9.30 - 10.30
PLENARY 3 - SUMS
Aya Ferguson, Director of Consulting, SUMS Consulting
Aya has spent over 15 years leading teams to deliver complex change and transformation across a breadth of sectors including local and central government, health and transport, specialising in Higher Education. With a background in commercial consulting, Aya has been both a client and associate of SUMS and joined SUMS as Head of Consulting after several senior roles in UK universities including Programme Director at University of Westminster, Head of Portfolio and Change at Kingston University, Head of Change Management at King’s College London, Transformation Director at University College London and most recently Director of Change and Improvement at University of East London.
Nick Pidgeon, Management Consultant, SUMS Consulting
Nick has built his career on the rigorous analysis and application of data, turning that analysis into meaningful insight to help universities. He joined SUMS in January 2026 from Etio where he led the Performance Benchmarking business, which specialised in helping universities drive world-class financial performance and student experience through evidence and comparative insights. Since joining SUMS, Nick has enjoyed broadening his expertise to encompass target operating models, digital transformation and organisational maturity. He leads SUMS’ work on the Organisational Efficiency Maturity Assessment, helping universities to assess organisational maturity and develop plans to improve.
11.00 - 12.00
WORKSHOP 7A - EAUC
Fiona Goodwin, Deputy CEO, EAUC
Fiona has been with EAUC since 2005 and leads on key flagship initiatives such as the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges, the Carbon Coalition, the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard and the Green Gown Awards. Fiona also is a founding partner of the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) and leads on EAUC’s UN ECOSOC Consultative Status and UNFCCC Observer Status.
WORKSHOP 7B - UKUPC
Rebecca Baxter, Managing Director, NEUPC
Rebecca Baxter is the Managing Director of NEUPC (North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium), where she leads a strategic programme of collaborative procurement and sector support for higher education institutions across the North East, Yorkshire & Humber. With over 20 years of experience in procurement, Rebecca is passionate about driving value, innovation and positive change through partnership working. Committed to continuous improvement and member engagement, she works closely with senior leaders to ensure procurement delivers strategic value beyond savings — supporting institutional priorities, resilience and long-term success. Rebecca is also Chair of UKUPC (UK Universities Purchasing Consortia), where she champions cross-consortia collaboration and sector alignment, helping to strengthen a joined-up approach to procurement across UK higher education.
Julie-Ann Garton, Managing Director, NWUPC
Julie-Ann Garton is the Managing Director at NWUPC. With more than 30 years’ experience, she has built a breadth of knowledge and experience from her roles with Greater Manchester Police, Further Education and Higher Education. Julie-Ann has played a key role in many successful national procurement initiatives and is an experienced small business leader. Her role at NWUPC allows her to work closely with her members and other key stakeholders to ensure that NWUPC delivers a first-class procurement service. Exemplifying the benefits of collaboration and helping our procurement community to realise the true value of good procurement are her key motivators.
WORKSHOP 7C - University of Surrey / Grant Thornton
Matthew Knight, CFO, University of Surrey
Matthew Knight, a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London, joined the University of Surrey as Chief Financial Officer in July 2024. Matthew is responsible for overseeing the University’s Financial Strategy and accompanying operating arrangements to support and facilitate the University’s Strategic Plan. The role of CFO also plays a critical part in shaping the institution’s financial health, growth and strategic direction. Prior to joining Surrey, Matthew held senior positions within FTSE250 companies in IT and Software services at Logica PLC and as Group CFO at SDL plc. More recently, he was CFO of National Health Service organisations, within the UK public sector. He holds a wealth of experience working with diverse groups of stakeholders including banks, regulators and institutional investors. His experience includes listed and private company acquisitions and business transformation.
Harriet Taylor-Raine, Audit Manager, Grant Thornton
Harriet joined Grant Thornton in 2017 and specialised in not‑for‑profit clients after completing her ACA, and has over six years’ experience working with not‑for‑profit organisations, both as an auditor and as a technical specialist. Harriet holds a dual role as a not‑for‑profit financial reporting specialist, providing engagement teams with technical support on the financial reporting requirements for not‑for‑profit organisations. This includes advising on the specific legal and regulatory frameworks within which these organisations operate.
Stephen Dean, Director, Grant Thornton
Stephen leads a national not-for-profit external audit practice and bring over 25 years of experience working across the not-for-profit sector, with expertise spanning both charities and higher education, supported by a strong understanding of sector-specific reporting requirements and regulatory frameworks.
13.30 - 14.30
WORKSHOP 8A - University of South Wales / Medr
Amanda Bess, CFO, University of South Wales
Before joining the University of South Wales (USW), Amanda held senior finance leadership roles across complex, multinational and highly regulated organisations, including FTSE listed businesses such as DS Smith. She also held roles within Lloyds Banking Group, General Dynamics UK, British Airways, and Ladbrokes. Her experience spans financial transformation, performance reporting, data quality and strategic business partnering, supporting executive teams through periods of significant organisational change.
Bethan Evans, Executive Director for Regulation and Analysis, Medr
Bethan Evans took up the role of Executive Director for Regulation and Analysis in February 2026. Bethan joined Medr from KPMG, where she spent 12 years in public sector consulting, advising clients in highly regulated industries such as water, healthcare, transport, justice and defence. She is a Chartered Accountant, and previously served as Head of Wales for Ofwat and Wales Officer for the Electoral Commission.
WORKSHOP 8B - University of Huddersfield
Kirsty White, Student Finance Office Manager, University of Huddersfield
TBC
WORKSHOP 8C - Develop Global
Shirley Dalziel, Director, Develop Global
Shirley Dalziel is a founder and Director of Develop Global, specialising in interpersonal skills and leadership development. She is a Chartered Psychologist and a passionate advocate for understanding how our brains work and linking this to organisation strategy and transformation. She has been running workshops on Storytelling with Data for the past 5 years for Finance professionals and Business Partners. Clients include Siemens, Molson Coors University of Edinburgh, among many others.
15.00 - 16.00
PLENARY P4 - University of Salford
Geoff Taylor, Process Improvement Manager, University of Salford
Geoff is a CIMA qualified accountant with well over 30 years’ experience, both in industry and in the HE sector. He is an advocate of “Continuous Improvement” and is a “Green Belt” practitioner of the Lean Six Sigma process improvement methodology. He has spent many years modelling within MS Office to automate tasks & processes, particularly with Excel and more recently with the Power Platform. At Salford he rewrote their (at the time) sector-leading tool for academic workload management in Excel, using VBA macros to automate emails and file distribution.
