The University Council

Professor Shearer West joined the University of Leeds on 1 November 2024 as its fourteenth Vice-Chancellor and President. 

An expert in Art History, Professor West has held influential leadership roles in universities and higher education.  

She obtained her BA degree in Art History and English at the College of William and Mary in Virginia in the United States of America, and her PhD in Art History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. 

Professor West was awarded a CBE in the 2021 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to higher education.

With a keen passion for improving the student experience, Jess has worked in higher education since 2014, joining the University of Leeds in 2017. Jess is the Curriculum Records Operational Manager in the Student Education Service (SES). She also specialises in timetabling and has worked across several teams in the SES. Jess won a Faculty Partnership Award in Engineering & Physical Sciences in 2021 for innovation.

Stephanie Burras is the founder and Chief Executive of Ahead Partnership, market-leaders in delivering social impact programmes with employers that help young people to maximise their potential. 

A graduate in languages, Stephanie worked as a partner within a global legal practice in London and Leeds before leaving the law to start Ahead Partnership in 2004.  

Stephanie joined the International Advisory Board of LUBS in 2012 and helped set up the partnership with Goldman Sachs. She chaired the Leeds City Region Employment and Skills panel for 5 years and was awarded a CBE in 2014 for services to business.  

Tom joined the Council in 2019. With over 30 years’ experience in technology, he has held a variety of leadership roles in multiple countries, and is currently Chief Technology Officer in The Ardonagh Group and a member of Council for the British Computer Society.

He was previously Group Chief Architect and Chief Information Officer, Lowell Group, Chief Information Officer at Leeds Building Society, IT Director for HSBC Global IT Operations and Vice President for IT for HSBC Global Software Delivery in Chicago. He has experience in the full range of IT-related services expected at a senior level, including cyber security and risks, digital, IT strategy, and infrastructure and asset management. He has previously been a non-executive director of Ongo Homes, Scunthorpe.

Qualified with a Bachelor degree in Business Studies and a Masters degree in IT Management, he is also a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society.  

Seb has been a lay member of the Council since 2016. He graduated from the University in 2004 with joint honours in History and Philosophy.

Since 2015, Seb has been chief executive of Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, which supports charities and social enterprises across England to be more financially resilient through developing enterprise activity and providing blended finance. 

Seb’s previous roles have been within the charity sector covering policy, strategy and funding. Following his graduation, he held two consecutive terms on the executive of Leeds University Union, during the latter of which he also served on the Council as a student representative. 

Seb was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022 for services to Social Investment.

Helen joined the Council in 2019. She studied her law degree at the University of Leeds and qualified as a solicitor at Hammond Suddards (now part of Squire Patton Boggs).

She has spent the majority of her career as General Counsel and Company Secretary of listed companies across a range of industries – retail, building materials, security and leisure. She stepped down as General Counsel and Group Secretary at the Co-Op Group in 2022 where she led their legal and secretarial functions and is a member of the Executive Team. She is currently Chair of the Yorkshire and North East Advisory Board at the Canal and River Trust.

She participates in the School of Law mentoring scheme.

Peter Goldsbrough is an experienced board member and chair. He is a trustee of the Fidelity UK Foundation, trustee of Dartington Trust, and Senior Advisor to The Boston Consulting Group, where he advises CEO and board-level executives of FTSE 100 companies and their equivalents around the world.

He previously chaired The Boston Consulting Group UK Partnership. He was also previously a non-executive director with Imperial College Healthcare. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College. He was previously a member of the Education Endowment Foundation advisory board.

Dr Kendi Guantai is the University of Leeds Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and an Associate Professor of Corporate Communications. She is responsible for delivering on key aspects of the University of Leeds EDI strategy as well as developing and embedding decolonial praxis as part of the student Access and Success strategy. 

She is a Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) Fellow, researching authentic self-expression and ‘Sense of Belonging’ in relation to students classed and racialised lived experiences, and also a sought-after international key-note speaker, often running workshops on EDI, Decoloniality and Communication in Higher Education and Beyond.

