Board of Trustees

We are governed by our Board of Trustees who are selected and appointed based on their specific skills, experience, and expertise including information technology, operational delivery, higher education admissions, marketing and communications, finance, and audit.

Our Chair is independent and is appointed by the Board of Trustees based on skills, experience, and capability relevant to UCAS.

Our Board is made up of a balance of trustees from higher and further education backgrounds, including three heads of providers of higher education and independent Trustees.

Our Board is supported by four Committees – Audit, Finance, Nominations, and Remuneration – comprising a majority of Trustees and also Co-opted Committee members, who have also been selected and appointed based on their specific skills, experience, and expertise.

Professor Edward Peck CBE – Acting Chair

Nottingham Trent University

Outline of Professor Edward Peck’s career

Professor Edward Peck joined Nottingham Trent University as Vice-Chancellor in August 2014. The university educates around 36,000 students, and employs circa 4,500 staff across four campuses. Prior to this, he worked at the University of Birmingham as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Social Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

His early career was as a manager in the UK National Health Service, and his academic interests encompass public policy and organisational leadership.

Edward has been a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Foundation Trust and an English Football League Club and the Chair of a Children’s Trust. He is currently on the boards of Universities UK, the University and Colleges Employers’ Association, and the Midlands Engine. He was a member of the Independent Panel established by Government to advise on the reform of Post-18 Education and Funding (the Augar Review).

Committee membership: Nominations Committee

Justin van Wijngaarden – Interim Deputy Chair

Executive Director
StoneX Financial

Outline of Justin van Wijngaarden’s career

Justin has 30 years of financial services audit, risk and compliance experience. He is an Executive Officer at a global financial services organisation, Non-Executive Chair of the Board of a social impact bank, Reliance Bank and Vice-Chair at a large secondary school academy.

Justin holds degrees from Imperial College, London, and Durham University, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. Previously Justin was Chair of the Board of AQA Education, one of the UK’s largest examination awarding bodies.

Committee membership: Finance Committee, Remuneration Committee

Professor Colin Bailey CBE

Queen Mary, University of London

Outline of Professor Colin Bailey's career

Professor Colin Bailey was appointed as President and Principal of Queen Mary, University of London in 2017, having previously held a number of leadership positions at the University of Manchester. He is an internationally recognised Chartered Structural, Civil and Fire Engineer who has authored more than 130 research papers and practical design guides.

After leaving school at 16 and beginning his career as an apprentice draughtsman, Professor Bailey began his career in industry, before joining the University of Manchester in 2002 as a Professor of Structural Engineering. He was then appointed as Vice-President of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, before becoming Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2014. He became President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London in September 2017.

Over his career he has gained significant non-executive experience, including as a non-executive chair, sitting on the Board of a number charities and organisations.  He is currently a member of the Independent Expert Advisory Panel advising government on building safety following the Grenfell fire, and is a Board Member of Universities UK. Professor Bailey is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to engineering in the 2020 New Year Honours list.

Committee membership: Audit Committee

Simon Bates 

Non Executive Director

Outline of Simon Bates's career

Simon was most recently a partner/member of the Management Group at PA Consulting. He has spent most of his career in the management consulting sector, advising private and public sector clients on strategy, operations, organisational and technology topics. His particular areas of expertise are around customer-centric, data-led and digitally-enabled services. He has worked with some of the largest corporates and with many start-ups and scale-ups. 

In recent years, his focus and passion have been in digital health, especially how healthcare providers and life sciences companies can collaborate to develop holistic therapies, diagnostics and services to improve outcomes for individuals, society and the organisations themselves. In an earlier phase of his consulting career, he worked extensively in the education sector, including advising on national-level reform programmes.

He has an MSc in Organisational Change from Cranfield University and his undergraduate degree was in France, at Neoma Business School. He is a member of the Economic & Social Research Council peer review college.

Committee membership: Finance Committee, Remuneration Committee

Dr Ben Calvert

University of South Wales (USW)

Outline of Ben Calvert's career

Ben started his academic career as an undergraduate studying social sciences and later a PhD focusing on British tabloid press coverage of share ownership and privatisation during the 1980's. He started his career as a lecturer at the University of Central England, teaching media and cultural studies. Later, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth and in 2002 moved to the University of Gloucestershire where he would eventually become Dean of the Faculty of Media, Arts and Technology.

