Trustee Board
Our trustee board play a vital role in enabling us to achieve the charity's objectives - providing accountability, oversight and governance to help us achieve our goals.
With a diverse range of experiences, our board is made up of a mixture of experts from across the charity, higher education, business and health care sectors.
With a diverse range of experiences, our board is made up of a mixture of experts from across the charity, higher education, business and health care sectors.
|
Sue Rigby - Chair of the Board & Vice Chancellor, Edinburgh Napier UniversitySue is a Professor of Higher Education, with a long history of engagement with national initiatives around learning, teaching and supporting students, including chairing the Learning Gain Steering Group for the Office for Students, chairing the Teaching Excellence Framework Natural Sciences Panel and sitting on the Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group organised by the Department for Education. Her academic background is in palaeontology, where she spent happy years working out the ecology of an extinct group of plankton.
She spends her down-time listening to opera and lieder, travelling Europe to attend performances of her favourite singers. |
|
Camille Bou - Vice-Chair & Policy Advisor at HM TreasuryCamille is the Policy Advisor at HM Treasury, and has recently completed her PhD in Health Policy and Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE). For her PhD, Camille investigated how socio-demographic determinants shape the provision of unpaid care by adolescents and young adults in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining the LSE, Camille worked for the Mental Health Foundation in London and pursued a degree in Psychology.
In her free time, Camille enjoys playing touch rugby and hiking in nature to take care of her wellbeing. |
|
Owen Bowden-Jones - Consultant in Addiction Psychiatry at the CNWL Club Drug Clinic, LondonProfessor Owen Bowden-Jones is a Consultant in Addiction Psychiatry at the CNWL Club Drug Clinic, London, which he founded in 2010, and an Honorary Professor at University College London.
National roles include Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, President of the Society for the Study of Addiction, Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge and special adviser to the Universities UK Drugs Taskforce. Owen is the past-Chair of the Faculty of Addictions at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and was previously a national clinical adviser to Public Health England. He has been an adviser to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). |
|
Professor Juliet Foster - Dean of Education at King’s College LondonProfessor Juliet Foster has been Dean of Education at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London since February 2020, having joined the Psychology Department at the IoPPN as Deputy Dean of Education in October 2018. Prior to that she spent many years at Cambridge University, as both a Senior Tutor and Senior Lecturer.
Juliet is a social psychologist whose research focuses on public understandings of health, and in particular of mental health. In it, she draws on theories from sociocultural psychology and increasingly focuses on using these approaches to study student mental health and wellbeing. She is also Academic Lead for King’s College London on student mental health and well-being, co-chairing the University’s steering committee. |
|
Amelia Ireland - Youth Engagement CoordinatorAmelia currently works for a national youth development charity as Youth Engagement Coordinator, ensuring that young people’s voices influence decision-making across the organisation. She is also Chair of the Young Trustees Movement and a Trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust and Charityworks. Having experienced mental health problems at university, particularly whilst studying abroad, Amelia is passionate about improving mental health support for students and empowering them to support one another.
To relax, Amelia enjoys getting outdoors for long walks, playing netball and reading a good book. |
|
Aneeska Sohal - Head of Strategy for Student Mental Health and Wellbeing,
|
|
Jaki Booth - Former Chief Executive, Sheffield Students' UnionJaki worked in Chief Executive roles for over 30 years, mostly in Students’ Unions in various Midlands universities, and as General Manager at MAC, one of the Midlands’ leading arts centres. She found working in Students’ Unions to be incredibly rewarding and very varied - and especially loved working with and for elected student officers, creating change and developing talent. Jaki worked at the number 1 students’ Union at Sheffield University from 2014 until she retired in 2022. During her tenure she steered the organisation through an ambitious strategic plan and, of course, a pandemic! Her interest in the work of Student Minds coincides with her observing significant uplift in students reporting mental health difficulties. Jaki was also a Trustee with Girlguiding UK from 2015 to 2021. In 2023, she re-joined the board of her favourite Performing arts organisation: Stan’s Cafe.
