EIMR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the University Court
Job Titles:
- Director of Corporate Communications
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of Corporate Communications Content / Director of Corporate Communications
Alison is UHI's Director of Corporate Communications responsible for developing and leading a professional approach to corporate communications across UHI.
Alison has a strong institutional knowledge of the UHI partnership, having worked in various communications-related roles firstly as a consultant since 2004 and then as an employee in communications since 2009.
She is an experienced public relations professional and holds chartered status from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. She also holds their PR diploma and is also an accredited practitioner. Alison started her career as a food and drink journalist. She has worked in both the public and private sectors, and in large, complex environmental and transport organisations, for over 25 years.
Developing strong working relationships and mutual support across the UHI partnership through practitioners' groups has been essential to the success of our engagement with our staff, students, communities and our wider stakeholder groups. This will continue to be important for Alison as the corporate communications team supports the delivery of the ‘daring to be different' strategic plan.
Alison leads on the deployment and development of our new visual identity and wider UHI brand.
A native of Orkney, Alison was proud to graduate in St Magnus Cathedral with an MLitt in Highlands and Islands literature from UHI. She is also a Gaelic learner and a strong advocate for the development and prominence of Gaelic in all our corporate communications activity.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of Advancement and Alumni Engagement
- Director of Development and Alumni Engagement Content / Director of Development and Alumni Engagement
Alison is UHI's Director of Development and Alumni Engagement, responsible for raising money for and engaging others in the work of the university partnership.
Throughout her career, Alison's focus has been on building strong relationships. In her current role she does so with individuals, businesses, charitable trusts and foundations, and alumni who value the role UHI plays in providing opportunities for students and in developing focused research within our region.
Previously, Alison spent 25 years in a range of economic development roles in areas such as skills development and telecommunications, and leading Highlands and Islands Enterprise's Sector, Inward Investment and Business Engagement functions. In recognition of her impact and influence on the development of the customer service profession within the financial and business services sector, Alison was awarded a National Women of Influence Award by the Customer Contact Association.
Alison is a Director of Inverness Women's Aid and a Trustee of Port of Inverness. A proud champion of the Highlands and Islands, she has led numerous programmes to profile the region on the national and international stage.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of Student Recruitment and Admissions
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Executive
- Director
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Dean of Student Experience
- Dean of Student Experience Content / Dean of Student Experience
Iain leads strategic developments that promote student retention, success and wellbeing. These include leadership in areas of student engagement, empowering the student voice and feedback, student welfare including counselling and mental health support, networked student support, complaints and appeals, student discipline, careers and employability, sport, student safety and close partnership working with the UHI Students Association.
Iain has worked in tertiary education since being awarded a prestigious ESRC Management Teaching Fellowship at Leeds Metropolitan University in 1992. He subsequently taught leadership and management at several European and North American universities whilst living in Greece, where he developed the country's largest MBA programme, and latterly at Southampton Institute where he was Principal Lecturer and Head of Department. Joining UHI in 2003, he has been immersed in the journey the university has taken and proud to be part of something so important for the socio-economic development of his home region.
He is a founding trustee of sparqs (Student Participation in Quality Scotland) and previous chair of their University Advisory Group and member of the national steering committee, is institutional lead for the Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education, and has been on a wide range of national and sectoral groups including being chair of the North Forum for Widening Participation in Higher Education. Iain is an Institutional Reviewer for the Quality Board for Higher Education in Iceland and has been a reviewer on numerous internal panels at other Scottish Universities.
A business graduate from the University of Edinburgh, he also holds two Masters degrees, a postgraduate qualification in learning and teaching, another in Mindfulness and a doctorate that looked at the sustainability of rural learning in the Highlands and islands. His commitment to UHI students has been rewarded with an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Highlands and Islands Student Association.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Dean of the Faculty of Science, Health and Engineering
Job Titles:
- Rector and Chair of Foundation
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Content / Director of Economic Development and Commercial Services
- Director of Economic Development and Commercial Services
Gary is responsible for UHI's commercial and economic development as well as UHI's estates and facilities department.
A chartered accountant, Gary joined the university in 2012, initially working in the management school before taking on the role of Key Account Director. During this time, he delivered the UHI employer engagement strategy until becoming Director of Economic Development and Commercial Services in 2022.
Prior to joining UHI, Gary held various roles up to and including CEO and he currently holds a number of non-exec roles outwith UHI, including the post of Vice Chair of Inverness Harbour Board.
He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, graduated from Glasgow University with a first-class honours degree in accountancy and has also completed the Entrepreneurship Development Programme at MIT.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Independent
Job Titles:
- Member of the Independent
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of ICT and Digital Services
- Director of ICT and Digital Services Content / Director of ICT and Digital Services
John has overall responsibility for UHI's core ICT and Library services including the ServiceDesk, the Highland Health Services Library, learning and teaching technologies, the library management system and eResources, student and staff portals, student records and management information, communication and collaboration tools and ICT infrastructure.
