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The Board oversees the strategic development of the university and ensures the effective use of resources and the general solvency of the institution. 

The Board comprises members from within higher education, industry and commerce as well as representatives of the students and staff (both academic and professional services staff). The Vice-Chancellor and certain members of the University Executive Team are Board Members.

Who is on the University Board?

External members

David Furniss (Chair)

David has over 40 years’ experience in the Financial Services sector, most recently as Group Chief Executive of Teachers Assurance, the Bournemouth-based provider of insurance, savings and investments to the education profession. David was appointed Chairman of Benenden Healthcare in July 2017.

Prior to that he had been General Manager of BMA Services, the financial services arm of the British Medical Association.

David is a business graduate, Chartered Insurer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

David has extensive UK Corporate Governance and company chairperson experience and has sat on committees including Audit and Compliance, Investment, Risk, Nominations and Remuneration. David has senior expertise in strategic planning, and the setting, delivery of, and monitoring performance against operational plans in complex and highly regulated organisations.

David was appointed Chair of the University Board from 11 July 2022, and is Chair of the Nominations Committee, Honorary Awards Committee and Student Experience, Quality & Standards Committee and a member of the Finance & Resources Committee and the Remuneration Committee.

Karima Fahmy (Deputy Chair)

Karima is a corporate lawyer having trained and practiced at the international law firm Hogan Lovells before moving in-house in 2011 to Grosvenor Group, one of the world's largest privately owned property businesses. Karima was Group General Counsel at Grosvenor from 2016 to 2020.

Karima currently holds a number of Non-Executive Director positions with companies in the UK Real Estate sector. She is also a Trustee of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and United Learning Trust.

Karima has a degree in Law from Cambridge University. She has also completed leadership courses at Harvard, IMD and the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

Karima is currently Deputy Chair of the University Board, Chair of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee and Deputy Chair of the Nominations Committee.

David Crosby

David Crosby is a medical research strategist and leader with a track record of thought leadership and driving progress in biomedical research. He has experience of creating research strategies, business cases and delivery programmes across complex discovery, translational and clinical research environments. 

David has a track record of major partnership deal delivery and has driven research progress in academic, industrial, public and charitable sectors, and multiple disease areas (including oncology, cardiovascular and immunology), acquiring insights and approaches from each. Having previously worked for the University of Bristol, BOC Medical/Linde Gas Therapeutics, the Medical Research Council and the Office for Life Sciences. He is currently Head of Prevention and Early Detection Research at Cancer Research UK.

David is a member of the Audit, Risk & Governance Committee.

Maggie Frost

Maggie is currently Finance Director of The Data and Marketing Association having joined there in February 2024.

Previously Maggie was Group Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for 16 years of a leading London advertising and marketing business, VCCP Group  which is private equity owned. Maggie trained as a chartered accountant at KPMG. 

Maggie has had considerable experience of managing the finances and operations (HR, IT, Legal and Business Support) of large organisations including their international subsidiaries.

Maggie has a history of supporting charities through her previous work as a trustee including for Westminster Victim Support and currently is chair of the Coroner’s Court Support Service. Maggie is a Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), for whom she was Honorary Treasurer for 8 years. 

Maggie is a member of the University’s Board and the Audit, Risk & Governance Committee.

Nicolas Frost

Nick is a finance professional and is currently Group Chief Financial Officer at Prytek Group where he helps to develop the company’s financial strategy and implement the company’s growth plans. With over 20 years of finance experience in a broad range of roles, Nick brings knowledge and industry expertise to his new role on the Board, having previously held CFO positions at other firms, including the London Stock Exchange Plc. 

Nick initially joined the Board’s Audit, Risk & Governance Committee in April 2023 as a co-opted member before being appointed to the University Board in July 2024.

Nicholas Golding

Nick Golding is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, with many years of experience working in senior finance roles, most recently Finance Director at Heathrow Airport Ltd where his role also incorporated helping to drive change in carbon management and sustainability. His specialist  experience includes external reporting (Statutory/Regulatory), Tax, Treasury Control, Risk and Support/Delivery Services.  Nick is also a BU alumni, having studied Accounting and Business Studies.

Nick is a member of the Audit, Risk & Governance Committee and the Student Experience, Quality & Standards Committee.

Karl Hoods, CBE

Karl is an experienced and award-winning CIO, successfully leading and transforming large technology and digital functions in challenging environments across a range of sectors.

He is currently the Group Chief Digital and Information Officer at the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and Government Chief Transformation Officer. Prior to this, he worked in similar roles at Save the Children, Department for Education and Partnerships for schools.

Karl is a graduate of our very own University and has a Bsc (Hons) in Information Systems Management. He is a member of the Finance and Resources Committee and Remuneration Committee.

