University Board of Governors

Graham returned to the University after spending five years as the Vice-Chancellor of Solent University in Southampton. During that time, the University opened an iconic learning and teaching building, a new indoor sports complex and industry-ready nursing and maritime simulation centres. The University also rose significantly in all major league tables, recorded its highest ever results for student satisfaction, employability and progression and was awarded TEF Silver. This culminated in being shortlisted for the University of the Year 2019 in the Times Higher Education Awards.

Between 2013­-2019 Jon worked for theTribal Group as MD HE having joined from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, where he was the Deputy Vice Chancellor.

Jon was registrar/secretary at both the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and at the University of Warwick and has also held management, teaching and administration posts at the University of Wolverhampton, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh and Lancashire Polytechnic, as well as teaching at the Open University and in further education. He has also published papers and articles on a wide range of education-related topics.

As a trustee of Chorley Youth Zone, Jim is very involved in the development of young people and is also a Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire.

He was involved in the early stages of establishing the University of Lincoln, and also took responsibility for the financial aspects of the first scheme of management delegation to schools and colleges at Cambridgeshire.

More recently, Jim has worked in public finance consultancy and recruitment; as an independent adviser to local government pension funds; and as Treasurer of Lancashire Police Authority. He has been a non-executive director of Blackpool NHS Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, chair of the Trust’s Audit Committee, and the treasurer of a local charity.

Throughout his undergraduate degree, Luke was involved in many different aspects of student life within the University, being a Course Rep, a committee member in multiple societies, sitting on the Students’ Council and being a Student Ambassador. He also graduated in July 2023 with 1st Class Bachelor of Science with honours in Forensic Science.

Luke is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community and has attended multiple events focused on further improvement of LGBTQ+ rights. He has also visited local colleges in order to educate and support LGBTQ+ youth.

During his time at UCLan, Luke has developed an interest in Forensic Anthropology, attending conferences to learn from experts and develop his knowledge in the field. After his term as President of the Students' Union, Luke intends to undertake a Master’s Degree in Forensic Anthropology.

During his time in charge the programme has made headlines with exclusive coverage including Rob Burrow’s high-profile campaign to raise awareness about Motor Neurone Disease and Marcus Rashford’s campaign on free school meals. The latter won BBC Breakfast its first national Royal Television Society Award in 2021 for ‘Scoop of the Year’.

Richard has been a journalist for 33 years having graduated from Lancashire Polytechnic in 1990 with a Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism and starting his career at Red Rose Radio in Preston. Before moving into Production, he travelled the world including going to Iraq during the second Gulf War in 2003 and Japan and South Korea for the 2022 World Cup. He went on to roles as Programme Editor of ITV News at 6.30pm and ITV News at Ten. He was also Editor of Granada Reports from 2004 to 2012 where the programme won a BAFTA in 2007 for coverage of the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy – the first Regional News programme to achieve that honour.

But most of all, Fredi is a proud Prestonian. His parents Umberto and Aideen ran a famous fish and chip shop in Preston for almost 50 years, where Richard would regularly help out from an early age. Richard has lived in the city and surrounding area his entire life, along with his wife Yvonne and three children Isabel, Dominic and Madeline. He is a regular at Deepdale, dreaming, one day, of Premier League football for Preston North End.

In recognition of the contribution to teaching, Ridwanah is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She also supervises postgraduate research and supports students in leading their own independent community research projects.

More recently, Ridwanah has been instrumental in the school for setting up systems and procedures for workload and performance management, staff development opportunities, international travel and widening participation activities to enhance student experience as well as research funding support.

In the past, Ridwanah has supported the development and delivery of a substantial portfolio of community projects which has grown to become the largest university volunteering programme in the UK. She has been instrumental in the supervised support of over 18,000 students and young people through volunteering and community action as well as taking a core role in developing the University’s innovative Community Leadership degree programmes at Foundation, BA and MA level.

Ridwanah is a Module Leader and Course Leader for a series of part-time, full-time and blended learning teaching programmes from level 5-7, providing people in the community and students with specialist experience and training in mentorship, leadership and management, the Social Return On Investment (SROI) Framework tool, and community and practice-based research. She also leads the University’s quality assurance processes and procedures for all Community Leadership programmes and CPD qualifications with the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Richard was a director of John Swire (Hong Kong) Limited from 1999-2000, Deputy Chairman and CEO of Pacific Basin Shipping Limited (2005-2009), and Chairman of Univan Ship Management Limited (2010-2015).

In addition to his University role, Richard currently holds non-executive director roles at Swire’s China Navigation Company and Anglo Eastern Univan. He is also Executive Chairman of Vanmar Shipping and a member of the Stanford University GSB Advisory Board in Hong Kong.

Between 2000 – 2007, Dame Sue was the UK’s representative on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Standing Advisory Group on Nuclear Energy and chaired the EU Euratom Science and Technology Committee from 2012 until March 2019. From 2006, she took on several roles as a consultant and adviser to the Government on energy matters, with a focus on nuclear energy. She served on the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology and two of the UK’s Research Councils as well as chairing the Government’s Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board from 2014 – 2016.

