Trustees And Advisory Board

Chair of Trustees

Dr. Melanie-Marie Haywood is an international higher education consultant and speaker with a passion for educational development, quality and equity in education. She is an educational leader specializing in curriculum development, assessment, and the decolonising of higher education provision in Trinidad & Tobago and the UK. She is the author of 'The UK University Guide: An essential pocketbook for students of colour' a book that contains practical steps on key elements of university learning that have been found to make a significant difference in the experience of students of colour.

Adrian is a business development professional with experience in media, finance, and technology. He is currently a lead executive at a sports technology startup, and throughout his career, has been active in sponsoring academic tutoring and educational field trips to media companies like Sky, Bloomberg, and ESPN. Adrian has an MBA from London Business school.

Emily is a London Business school alumni with experience on three continents. She works with technology organisations and non-for-profits at key moments of inflection to help them maximise their impact. She is currently VP of Operations and Scaling at Signal AI, a natural language processing start-up focused on business intelligence.

Formerly a teacher, Helen has been Director of Partnerships at Causeway Education, a charity committed to widening access to university and the professions and was recently appointed as Director of Chrysalis East at London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET), a five year project designed to improve progression to top third universities from LAET partner schools. Helen has an MA from UCL and is a governor at a secondary school in North London.

Obi is a Careers Adviser at the University of Hertfordshire who has also spent years working within the school sector. He boasts a 15 year background in youthwork, careers, employability and advocating social mobility programmes to young people. His experience encompasses the creation of grassroot skill-development programmes the co-ordination of a range of work experience and mentoring opportunities for students.

Pancham is a Product Manager with experience of leading digital product development and strategy. Pancham also worked in the financial industry for several years. She has over a decade’s experience in mentoring children and supporting young people from challenged backgrounds to excel in academics through various programmes. Pancham has an MBA from London Business School.

Tracey is an early careers and management professional, with experience in leading trail blazing apprenticeship programmes and working with apprentices and employers. A Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute with over 15 years of management experience she has professional services expertise as a management consultant and careers consultancy working with undergraduate students and young people.

Kerry has more than two decades of experience in the energy industry, with expertise covering finance, risk management, capability management and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).

He is a Diversity Equity & Inclusion Manager at a leading UK listed energy company and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Kerry is also a member of the steering committee of Change the Race Ratio, the leading campaign in the UK calling for businesses to increase racial and ethnic diversity on leadership teams.