Rebecca Windemer | University of the West of England
Dr Rebecca Windemer is a lecturer in environmental planning and a chartered town planner.
She is passionate about the role of the planning system (and planners) in addressing climate change and her research and teaching interests reflect this. Rebecca's most recent research has focused on how we should make decisions regarding our ageing onshore renewable energy infrastructure, particularly looking at the repowering of onshore wind farms. She has also researched the impact of national policy change for developing new onshore wind farms in England. Her research findings have been used by policymakers, industry and communities. Rebecca is passionate about disseminating her research in accessible formats including (but not limited to) videos, blogs, infographics, visual summaries and through delivering public seminars. In 2021 Rebecca won the EnergySHIFTS early career researcher award for innovative research findings and the Economic and Social Research Council Celebrating Impact Prize for 'Outstanding Early Career Impact'.
Rebecca is a member of the Bristol Advisory Committee on Climate Change, a member of the South West Royal Town Planning Institute Regional Activities Committee and the Secretary of the Royal Geographic Society Planning and Environment Research Group.
Charlotte Parnham | Birmingham City University
Charlotte joined Birmingham City University in July 2019 and is a Lecturer, the Maternity Pathway Lead and the Deputy Course Leader within the FdSc Assistant Practitioner Apprenticeship and the Senior Healthcare Support Worker Apprenticeship.
Charlotte leads the level 4 and 5 maternity specific modules in the apprenticeships. Charlotte has a keen interest and passion in the role and high-quality training of Maternity Support Workers (MSW). She has a close working relationship with Health Education England and advocates for advanced MSW training, that is accessible to MSWs from a range of backgrounds. Charlotte maintains strong working relationships with a range of Trusts, to ensure the apprentices are given the best possible support on the courses. Charlotte published an article last year on the role of MSWs as second homebirth attendants, which was well-received.
Prior to her role in academia, Charlotte worked as an inpatient, rotational Midwife at Birmingham City Hospital. Charlotte has a particular interest in Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) and still works occasional clinical shifts to conduct these.
Rupinder Sandhu | Sandwell College
Rupinder Sandhu is a Further Education College Lecturer and course leader, she has been teaching for 8 years at Sandwell College in the West Midlands.
Rupinder graduated from University with a BA honours in Fine Art and a PGCE in Post Compulsory Education. Rupinder’s passion for young people’s growth is demonstrated through her teaching experience and educational accomplishment’s. Rupinder was awarded International BTEC Tutor of the Year 2021 (Bronze award) and a National award for ‘The 2021 Lockdown Hero Award for Learner and Community Support’ alongside being a Finalist at the Birmingham Awards for her 'Contribution to Education'. Rupinder has recently completed a Chartered Management Institute qualification in leadership and management in the aim to become a leader within the education sector and introduce new teaching strategies and contribution to student’s performance and experiences towards their future.
Rupinder is a passionate and ambitious educator, she is dedicated to being an advocate for every student’s success. Rupinder’s main goal as an educator is to make the classroom a space for growth, collaboration and inclusion and be a role model to the BAME community. Majority of Rupinder’s students come from a disadvantaged background; it is her mission to engage her students by providing them with the experiences and opportunities they wouldn’t always have access to. Rupinder is extremely passionate about providing learners with these experiences to widen their knowledge and build on their soft skills as individuals to prepare them for the working industry. Rupinder has organised and created amazing opportunities and experiences for her students that they wouldn’t always have access to in order to prepare them for their future career and aspirations. Mental health and well-being have been a key area that Rupinder has dedicated her time to by ensuring students, staff and people of the public are supported. Outside her job, Rupinder is a Primary School Governor and does motivational and inspirational talks about careers within the Art Industry at schools. Rupinder also shares her best teaching practice with other global educators around the world through conference talks and has published an article ‘FE opened my eyes to finding ways of working’ in the TES FE newspaper in order to educate others and inspire them that the skys the limit and to follow their career dreams.
