Council

Professor Ian Jacobs - Chair of Council

Professor Ian Jacobs is an academic, doctor and university leader. He commenced the role of inaugural Chair of Council at City St George’s on August 1st, 2024.

Ian has held senior leadership roles in higher education as Dean of Biomedical Sciences University College London (2004-11), Vice President University of Manchester (2011-2015) and President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales in Sydney (2015-2022). He has an international reputation for his research in cancer screening and early detection which has led to >400 publications and 30 years of experience working in the NHS as an obstetrician & gynaecologist and then a consultant surgical oncologist at The Royal London Hospital, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and University College London Hospital.

Whilst in Australia he served as Chair of the Group of 8 universities and held a number of board roles including Research Australia, Ovarian Cancer Australia, Universities Australia and The Conversation. His current roles include: Chair, Barts Health NHS Trust ; Trustee, Eve Appeal Charity which he founded in 1985; Board member, African Stem Education Initiative; Emeritus Professor UNSW Sydney; and Honorary Professor University College London.

(Prof.) Sir Anthony Finkelstein CBE FREng – President

President, Professor Anthony Finkelstein joined City St George's in June 2021.

Read more about the President's appointment.

Godfrey Allen

Godfrey is a Non-Executive Director at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, having been a NED at Croydon Health Services and Wandsworth PCT, as well as the Chair of NHS South West London Support Services Partnership Board. The former founding Chair of South Thames Colleges Group, Godfrey remains a board member on two International NGOs, including the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates. Godfrey has held CEO and MD roles since he was 27 in the public, private and charitable sectors.

Godfrey holds a MSc in Public Service Management and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Chartered Institute of Management, and the RSA.

Professor Robert Allison CBE

Professor Robert Allison has held senior leadership roles in a number of top UK universities, most recently (2012 to 2021) as the Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough.

During Professor Allison's time at Loughborough, the University rose up into the top 10 in every national league table and named University of the Year an unparalleled five times. He oversaw significant expansion, which included opening the University's London campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and developing the UK's most rapidly growing Science and Enterprise Park. Bob was the driving force behind the Loughborough student experience, widely recognised as one of the best in the UK.

Since stepping down from his role at Loughborough University, Bob has developed a portfolio of responsibilities, including appointments as a Trustee of The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the St Philip’s Centre, Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Air Ambulance Service and Children’s Air Ambulance and Senior Non-Executive Member of Chapter at Leicester Cathedral. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Leicestershire in 2022.

During his career Bob received the Cuthbert Peek Award from the Royal Geographical Society, the Charles Lyell Award from the British Association of the Advancement of Science and the Jan de Ploey Prize from the International Association of Geomorphologists. He was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Council for Advancement and Support in Education in 2019 and was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2021 for services to education and supporting young people’s talent, equality and achievement.

In his spare time Bob is a keen gardener and mountain biker.

Mark Evans

Mark is Director of Operations at British Land plc a FTSE 100 property business. He brings a wide breadth of experience across commercial real estate, with a particular focus on property and facilities management, having previously led Broadgate Estates Limited.

With a background in construction management, Mark is also currently an independent Non-Executive Director of Acivico Group, a building consultancy based in the West Midlands.

Mark has a degree in construction management, is a member of the Chartered Institute of Building, Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and holds a Certificate in Business Continuity.

Adrienne Fresko CBE

Adrienne is an experienced independent director and advisor to public and charity boards, specialising in higher education and healthcare. Most recently as vice chair of Council for the University of Sussex and a member of the joint board of Brighton and Sussex Medical School, until July 2022.   She sits on the advisory board of a social purpose consultancy.

She has a depth and breadth of expertise in the development of governance and board effectiveness as well as a special interest in leadership and strategy development.

Adrienne’s professional experience includes:  Partner lead for the leadership and governance practice in GE Healthcare Partners;  co-founder of Foresight Partnership, a specialist consultancy supporting effective governance in healthcare and public services.  She has led the development of highly respected key national guidance for boards in public services.  Before establishing Foresight Partnership, she worked as the Head of the Centre for Public Governance at the Office for Public Management.  Her early career included human resources director level  roles for Citicorp in Europe and the US and as a consultant specialising in change management and coaching in the private sector.

Adrienne’s previous public and charity sector appointments include: Vice Chair of the Health Foundation; Deputy Chair of the Audit Commission and acting chair of the Commission for a year.  Adrienne chaired Croydon Health Authority for eight years.

She has an MA in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, London.  Adrienne was awarded the CBE in the 2003 Queen’s birthday honours.

Josh Joshi

M ‘Josh’ Joshi joined the Council in 2021. Josh has over 25 years’ experience as a senior executive of international businesses. Josh is currently Executive Director of AtlasEdge, a pan-European edge data centre platform, and Operating Partner of DigitalBridge, a leader in global digital infrastructure.

