SPEAKER BIO’S
Stephanie amor
CEO, Afro Leads and Associate @ Hayhurst & Co.
Stephanie Amor is the co-founder and director of Afro Leads, a brand and consultancy focused on diversity and inclusion (D&I) and advancing race equality in the workplace. Prior to focusing on diversity and inclusion, Steph spent over five years supporting domestic student recruitment and D&I strategies within HE. She has a passion for supporting clients with a holistic understanding of D&I, impactful practices and manageable goals and she writes a monthly column for OK Magazine.
Mark Bennett
Mark is responsible for ensuring websites and the information they contain are as useful as possible and for helping universities understand prospective postgraduates’ needs and intentions. As part of this, he directs various research and insights projects and regularly presents on PG marketing, recruitment and policy topics. Mark holds a PhD in Gothic Literature from the University of Sheffield and regularly attempts to convince his 8-year-old that ghosts are not actually real.
Jo Bishop
Schools and Colleges Outreach Lead @ Springpod
With over 25 years of experience as a careers adviser, Jo has supported thousands of students in making their transition from school/college to university, apprenticeships and work. She has managed successful employer and university partnerships creating activities for students to explore career pathways. Her focus has always been to create meaningful experiences for students that both inform and strengthen applications to university and apprenticeships. Jo is currently the Schools and Colleges Lead for Springpod, an innovative careers platform which has opened up access to impactful work and university virtual experiences to students across the UK. She is a strong believer in widening access to opportunities to create a fair admissions process whether this is for university or work.
Mary Curnock Cook CBE
Mary Curnock Cook is an independent education expert serving in a non-executive capacity on a number of Boards.
From 2010-2017, Mary was Chief Executive of UCAS. Earlier in her career she held executive and non-executive positions in the education, hospitality, food and biotech sectors.
As a NED with Pearson Education, Mary chairs its Qualifications Committee and also chairs the governing body of the Dyson Institute. She is a non-exec Director at the London Interdisciplinary School, the Student Room and Education Cubed, and a Trustee at the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the River Learning Trust. She recently served as a non-exec on the Student Loans Company Board.
She has the role of Network Chair for Emerge Education, the leading edtech investor in Europe and holds a number of advisory roles with education technology companies. She is a regular speaker and commentator on education issues and edtech, and is a recognised champion of the student interest.
Mary has an MSc from London Business School and was awarded an OBE in 2000, and a CBE in 2020 for services to further and higher education. She is an honorary Fellow of Birkbeck and Goldsmiths and has an honorary doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire.
Ben Farquharson
Head of Partnerships @ Education Cubed
Articulate, versatile, and capable, Ben has distinguished himself as an expert communicator and strategist. His diverse experience spans both the private and public sectors, with a decade of experience in HE. Ben is a highly networked business leader and a respected expert in the sector. Excelling in business development, marketing strategy, data, and tech, he has undertaken the role of Head of Partnerships to spearhead Education Cubed’s commercial development and growth.
Will Greeves
Head of Paid Media @ Education Cubed
Will Greeves is a seasoned digital marketing expert with a rich background in digital advertising, specialising in both search and social media channels. Serving as a Global Marketing Strategist at Pfizer, he skillfully orchestrated the company’s global search strategy, simultaneously enhancing processes to bolster marketing performance. With over a decade of experience in the digital marketing realm, he has propelled growth in diverse sectors ranging from charities to insurance. Following the successful venture of running a startup, Will embraced a new challenge by stepping into the role of Head of Paid Media at Education Cubed.
Claire Hamilton
Deputy Director, Marketing and Student Recruitment @ The University of Sheffield
Claire is Deputy Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment at the University of Sheffield. She began her career in the arts in Newcastle, marketing everything from the RSC to Cannon and Ball. She later switched to Higher Education and has worked at the University of Northumbria and Sheffield Hallam University, before moving to The University of Sheffield. Between having three children, she has worked in roles across branding, reputation marketing, internal communications, PR and comms, business development, student recruitment, events and business partnering. She believes HE changes lives and was the first in her family to go to university. Annoyingly for her team, she is currently living with the prospective undergraduate home student market who constantly remind her of the mistakes universities make when marketing to prospective students. She was born and raised in Sheffield and is evangelical about its unique offer which led to the creation of a groundbreaking joint campaign for Sheffield. She is currently part of the senior leadership team delivering the largest change project the University has seen. She balances the challenges this presents by throwing herself around a netball court, running, singing, attempting to do cultural stuff and enjoying the company of wonderful human beings.
