Rosalyn (Ros) Wilton has had a distinguished career spanning four decades during which she has held a number of high profile executive and non-executive positions. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of LondonMetric Property PLC, where she is Chair of Audit. Previous positions include non-executive director of AXA UK Ltd, where she was Chair of Risk and a non-executive director of Optos plc, where she was Chair of Remuneration.

Between 1999 and 2006, Ros was chief executive of Hemscott Group Ltd, the financial data company which merged with a US firm to form the global financial technology company Ipreo, where she became Chairman until 2009. Prior to this, she worked for Reuters Group, where she held a number of senior roles, including the position of Managing Director, Transaction Products. She was also the first woman to be appointed to the Reuters Executive Committee, making her the most senior woman in the Reuters Group at that time and was short listed for UK Business Woman of the Year.

Previously, as a Director of the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE), she was the first woman to serve on the board of any Exchange in the UK or Europe. 

Ros’s educational involvements include being Chair of Governors at Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley and is Vice Chair of the Harris Federation Board a leading sponsor of 44 academies in and around London and a Teaching School for training teachers.

Ros read Mathematics at the University of London and is married with two daughters.

Ros is Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of London.

During his international career in the chemicals industry Martin was engaged as the Finance Director to a variety of businesses and groups. He also joined Boards in Asia, The Americas and Europe, including Chair of a substantial Joint Venture in Korea and Chair of a UK Pensions Trustees Board.

In 1998 Martin joined Akzo Nobel to merge a newly acquired chemicals group. Following its successful integration, he accepted the role of Finance Director for the global Marine and Protective Paints business where he played a pivotal role in its turnaround and as a reference for business excellence throughout the Group.

In 2006, he took up the role of Group Financial Controller and Divisional Finance Director in Akzo Nobel’s corporate team in the Netherlands. The development of strategy and implementation of strong policies, at both corporate and business levels, were integral to success during the period of transformation at this Global Fortune 500 Group. Martin was influential in many of its major transactions, including the acquisition and integration of ICI (formerly Imperial Chemical Industries) in 2008.

Retiring from the chemicals sector in order to work with groups with an unambiguous social purpose, Martin joined Kingston University in 2011 as Finance Director at a time when the HEI needed to adapt to the changing regulatory landscape. His influence developed beyond Kingston as an active member of sector groups, including work with HEFCE and BIS in 2014 advising the Minister of State for Universities and Science on the subject of policy changes for improved graduate employability.

Since 2014 Martin has concentrated on Non Executive positions within the Higher Education and Social Housing sectors. He is a Trustee and Director on the Board of Regent’s University as well as a member of its Finance and Investment Committee. He is a member of Southern Housing’s Audit Committee. Other recent roles have included membership of the Audit and Risk Committee at Circle Housing and Board memberships of the Roddens and Russet housing associations.

Martin is a qualified accountant and holds first class honours in economics from the London School of Economics.

   Mrs Akushie is a qualified accountant and also a qualified corporate treasurer. While her most recent experience is at CRUK, she has extensive experience in a variety of sectors and has previously led multi-functional teams through major financial and organisational change. She has held several non-executive positions, including Chair of the Audit Committee of The Beatson Institute and is currently a non-executive director of HICL Infrastructure PLC, a UK-listed infrastructure investment company.

Mark Allen has a background and extensive expertise in student accommodation and housing and was formerly a director at UPP (Universities Public Partnerships).

As a higher education (HE) professional with over 30 years’ experience, he was the first member of his family to go to university. Mark has been passionate about the sector ever since, and has held senior directorships both in the public and private sectors, mainly in the HE sector.

Currently Mark holds several Memberships; Council Chair of Health & Safety Committee, and Finance and Estates Committee, both with University of Roehampton. His non-executive memberships are for StudentCrowd and SPCE; both companies provide services to universities and to students.

Mark is an Equity Director of Sure Start Ventures Ltd (SSV). An angel investment company, supporting start-up companies. He is also a private investor in several other start-up companies across a number of sectors including Artificial Intelligence, Fintech and Pharmaceutical etc.

Previously Mark was a founding director of UPP Group, now the largest on campus provider of student accommodation and infrastructure services to UK universities.

Mark was educated at the University of Sheffield obtaining an Honours Degree in Politics and Economics.

Dave Kenworthy, Director of CoSector has over 21 years of experience of leading the delivery of commercial IT services including software, infrastructure, platform and professional services.

At CoSector, Dave leads the organisation responsible for delivering high quality, cost-effective IT and digital solutions to over 300 UK institutions, and over one million HE & FE users. Dave’s key focus at CoSector, in a rapidly changing digital world, is to continuously embed solutions and processes that enable our customers to enrich education and learning through innovative and sustainable services, and ultimately enhance the student experience.

Prior to joining University of London in 2012, Dave spent over 10 years in software engineering at global engineering firm, Bühler. Dave moved from a graduate position to leading the software team and in doing so transformed the full software lifecycle - producing more reliable, better-functioning software delivered, tested and released efficiently through automation.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Modern History, Economic History and Politics from Royal Holloway, University of London 2:1 (Hons) and a Master of Science (MSc) in Computer Science (Distinction) from UCL.

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