Dr Guantai is very active in community and third sector spaces, and is the immediate past Chair of The Board of Trustees at ActionAid UK, an international charity that works to make the world a more equitable and safer place, with and for women and girls. 

She co-founded and chaired the award-winning Leeds African Communities Trust, which started the first multi-ethnic food hub in Leeds during the COVID-19 lock-down. She was also the co-chair for the Leeds Academic Collaborations with the Third Sectors (ACTS!) and remains an active member of the University of Leeds Community Engagement Network in Research, Education and Civic Engagement.

As part of the Business School’s collaboration with industry, Dr Guantai designs and delivers webinars for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women's Programme. She is also a mentor on the KPMG Cross Company Allyship Programme, and was honoured to be an academic group lead and team supervisor for KPMG’s inaugural ‘Shaping 2040’ ESG Report. 

Although her current role means that she no longer leads post-graduate modules in Corporate Communication Strategy and Reputation Management, she none-the-less remains active in various communities of practice and is a past President of the International Association for Business Communicators (EMENA region).

Finally, Dr Guantai is a member of the University Council, as well as the University Senate.

Shivani is the 2024/25 elected Education Officer within Leeds University Union’s Student Executive, a current MA Political Communication student and the Head of School Excellence scholar. Prior to coming to Leeds, she studied her undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham, receiving a Law LLB in 2021.

Shivani has worked in the US through Interexchange including being a performing arts program leader. She also is a regular volunteer with The Salvation Army at her hometown of Doncaster. She is passionate about how the global identities in our student body can influence how students engage with their education experience whilst at Leeds. Shivani is a member of Senate, a Trustee of LUU and represents Leeds on the Russell Group Student’s Union network.

Lucy is the 2024/25 elected officer for Union Affairs and Communications within Leeds University Union’s Student Executive. She is currently studying her undergraduate in International Relations. Last year Lucy was social secretary of the POLIS (Politics and International Studies) society and is an enthusiastic member of LUU societies including Open Theatre, Theatre Group and HOMED. She volunteers with CLASSS, a small charity in Leeds providing after-school education to children in the Chapeltown and Harehills area. She is keen to increase outreach between students and the Leeds community and develop student communications both nationally and across Leeds University.  

Lauren joined the University of Leeds in 2013 to study  BA Theatre and Performance followed by an MA in Applied Theatre and Intervention and has remained a member of the University community since.  

She previously held the positions of Activities Officer and Union Affairs Officer at Leeds University Union before taking up her current role as Student Experience Officer in the Lifelong Learning Centre.

In this role she supports mature, part-time and foundation-level learners at the University and works to develop a sense of belonging among students from widening participation backgrounds. 

Peter is a Professor of Scientific Computing in the School of Computing, and Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Fluid Dynamics. He joined the University in 1990 as a Lecturer in Mathematical Software. 

Peter has since undertaken a wide range of leadership positions at school, faculty and University level, and roles across many parts of the organisation including School Director of Research, Faculty Pro-Dean for Research, and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering between 2010 and 2019.   

Most recently, he was interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Education. As Executive Dean he played a key role in establishing the Joint School with Southwest Jiatong University. 

Currently Head of the School of Education, Vanessa has led the vision and strategy for the School since 2022. 

Vanessa began her career in biochemical research, prior to working as a chemistry teacher. Following her first academic appointment at the Institute of Education, now part of University College London, Vanessa served in academic and leadership roles at Durham University, including as Deputy Executive Dean, Postgraduate Education and Student Experience in Social Sciences and Health. Her research interests lie in science and teacher education. 

Vanessa held school governor roles in three state schools in Durham from 2009-2024. She was appointed as a Russell Group university representative to the UCAS Council from 2022. Vanessa gained Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2021 and Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching in 2023.

