Speakers
Keynote speakers
Dr Jamil Salmi
Dr Jamil Salmi is a global tertiary education expert, providing policy advice and consulting services to governments, universities, professional associations, multilateral development banks, and bilateral cooperation agencies.
Until January 2012, he was the World Bank's tertiary education coordinator. He wrote the first World Bank policy paper on higher education reform in 1994 and was the principal author of its 2002 Tertiary Education Strategy – Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education. In the past 23 years, Dr Salmi has provided advice on tertiary education development, financing reforms, and strategic planning to governments and university leaders in more than 90 countries around the world.
Professor Peter Rathjen
Professor Peter Rathjen is Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide, Australia, aswell as an internationally recognised researcher in stem cell science.
Before joining the University of Adelaide in January 2018, Professor Rathjen was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania from 2011-2017.
Other roles include Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, as well as Lecturer in Biochemistry, Head of the Department of Molecular Biosciences, and Foundation Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Adelaide.
Mike Lipkin
Mike Lipkin is one of the world's leading motivators, specialising in helping people enhance their personal productivity and build strong teams around them. He reveals the latest social value trends – which shape the way people think, act, and buy – and shows individuals how to leverage them to maximum success.
Lipkin is President of Environics/Lipkin, the motivation and sales empowerment practice of Environics Research Group – one of Canada's leading research houses. The distinctions that he has gathered from talking to people in 43 countries, combined with the insights from the celebrated Environics social values research, is how he offers his clients the best of all worlds: a delicious cocktail of ideas, principles and observations that will help achieve preeminence one conversation at a time.
Gala dinner speaker
Professor Angela Hildyard
Professor Angela Hildyard is Special Advisor to the President and Provost at the University of Toronto, Canada. Prior to this, she was Vice-President of Human Resources and Equity at the University of Toronto from 2001 to 2016, where she was responsible for salary and benefits negotiations for faculty, and for the negotiation and implementation of all terms and conditions of employment for more than 16,000 non-academic employees.
Professor Hildyard is President of the Association of Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada. She is proud to have a Leadership Award named after her, as well as the Angela Hildyard Equity and Diversity award for graduate students who promote equity, diversity, and inclusion within their institutions.
Speakers
Day one - Monday 24 September
Dr Marilyn Thompson
Dr Marilyn Thompson is Associate Provost of Human Resources at the University of Waterloo, Canada. A senior executive officer of the university, she plays a key role in strategic planning and decisions affecting the university’s employees, and provides vision for university-wide initiatives and human resources leadership.
She oversees the administration and long-term planning of all university human resources, organisational and human development, and total compensation activities and programmes.
Before joining the University of Waterloo, Marilyn gained executive and senior leadership experience in healthcare, government, education, and various business sectors. She has worked with many voluntary, community, professional, and business companies and associations, providing education, HR and evaluation expertise.
Kenton Needham
Kenton Needham is Executive Director of Human Resources at the University of Waterloo. With more than 25 years of experience in various industries and multiple disciplines, Kenton is an expert in the field of Human Resources and an ICF Professional Certified Coach.
Kenton leads a group of 60 Human Resource professionals, supporting over 9000 full-time and part-time employees. Prior to this role, Kenton worked with both Nestle Purina and Nestle Canada for 13 years in progressively more senior roles.
Kimberley Snage
Kimberley Snage is Director of HR Projects, Technology at the University of Waterloo.
With more than 20 years of experience, Kimberley has a background in business, a PMP designation and has led technology, enterprise change, and analytical functions within diverse industries. Kimberley leads a team that defines evidence-based talent analytics, while overseeing the HR Project portfolio, HR technology, and the execution of continuous improvements on campus.
Amber Sare
Amber Sare is Manager of the Office of Corporate Performance with the Region of Waterloo. She has over 10 years’ experience in implementing Lean Six Sigma and performance measurement methodologies within both municipal and provincial governments.
She has overseen projects in a variety of areas, such as healthcare, transportation, call centres, service centres, HR, IT, finance, and social services. Amber has a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of New Brunswick, and is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
Scott Smith
Scott Smith is the President of High Performance Solutions and Consortium.
He has over 25 years of experience in lean thinking, continuous improvement, continuous innovation and leadership development. He is the facilitator of 5 Leveraged Learning Consortiums and the developer of OS Thinking - Organizational Systems Thinking. Through the Leveraged Learning Consortiums and the OS Thinking approach, organisations learn how to compete to win. Scott currently works with organisations in the manufacturing, service, support, higher education, not for profit and healthcare sectors.
