Amanda Coffey joined the University of the West of England, Bristol in April 2020, as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost. This is a key strategic leadership role, working closely with, and deputising for, the Vice-Chancellor. Amanda has oversight of the academic portfolio of the University including the quality and enhancement of academic programmes, research and enterprise ambition, partnership working and UWE’s core commitment to inclusivity.
Prior to joining UWE Bristol, Amanda was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience and Academic Standards at Cardiff University. She joined Cardiff University in 1990 as a lecturer, and was awarded a personal chair in 2006. She held a number of senior leadership positions at Cardiff, including Dean for Education and Students in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Head of the School of Social Sciences. Amanda is an experienced school governor and charity trustee.
Rachael Fleetwood was appointed Finance Director at UWE in October 2018, following five years as Deputy Director of Finance for the University. Prior to that, she was Assistant Finance Director for the University of Bristol for twenty years.
Rachael studied Accounting & Finance at the University of Plymouth.
Asim Ilyas has been involved in many aspects of law and personal finance for more than 20 years. His experience in banking and debt advice in commercial and not-for-profit settings has allowed him to gain a great breadth and depth of experience about the relationship between people and money. He’s been employed by a community advice agency, Citizens Advice, The Institute of Money Advisers and worked under the supervision of an Insolvency Practitioner for Grant Thornton. Sim is Business Development Manager for Bristol Credit Union and he runs a freelance consultancy practice specialising in advice work. He has served as a trustee for three charities prior to his involvement with The Arnolfini. He aspires to one day be a chef in his own pizza restaurant.
Glen Maxwell-Heron has been a Director of Belmont Leisure Ltd since 2017, and Managing Director of St Andrews Consulting since 2008. Prior to that he was a Director of My Future Direction, and held project management roles with Halifax Bank of Scotland, the Nationwide Building Society, and ICL. At the beginning of his career, he spent 13 years as an Engineer Officer with the Royal Navy.
Glen has a BA in Engineering from Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Prince Taylor is a Creative Producer currently co-leading the Rising Arts Agency’s, ACE funded BEIT Programme, critically disrupting ideas of leadership with 10 aspiring creatives. With experience in managing projects centred around accessibility, equity and equality, Will’s creative work speaks to representation and community.
Gary Topp became Executive Director at Arnolfini in February 2019. He has been a Chief Executive of a number of organisations in the past 20 years in both the UK and Australia including Yorkshire Culture, Culture Central and Greening Australia. He started his career as a visual arts curator and has maintained a strong interest in visual and contemporary arts alongside a career that has encompassed large scale economic and community led projects, a history of working within a university context and the delivery major international and city events. He has also held several non-executive positions and is currently Chair of Trustees at the Leach Pottery in St. Ives. Gary is also Inaugural Arnolfini Fellow for UWE, Bristol.
Ellen Harrison is Head of Creative Programmes for Historic England and has worked for the heritage organisation since 2010. Her work focusses on public programming, exhibitions and artist commissions to help a broad range of people positively connect with community and place, improving their wellbeing, contributing to regeneration and quality of life in the process. She directs a series of high profile programmes, including the largest ever publicly funded community-led arts and heritage programme, the High Street Cultural Programme; History in the Making, a national youth-led heritage programme that invites young people to celebrate local history in meaningful ways; and a national commemorative plaque scheme, that finds new ways to commemorate people with co-productive methods.
Ellen’s background is in campaigns, communications and public engagement. She is an alumni of the prestigious Oxford Cultural Leaders programme and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Lizzie Shannon-Little is the Global Head of Communications and Marketing for Oxford Policy Management, an international development consultancy working to reduce poverty and disadvantage through public policy reform. She specialises in brand development, digital marketing, and organisational reputation and crisis communications, having worked across the academic, media, government and policymaking, arts, not-for-profit, and private sectors. She is a mentor for the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Bloom, a networking organisation for women in the communications and marketing industry. She has acted on the Boards of both WOA Gallery in Oxfordshire and for the Oxford Policy Fellowship, a not-for-profit that places early career lawyers in governments in low-income countries. She is a practicing artist and writer.