Previously Josh was chief financial officer of Interxion Holding NV, a pan-European datacentre business, publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and headquartered in the Netherlands.

Before joining Interxion, Josh worked as group finance director for Leisure and Gaming plc and Telecity Group plc, both publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. He was also one of the founders of the private equity-backed alternative network Storm Telecommunications. Early in his career Josh worked in professional practice, latterly with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Josh holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Max Khan

As SVP A&G Solutions at Elsevier (part of RELX group), Max works with governments, universities, researchers and industry to provide solutions that support decision making, showcasing and improved operational efficiency. Max’s responsibility includes solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal and Pure as well as the underlying linked data behind these solutions."

Rachel Lock

Until July 2023, Rachel served as an independent member of the Council of the Open University for 8 years. She was also a member of the Open University Audit Committee and Chair of the Remuneration Committee.

Rachel is an experienced HR professional having carried out various HR Director roles in her 33 year career with Lloyds Banking Group.  More recently she served as the HR Executive Director for TSB Bank.

Rachel’s area of expertise is managing large scale people change, employee engagement and communication, remuneration policy and union relations. She has a strong record in building effective executive teams and Boards and encouraging employees to be the best they can be.

Now retired, Rachel enjoys keeping fit, gardening and socialising.

Sir Mark Lowcock KCB

Mark had a career spanning 32 years in the UK civil service, including more than six years as Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development.

From 2017 to 2021 he was Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics, and a Fellow of Birkbeck College.

He is Vice President of the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy, Vice Chair of The Howard Partnership Trust (a Multi Academy Trust comprising 13 schools in Surrey), a Richard Von Weizsacker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, and an Independent member of the Board of Trustees of the University  of London.

Catherine McGuinness CBE

Catherine is a financial services lawyer by background and has been a partner in a City law firm and head of a bank legal department.  She has had a parallel career as a councillor in the City of London, including five years as Policy Chair, leading the organisation through the turbulent period of Brexit and Covid.

She now sits on a number of boards, including as a non-executive director of Connected Places Catapult and a trustee of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

She has long experience of governance in educational institutions and is a trustee of a large multi academy trust.

She was awarded a CBE in the 2023 New Year Honours List for services to the Financial Sector and to educational inclusion.

Julia Palca 

Julia Palca graduated from the University of Durham. She enrolled as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1980 at the beginning of her long and distinguished legal career. She continues to sit as an Employment Judge at the London Central Employment Tribunal.

She is also Chair of Mines Advisory Group and a trustee of other significant non-profit organisations.

Anant Prakash

Anant Prakash is General Counsel Europe and Asia Pacific at Ultra Electronics, a FTSE 250 company listed on the London Stock Exchange, serving the defence, security, transport and energy sectors. In his role, Anant advises Ultra’s Board and its businesses on a broad range of legal and commercial matters – including significant contractual disputes, complex regulatory investigations, and strategically-important governance and compliance transformation initiatives.

Prior to joining Ultra, Anant worked at Slaughter and May, a leading international law firm headquartered in the City of London, where he developed a broad Corporate and Commercial practice with a particular focus on M&A. Whilst at Slaughter and May, Anant also gained valuable experience living and working in Madrid and Hong Kong. Originally from India, where he was born and was raised until the age of 11, Anant now lives in West London.

Damian Reid

Damian Reid became an independent member of Council in 2024 having joined the Council of St George's, University of London in 2018. He is an experienced finance and strategy professional and has been responsible for leading finance teams for over 15 years.

Most recently, Damian was CFO at Upp Corporation Limited, a business that provided broadband to residential and business customers over its full fibre network in the East of England. Prior to that Damian was interim Finance Director at Sports Supplements Limited, an e-commerce business selling sports nutrition products in the UK and Europe under the Bulk brand, CFO of Pro Bono Bio, a developer and marketer of innovative nanotechnology-based healthcare products and CFO at Augere, a broadband services provider using wireless networks in emerging markets trading under the Qubee brand.

Damian has also held the positions of Executive Vice President, Strategy and Planning at France Telecom (now Orange), a pan-European telecoms service provider and Chief Strategy Officer at Marconi, which was a major UK listed technology business. Damian started his career as an investment banker at SG Warburg (now part of Union Bank of Switzerland) having qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1987.

Christine Swabey

Christine has operated at a senior level in the commercial, public and third sectors, with significant experience of leadership through strategic change. With a particular focus on delivering consumer focussed service improvement, notably in education, health and social care, Christine has delivered strong governance within complex accountability frameworks, forging strong relationships with multiple stakeholders.

Following an early career in financial services, working for a US commercial bank managing major client relationships in Europe and the Middle East, Christine has held a number of public sector roles, including Chair of Kingston Hospital NHS Trust and Non-Executive Director of South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust, as well as broad-ranging charity experience. Her most recent appointment is as Trustee of the Shaw Trust, a leading charity working with government to enable vulnerable adults to secure sustainable employment.