Jonny Harper
Chief Technology Officer @ Revolution Viewing
Having been the go-to guy for technology-related problems since 1996 when his primary school got a “Roamer robot” and an IT suite of Acorn Computers, Jonny Harper loves problem-solving, data, and all things tech. From a DIY cat feeder made from drain pipes and controlled from anywhere in the world to digital platforms for Higher Education, the solutions that Jonny and his team have developed have helped more than 5,000,000 future students (and two cats). Vepple, Jonny’s latest brainchild, is proving to be an essential weapon in the student recruitment armoury and he’s excited to share insight into how future students are using it to select their perfect university.
Vicky Hayhurst
CEO @ Hayhurst & Co.
Vicky is Hayhurst & Co’s Founder and CEO. An accomplished strategist and company director with 22 years of marketing project management experience, Vicky is also a skilled and experienced facilitator and a qualified workplace coach. Vicky has worked in the private and public sectors, including 18 years in both the client and supplier sides of Higher Education and has been a senior lead in change management programmes at two universities. Having worked as a supplier with over 110 universities, and she is well-known and trusted within the sector.
Desmeana Johnson
Deputy Director @ Manchester Metropolitan University
Desmeana is the Deputy Director of Marketing for Manchester Metropolitan University. With over 20 years of senior marketing leadership experience from across the public and private sectors for organisations ranging from Marketing Manchester to the National Trust. Desmeana has held responsibility for areas such as brand development, corporate and consumer marketing, visitor experience and developing marketing strategies which deliver impact. Desmeana has driven change throughout her career by creating and shaping marketing teams to support strategic organisational objectives, with a passion for empowering individuals.
Victoria Littler
Chief Commercial Officer @ Revolution Viewing
With a wealth of experience in student marketing spanning nearly a decade, Victoria has helped hundreds of universities, colleges and Students’ Unions to enhance their marketing strategies and connect with students in meaningful ways. Victoria’s journey in higher education marketing is one of continuous learning, collaboration and a commitment to deeply understand the unique challenges faced by institutions in this rapidly evolving landscape. On a mission to distil complex concepts into accessible and actionable advice, Victoria’s curious mindset and approachable demeanour creates a collaborative atmosphere in which to share knowledge and fresh ideas.
Kenon Man
Deputy Director of Student Recruitment and Marketing @ Imperial College London
Kenon Man is the Deputy Director of Student Recruitment and Marketing at Imperial College London, overseeing student recruitment campaigns, communications and domestic and international recruitment activities. He is an active member of the higher education sector and is always keen to discuss and share best practices. He is vice-chair of the CIM Higher and Further Education interest group and a Council for Advancement and Support of Education District Cabinet member. Kenon is committed to equality and diversity. He acts as an advisor for the BME Pros All-Stars group, which promotes and celebrates BME PR and Communications professionals. Outside of his day job, he is involved in the Arts – on and off stage. He is a trustee of an arts organisation and performs regularly in various orchestras in South Wales.
Georgia Masters
Client Partner @ Education Cubed
Georgia Masters is a Client Partner within Education Cubed’s Account Management department, leading a team to help deliver university marketing strategies, campaigns and student recruitment success. Georgia has worked within Higher Education marketing for over seven years, previously working at The Student Room where she has collaborated with universities across the UK. Georgia also leads Education Cubed’s staff recruitment offering, working closely with universities to help recruit, maintain and develop the best in-sector employees.