Stuart grew up in Leeds. Most recently, he was CEO of the English National Opera launching free tickets for under 21s and pioneering diversity and social mobility programmes. Before that he launched and ran BBC3 then Sky Atlantic and oversaw all Sky’s entertainment output. He commissioned Gavin and Stacey, An Idiot Abroad, A League of their Own and Torchwood among others. He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and has a CBE for services to opera. 

Alice is a Professor of Applied Performance and currently Dean for Student Education with responsibility for Quality and Standards. She is a Leeds graduate, having completed her undergraduate and PhD studies at the University.   

Alice took up her post at Leeds in 2003 and has held various leadership positions in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries including Admissions Tutor, MA Programme Leader and Director of Student Education. She served a five-year term as Head of School from 2015 to 2020. In her current role she leads the University's assessment strategy and chairs a number of key committees, including the Quality and Standards Committee and the Digital Assessment at Leeds Project Board. 

Founder member and former CFO of credit reference agency Callcredit (now Transunion). 

Currently non-executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of Dotdigital plc; former non-executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of Tracsis plc and Link Scheme, the UK ATM operator.  

Trustee and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee of Yorkshire Cancer Research; former Governor, Audit Committee Chair and member of the Remuneration Committee at Leeds Trinity University. 

Member of the Leaders in Residence programme in the University of Leeds Business School. 

Wallace joined Harrogate Borough Council as chief executive in August 2008 and served in that role until local government reorganisation in April 2023.

Over a 40-year career he developed extensive experience in customer service delivery and transformation with award winning projects and teams whilst at Bradford MDC and Harrogate BC. He undertook a number of lead responsibilities in the Yorkshire region including tourism (with Harrogate hosting the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014) and climate change where he was instrumental in supporting the establishment of the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission. 

At a local system level, he was the chair of the Harrogate District Public Services Leadership Board. Since stepping back from his chief executive role, he has developed a diverse portfolio of responsibilities supporting the public sector. Wallace was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2020 for services to business and the community in Yorkshire.

Ken has had a portfolio career. Originally from Sheffield, he started work as an apprentice in the steel industry before becoming a mature, non-traditional entry university student. During his studies, education and skills became his career focus following his belief in the power of education making a difference to individual lives and economies. He developed his career in education progressing from lecturer to senior post holder and then for over 25 years, in professional services working for KPMG and Deloitte, in which he became a Partner in the UK and then Australian Firms. His area of focus is building consulting business, delivering public sector transformation, education and skills engagements in the UK, Middle East, Far East and Australia. 

In 2020, he retired from the Deloitte Australia Partnership, having been a part of the national leadership teams of the Public Sector Transformation, Human Capital, and Education businesses. He had also been a member of the board of the Queensland office with oversight of the regional strategy, business growth and how the office made an impact that mattered both internally and externally.

He returned to the UK and is now the founding partner of a boutique consultancy business that operates globally.

Janet is CEO of the Collaborative Learning Trust and a National Leader of Education. Janet has worked in school leadership, including several inner-city schools, for nearly 30 years. In 2009 she was the first BME secondary headteacher to be appointed in the city of Leeds and the first female headteacher in the 400+ year history of Prince Henry’s Grammar School (a comprehensive, non-selective school). 

In 2018 Janet led the development of the Collaborative Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust with Prince Henry’s Grammar School as the founding school. The Trust has subsequently grown to include diverse schools across the Leeds and Bradford area.

Janet is passionate about increasing diversity in school leadership and has led a range of initiatives and activities (often in partnership with the DfE) to make a difference in this area. In 2021 she was awarded an OBE for services to education.

A Leeds graduate, Heather joined the Council in September 2023 and is a chartered accountant and chartered tax professional who has been operating in the restructuring and change management space for the last 25 years. 

She retired from PwC in May 2023 after 21 years as a partner, having led the Global Restructuring Services business for her last four years and the UK Restructuring and Refinancing business for six years prior to that. 

She has spent significant periods of time living and working overseas, most recently returning from Japan in February 2023, and is passionate about the development of teams and supporting diversity, inclusion and equity in the workplace.