The OIA is overseen by an independent Board of Directors.
The Board has 15 members. Nine, including the Chair, are Independent Directors appointed by fair and open competition on the basis of their skills and experience. Six are Nominated Directors from representative bodies in higher education in England and Wales. These bodies may also appoint Alternate Directors, to attend Board meetings if their Nominated Director is not available.
Directors are normally appointed for a term of three years and serve up to two terms. No Director can serve for longer than nine consecutive years.
Board members are not involved in the review of individual complaints. The Board’s responsibilities include:
- preserving the independence of the Scheme and the role of the Independent Adjudicator
- oversight of the performance and effectiveness of the Independent Adjudicator, the Chief Executive and the OIA Scheme
- setting the budget for the OIA and the level of subscriptions payable by providers each year
- approving the Rules of the Scheme.
In 2022 we progressed the review of our governance arrangements. The review looked at how we can best reflect the wider membership of our Scheme in our governance and further strengthen governance effectiveness, and identified new arrangements that will provide a robust and flexible basis for our governance going forward. We are grateful to our Company Members and others who engaged with us on the review. We are now working towards implementation.
Our Board and Management Group, June 2022
2022 was Dame Suzi Leather’s last full year as Chair of the Board. Suzi has served as Chair through a key period for the OIA, not least as we responded to the major challenges of the pandemic. She has overseen significant developments to our leadership and governance, including supporting the transition to our joint leadership structure. She and our longstanding Deputy Chair, Andy Mack, who is also approaching the end of his term of office, have been instrumental in the review of our governance. We thank them both for their important contribution to the OIA.
Trustees/Directors
The Trustees/Directors of the charitable company, who served throughout 2022 unless otherwise stated, were as follows:
Independent Trustees/Directors
Chair: Dame Suzi Leather
Deputy Chair: Andy Mack
Adesewa Adebisi
Andrew Chandler
Dr Wendy Finlay
Martin Kirke
Jonathan Rees
Sophie Williams
Nominated and Alternate Trustees/Directors
- Nominated by the Association of Heads of University Administration
- Dave Hall - Nominated Director
- Nominated by the Committee of University Chairs
- Vacant (no appointment made due to governance review)
- Nominated by GuildHE
- Jon Renyard - Nominated Director
- Nominated by National Union of Students
- Hillary Gyebi-Ababio - Nominated Director (to 30 June 2022)
- Chloe Field - Nominated Director (from 1 July 2022)
- Natasha Dhumma - Alternate Director (to 31 December 2022)
- Nominated by Universities UK
- Professor Alistair Fitt - Nominated Director
- Professor Paul Layzell - Alternate Director (to 31 July 2022)
- Nominated by Universities Wales
- William Callaway - Nominated Director
- Dr Kevin Mundy - Alternate Director
