advocate of social mobility, of inclusion and belonging and the role of education for the betterment of society.

Dan joined the University of Sheffield as the Director of Student Recruitment and Admissions in January 2020 and is Chair of the Volunteer Executive Committee for the CASE Universities Marketing Forum.

He has 20 years' experience working in student recruitment within the higher education sector. Most recently, he was Head of Global Student Recruitment at Lancaster University and has held a number of roles at institutions around the UK, including Reading, Essex and Cumbria.

His current team delivers services to a range of prospective students and applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds to support their enrolment at the University. The department also works closely with faculties and other professional services to ensure that prospective students have a successful journey to the University.

Outside of the University, Dan enjoys walking and is a member of the board of trustees for an LGBT+ charity that supports its members in accessing and participating in outdoor pursuits. In addition, Dan participated in LGBT Charity Stonewall’s Leadership Programme in 2015. Dan has a BA in English Literature from Lancaster University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the University of Durham.

As Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Dom’s role is to lead the team that develops Manchester Metropolitan University’s relationship with its alumni and philanthropic supporters. One of the most socially diverse universities in UK, hundreds of Manchester Met students receive donor-funded scholarships each year and thousands benefit from alumni-to-student mentoring and careers guidance.

Dom has over 25 years’ experience in higher education fundraising and has held leadership roles the universities of Manchester, Essex and York.

Rachel Bray is the head of the unique and vibrant CERN Alumni Network, for which she was community manager from 2017 to 2020. Prior to this, she worked for 8 years in CERN's Engineering Department, in the domain of Product Lifecycle Management and 9 years within the IT section of CERN Supplies Procurement and Logistics Department. 

In her spare time, Rachel is Chair of the CERN Clubs' Coordinating Committee, President and Zumba instructor at the CERN Fitness Club and board member of the Association of Sports Committees of European Research Institutes.

​Laura-Jane (LJ) is the Director of Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University. With over 20 years of marketing leadership experience across HE, B2B and consumer markets, LJ has driven significant change in brand, campaigns, digital, and user-focused content design, putting audience and user need at the heart of marketing strategies using data and insight to inform decisions. Evaluation and measurement are at the heart of LJ's "test and learn" ethos, helping to achieve business goals and inspire teams to be innovative, creative and achieve their best.

Bukky is the Director of Talent Management and Human Resources at the University of Cambridge Development and Alumni Relations office. At Cambridge, she is responsible for delivering strategic human resources and talent management programmes tailored to meet the organisation's current and long-term business needs. Bukky also plays a key role in the ROSS Equality Diversity and Inclusion working group (a sub-group of the senior leaders of the top 25 fundraising universities in the UK and Ireland). Before working in development, she worked mainly in the public sector in the UK, leading innovative HR practices to recruit and retain hard-to-recruit roles, researching equality and diversity initiatives to support black and ethnic minority staff and leading significant change programmes.

Bukky is a barrister and solicitor, holds a master's degree in International Business and is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has a coaching qualification from the Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education. She recently commenced a master's degree in Industrial/Organisational Psychology at Harvard University. Bukky's passion lies in talent management and coaching. She is also a strong advocate of equality, diversity, social mobility and inclusion.

Teppo leads the fundraising development of Chalmers as of January 2025, focusing on broadening the donor base and growing the level of donations through dialogue with present and prospective donors in close interaction with alumni relations, corporate collaboration, and marketing and communications. 

He previously worked as director for advancement and corporate engagement at Aalto University in Finland from 2016 to 2024. Before that he was an independent consultant in fundraising and international cooperation for five years, supporting Finnish universities in the governmental matching funding campaign of 2015-2017. From 2003 to 2011, he worked for the Nordic Council of Ministers in Lithuania and Denmark in governmental relations and organizing the international support for the European Humanities University, the Belarusian university-in-exile in Lithuania. 

He started his career in higher education management at the University of Helsinki in the 1990s in international relations. 