Hettle Vasani | Coty Inc.
Hettle Vasani, a commercially astute Board and C-level Executive Assistant with fourteen years of experience in the professional services industry within private practice law firms and in-house legal departments for FMCG companies.
Working her way up the ladder from Administrator, Personal Assistant, Executive Assistant to most recently Executive Business Partner. With a proven track record of diverse experiences serving international business leaders to help maximise time, increase efficiency, productivity, and bottom line within multinational organisations.
Having graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in LLB Busines Law and completing law school at City, University of London, with a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC), Hettle began her career as a Legal Advocate and spent the early part of her career representing the world's leading financial institutions in County court hearings across England and Wales. She then transitioned to working as a Legal Administrator at LPC Law, where her passion grew for working as an administrative professional. Hettle found she could leverage both her legal and business skills gained from her qualifications by adding value to her executive and organisation, whilst working in a support role. Hettle expanded her career holding several PA/EA positions at some of the world’s top leading global law firms and multinational corporations, these included Allen & Overy, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) LLP, and Burberry based in London.
Hettle currently holds the position of Executive Business and Legal Operations Partner, reporting to the Chief Legal Officer and acting interim Chief of Staff to the CEO at Coty Inc., a global leader in the Beauty industry.
Hettle is a full-time working mum of two boys, aged 10 and 4, who continually worked throughout her career, balancing work and motherhood. She aims to be a role model to her boys.
Chantalle Sullivan | Industrial Construction (Sussex) Ltd
I joined the ICS team in 2011, just a few months after leaving college as Receptionist/Administrator, supporting all departments with their administrative requirements.
My role included general reception duties - first point of contact for visitors, organising refreshments, answering incoming calls and dealing with mail distribution, as my role progressed this lead to various accounting tasks including cross checking Invoices against purchase orders and entering onto accounting system, credit card and petty cash reconciliation being added, along with management of the company fleet vehicles and staff annual leave/ sickness.
After the first year I began to take on some ordering materials on behalf of the Contracts Team.
In 2015 I was promoted to Contracts Assistant assisting Contracts Managers with running sites, placing orders and coordinating deliveries across all live sites, I also took on the Plant Hire Management, Sub Contractor payments and Project Guarantees.
I progressed to PA to the Operations Manager in April 2019, working alongside the Operations Manager with running of the Contracts Department and labour management. My role now includes a number of responsibilities ranging from obtaining quotes, placing orders and coordinating deliveries, management of plant hire to various accounting tasks, training co-ordination and heading up the Marketing Team.
As I look back over the last 10 years I have seen growth in my confidence, this has grown with my understanding of the job roles, the company and industry.
Philippa Allen | Epic Games Animation UK Limited
Graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a degree in hospitality, I relocated back home to Burton upon Trent as an Assistant Manager of the local ten pin bowling alley in Derby.
I moved back to the North West a year later as an Assistant Manager for a 12-screen multiplex cinema. 10 months later I was made redundant and fell into my first admin role as Legal Assistant to the Company Secretary at Swinton Insurance. I stayed with Swinton Insurance for 16 years, during which time, I made Manchester my new home, met my husband, got married, had a baby, went from Legal Assistant to Legal and Compliance Assistant to Personal Assistant to the Head of Legal to Executive Assistant to the Chief Finance Officer, Chief Risk Officer and People Director.
After 16 years, I decided to take a leap of faith and gain new experiences within the Charity Sector working as the Executive Assistant for the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of a local North West International Humanitarian Charity, although it was a short contract I learnt a lot and the experience gave me the confidence to take another leap of faith and apply for an EA role in the world of Technology. I joined Cubic Motion the leading provider of automated performance-driven facial animation to the global video games market in 2018 as Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer. In March 2020 10 days before UK lockdown, we were purchased by Epic Games Inc and although my job title has changed, I still provide support for the senior leadership team in what is now a very different working environment to a two years ago.
