The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ Widening Access National Conference 2014 The Future Direction of Widening Access: Purpose, Policy and Practice Speaker profiles Professor Leni Oglesby OBE, HEFCW Council member Professor Oglesby previously held academic and senior management posts at Leicester, Sheffield, Lancaster, Surrey, Manchester Metropolitan and Teesside universities, and a secondment to the Policy Division of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). She has wide experience of international, European, national and regional agencies, including the International Council for Adult Education, the European Bureau of Adult Education, the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning and the Society for Research in Higher Education. Leni has been a member of HEFCE and QAA panels, variously concerned with the recognition of centres of excellence in teaching and learning, HE in FE, institutional degree awarding powers, and quality assurance and employer engagement provision. She is a graduate of Cardiff University, and undertook postgraduate studies at Leicester University. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Professor Oglesby was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2014 of the Society for Educational Studies, a learned society which produces The British Journal of Educational Studies. David Allen OBE, Chair, HEFCW David Allen OBE was Registrar and Deputy Chief Executive of the University of Exeter between 2009 and 2013, having been Registrar and Secretary since 2003, where he was responsible for the effective and efficient operations and governance of the University, deputising for the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive as necessary. He previously held similar positions at the universities of Birmingham and Nottingham. In December 2008 he was appointed a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). He was also a member of the Leadership, Governance and Management Committee of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. David also served on the Board of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (2004-2010) and chaired its Audit Committee. He is a former Board member of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership and from 2006-2009 chaired a Steering Group of partners to plan and fund Exeter Science Park. He is a non-executive Director of South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and a Governor of Exeter College. He is the only person to have chaired both the Association of University Administrators (AUA) (1998-2000) and the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA) (2003-2006). He was a member of the Higher Education Regulatory Review Group (2006-2008). He was a Foundation Governor of the King Edward VI Schools Foundation (1998-2003) and chaired the Russell Group Registrars’ meetings from its inauguration in 2001. David was awarded an OBE for services to higher education in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List. Huw Lewis AM, Minister for Education and Skills, Welsh Government Huw Lewis was first elected to the Assembly in May 1999. Huw was Assistant General Secretary of the Welsh Labour Party prior to his election. Born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1964, he was educated at Edinburgh University. A former chemistry teacher, his interests include literature, classical music and the challenges facing the South Wales valleys. Huw was appointed Deputy Minister for the Economy and Transport with special responsibility for Regeneration before losing his post in the coalition reshuffle. He has reviewed the Welsh Government’s flagship anti-poverty programme, Communities First and wrote the Welsh Government’s Action Plan to eliminate child poverty. In December 2009 he was appointed Deputy Minister for Children. Following re-election to the National Assembly for Wales in May 2011, Huw Lewis was appointed Minister for Housing, Regeneration and Heritage and in March 2013 was appointed Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty. In June 2013 he was appointed Minister for Education and Skills. Dr David Blaney, Chief Executive, HEFCW David Blaney holds a first degree is in Business Studies, an MBA and, more recently, a doctorate from Cardiff focusing on the management of higher education. David lectured in Business Information Systems at Humberside and Information Systems Management in Wolverhampton. Having been promoted to Principal Lecturer at Wolverhampton, David moved in 1993 to a corporate academic development role at Gwent College of HE (which became University of Wales, Newport). Over a 12 year period at University of Wales, Newport, David held a number of roles including Head of Academic Development, Director of Quality and Assistant Principal (Academic), in addition to playing a substantial role in the federal University of Wales as a member of Court, Council, the Academic Board and a range of other committees. David moved to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales in 2005 as Head of Funding and Reconfiguration, was promoted in 2007 to the role of Director of Strategic Development and became Chief