During her new found free time, Jaki spends many hours singing in the local pubs of Sheffield and Derbyshire, learning the diatonic accordion and struggling with Flamenco Dancing. |
|
Lizzie Pring - Communications Consultant, Lizzie CommunicationLizzie is a communications consultant and has led communications and marketing in-house and freelance for large and small charities, start-ups, scale-ups, and funders. Over her 15 years, she’s applied her communications expertise to a wide variety of fundraising, campaigning, and brand-building objectives for organisations like Envision, Youth Investment Fund, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Impetus, and Jeans for Genes Day. She specialises in brand and communications strategy but is also expert at writing crystal clear copy and creating innovative content. Working at leading social impact funder, Impetus, for seven years taught her to carry forward an impact focus through all her work and has instilled in her a disciplined focus on the end goal of all comms activity.
For her wellbeing, Lizzie enjoys going out for a run in the countryside and singing in the car! |
|
Minto Felix - Manager, Nous GroupAs a Manager Consultant at Nous Group, Minto works across the education and health sectors to help organisations, governments, and communities solve their most pressing challenges. He is a skilled facilitator and advisor who has supported executives in navigating sensitive cultural issues and driving organisational change. Minto is also completing his doctoral studies, exploring research culture in Indian higher education.
Minto loves to exercise and trying out the latest fitness fad. He also loves socialising with friends, at the theatre, with nature or over a meal. |
|
Oli Thomas - Head of Strategy & Business Development, Auddy Oli is the Head of Strategy and Business Development at Auddy, a podcast start-up. He is responsible for international expansion, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and strategic projects at Auddy. Prior to his current role, he led the UK Digital business for ViacomCBS Networks International (now Paramount) alongside roles within Strategy and Corporate Development. Oli is also a qualified accountant and spent the earlier part of his career as a management consultant at PwC.
In between juggling work and family life, Oli enjoys running, cycling and (ideally) playing / (mostly) watching football to help unwind. |
|
Shivali Raichura - Secondary Maths Teacher and SAC MemberShivali is a recent graduate from the University of Kent and is passionate about advocating for improved mental health support and services. They aim to use their lived experience and the voices of their peers to drive change. They have been involved in various advisory panels and steering committees to make a difference on campus, in Canterbury and Kent, and now on a national scale. They first became involved with Student Minds when they founded Kent Mind Society, and now also serve on the Student Advisory Committee.
To relax and look after their wellbeing, Shivali likes to go for walks, listen to music and crochet. They are currently working on making a crochet cloud-igan to wear! |
|
Victoria Goddard - Partner and Head of Universities, Pinsent Masons LLPVictoria started as a trainee lawyer at Pinsent Masons in 1993 and has been a partner there for the past 15 years. She leads the global universities team in providing a full legal service of governance, regulatory, HR, estates, GDPR, tax, financing, IP and student disputes advice to universities as well as new entrants into the sector. Her area of specialism is student accommodation projects and through that she is on the BPFs student accommodation committee and student mental health sub-committee. She is also on UUK’s task force on information sharing in the context of student mental health. She has been a school governor for 5 years.
Victoria has 3 children and enjoys skiing, diving and cycling as well as film and theatre, but most importantly spending time with friends and family and trudging through the woods near home. |
|
Victoria Hurwood - Senior Relationship Manager, Pancreatic Cancer UKVictoria is currently a senior relationship manager at a national cancer charity and is an alumnus of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Graduate Trainee Scheme. With over 7 years experience working in higher education and the charity sector, she has experience with marketing, communications and major donor fundraising. In her current role, she is responsible for managing senior volunteers and unlocking opportunities for partnerships across major donors, trusts and foundations, and corporate partners. Victoria has personal experience of struggling with her mental health at university and is now passionate about supporting those in higher education to thrive.
In her spare time, Victoria enjoys pottery classes and listens to podcasts. |