Ben published in the fields of pedagogy and the study of television and as a Head of Department and later Dean was involved in the bidding team that secured Skillset Media Academy status. He oversaw a significant development of the portfolio and growth of student numbers. He was also university lead on the successful development of a University Technical College at Berkeley Green, in partnership with South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. Ben also trained as a QAA reviewer for their Review of Educational Oversight method and was an external examiner in various institutions.

Ben joined the University of South Wales in 2015 as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning, Teaching and Student Experience implementing a new Student Experience Plan and overseeing significant improvement in student metrics across the University. Ben has played important external roles within Wales and the UK including as a member of the UK Teaching Excellence Awards Panel, of the Advance HE Steering Group on External Examining, HEFCW’s Student Opportunity and Achievement Committee and the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment.

He was Chair of Universities Wales Learning and Teaching Advisory Group for several years, helping to facilitate sector-wide work on learning and teaching, retention, and learner analytics and he acts as Chair of the Welsh Government COVID Guidance Group working with government, public health officials and other stakeholders in developing frameworks for the continuation of learning through the pandemic. He has been a member of the Board of Governors at Bridgend College, at his local primary school and in his role as Vice-Chancellor, on the Boards of Merthyr Tydfil College and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Ben is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Committee membership: Nominations Committee

Pat Carvalho 

Birmingham Metropolitan College 

Outline of Pat Carvalho's career

Pat Carvalho joined Birmingham Metropolitan College as Principal in June 2021. Prior to this, she had been at Harrow College since 2009, first as Vice Principal and then becoming the Principal in 2015. In 2017 Harrow College merged with Uxbridge College (HCUC) and Pat became the Deputy CEO for HCUC whilst retaining her Principal role at Harrow. A highlight of her time at HCUC was the successful application and establishment of the West London Institute of Technology.

Further education has always played a part in her life and her first career was as a medical secretary before going to university as a mature student, where she majored in philosophy and then artificial intelligence. After 30 years in the FE sector she remains committed to the sector and its role to promote and deliver lifelong learning to young people and adults.

Committee membership: Finance Committee, Remuneration Committee

Mark Felix

The AA

Outline of Mark Felix’s career

Mark Felix is the Group Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Commercial Officer for The AA. He is responsible for all Commercial and Marketing activities for its 3.2m AA members. The AA was acquired by Warburg Pincus and Towerbrook in March 2021.

Prior to this, Mark was Executive General Manager at MoneySupermarket.com, a FTSE listed digital marketplace. He was responsible for Insurance, Customer, Operations and Brand. Prior roles include: Online Director and John Lewis and Head of Grocery Online at Sainsburys. Mark began his career in management consulting at Accenture.

Mark has deep digital experience across Commercial, Marketing and Product in both digitally led and more traditional companies and broad leadership experience across wider teams.

Mark holds a BA Honours degree in history from UCL and has continued his executive education at London Business School.

Committee membership: Audit Committee Chair

Caroline Hoddinott OBE

Education Consultant
WHBK Education

Outline of Caroline Hoddinott’s career

Caroline works as an Education Consultant in the secondary school sector, operating in a range of settings and contexts as a School Improvement Partner and leadership coach. She is a serving Ofsted Inspector. Caroline is currently deployed in a number of schools as part of the Department for Education’s COVID-19 School Recovery Offer.

Caroline was the Headteacher and latterly Executive Headteacher of Haybridge High School and Sixth Form for 12 years. She oversaw the school becoming a Teaching School and National Support School in 2011 (when Caroline was designated as an NLE – National Leader in Education) and a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) in 2015. In 2018 Haybridge formed, in partnership with King Charles I School, the Four Stones Multi Academy Trust.

Caroline has served as a representative on the Ofsted West Midlands Headteacher Reference Group and was the Chair of WASH (Worcestershire Association of Secondary Headteachers) from 2017 – 2019. Caroline is a Trustee and the Vice Chair of a Multi Academy Trust and a school Governor. In 2020 she was awarded an OBE for her services to education.