Steven Morton
Head of Product Marketing @ Springpod
Stevie has amassed 4 years of experience within the EdTech sector, specifically applied to helping scale Springpod from a community of 16,000 to 550,000 young people and counting. This has manifested across managing multiple different areas, from driving user acquisition strategy, creating commercial opportunities that serve both industry partners and our student community, and new product design.Currently, as the Head of Product Marketing, Stevie’s primary aim is to ideate, optimise and position new and existing Springpod products to maximise their impact for young people. This focus started by helping to create Springpod’s Subject Spotlights, and has grown to include several more products and projects since.With countless hours given to research and conversations with our student audience, Stevie remains committed to championing the student voice through every aspect of Springpod’s user experience.
Elliot Newstead
Head of Student Recruitment @ University of Leicester
Elliot has been in the sector for 14 years (ouch!) and is the Head of UK Student Recruitment and Outreach at the University of Leicester, overseeing a team in charge of recruiting undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK. The team’s activity includes working with schools, colleges and partners across the UK to support learners from all backgrounds entering Higher Education. Elliot also chairs the Education theme of the Civic University Agreement between the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and De Montfort University focusing on collaboration locally to support schools, students and parents/carers.
Jennifer Parsons
Chief Market & Partnerships Officer at UniQuest @ Uniquest
Jennifer Parsons is Chief Market & Partnerships Officer at UniQuest, specialists in student conversion and enrolment. Her focus is helping university partners stay at the forefront of student recruitment and engagement innovation, exploiting data in the UQ platform to identify strategic, actionable insights to respond to changing market trends and applicant behaviours. Jennifer has over 20 years’ experience in higher education, including leadership roles in universities, i-Graduate & consultancy.
Jo Redfern-Evans
Jo Redfern-Evans is the founder of Education Cubed. She began her career at The Independent newspaper, joining the advertising department as a graduate trainee. Eight years later she joined the board at the paper and ran a successful department for many years. She then joined UCAS, running UCAS Media – their commercial division – as Commercial Director. Her next role was Commercial Director at The Student Room before leaving to launch Education Cubed formally, seven years ago. As the business has grown, she moved into a CEO role in early 2023. Jo is an award-winning mentor and a passionate advocate for equality in the workplace.
Charlotte Renwick
Director of Marketing, Recruitment & Admissions @ Leeds Beckett University (MBA, MCIM)
Charlotte has worked in marketing and communications for over 20 years and spent the first eight years of her career in PR and digital agencies, handling clients such as the BBC, the NHS and FMCG brands. Charlotte moved into HE in 2009 at the University of Bradford, first to lead communications and fundraising, and later as Head of Marketing and Communications. She joined Leeds Beckett University in 2014 as Associate Director of Customer Marketing, and in 2022 became Director where she heads up admissions, global student marketing, market research, UK recruitment & access and widening participation. Her passions are user experience, customer journeys, team culture and developing people to reach their full potential.
Jo Richards
Senior Insight Lead @ UCAS
Gaining an understanding of students and applicants – across behaviour, satisfaction, and experience – means Jo can help you place them at the heart of your strategies. Overseeing UCAS’ approach to insight across their customer groups and markets, Jo has previously set up and developed market research teams in universities – including as Associate Director of Market Research and Insight at the University of Warwick, and Head of Market Intelligence and Strategy at the University of Liverpool.
Host: Chris Rogers
Raman Sarpal
Deputy Director of Marketing @ Anglia Ruskin University
Raman brings a wealth of experience from her 25 years in marketing, communications and brand management roles in various private and public sector organisations. Raman started her career in universities as a fresh-faced and keen graduate at the University of Liverpool before going on to hold marketing positions for The Drum Arts Centre, Black Country Chamber of Commerce, West Midlands Regional Development Agency and Growth Hub before taking on the Head of Marketing role at the University of Wolverhampton – looking after student recruitment, marketing, international recruitment and research marketing. During her 13-year tenure, Raman was instrumental in growing student numbers and the University brand as well as mobilising the £60m Springfield Campus. Since then, Raman has held a senior marketing role at Student Roost, working with a national network of 100 university clients and has now returned to her passion for building university brands and student recruitment in her role as Deputy Director at Anglia Ruskin University.