Having lived and worked in four countries in Northern Europe, Teppo has a keen interest in developing higher education advancement in the region. He has also written six travel guidebooks and a novel.

Emily Howie is an experienced alumni relations leader with over two decades of service in the higher education sector. She leads the University of Glasgow’s efforts to build meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with its global alumni community of more than 300,000 graduates. Emily’s work spans alumni engagement, fundraising initiatives, strategic planning, events, and team leadership. She is committed to creating opportunities that connect alumni with the University’s mission - supporting students, strengthening international networks, and fostering a vibrant, lifelong community.

She has significant international experience, collaborating with partners and alumni networks across multiple regions, and brings strong expertise in CRM systems and data-driven insight to shape strategy, enhance engagement, and improve operational effectiveness.

Emily is also highly experienced in managing and developing staff, with a strong track record of building motivated, high-performing teams and supporting colleagues to grow and succeed in their roles.
Throughout her career, Emily has developed successful engagement and fundraising strategies, championed innovative approaches to advancement, and remained dedicated to strengthening the lifelong relationship between graduates and their university.

Lucie Kennedy has been Director of Philanthropy at the Royal Academy of Music for nearly six years, leading the Philanthropy team through a £100m fundraising campaign. In April 2024 she was awarded an Hon ARAM for her achievements there. Lucie has spent the last 15 years working in fundraising, marketing and communications for a range of organisations in education and the arts. Prior to the Royal Academy of Music, Lucie held director-level roles and headed up major fundraising campaigns at Chetham’s School of Music, City Year UK and Westminster School. Lucie is a Chartered Marketer and has an MBA from the Alliance Manchester Business School. She grew up in South Manchester, where she studied the piano to Grade 8. After reading English Literature at the University of Durham, she worked in conference production and marketing for ten years before returning to study for an MBA and subsequently entering the charity sector. Lucie lives with her wife Hannah in South London.

As Director of Development at Birmingham City University (BCU), Robin is responsible for all aspects of fundraising with the principal aim of improving social mobility, widening access and enhancing the overall student experience. He also manages the University’s endowment portfolio which has grown from £6 million to £13 million under his stewardship.

With 20 years’ experience in higher education fundraising, Robin specialises in low-cost, high-ROI fundraising operations, and has a strong track record in managing small teams tasked with successfully delivering ambitious, often complex, large-scale capital appeals for buildings, scholarships and endowments.

He has previously held senior fundraising positions at the University of Warwick and, more recently, the University of Oxford, where he worked on the £3 billion Oxford Thinking Campaign – the biggest fundraising campaign in Higher Education in Europe at the time.

In January 2023, Robin completed a £10 million appeal for Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (an associate faculty of BCU) for scholarships and bursaries, outreach activities with children and young people, and new instruments and facilities, with a total return on investment of 1,150%. 

Robin is a proud alumnus of BCU and is a trained opera singer, having graduated with a BMus(Hons) in Vocal and Operatic studies from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire before going on to complete a Masters degree in Text and Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and King’s College London.

Amanda has run the Foundation Office at Latymer Upper School for 16 years and she is now the strategic lead for fundraising, an active alumni programme and all partnerships and social impact initiatives. 

Amanda was hired as Latymer’s Director of Development in 2009, managing a team of four. Since then the Foundation Office team has more than doubled, and over £70 million has been raised, most of which has been for the School’s sector-leading bursary programme. The number of bursaries funded by the Latymer Foundation has grown from 55 in 2009 to some 300 this academic year, most of them worth between 75% to 100% of fees. Last September, for the first time in half a century, one in four of students at Latymer Upper School were supported by a bursary.

Alongside its bursary provision, the Latymer Foundation runs a wide range of partnership and community programmes, which routinely engage with more than 4,000 young people and 250 local partner schools, organisations and charities in the local area. 

As a member of the Senior Leadership team, Amanda has worked closely with three successive Heads and four Chairs of Governors to protect Latymer’s historic ethos of academic excellence and social inclusion.