When I am not organising people and meetings, I love horse riding, baking, encouraging and supporting local people as they begin their journey into running as a qualified England Athletics Run Leader.
Jackie Weldon | PwC
I have been in the EA/PA profession for almost all of my career starting as a clerical assistant with BT working in Customer Services and Billing when I left school.
I applied for a PA role when Openreach was created in 2006 and provided secretarial support to the leadership team for around 10 years.
As part of my personal development, I took on a lead role to manage the graduate programme where I was responsible for guiding new recruits through their leadership development journey which gave me the opportunity to build and develop my own authentic leadership style.
After leaving BT, I joined PwC as a virtual assistant and quickly built strong relationships with my peers and colleagues who now trust me for advice, mentoring and guidance about the role.
As a PA, I work virtually providing professional and proactive support to the company Partners and Directors, with responsibility for managing my own workload, acting with autonomy and using my initiative to provide an enhanced PwC experience internally and for clients.
Since joining PwC, I have continued to build my understanding of the business and culture of the company whilst learning new ways of working. Whilst working in PwC, I have taken full advantage of the opportunity to get involved in projects where I can leverage my strengths as well as learn new skills.
In 2020 I led a team of PA’s to design and deliver a virtual digital summit, creating an environment and space where my team were empowered to be creative and curious, expanding their knowledge and stretching themselves further than they believed possible to achieve incredible results.
Leading the team I ensured my team understood what was expected of them and were fully engaged in delivering the best possible outcomes.
Clare Hall | Arup
The header of my CV says 'I am an experienced Business Assistant with extensive experience supporting board level, executive teams, founders for high profile commercial enterprises as well as large public services organisations...'
In terms of how I got there...I backpacked around the World for 3 years in my mid-20's and during those travels, I spent time in Australia working for the Victoria Government in Melbourne. I was a PA for a Sheriff in the Department of Justice and PA for the Department of Primary Industries. That time really kick started my PA career and gave me the springboard to becoming Business Services professional...
Upon returning to the UK, I carved out a career as a PA in the PR world for several years in the brights lights of London (which was a very fun time! Following which, I got married, had 2 children (Audrey & Wilfred) and settled north in Sheffield, where you'll find me working as a Business Assistant at Arup.
Kallie Halai | Arup
With over 15 years of experience working as an Assistant. I currently at Arup as a Team Co-ordinator and PA to the Group Leader of BE3.
Prior to that, I've worked as a Personal Assistant to the Head of Consumer, Healthcare, Education & Business Services and the Director Strategy for Healthcare & Education, Africa & South Asia at CDC Group Plc, UK’s Development Finance Institute. I'm an active participant in initiatives, driving for a carbon-neutral working environment in the organisation; in addition, writing articles, project managing various internal projects; creating and managing the Communication Plan for an internal network.
Prior to CDC Group, I worked as an Assistant to the Board Director, Group Head of Strategy & Managing Director, Head of Family Services at Salamanca Group.
I have an HND in Business and Marketing at London Guildhall University and BA Honours in Business Enterprise at London Metropolitan University (formerly known as London Guildhall University). I've recently completed the Mini MBA for Senior & Executive Assistants with Your Excellency.
Memberships: Executive Personal Assistant Association (EPAA) and Institute of Administrative Management (IAM)
Freya Robertson | Progeny
I’m a highly driven, results orientated Executive Assistant with a wide breadth of experience, ranging from working for smaller, boutique businesses to large corporates, including Grant Thornton and John Lewis.
Skilled at building relationships with all stakeholders and with a high degree of emotional intelligence, I work to support an entrepreneurial, high-performing individual, acting as their trusted confidante and offering leadership business support. This has enabled me to gain experience supporting large acquisitions, private equity buy out deals and organisational restructures.
In my spare time, I enjoy keeping active, including tackling both the London Marathon in aid of the Motor Neurones Association and the Great North Run. I live with my partner in Harrogate and often socialise with friends and family in the surrounding area.