Our board

Board of Directors

Independent HE is governed by and for its members while its strategic direction is overseen by a Board of Directors. The majority of the Board is elected by the members and any member representative can stand for election. An Honorary Treasurer and Independent Board Member were appointed in 2019.

Roxanne Stockwell
Chair of the Board

Roxanne is the Principal of Pearson College London, the first higher education institution to be set up within a FTSE 100 company.  A graduate of the University of Sydney, she has worked as a corporate lawyer, in theatre management, and for the past 20 years in HE. She was previously a director at BPP.

James Pitman
Vice Chair of the Board

James is Study Group’s Managing Director, UK & Europe, Higher Education UK & Europe, having joined the business in 2007. He has held a variety of senior international roles in the music industry and education publishing and graduated from the University of Cambridge, followed by an MBA from IMD.

Colin Castelino
Honorary Treasurer

Since 2015, Colin has been Finance Director at Le Cordon Bleu and is responsible financial oversight of the School, as well as admissions and strategic relationships with partner institutions. Having graduated from LSE, he qualified as a Chartered accountant with Deloitte and has over 20 years’ experience as a Finance Director.

David Howell
Board Member

David is CEO at Met Film School and has worked at many other independent providers. David has an in-depth knowledge of delivery models, academic standards, quality assurance, data, student admissions and enrolment, and associated activities. He also specialises in the area of international development and led ICMP’s international strategic and operational activities.

Robin Middlehurst
Independent Board Member

Robin is an Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at Kingston University London and an educational leader in corporate and academic governance and leadership development. She has 25 years’ experience of working at director and senior management levels in national policy agencies and universities, and building effective relationships with senior government officials, stakeholders, clients and partners.

Dr Janet Rose
Board Member

Janet is currently Principal of Norland College, an independent provider of specialist higher education and training for early years practitioners. She is a former Reader and Associate Professor in Education and has over 25 years’ experience in the HE sector, which has included overseeing and developing numerous degree and postgraduate degree programmes.

Hema Tank
Board Member

Hema is the Associate Dean at The London Institute of Banking & Finance. Hema has over 20 years of experience in academic administration, developing HE strategy and policy, student experience and enabling strategic change. Hema has previously worked at UCL, Cass Business School and Brunel University as well as in the USA and India.

Sharona Friedman
Board Member

As President of UCFB’s Global Institute of Sport, Sharona is responsible for the vision and delivery of strategic goals at the world’s leading destination for education in sport. Prior to taking the reins at GIS, Sharona served as Chief Marketing Officer at University Campus of Football Business (UCFB), where she remains a Governor.

Sophie McCarthy
Independent Student Member of the Board

Sophie is a graduate student with four years of experience working in the UK music industry. She has worked on production crews, on independent record labels, in talent management, and as a music journalist. Outside the industry she is also the Head Coach at Imperial College’s synchronised swimming club, where she coaches competition squads.

Phil Deans
Board Member

Before taking up the role of President and Vice Chancellor in 2020 of Richmond American University London, Phil Deans served as the Provost of the University from 2011 where he led the successful application for Taught Degree Awarding Powers, and registration with the Office for Students. He also oversaw the creation of Richmond’s dual degree