Speakers

Andrew Platt-Higgins (Conference chair)

Strategic Development Director
Penna Barkers

Andrew (also known as APH) has worked in the communications sector for more than 20 years, most of that time with Barkers. He studied English at university and spent six months as a trainee stockbroker, before joining the launch marketing team at London City Airport. In 1988, fearing that Docklands was an idea that would never work, he left for Farringdon Street and Barkers, just before the banks and newspapers decided to move in the opposite direction.

Over the next five or six years, he took on stints in copywriting, agency marketing and communications, research and studio management before leaving for a role at Aspen Business Communications in the mid-1990s. There, he worked alongside account planners for the first time and – having argued with them constantly – he re-joined Barkers two years later to build our own planning function.

For nearly ten years, APH headed a growing team of market research, insight and employer branding specialists, delivering solutions for clients across the industry spectrum, as well as writing and speaking on branding, recruitment and communications strategy, both within the UK and further afield. Andrew was appointed managing director of Barkers London in August 2008, nearly 20 years after first crossing the threshold – a powerful testimony to the Barkers employer brand.

Andy Blair

Deputy Director of Marketing & Market Development
University of Surrey

Andy Blair has spent over ten years working in higher education at the University of Surrey. A former graduate, Andy’s career has spanned several key central service functions across educational liaison, Students’ Union management and marcomms. Most recently, following several years as deputy director, Andy spent a year as acting director of marketing & communications before taking his current role as deputy and head of corporate & creative services. Andy is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a winner of the University of Surrey prize for enterprise & innovation.

James Fear

Director

Sterling Solutions

James runs the account management team at Sterling and has overall responsibility for maintaining existing client relationships as well as developing new business opportunities. His ability to understand client views and requirements coupled with over 15 years experience working with education establishments has earned Sterling a long list of clients. James regularly attends forums relating to the HE sector including CIM HE Mig, CASE, NAFSA, and the annual CBI Summit on higher education.

Antoinette Friar

Marketing Manager
Craven College

Antoinette has worked in the education market for over eight years. She has had marketing roles in both the FE and HE environment and is currently a strategic marketing manager at an FE college in Lancashire.

She has experience in delivering corporate brand strategy and marketing strategy and has worked as a marketing consultant for a secondary school.

Her most recent accomplishments were gaining a Bronze HEIST award followed by a Gold HEIST award for two Craven College FE prospectuses. During her time there she hosted five NASA astronauts at three events in Skipton on behalf of Yorkshire Forward and has also managed the Skills Street ‘In your hands’ campaign with Carole Smilie in collaboration with the Learning and Skills Council.

Sarah Garwood

Creative Services Manager
UWIC (University of Wales Institute, Cardiff)

Sarah began her career by studying environmental packaging and graphic design at West Surrey College of Art & Design (now known as UCA, University for the Creative Arts) before specialising in design for higher education. Prior to joining UWIC, Sarah spent nine years as creative director for Group Milacic, clients included Hyder, SWALEC, Lloyds of London, Panasonic, Hawker Siddley, Axa Insurance, Welsh Development Agency and the University of Glamorgan. Sarah’s prospectus for the University of Glamorgan was recognised with a Heist award.

Sarah joined UWIC in 1999, designing all prospectuses, marketing material and publications. In 2009 UWIC’s Cardiff School of Art & Design prospectus won best student publication at the Association of Commonwealth Universities annual marketing and communications awards. The same publication also won bronze at the Heist awards, for best higher education prospectus.

Sarah also oversees the UWIC website, and is currently working towards the anticipated renaming and full rebranding of the university later this year.

Lynn Grimes

Director of Marketing & Recruitment
Thames Valley University

Lynn Grimes has now worked at Thames Valley University for five years. She changed her working environment after 23 years in the NHS, where she was director of business strategy & performance with responsibility for an income dependent department.

Looking back, Lynn says she can identify similar parallels between working with academics and working with medics.

Lynn has been impressed by the dedication of staff who work within education and she is fully committed to the ethos of the accessibility of education for all. Lynn is chair of governors for a local primary school and sits on an independent panel of a local education authority for exclusions, so she has an awareness of social problems that can be created without access to education.

At TVU, Lynn is responsible for the full marketing, communications, recruitment and widening participation functions at the University. Her professional memberships include the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Institute of Direct Marketing.

On a typical day, Lynn may be working on marketing campaigns for key student recruitment periods, PR and press issues such as crisis communications, producing a full range of internal and external University materials, website issues and frontline services.