Since the beginning of 2016, Dame Sue has been Chairman of the Canadian National Nuclear Laboratory Scientific Advisory Board. She is also Honorary President of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, a Foreign Fellow of the US National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the UK Office of Nuclear Regulation Independent Advisory Panel.

Her formative career was spent with global FMCG and Pharmaceutical organisations, including RHM Foods, Bristol Myers and Roche, managing a total of 20 brands over this period, including the launch of six new brands that each became number one in their sector. Then as a strategy consultant with PwC, Lesley delivered Board-level corporate strategy and marketing engagements for leading telecommunications, technology, media, financial services, oil and gas clients working across the globe.

More recently as an interim CMO, she is working with B2B/B2C industry leaders and niche brands across a wide range of sectors/geographies, to improve standards of professionalism and productivity.

Lesley is also an experienced Chair/NED. She provides rigorous oversight and advice on corporate strategy, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance), risk management and marketing. She is also a mentor to CEO’s, CMO’s, students, graduates and senior executives with board aspirations.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and a Freeman – Honourable Company of Marketors, City of London Livery Company.

From 2004 to 2022 she was Lancashire County Council’s head of internal audit, and worked closely with both the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the Institute of Internal Auditors.

She was appointed to the board of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust as a non-executive director in April 2021 and has chaired its audit committee since October 2021.

In recent years Anne has led transformation programmes at the Royal Mail in several roles which have included Programme Director, HR Director and Group Learning and Development Director. Working alongside the CEO and their team, she was charged with designing and leading the company’s people strategy, changing the way learning and development was practiced in the organisation, implementing a talent review for the top 200 operations leaders, and leading a £360m negotiation to reform operations in London.

As the owner of Anne McCarthy Associated, Anne works with public and private sector clients to implement change, transformation and leadership development. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD).

As Director of Corporate Services at Preston City Council, Lorraine was the Monitoring Officer – a statutory role within a local authority, with responsibility for all aspects of governance.

Lorraine is experienced in forming relationships and building partnerships with people from a wide range of organisations and has good working knowledge of the public sector, including local government, the health service and other community-based services. During her career she has worked co-operatively with other Local Authorities, the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Royal Preston Hospital and the Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). She has a strong track record of delivering projects with the private sector.

In her early career Lorraine worked as a social worker for Bolton Metropolitan Council and taught for a short period at Runshaw College. She later qualified as a solicitor in private practice before returning to the public sector in Salford, specialising in public child care law.

Lorraine retired from her role as Chief Executive in 2018 and has since worked as a consultant. She is a Trustee at St Catherine’s Hospice and a member of The Friends of Worden park Leyland. In her free time she enjoys walking, reading and the theatre.

Fiona has recently served as a member of Euratom’s Science and Technology Committee, the Idaho National Laboratory's Nuclear Science and Technology Advisory Committee, the American Nuclear Society Board and was the first chair of the UK’s Nuclear Skills Strategy Group. Her current roles across the sector include being an advisor to the CEO of the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Office of Nuclear Regulation Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Independent Advisory Panel. Fiona is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Energy Division at CEA - the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, a Non-Executive Member of the UK Space Agency Steering Board, Patron of Women in Nuclear UK and President Elect of the UK Nuclear Institute.

In addition Fiona is a vice chair of the Nuclear Energy Agency’s Steering Committee Bureau and Policy Director of the Generation IV International Forum.

Fiona has long advocated widening participation in science and engineering and champions our sector- leading approach to diversity and inclusion.

She was awarded an OBE in 2017 and the French Légion d’Honneur in 2020.

His recent background, is Director of Finance & Digital transformation at an award winning regional mental health services charity and before this as a Chief Executive of an international healthcare NGO, delivering public health and global healthcare services across Africa and South Asia and other developing countries. He has been a Director of Finance & IT of a leading North West based social care charity. Prior to this, he spent 10 years in investment banking in Mergers & Acquisitions and corporate finance advisory roles, followed by a stint in academia at one of the world’s top universities as a Research Fellow in social care and disabilities and Lecturer in urban regeneration. He has a continued interest in tertiary level education through his global work and post graduate teaching. He studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level at UCL, followed by executive education at Harvard (Global Health) and INSEAD Business School. Based in the North West, he has actively worked with local communities over the years.

He is currently a Non-Executive director at Salix Homes based in Salford, Non-Executive director and Chair of Audit at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Chair of Audit at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Time at Salford University provided opportunities to further education and learning within industry and be part of the developing academic enterprise. A further 7 years at the Northwest Regional Development Agency provided an understanding of the role of skills and employment within regional economic growth, along with the opportunity to lead on skills and employment for the 9 RDAs with Government.

Most recently, Lis was the Chief Executive and Principal of Preston College, delivering technical and vocational education and training to local young people and adults.

She has served on several National and regional Boards and Steering Committees, and since retiring, sits on the UCLan Board.