UCAS Appoints New Board And Council Members

UCAS appoints new members to its board and council. Melody Stephen, a law student with International Studies at the University of Manchester, Alistair Jarvis CBE, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Governance at the University of London, and Simon Bates, Partner and Member of the Management Group at PA Consulting, are joining as Trustees.

Melody, a law student, is passionate about developing and promoting policies that advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion in higher education, having served as General Secretary of the University of Manchester Students' Union and on the university's Board of Governors. She currently works with the Advance HE Governance Strategic Advisory Group as well as the National Union of Students' board of directors.

Alistair's responsibilities as Pro Vice-Chancellor include governance, communications, development, marketing, legal, inclusion, regulatory compliance, and supporting partnerships with federation members. From 2017 to 2022, he was Chief Executive of Universities UK (UUK), and prior to that, he was Deputy Chief Executive and Director of External Relations at UUK.

Simon has spent the majority of his career in management consulting, advising clients in the private and public sectors on strategy, operations, organisational structure, and technology delivery. Simon's specialties revolve around customer-centric, data-led, and digitally enabled services. He has worked with some of the world's largest corporations, as well as numerous start-ups and scale-ups.

The Board provides strategic overall guidance while also ensuring that UCAS meets its charitable objectives.

Andrew Parkin, Principal of St Dominic's Sixth Form College in Harrow on the Hill, has been appointed Chair of the UCAS Council, while Mike Nicholson, Director of Recruitment, Admissions, and Participation and Deputy Head of Education Services at the University of Cambridge, has been named Vice Chair of Council.

Camille Stallard, Chief Financial Officer at the University of Gloucestershire, has been appointed as a co-opted member to UCAS' Finance Committee. Camille previously worked at the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Polytechnic and Colleges Funding Council before joining the university.

The Council is responsible for providing expert advice and guidance to the Board on behalf of UCAS customers and stakeholders.

"I'm delighted to welcome such impressive appointments to our Board, Council, and Finance Committee," said UCAS Chief Executive Clare Marchant. “Their collective expertise and experience will help shape the organization's future as we enhance our personalised, digital offering to support students in making ambitious and informed choices in the face of rising demand and deliver new services for advisors, universities, and colleges to assist their students in the decision-making journey,” Marchant added.