Scott also believes that it is important to give back to our communities. He currently serves on the incoming Chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario.
Navroz Surani
Navroz Surani is Director Human Resources – Talent Development at Aga Khan University (AKU) (www.aku.edu). As a key member of the Global HR team, he oversees the university's Recruitment/Outreach office for North America based in Toronto, Canada.
Prior to this global role, Navroz was Head of HR at AKU Pakistan for over 18 years. In this role, he was responsible for the entire HR function of the university and university hospitals.
As a Certified Human Resource Executive (CHRE-Ontario), he holds a master’s in human resources and industrial relations (MIR/HR) from Queen's University Canada. He is currently pursuing a PhD from the University of Toronto, which focuses on issues of brain drain and capacity building with special reference to developing countries.
Navroz has a unique advantage of having worked in the field of higher education HR for over 30 years in both developing and well-developed countries.
Aaron is HR Planning & Reporting Manager at Victoria University of Wellington, where he is responsible for coordinating and supporting the HR work programme and reporting framework. He provides leadership, technical expertise and advice in the areas of policy development and review, organisational performance and capability, job evaluation, remuneration, project and risk management, and reporting.
Aaron has over 25 years’ experience in the health and disability sector, including the Ministry of Health, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, State Services Commission; being Director of Accuro Health Insurance. He is a Charted Fellow of the Human Resources Institute (CFHRINZ) and a member of the NZ Institute of Directors; He is also affiliated with the NZ Psychological Society and the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network.
Day two – Tuesday 25 September
Jennifer Ellis
Jennifer Ellis is a HR Management Consultant and Advisor with over 30 years’ experience in her field. This includes an extensive period as Head of HR (Senior Director then Vice President) at the University of Technology Jamaica. Mrs. Ellis offers consulting services in the field of Human Resources in Higher Education and Chairs the ACU Human Resources in Higher Education Community.
Jennifer has a strong research interest and has authored and co-authored scholarly papers for publication and conferences. She is dedicated to using her knowledge and experience to elevate the role of HR professionals in higher education, in order to meet the needs of the 21st century and add value to their institutions as they strive to achieve excellence.
Tarrance Ryder-Downes
Tarrance Ryder-Downes is Head of HR for the Association of Commonwealth Universities. He has over 12 years of HR experience in the not-for-profit sector in the UK.
Tarrance has an MSc in Human Resources and a Bachelor’s in History.
Mark Adderley
Mark Adderley is Director of Human Resource Development at Heriot-Watt University, UK, where he is responsible for HR management, organisational development, and academic leadership and development across the globe.
Mark has worked in the public, not-for-profit and private sectors, with previous roles including Executive Director for People and Organisational Development at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland, where he modernised and improved services.
As Human Resources and Business Services Director for Scottish Water, Mark was part of the Executive team tasked with merging three water authorities into one, improving services and quality whilst reducing costs.
Originally trained as an engineer, Mark 'saw the light' while managing people and change. He is an accredited Executive Coach, has an MBA from London Business School, and is a Fellow of the CIPD and IOD.
Liz has headed the HR function in three different organisations. Her longest appointment was as Vice-Principal (Human Resources) at the University of Melbourne, where she and her colleagues developed the function a personnel function to a well-regarded HR division. Later, she became Head of Administration at the University of Melbourne, where she was responsible for service delivery of IT, HR, Marketing, Property and Grounds, as well as overseeing a major restructure of administrative service delivery.
Building on that background, since 2010, Liz has worked in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh. She has specific expertise in academic performance and workload management, having conducted research into workload management systems and consulted in this area. More recently, she has conducted three reviews of the operations of university Councils.
Liz is currently a Senior Fellow of the LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management at the University of Melbourne. She is also a partner in HR Global Innovations. She recently (with Emmaline Bexley) contributed a chapter to the Centre for the Study of Higher Education’s latest study ‘Visions for Australian tertiary education, 2017’.
Paul Kwadwo Addo (EdS) is a Senior Assistant Registrar at the Vice-Chancellor’s Office and a Sectional Head for Quality Assurance and Accreditations at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Paul previously worked as Test Administration Secretary for the National Board for Professional and Technician Examinations, where he was responsible for quality assurance of examinations conducted by the Board. Prior to that, he worked as a teacher in the Ghana Education Service.