Karl was awarded a CBE in the 2024 King’s New Year Honours for services to technology and education.

Simon Jackson

Simon Jackson is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience of working in senior finance roles for FCA regulated and Channel Island regulated businesses with experience of AIM floatation and subsequent rapid growth both organic and by way of acquisition. He is currently Chief Finance Officer at WH Ireland Group Plc.

Simon had extensive experience of developing finance and risk systems to cope with changing requirements and regulations to provide rapid and accurate management information. He also has a wide range of board level experience and membership of finance, audit and risk and compliance, treasury, ExCo, and strategy committees.

Simon is a member of the Finance & Resources Committee.

Stuart Jones

Stuart has worked as a Director at Savills UK Limited for over ten years, operating both locally and nationally on a wide range of land and property matters. Prior to this he held positions at both PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). He is a long-standing member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), with sound property and financial expertise. 

He has strong local community connections, attended Canford School in Wimborne and now lives in rural Dorset.

Stuart is Deputy Chair of the university’s Finance and Resources Committee and a member of the Student Experience, Quality & Standards Committee.

Sara Luder

Sara was a partner at the magic circle law firm Slaughter and May until 2020. She was Head of Tax at Slaughter and May and recognised as a leading practitioner in tax in all the leading legal directories.

Sara has a particular interest in diversity and formed the Slaughter and May’s Parents’ network and its Women’s network. She was also involved in internal and external mentoring schemes and set up the firm’s Female Leadership Development Programme.

She has previously served as a primary school governor and as a trustee of School Home Support, a charity that works with schools to overcome barriers to Education, improving engagement in learning and attendance.

Sara read Maths and then Law at Trinity College, Cambridge and also has a LLM from Queen Mary College, University of London. She recently completed an MMATH at the University of Southampton.

Sara is Deputy Chair of the Student Experience, Quality & Standards Committee.

Jo Pretty

Jo Pretty is an accomplished leader in the field of education and training, with a proven track record of shaping and delivering strategic objectives. She has a broad range of experience including governance, change management, quality improvement and financial resilience. 

Jo currently works as Further Education Adviser at the Department of Education.  Her previous roles have included CEO and Principal of two Further Education colleges. Jo recently completed her doctorate, which examined apprentices’ creativity in the workplace, proposing policy change for workplace learning.  

Jo is Chair of the Student Experience, Quality & Standards Committee and a member of the Honorary Awards Committee.

David Smith

David Smith is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and holds a Diploma in Personnel Management and Master’s Degree in Employment Relations and Law. He has over 30 years’ experience within Human Resources working across a number of sectors, including time as the Group HR Director for LV= based in Bournemouth. 

David is a commercially minded Human Resources Director with extensive M&A, transformation and leadership experience gained operating at Executive/Board level across a number of organisations such as Sainsbury’s, Virgin Atlantic and Private Equity backed businesses.

He also has extensive experience of working with and sitting on Remuneration Committees.

David is a member of the Remuneration Committee.

Deborah Warman

Deborah Warman is a human resources and reward specialist and Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel & Development. She was Group Head of Performance, Reward and Employee Relations at Marks & Spencer plc with overall accountability for group-wide strategy in all areas related to Performance and Performance Management, Reward for all employees including senior colleagues and Employee Relations and Employment Policy.

Deborah has significant experience of corporate governance senior level remuneration and reporting requirements, including those related to gender pay. She has broad HR and organisational design experience in previous roles.

Deborah is a lay member of the Employment Tribunals where she sits on more complex employment cases involving discrimination or whistleblowing claims. Deborah was appointed  as a governor to the Board of Lady Eleanor Holles School from September 2022 where she is vice chair and in addition sits on the Education, Staff & Wellbeing Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Deborah is Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Finance & Resources Committee, the Honorary Awards Committee and the Nominations Committee.

Robert Williams

Robert is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and until recently was Chief Financial Officer at Cardiff University where he was responsible for finance, procurement and estates. Prior to Cardiff he was Deputy Director of Finance at University of Oxford.

Robert is Chair of the university’s Finance and Resources Committee and a member of the Nominations Committee.

Internal Members

Professor Alison Honour – Vice-Chancellor

Susie Reynell – Finance Director

 – Academic Staff Member of the Board

- Senate Member of the Board

Vacancy - Student Member of the Board

Esther Chinenye Isaiah – President of the Students’ Union ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥

Esther is the elected President of the Students' Union at ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥.

Joyce Napa – Professional and Support Staff member of the Board

Deborah Wakely – Head of Legal Services and Corporate Governance and Clerk to the University Board

Deborah Wakely is the Clerk to the University Board and can be contacted at [email protected].