Her interest in health and education is broad-ranging, encompassing a deep engagement with special educational needs, notably autism, serving both as a Trustee of Ambitious about Autism and Chief Executive of leading medical research charity Autistica. She served as a Governor of St John’s School Leatherhead, a leading co-educational independent school for children aged 11-18 years, and as Vice Chair of Kingston University. Christine has served on the Board of the Manchester-based Northern Consortium, a group of UK universities delivering transnational educational programmes with international partners to facilitate the progression of international students to UK universities. Christine served as Chair of the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which provides assurance to the Department for Education and parents of the quality of education in independent schools in England and internationally.

Sandra Ashton

Sandra is a senior higher education professional with over three decades of experience spanning research, education, governance, and operational leadership within the UK university sector. She is currently Education Senior Project Manager at City St George’s, University of London, where she leads and coordinates complex, multi‑stakeholder transformation programmes aligned to the institution’s Strategy 2030, including educational transformation projects and on‑campus digital and systems infrastructure projects.

Sandra brings extensive experience in strategic project management, governance, and organisational change. Her career includes leadership roles in research infrastructure and operations, most notably as Head of the Imaging Resource Facility at St George’s, University of London, where she led service transformation, income generation initiatives, health and safety culture improvements, and the development of multidisciplinary research and inclusive teaching support.

She has a strong track record and brings a deep experience of Council level governance having previously served as an Elected Member of Council at legacy St George’s, University of London and currently serving as an Appointed Member of Council at City St George’s, University of London. She has also been appointed as member of Strategy and Development Committee (Council subcommittee) as well as appointed to the university Shadow Leadership Board; supporting advice and strategic guidance to senior executive members of staff.

Serving as university Research Integrity Lead, and as a member of multiple university‑wide strategy, audit and advisory groups. Her governance contributions are underpinned by an understanding of risk, compliance, research integrity, and assurance frameworks.

Sandra began her career as a biomedical scientist and research technician and has published in leading peer‑reviewed journals, including Nature, Cell, and Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. She holds a BSc in Cell Biology from University College London, a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Skills and is currently undertaking an Executive Master’s in Leadership and Management at Bayes Business School, City St George’s University of London.

Her career demonstrates sustained leadership in risk management, health and safety governance, research ethics, and institutional compliance. She has chaired Research Ethics Committees, led institutional risk assessments, and played a key role in strengthening audit ready systems, policies, and reporting frameworks. Sandra has a proven ability to translate regulatory and governance requirements into robust operational practice, supporting both academic delivery and financial sustainability.

Recognised for her leadership, integrity, and service to the sector, Sandra was nominated to the UK Department for Education and invited to the Royal Garden Party in 2024 in recognition of her contribution to professional services in higher education.

Ana-Maria Barrow

Anna-Maria is the Deputy President of  City St George's, University of London Students' Union.

Professor Jon Friedland

Professor Jon Friedland is Vice-President (Research & Innovation) and is responsible for strategic leadership of all activities relating to Research and Innovation across the University.

This includes developing a research environment and culture that enables highly impactful research, as well as working with external partners and other organisations.

Professor Elisabeth Hill

Professor Elisabeth Hill joined City in September 2022.

Elisabeth was previously Deputy Warden at Goldsmiths, University of London. She held this role since 2017 and the role of Pro-Warden (Learning, Teaching and Enhancement) since 2015.

As Deputy President and Provost Elisabeth has responsibility for shaping and delivering the Strategic Transformation Programme which will enable City St George’s new strategic plan.

Nasir Mohammed

Nasir was elected as the President of City St George's, University of London Students' Union in July 2025.

Professor Richard Payne

Richard works in the areas of empirical market microstructure and empirical asset pricing. He has written on topics that include the determination of exchange rates, the links between exchange rates and equity index returns, algorithmic trading and market dynamics, the effects of transparency in equity markets and the effects of short selling on equity markets.

Richard holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and has worked at the LSE, the University of Bristol and Warwick Business School. He has also worked in the asset management industry and actively consults for banks, funds, regulators and government departments.

Ms Helen Watson

Helen joined City as Chief Operating Officer in February 2022, after five years at Goldsmiths University of London as Registrar and Secretary. In July 2025 Helen became Deputy President Operations of City St George's.

Previously, she worked for six years at the University of Oxford where she was Director of Planning and Resource Allocation, Head of the Council Secretariat and a Fellow of Exeter College. Before that she worked in a variety of roles at City University London including Head of Administration for the School of Allied Health Sciences and Deputy Academic Registrar; she also set up and led City's Strategy and Planning Unit. Helen read music at Exeter College, Oxford and has a Masters in Higher and Professional Education from the Institute of Education.

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