Paul’s interests lie in the areas of policy, leadership and management, developing ways to continually raise the standard of teaching and learning processes and raise the overall quality of management practices.
Paul is a Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Management; Member of the British Educational, Leadership, Management and Administration Society; a member of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana; and a member of the Ghana Association of University Administrators.
Dr Pankaj Mittal is Additional Secretary at the University Grants Commission, India. She is a Fulbright scholar and has a MSc and PhD in Agricultural Statistics from IARI, New Delhi. She has worked in Higher Education for three decades, covering policy planning and management, including access, equity, quality and HR.
Dr Mittal was appointed as the first regular Vice Chancellor of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya – the only rural, residential, multi-faculty, women state university in India – in 2008, where she introduced a series of innovative practices and reforms.
Dr Mittal was also the proud recipient of a Fulbright Nehru Scholarship grant for Educational administrators. She also received the Award for Digital Initiatives in Higher education from the President of India in July, 2017.
Richard Keuber Manano has been the Director of Human Resources at Kyambogo University since April 2016. Prior to joining Kyambogo University, he worked in the Public Service of the Republic of Uganda, rising from the rank of Human Resource Officer in 1995 to Commissioner Human Resource Management in 2015.
With hands-on HR experience from operational to strategic level, his aspiration is to nurture a Kyambogo University HR that proactively drives service delivery.
Andy Fryer is Head of Communications and Membership at the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).
UCEA provides members with timely advice and guidance on employment matters pivotal to the United Kingdom’s higher education sector. Andy is responsible for developing and delivering an effective external relations strategy for UCEA and its 172 member institutions.
Andy provides communications advice and support to members, oversees media enquiries, and plays a key role in managing the UCEA profile and membership development.
He previously held communications posts at a number of further and higher education institutions and is an Executive Committee member for HEERA (the Higher Education External Relations Association).
Roger Couldrey is the Vice-President (Administration) at McMaster University, Canada, where he oversees the University's administrative and support services. He ensures that all financial, physical, systems, and human resources are used effectively and works closely with members of the McMaster community to address challenges and opportunities facing the University.
Prior to taking this role, Roger served on the Board of Governors for 10 years and as Chair of the Finance and Audit Committees for 7 years, providing strategic input to the acquisition of McMaster Innovation Park. Roger was the Chief Operating Officer of CommunityLend Inc., a Canadian venture in peer-to-peer lending; President and CEO of ePost, the world's first electronic post office; and held a number of senior executive positions at the Bank of Montreal for many years.
Lorna Johnson
Lorna is the Managing Director of Cubane Consulting (Canada). She has over 25 years' experience running large and complex business divisions as a senior executive and general manager in the financial services sector, as well as being a board director, a fintech advisor and management consultant focused on operations strategy. She has worked in Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand.
Lorna is a member of the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors, and has received the ICD.D, the professional designation for Directors in Canada. She has an MBA (Masters in Public & Private Management) and a Masters in Environmental Studies from Yale, and a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick. Recently, she completed the Directors Education Program at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.
Brian K Jennings has been a lecturer, specialising in Ethics, at Ghana Christian University College, Accra, since 1989 - from 2007 to 2017 he also held the position of Quality Coordinator.
In 2015, he became a consulting tutor with the ACU on the University Administrative Practice programme, which has seen him facilitate two workshops, co-author (with Dr Ian Willis, University of Liverpool) 'The ACU African administrators’ project. [Educational Developments 16 (4): 15-18], and present at the ACU Conference of University Leaders (Accra) in July 2016.
Brian holds a PhD in Moral Theology (University of Birmingham) and an MA in Education (University of Derby). He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and an Academic Auditor for the National Accreditation Board (Ghana).
His current interest is in reflective and practice-based learning through strength-based approaches.
Grace Karram Stephenson is a post-doctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr Glen Jones, Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. In this role, Grace leads a team of researchers from across Canada, administrating in the latest phase of the Academic Profession survey. She also assists Dr. Ruth Hayhoe in teaching Comparative Higher Education (LHAE 1826) and International Academic Relations (LHAE 3810)
Glen Jones is professor of Higher Education and Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. He is the author of more than 100 papers on Canadian higher education. His research and teaching focuses on higher education systems, governance, politics, and academic work.