Karen Smalley
Senior Marketing Officer @ University of Surrey
Karen Smalley currently leads the student marketing team at the University of Surrey. She started her career in government communications at the Ministry of Defence, before moving to the Department of Education where she stayed for 28 years. During her time in Government, she became fascinated with behavioural economics and the power of creativity to solve a problem, working with some of the most dynamic and talented creatives in the advertising sector. Karen’s career has been heavily influenced by the wisdom and steering of the early advertising giants from the Mad Men days and beyond. Her HE career also included time at both the University of Reading and the University of Westminster where she led brand activity and campaigns. In her free time, Karen enjoys gardening, karaoke and drinking champagne.
Sarah-Jane Spooner
Head of Creative Services & Insight @ Education Cubed
Sarah-Jane Spooner is Education Cubed’s Head of Creative Services and Insight. Sarah has ten years of marketing project management experience in the client and supplier sides of Higher Education and Further Education. Before joining Education Cubed, Sarah worked for Revolution Viewing, where she led hundreds of video projects for over 60 UK universities working with students, professional services staff and academics.
Sarah has established connections with a wide variety of people throughout her career, but none more complex and rewarding than the class of Year 10s she mentored through a BTEC Business course at 18 years old. Sure academics may be challenging, but at least they tend to keep all four chair legs on the ground. She has a deep love for the transformative potential of Higher Education, sequins and Adele.
Rebecca Williams
Head of Brand & Placemaking @ Knight Dragon
Rebecca Williams is the Head of Brand & Placemaking for Knight Dragon – an entrepreneurial urban regenerator and property developer that creates places, builds properties, and invests in related projects. A pragmatic and resourceful senior marketing professional with twenty years of experience in the built environment, helping curate and communicate places and spaces to a global community. Her skills span multiple disciplines from placemaking, marketing and communications to events, arts, and culture with people at the core of it all. She believes in creating sustainable places and communities that visitors want to return to time and time again for genuine experiences and connection.
Stephanie amor
CEO, Afro Leads and Associate @ Hayhurst & Co.
Stephanie Amor is the co-founder and director of Afro Leads, a brand and consultancy focused on diversity and inclusion (D&I) and advancing race equality in the workplace. Prior to focusing on diversity and inclusion, Steph spent over five years supporting domestic student recruitment and D&I strategies within HE. She has a passion for supporting clients with a holistic understanding of D&I, impactful practices and manageable goals and she writes a monthly column for OK Magazine.
Mark Bennett
Mark is responsible for ensuring websites and the information they contain are as useful as possible and for helping universities understand prospective postgraduates’ needs and intentions. As part of this, he directs various research and insights projects and regularly presents on PG marketing, recruitment and policy topics. Mark holds a PhD in Gothic Literature from the University of Sheffield and regularly attempts to convince his 8-year-old that ghosts are not actually real.
Jo Bishop
Schools and Colleges Outreach Lead @ Springpod
With over 25 years of experience as a careers adviser, Jo has supported thousands of students in making their transition from school/college to university, apprenticeships and work. She has managed successful employer and university partnerships creating activities for students to explore career pathways. Her focus has always been to create meaningful experiences for students that both inform and strengthen applications to university and apprenticeships. Jo is currently the Schools and Colleges Lead for Springpod, an innovative careers platform which has opened up access to impactful work and university virtual experiences to students across the UK. She is a strong believer in widening access to opportunities to create a fair admissions process whether this is for university or work.
Mary Curnock Cook CBE
Mary Curnock Cook is an independent education expert serving in a non-executive capacity on a number of Boards.
From 2010-2017, Mary was Chief Executive of UCAS. Earlier in her career she held executive and non-executive positions in the education, hospitality, food and biotech sectors.
As a NED with Pearson Education, Mary chairs its Qualifications Committee and also chairs the governing body of the Dyson Institute. She is a non-exec Director at the London Interdisciplinary School, the Student Room and Education Cubed, and a Trustee at the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the River Learning Trust. She recently served as a non-exec on the Student Loans Company Board.