Executive in 2012. Professor Chris Taylor, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data Methods (WISERD) Chris Taylor is Professor of Education Policy at Cardiff University School of Social Sciences. He is the Cardiff Co-Director of the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD). He currently leads the three- year independent evaluation of the Foundation Phase for the Welsh Government. He has also been researching participation in Higher Education for over ten years and was involved in the two higher education-related Rees’ Reviews and the Graham Review’s. He is currently one of the lead investigators on an ESRC and HEFCW funded study to investigate the impact and effectiveness of widening access to Higher Education in Wales. Geraint Rees, Head teacher, seconded to Welsh Government Geraint Rees has been involved in education throughout his life. Having started as a teacher in Kenya, he came back to Wales and was a teacher of business studies in schools, prison and in post-16 education. After 10 years as headteacher of Ysgol Plasmawr in Fairwater, he was seconded into the local authority for 4 years before working as executive headteacher to establish the Ely Secondary Federation in Cardiff. He is currently on secondment into Welsh Government, working in a team of expert secondees with local authorities and regional consortia Beth Button, President, NUS Wales Beth Button is currently the President of the National Union of Students in Wales for 2014/15, an elected role that represents over 320,000 learners studying in post-16 education in Wales. Beth was previously the Deputy President of NUS Wales, and before that, the Education Officer at Cardiff University Students’ Union. Beth graduated from Cardiff University in 2012, having studied Education and Sociology. Rob Humphreys, Vice-Chair, Universities Wales Rob Humphreys has been the Director of the Open University in Wales since 2007. He was previously Director for Wales of NIACE Dysgu Cymru - the Welsh arm of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education - and prior to that a lecturer in adult education at the University of Swansea for 12 years, where he worked on the innovative and award-winning Community University of the Valleys project and was awarded a Distinguished Teaching Award for his work with adult students. He was a founder member and first chair of the Swansea Festival of Learning. Rob was appointed by the Welsh Government to the first and second ‘Rees Reviews’ of higher education funding. In 2008 and 2009, he held the post of Specialist Adviser to the Welsh Affairs Committee of the House of Commons during its Inquiry into Cross Border Services. He was later appointed to the Independent Review of Higher Education in Wales, which reported to the Welsh Government in May 2009. He was also chair of the independent review of governance within the Further Education sector in Wales, which reported to the Minister for Education in 2011. In 2008 he was appointed by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to the All- Wales Convention looking at the future of the Welsh devolution settlement. This constitutional work has continued with Rob’s more recent appointment, in 2011, to the UK Government’s Commission on Devolution in Wales (the Silk Commission). Celia Hunt, Director of Strategic Development, HEFCW Celia Hunt is the Director of Strategic Development for the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) overseeing policy development and implementation in broad areas including: the Student Experience, which covers student engagement, quality, learning and teaching and initial teacher training; Widening Access and Inclusion, which covers widening access to and through HE, the Reaching Wider Programme, retention and success in HE, part-time and flexible learning, HE in FE, inclusion, equality and diversity agendas; and Skills and Employability, which covers GO Wales and jobs growth. Celia also oversees Welsh Medium provision and leads on the development of HEFCW’s Corporate Strategy. Prior to moving to HEFCW, she has worked in a range of sector institutions from Oxbridge, FE/HE and HE. In her previous role she was involved in the establishment of school compacts and HE/FE franchise arrangements across Wales. Richard Spear, Chief Executive, Careers Wales Richard has worked in education for the last 17 years through various roles with HEFCW, FEFCW, ELWa, the Welsh Government, NIACE and Careers Wales. Richard held the position of Head of Programme Funding between 2001 and 2007, where he was responsible for annual budgets in excess of £500m. In addition to the core funding for post-16 education and training in Wales (except Higher Education) he was also responsible for specialist areas such as European funding, special educational needs and Further Education estates. In August 2007, Richard was appointed as Director of adult learning charity NIACE Dysgu Cymru, where he was responsible for strategic development, membership and resources for NIACE’s work in Wales. He was also a member of the senior management team of NIACE (England and Wales) where he led on strategic planning and risk management across the organisation.