Joyce Barlow has over 15 years’ experience in disability management and occupational therapy, with specialised expertise in the area of accessibility as it relates to persons with disabilities.
Since joining the University of Waterloo in 2016, she has successfully collaborated with and engaged departments across the campus in an effort to create a more accessible environment and inclusive culture for individuals with disabilities throughout their employment lifecycle or student experience.
Yusuf Saleh Shapayah is a HR and learning and development Expert, mentor, trainer, and employee branding enthusiast. His experience and exposure includes Chief Manger HR, Head of HR, and HR Generalist roles, having managed teams across the board.
Yusuf has 10 years’ experience working in HR in the higher education sector in Kenya, with strong knowledge of public sector and not-for-profit administrative management (HR, procurement, logistics and shared services), programmes and service delivery.
Yusuf has extensive experience developing strategies and policies to drive the change agenda, as well as the practical and operational experience to recommend implementation strategies that are workable and achievable. His goal is to help clients receive what they need, when they need it, in a manner that provides sustainable value.
Yusuf holds a Masters of Business in HR management, a higher diploma in HR, a certificate in Business management, and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business Administration. He is and a full Member of the Institute of Human Resources Management-Kenya.
Day three – Wednesday 26 September
Revd Keith Stephenson
Teresa Mwuese Nmadu is Professor of HR management and the first female Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos, Nigeria. She obtained her BSc (Business Administration) from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria; her MPA (Personnel and Labour Relations Management) from the University of Pittsburgh, USA; and her PhD (Management) at the University of Jos, where she has been researching, teaching, and serving for the last 25 years.
Teresa is a 2015/2016 Fellow of the International Women’s Leadership Forum; and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Educators (USABE), and the Academy of Management of Nigeria (TAMN).
Norah McRae is Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education, at the University of Waterloo (as of 1 September 2018). Prior to this, she was Executive Director of the Co-operative Education Program and Career Services; Director of the Office of Community-University Engagement, and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Victoria, Canada.
Her involvement in co-operative education, work-integrated learning, and community engagement spans more than 20 years. During this time she has led strategic programme development and research on student engagement, work-integrated learning, and intercultural competency development.
Norah is a faculty member for the WACE Planning Institute for Global and Experiential Education, the WACE Assessment Institute, the Global WIL program, and an adjunct in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria, where she teaches a graduate course in community-engaged learning. In 2017 WACE awarded Norah the Donald MacLaren Jr. academic award for professional achievement in co-operative and work-integrated education.
Umar Zamman is an accomplished and focused HR leader, with a passion for developing and executing HR and OD strategies that deliver business results. He is currently Executive Director of People ad Organisational Development at Bishop Grosseteste University, UK, and an Executive Board member of Universities HR, the national body representing HR in the UK university sector.
He has also held senior executive roles leading the HR, OD and Inclusion agenda in the National Health Service, Fire & Rescue Service, Policing Sector, National Police College, Her Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Home Office, where he was an adviser to senior government ministers including the Home Secretary.
Umar holds a BA in Human Resource Management, MSc in Strategic Leadership, and is currently studying for his MBA. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (FCIPD) and an experienced leadership coach. He lives in Nottingham, UK, and enjoys playing cricket, reading, and traveling in his spare time.
Dr Ipaye is the current Registrar and Secretary to Council of the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
She is a mentor and motivator who strives to achieve high standards – motivating others with exemplary leadership qualities and unparalleled administrative competence. She is an astute administrator who has delivered papers both within and outside of Nigeria. She has written several books, including ‘The University Administrator: A Practitioner’s Handbook’, which has become a reference point for university administrators across Nigeria.
Dr Ipaye obtained her first degree in Education History from the prestigious University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria, in 1985. She also holds a Master’s and PhD in Educational Administration from the University of Lagos.
Dr Ipaye is happily married with children.
Dr Nasira Jabeen is Dean Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, and Director of the Institute of Administrative Sciences and Human Resources Development Center (HRDC) at the University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
During her career, she has worked as HRD Consultant with international development organisations, such as UNICEF, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Asian Development Bank (ADB), The World Bank, and British Council.
Dr Nasira Jabeen was appointed Professor to the Prince Claus Chair at University of Utrecht, Netherlands for the year 2006-07. She is a member of the Committee of Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) for HR in HE Community. She has a post-doctorate from the University of Texas, USA, a MPA from the University of Southern California (USC), USA, and a PhD from the University of Stirling, UK.
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