She has the role of Network Chair for Emerge Education, the leading edtech investor in Europe and holds a number of advisory roles with education technology companies. She is a regular speaker and commentator on education issues and edtech, and is a recognised champion of the student interest.
Mary has an MSc from London Business School and was awarded an OBE in 2000, and a CBE in 2020 for services to further and higher education. She is an honorary Fellow of Birkbeck and Goldsmiths and has an honorary doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire.
Ben Farquharson
Head of Partnerships @ Education Cubed
Articulate, versatile, and capable, Ben has distinguished himself as an expert communicator and strategist. His diverse experience spans both the private and public sectors, with a decade of experience in HE. Ben is a highly networked business leader and a respected expert in the sector. Excelling in business development, marketing strategy, data, and tech, he has undertaken the role of Head of Partnerships to spearhead Education Cubed’s commercial development and growth.
Will Greeves
Head of Paid Media @ Education Cubed
Will Greeves is a seasoned digital marketing expert with a rich background in digital advertising, specialising in both search and social media channels. Serving as a Global Marketing Strategist at Pfizer, he skillfully orchestrated the company’s global search strategy, simultaneously enhancing processes to bolster marketing performance. With over a decade of experience in the digital marketing realm, he has propelled growth in diverse sectors ranging from charities to insurance. Following the successful venture of running a startup, Will embraced a new challenge by stepping into the role of Head of Paid Media at Education Cubed.
Claire Hamilton
Deputy Director, Marketing and Student Recruitment @ The University of Sheffield
Claire is Deputy Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment at the University of Sheffield. She began her career in the arts in Newcastle, marketing everything from the RSC to Cannon and Ball. She later switched to Higher Education and has worked at the University of Northumbria and Sheffield Hallam University, before moving to The University of Sheffield. Between having three children, she has worked in roles across branding, reputation marketing, internal communications, PR and comms, business development, student recruitment, events and business partnering. She believes HE changes lives and was the first in her family to go to university. Annoyingly for her team, she is currently living with the prospective undergraduate home student market who constantly remind her of the mistakes universities make when marketing to prospective students. She was born and raised in Sheffield and is evangelical about its unique offer which led to the creation of a groundbreaking joint campaign for Sheffield. She is currently part of the senior leadership team delivering the largest change project the University has seen. She balances the challenges this presents by throwing herself around a netball court, running, singing, attempting to do cultural stuff and enjoying the company of wonderful human beings.
Jonny Harper
Chief Technology Officer @ Revolution Viewing
Having been the go-to guy for technology-related problems since 1996 when his primary school got a “Roamer robot” and an IT suite of Acorn Computers, Jonny Harper loves problem-solving, data, and all things tech. From a DIY cat feeder made from drain pipes and controlled from anywhere in the world to digital platforms for Higher Education, the solutions that Jonny and his team have developed have helped more than 5,000,000 future students (and two cats). Vepple, Jonny’s latest brainchild, is proving to be an essential weapon in the student recruitment armoury and he’s excited to share insight into how future students are using it to select their perfect university.
Vicky Hayhurst
CEO @ Hayhurst & Co.
Vicky is Hayhurst & Co’s Founder and CEO. An accomplished strategist and company director with 22 years of marketing project management experience, Vicky is also a skilled and experienced facilitator and a qualified workplace coach. Vicky has worked in the private and public sectors, including 18 years in both the client and supplier sides of Higher Education and has been a senior lead in change management programmes at two universities. Having worked as a supplier with over 110 universities, and she is well-known and trusted within the sector.
Desmeana Johnson
Deputy Director @ Manchester Metropolitan University
Desmeana is the Deputy Director of Marketing for Manchester Metropolitan University. With over 20 years of senior marketing leadership experience from across the public and private sectors for organisations ranging from Marketing Manchester to the National Trust. Desmeana has held responsibility for areas such as brand development, corporate and consumer marketing, visitor experience and developing marketing strategies which deliver impact. Desmeana has driven change throughout her career by creating and shaping marketing teams to support strategic organisational objectives, with a passion for empowering individuals.