Lynn gets to work on interesting projects that aim to create a better learning environment for staff and students. Working amongst young people in a vibrant campus environment creates a lot of energy and TVU is quite a fun place to be.

Multiple campuses and combining further and higher education creates some cultural challenges too but one thing’s for certain:, Lynn says she is never bored!

Rebecca Hughes

Postgraduate Marketing Manager
University of Exeter

Rebecca is responsible for the development and implementation of the central postgraduate marketing strategy, including the postgraduate prospectus and postgraduate website.

She joined the University in September 2007 having spent three years at the Met Office where she worked for two years in marketing and a year in corporate performance management. Prior to this, Rebecca was responsible for the marketing and advertising for a mail order business in Exeter, which was a result of a successful Graduate Business Partnership after her MA Marketing in 2000/01.

Miles Linney

Managing Director
Linney Group

Miles is the sixth generation of the family business that is based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

He left school to travel to Australia for a year before returning to England and working as a market-maker for Hoare Govett in London for five years, trading in UK equities. He returned into the family business at the age of 25 and spent his first nine months on an induction that saw him estimating, printing prospectuses, driving vans and sweeping up! He then moved into sales and manufacturing positions before running a part of the regional newspaper side of the business for two years.

He took up the current position of Managing Director in 1999. Linneys have established strong links in the sector of education over the last 25 years and design, print and distribute for many ‘educational clients’.

Luke Mckend

Industry Head - Local/Careers
Google UK

Luke Mckend is industry head classifieds markets at Google UK. In this capacity he works with some of Google's largest clients, helping them develop their online marketing strategies. He has specific responsibility for managing clients in recruitment, social networking/dating, restaurants and has recently been working with a selection of Google's education clients.

Luke has worked in the online industry since arriving from South Africa in 1998, gaining experience across a wide variety of areas. He first worked for TMP Worldwide, initially in their candidate management unit, and eventually consulting with larger clients assessing their readiness to adopt enterprise e-recruitment systems. He joined e-recruitment innovators i-Grasp in 2003 as commercial director, and more recently worked for Stepstone after i-Grasp was acquired in 2005.

Sean Montgomery

Director
Fonemedia

Sean developed his career in the advertising industry over the last 20 years, and has worked in both the advertising agency and media worlds. As an account director with Riley and subsequently a board director at Kingsway Advertising throughout the 90s, he worked extensively with a number of HE institutions providing student recruitment solutions at all levels.

As an educational specialist with in-depth knowledge of the sector, Sean was a founding member of 'Educ@te' in 2001, a publishing company that provides student recruitment solutions. Having seen Educ@te flourish during its first three years of operation, Sean launched Ten Nine in 2004. Working in commercial partnership with secondary schools and colleges across the UK, Ten Nine is now a clear market leader for responsible six-sheet poster messaging in the UK.

Sean is now a director of Fonemedia, a new company formed to exploit the growth, and full potential, of the marketing and communications opportunities offered by mobile technology, and hopes to develop these opportunities in student recruitment.

Tracy Playle

Founder and Managing Director
Picklejar Jar Communications

Having worked for six years at the University of Warwick, latterly as head of Research-TV, Tracey founded specialist communications consultancy Pickle Jar Communications in 2007 to support the higher education sector get to grips with new developments in social and digital media. Tracy’s clients include universities and colleges throughout the UK and increasingly in mainland Europe.

Tracy is a keen believer in sharing best practice within the sector and, with this in mind, she founded www.he-comms.co.uk in 2008, the (free) social network for HE communications and marketing professionals. She is also chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) education and skills sector group, a keen blogger and an active ‘tweeter’ (@picklejar).

Greg Warner

Sales Director
Pindar

Since achieving a BTEC HND in printing, Greg has accrued some 20 years’ experience in virtually every aspect of the print industry. He joined Pindar in 1996 and has been sales director since 1999; he now has full responsibility for all aspects of sales in four core market areas: central government, education, examination papers and travel information.

His career progression through work scheduling, customer service, account management, production to his sales role, means that he is well qualified to steer his business responsibilities successfully. As part of his role, attention to detail, accurate administration, clear communication with customers and superior product standards are paramount.

Greg’s experience and thorough understanding of all aspects of the production process are invaluable. Combined with his management capabilities these qualities are instrumental in his aim to continually fulfil customers’ requirements.