The last year has seen a number of changes to the CUBO Executive committee in the form of new people and new roles. Following the departure of several Executive members in the summer of 2014, Chair Frances Stone set about reviewing Executive roles and recruiting fresh faces to the team.

A new and expanded CUBO Executive committee is now in place

Chair – Frances Stone

Executive Secretary – Emma Furnival

Benchmarking Portfolio – Liam Cairns

International Portfolio – Richard Kington

Knowledge-sharing Portfolio – Pat McGrath

Marketing and Communications Portfolio – Stewart Ross

Partnerships Portfolio – Alison Smith

Quality Assurance Portfolio - Bryan Carroll

Research Portfolio – Gillian Almond

Sustainability Portfolio – Jon Greenwood

Chair of CUBO Awards and Conference host 2016 - Martin Chalker

While Emma Furnival and Jon Greenwood have returned to the Executive for a second time, Liam Cairns, Stewart Ross, Bryan Carroll, Gillian Almond and Martin Chalker are all new members bringing new ideas and experience. Here is a brief insight into some of the new team and their roles.

Stewart Ross, Head of Commercial Services, University of Leeds

Marketing and Communications Portfolio

With the new portfolio of marketing and communications Stewart is seeking to step up CUBO’s communication to members, stakeholders and wider sector bodies.  His role includes working closely with the marketing group which has been successfully running for the past few years, promoting and developing marketing skills across the sector. Stewart will be working closely with CUBO’s media partners such as University Business to lift the profile of work carried out by CUBO members and the association as whole, as well as seeking to grow membership numbers.

Liam Cairns, Business Accountant, University of Kent

Benchmarking Portfolio

Liam has the portfolio for Benchmarking and he is also chair of the finance group.  Liam wants to continue to foster the collaborative knowledge sharing and networking that exists within the finance group and build upon the benchmarking that has been happening successfully for some time. Having benefited by learning best practice from colleagues in the sector, Liam is keen to continue this culture.  He is a qualified accountant and has been at the University of Kent for 12 years. 

Martin Chalker, Director of Estate Services, University of Sussex

Chair of CUBO Awards Panel and Conference Host 2015.

As Chair of the Awards Panel Martin oversees the CUBO Awards, taking over from Peter Church who stepped down in 2014. His role includes chairing the shortlisting meeting at which the panel draws up the list of nominees for the awards before CUBO members vote online. Martin will also be arranging the CUBO Summer conference for July 2016 at the University of Sussex, for which he already has a number of ideas up this sleeve to create an unmissable event next summer.

Gillian Almond, Commercial Director, Oxford Brookes University

Research Portfolio

Gillian looks after the research portfolio. Her remit is to support those who are conducting research in the sector, to identify and share existing research and to work with colleagues to commission research where needed. CUBO recognise the importance of ensuring members are up to date but not overloaded with information. Gillian is keen to find her way through the mass of information that is available and provide the most relevant to CUBO members. She would be delighted to hear from anybody who is currently conducting research or is planning to do so in the future. 

The forthcoming CUBO summer conference in July will announce a number of changes to the administration and plans for the future development of CUBO. Keep up to date with all CUBO news on www.cubo.org.uk.