Victoria Littler
Acccount Director @ Revolution Viewing
With a wealth of experience in student marketing spanning nearly a decade, Victoria has helped hundreds of universities, colleges and Students’ Unions to enhance their marketing strategies and connect with students in meaningful ways. Victoria’s journey in higher education marketing is one of continuous learning, collaboration and a commitment to deeply understand the unique challenges faced by institutions in this rapidly evolving landscape. On a mission to distil complex concepts into accessible and actionable advice, Victoria’s curious mindset and approachable demeanour creates a collaborative atmosphere in which to share knowledge and fresh ideas.
Kenon Man
Deputy Director of Student Recruitment and Marketing @ Imperial College London
Kenon Man is the Deputy Director of Student Recruitment and Marketing at Imperial College London, overseeing student recruitment campaigns, communications and domestic and international recruitment activities. He is an active member of the higher education sector and is always keen to discuss and share best practices. He is vice-chair of the CIM Higher and Further Education interest group and a Council for Advancement and Support of Education District Cabinet member. Kenon is committed to equality and diversity. He acts as an advisor for the BME Pros All-Stars group, which promotes and celebrates BME PR and Communications professionals. Outside of his day job, he is involved in the Arts – on and off stage. He is a trustee of an arts organisation and performs regularly in various orchestras in South Wales.
Georgia Masters
Client Partner @ Education Cubed
Georgia Masters is a Client Partner within Education Cubed’s Account Management department, leading a team to help deliver university marketing strategies, campaigns and student recruitment success. Georgia has worked within Higher Education marketing for over seven years, previously working at The Student Room where she has collaborated with universities across the UK. Georgia also leads Education Cubed’s staff recruitment offering, working closely with universities to help recruit, maintain and develop the best in-sector employees.
Steven Morton
Head of Product Marketing @ Springpod
Stevie has amassed 4 years of experience within the EdTech sector, specifically applied to helping scale Springpod from a community of 16,000 to 550,000 young people and counting. This has manifested across managing multiple different areas, from driving user acquisition strategy, creating commercial opportunities that serve both industry partners and our student community, and new product design.Currently, as the Head of Product Marketing, Stevie’s primary aim is to ideate, optimise and position new and existing Springpod products to maximise their impact for young people. This focus started by helping to create Springpod’s Subject Spotlights, and has grown to include several more products and projects since.With countless hours given to research and conversations with our student audience, Stevie remains committed to championing the student voice through every aspect of Springpod’s user experience.
Elliot Newstead
Head of Student Recruitment @ University of Leicester
Elliot has been in the sector for 14 years (ouch!) and is the Head of UK Student Recruitment and Outreach at the University of Leicester, overseeing a team in charge of recruiting undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK. The team’s activity includes working with schools, colleges and partners across the UK to support learners from all backgrounds entering Higher Education. Elliot also chairs the Education theme of the Civic University Agreement between the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and De Montfort University focusing on collaboration locally to support schools, students and parents/carers.
Jennifer Parsons
Chief Market & Partnerships Officer at UniQuest @ Uniquest
Jennifer Parsons is Chief Market & Partnerships Officer at UniQuest, specialists in student conversion and enrolment. Her focus is helping university partners stay at the forefront of student recruitment and engagement innovation, exploiting data in the UQ platform to identify strategic, actionable insights to respond to changing market trends and applicant behaviours. Jennifer has over 20 years’ experience in higher education, including leadership roles in universities, i-Graduate & consultancy.
Jo Redfern-Evans
Jo Redfern-Evans is the founder of Education Cubed. She began her career at The Independent newspaper, joining the advertising department as a graduate trainee. Eight years later she joined the board at the paper and ran a successful department for many years. She then joined UCAS, running UCAS Media – their commercial division – as Commercial Director. Her next role was Commercial Director at The Student Room before leaving to launch Education Cubed formally, seven years ago. As the business has grown, she moved into a CEO role in early 2023. Jo is an award-winning mentor and a passionate advocate for equality in the workplace.