Committee membership: Audit Committee, Nominations Committee

Chief Data Officer
The Economist Group

Outline of Daragh Kelly's career

Before The Economist, he was Global VP, Data & Analytics at UK luxury fashion house Burberry, leading data science, customer analytics, personalisation and digital analytics across the company. Before that, Daragh held a variety of senior data and insight roles at Sky, Europe's leading direct-to-consumer media and entertainment company, with a focus on data-enabled innovation and business transformation.

Prior to Sky, Daragh worked in data and analytics roles across a range of sectors including consultancy, telecoms, digital, media and financial services.

Daragh is an economist by training with an MA in Applied Economics and started his career working for the Irish government developing labour market and education policy.

Professor James Miller

University Principal and Vice-Chancellor
University of the West of Scotland

Professor James Miller FRSE was appointed as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of University of the West of Scotland (UWS) in November 2022. 

Beginning his career as a clinical nurse in Edinburgh, Professor Miller is the first nurse to be appointed as a University Principal and Vice-Chancellor in Scotland – bringing a wealth of experience, values and vision closely aligned with that of UWS.

Professor Miller has also held a series of roles in healthcare, including Deputy Director of Nursing for West Lothian Healthcare Trust and Divisional General Manager in South Glasgow University Hospital NHS Trust.

After completing his registration at North Lothian College of Nursing and Midwifery in 1986, Professor Miller undertook a post registration degree at what is now Abertay University. He also has an MBA from Edinburgh Napier University, a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and is an alumnus of Harvard University’s Institute of Education Management. 

Professor Miller has been a visiting lecturer at four Scottish universities, teaching on undergraduate and master's programmes in nursing, healthcare management and clinical leadership. He has published in peer-reviewed national and international journals on a range of clinical and management issues in healthcare and is a regular reviewer for a number of journals.

Professor Miller was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University from August 2015 to November 2022 and previously held a range of other senior roles, including Director of the Open University in Scotland and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a member of the Institute of Directors, a member of the International Advisory Board for the Amity University Group in India, and was a founder member of the British Council’s Digital Advisory Board. 

In 2023, James was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. James also serves on the boards of The Carnegie Trust for Universities in Scotland; The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, and the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS).

Professor Malcolm Press CBE

Manchester Metropolitan University

Professor Malcolm Press CBE DL was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University in 2015, having previously held positions at the Universities of Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and UCL.

Malcolm is an ecologist who has studied the impacts of climate and environmental change in northern Europe and the Arctic, the regeneration of tropical rain forests in Malaysian Borneo, and the impact of parasitic weeds on subsistence farming in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Malcolm is currently a trustee of the British Council and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), sits on the Board of the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education (IfATE), and is Vice-President of Universities UK. 

Previously, he has served as president of his subject association, the British Ecological Society, and has also served as a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, a council member of the National Trust, a council member of the Society of Biology and a trustee of WWF-UK.  

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 in recognition of his contributions to education.

Committee membership: Remuneration Committee

Alistair Jarvis CBE (co-opted Board member)

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Partnerships and Governance)
University of London

Outline of Alistair Jarvis's career

Alistair’s role includes leadership of governance, communications, development, marketing, legal, inclusion, regulatory compliance and supporting partnerships with federation members.

He was Chief Executive of Universities UK (UUK) from 2017 to 2022. Leading the representative body for the UK’s 140 universities – a registered charity and six subsidiary entities – his role included influencing policy, political engagement, strategy and member engagement. Before this, he was UUK’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director of External Relations since 2013.

Previously, he was a Director at the University of Birmingham and has also held external engagement roles for national organisations in the public and private sectors. 

Alistair received a CBE in 2022 for services to Higher Education and Supporting the Higher Education Sector in its response to the covid-19 crisis.

He was educated at the Universities of Kent, Leicester, and the Institute of Education, UCL.

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Key dates

2025 UCAS Board meetings

• Wed 19 Mar
• Wed 2 Jul
• Thurs 9 Oct
• Thurs 4 Dec