Leeds Universities and Colleges Development Plans 2014

THREE of Leeds Universities and College Directors will be presenting their development/investment plans for the next couple of years!

Event Sponsored by:                                        Programme Sponsored by: 

Event Format

• 1530 – 1645; Networking with Wine, Beer and Soft Drinks
• 1645 – 1815; Speaker Presentations
• 1815 – 1900; Networking with Hot Food, Wine, Beer and Soft Drinks

Speakers

Stephen Willis; Director of Finance & Resources, Leeds Metropolitan University

Currently Director of Finance and Resources at Leeds Metropolitan University, Stephen is responsible for Financial, Campus and Residential, and Estates Services. He has worked within the HE UK sector for the last 22 years. Before his current role he was Head of Group Financial Planning at the University of Leeds.

Previous non-executive positions include governor at Leeds City College and Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce (Chair of Audit Committee at both organisations). Presently, he is a non-executive director of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Phoenix Dance Ltd and a number of the university’s subsidiary companies. He is also a member of a number of steering groups that consider resourcing, partnership, innovation and strategy for the city of Leeds.

He has worked successfully as a qualified accountant for two decades in senior management positions in both private and public organisations ranging from an SME to a multi-national.  He is strong believer in the importance of further and higher education, particularly that of a professional and vocational nature.

In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, many sporting pursuits and exploring the Yorkshire Dales.

Steve Gilley; Head of Estates, University of Leeds

Steve Gilley is the Head of Estates for the University of Leeds.  In the past seven years he has been responsible for the delivery of ten new buildings and refurbishment projects with a capital cost in excess of £250M. He is responsible for Capital Development, Design & Projects, Sustainability, Maintenance & Operations and Health & Safety works in the University built environment. A Chartered Surveyor by background Steve was formerly employed delivering Corporate Property projects at a financial institution and was a Director of a project management consultancy based in Leeds.

Jason Challender; Director of Physical Resources, Leeds City College

Jason Challender is Director of Physical Resources at Leeds City College and a member of its Senior Leadership Team based at Park Lane, Leeds. He is responsible for overseeing a large department of approximately eighty staff and which includes Project Management, Estates Management, Campus Services and Health and Safety.

Over the last 25 years his professional background has been predominately in the Further Education Sector. He was formerly Project Director of Stockport College where he was responsible for all redevelopment and procured the part redevelopment of the Town Centre Campus which included a landmark £24 million Construction and Engineering Centre. He also oversaw the complete redevelopment of Manchester College across numerous sites throughout the city from 1999 to 2006. This was hugely successful and saw the complete transformation and major expansion of the College over this period.

Prior to this Jason spent many years in the airline industry. He was Head of New Developments for BMI based at Heathrow Airport and was responsible for instigating a network of business lounges and customer services facilities across the UK and Europe as part of the airlines major international expansion programme.

His main focus for staying in the education sector over the last fifteen years is that he strongly believes that knowledge, education, training and qualifications change people’s lives for the better. In this regard he has also previously participated in lecturing students and has published an academic research paper.