Charlotte Renwick
Director of Marketing, Recruitment & Admissions @ Leeds Beckett University (MBA, MCIM)
Charlotte has worked in marketing and communications for over 20 years and spent the first eight years of her career in PR and digital agencies, handling clients such as the BBC, the NHS and FMCG brands. Charlotte moved into HE in 2009 at the University of Bradford, first to lead communications and fundraising, and later as Head of Marketing and Communications. She joined Leeds Beckett University in 2014 as Associate Director of Customer Marketing, and in 2022 became Director where she heads up admissions, global student marketing, market research, UK recruitment & access and widening participation. Her passions are user experience, customer journeys, team culture and developing people to reach their full potential.
Jo Richards
Senior Insight Lead @ UCAS
Gaining an understanding of students and applicants – across behaviour, satisfaction, and experience – means Jo can help you place them at the heart of your strategies. Overseeing UCAS’ approach to insight across their customer groups and markets, Jo has previously set up and developed market research teams in universities – including as Associate Director of Market Research and Insight at the University of Warwick, and Head of Market Intelligence and Strategy at the University of Liverpool.
Host: Chris Rogers
Raman Sarpal
Deputy Director of Marketing @ Anglia Ruskin University
Raman brings a wealth of experience from her 25 years in marketing, communications and brand management roles in various private and public sector organisations. Raman started her career in universities as a fresh-faced and keen graduate at the University of Liverpool before going on to hold marketing positions for The Drum Arts Centre, Black Country Chamber of Commerce, West Midlands Regional Development Agency and Growth Hub before taking on the Head of Marketing role at the University of Wolverhampton – looking after student recruitment, marketing, international recruitment and research marketing. During her 13-year tenure, Raman was instrumental in growing student numbers and the University brand as well as mobilising the £60m Springfield Campus. Since then, Raman has held a senior marketing role at Student Roost, working with a national network of 100 university clients and has now returned to her passion for building university brands and student recruitment in her role as Deputy Director at Anglia Ruskin University.
Karen Smalley
Senior Marketing Officer @ University of Surrey
Karen Smalley currently leads the student marketing team at the University of Surrey. She started her career in government communications at the Ministry of Defence, before moving to the Department of Education where she stayed for 28 years. During her time in Government, she became fascinated with behavioural economics and the power of creativity to solve a problem, working with some of the most dynamic and talented creatives in the advertising sector. Karen’s career has been heavily influenced by the wisdom and steering of the early advertising giants from the Mad Men days and beyond. Her HE career also included time at both the University of Reading and the University of Westminster where she led brand activity and campaigns. In her free time, Karen enjoys gardening, karaoke and drinking champagne.
Sarah-Jane Spooner
Head of Creative Services & Insight @ Education Cubed
Sarah-Jane Spooner is Education Cubed’s Head of Creative Services and Insight. Sarah has ten years of marketing project management experience in the client and supplier sides of Higher Education and Further Education. Before joining Education Cubed, Sarah worked for Revolution Viewing, where she led hundreds of video projects for over 60 UK universities working with students, professional services staff and academics.
Sarah has established connections with a wide variety of people throughout her career, but none more complex and rewarding than the class of Year 10s she mentored through a BTEC Business course at 18 years old. Sure academics may be challenging, but at least they tend to keep all four chair legs on the ground. She has a deep love for the transformative potential of Higher Education, sequins and Adele.
Rebecca Williams
Head of Brand & Placemaking @ Knight Dragon
Rebecca Williams is the Head of Brand & Placemaking for Knight Dragon – an entrepreneurial urban regenerator and property developer that creates places, builds properties, and invests in related projects. A pragmatic and resourceful senior marketing professional with twenty years of experience in the built environment, helping curate and communicate places and spaces to a global community. Her skills span multiple disciplines from placemaking, marketing and communications to events, arts, and culture with people at the core of it all. She believes in creating sustainable places and communities that visitors want to return to time and time again for genuine experiences and connection.