Prior to joining UHI in 2008 John worked in the Finance sector delivering transformational strategies across a range of functions including customer services, IT infrastructure, software development and corporate systems spending 8 years in Luxembourg and latterly Dublin.
John holds a MA in Social Science and MSc in Information Technology from the University of Glasgow and an MBA from the Open University.
He is currently sits on the Board of HEFESTIS, a not-for-profit Shared Service organisation, jointly owned by member institutions across the Scottish University and Colleges sectors. He is also a member of HE IT Directors Scotland (HEIDS) and has contributed to various Scottish Funding Council groups including SFC Review - ICT consultation, HE/FE ICT Strategy Oversight Board, and the Colleges ICT Advisory Group.
Job Titles:
- Head of Student Services / General Enquiries
We understand that this is a difficult time for you so if you are feeling stressed or anxious and want to talk to someone, you can contact our health and wellbeing provider, Maggie Melville, by email ACwellbeing@uhi.ac.uk. She can arrange to support you via VC, skype, telephone and email.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Independent
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Executive Team
- UHI As a Member
- Vice - Principal Strategy, Performance and Culture Content
- Vice - Principal, Strategy, Performance and Culture
Lorna's role brings education, people and enterprise together to drive UHI's strategic direction, ensuring we measure our performance and create an inclusive culture which promotes our values and an excellent experience for our students.
Lorna has had an extensive career in leadership roles in both the private and public sectors. She believes a good customer experience is the natural consequence of a good employee experience, and that business success is achieved more readily when these factors come together.
Lorna graduated in business and marketing, with a postgraduate masters in employment law. She began her career in local government, moving into higher education in 2015 as the director of human resources at the Royal College of Art.
Lorna joined UHI as a member of the senior executive team in March 2021 to lead greater alignment in organisational design and people practices across our partnership and moved into her current vice-principal role in November 2022. She retains a key interest in human resource management, organisational design and development, and equality, diversity and inclusion. Her current portfolio also includes institutional strategy, corporate communications, planning and performance, IT and digital infrastructure and student experience.
Job Titles:
- Finance and General Purposes Committee Content / Finance and General Purposes Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of Planning and Performance
- Director of Planning and Performance Content / Director of Planning and Performance
Margaret is UHI's Director of planning and performance with oversight and leadership of the development and implementation of the institutional planning and performance cycle and delivery of the university's data services strategy. Her role includes responsibility for the planning, data services and student records office teams.
With almost 30 years' experience in the further and higher education sectors, Margaret has held senior roles in planning, marketing, recruitment and admissions. She has a long connection with the UHI partnership having started her further education career at Perth College, before moving to the university in 2007. During this time Margaret has set up and supported a number of partnership partitioner groups as well as representing UHI in sector planning and policy groups.
A biochemistry graduate, with a postgraduate business qualification, Margaret developed a curiosity and love of research and data insight from conducting numerous patient research projects while working in the NHS, transferring these skills to the education sector. Margaret continues to be based at UHI Perth.
Job Titles:
- Head of Marketing and Communications
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of Transformation
- Director of Transformation Content / Director of Transformation
- UHI 's Director of Transformation
Max is UHI's Director of Transformation, responsible for managing a range of strategic change projects and improvement initiatives. These range from the large-scale institutional changes, such as the merger of colleges, to service reviews, providing additional capacity for priority areas and team-based process improvement.
Prior to joining UHI in 2018, Max worked as an independent management consultant in the public sector. He worked at a national level with Audit Scotland, the Scottish Government, NHS Boards and Local Authorities to reform significant areas of the public provision of health and social care, led and managed large scale change programmes and audited service provision across a number of different areas.
Max served as chair of Blackwood Homes and Care, a national housing and care association that provides 1,600 accessible and affordable homes, primarily for people with a disability, and care services across 20 local authorities. He was a founding member and the inaugural chair of SuperTroop, an Edinburgh based Charity providing holidays for children with significant learning disability.
Max holds a Bachelor of Divinity and a MSc in International Health Systems and Public Policy both from the University of Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the RSA.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance
- Member of the Senior Management Team
Job Titles:
- Ex Officio Members
- University Court Member
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Director of Corporate Governance
- Director of Corporate Governance and Records Management
- Director of Corporate Governance, Corporate Governance and Records Management
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Executive Team
- University Secretary
Job Titles:
- Interim Principal and Vice Chancellor ( Ex Officio )
Job Titles:
- Regional President of HISA