Council profiles

John built his career in the home shopping retail sector, leading mature/ legacy companies through "seismic-evolution" from catalogue to online.

He was Chief Executive of Freemans Grattan Holdings Ltd (and its subsidiaries Grattan plc and Freemans plc) the Bradford based online and catalogue retailer from 2012 to 2020.  His brief was to lead a turnaround, and revenues grew from £160 to £260M.

Prior to FGH, John was Marketing Director of FTSE 250 online/ catalogue/ financial services company N Brown Group plc.  Between 2003 and 2012, revenues grew from £410 to £750m and profit grew from £40 to nearly £100m.

He started his career in 1983 with Damart and first worked at Grattan plc/ Freemans plc from 1994 to 2003 reaching the board in 2000.

John is a Bradford University graduate  (BA (hons) Social Studies (1990) and Management (MBA, 1994)).

He is currently a Director and Trustee of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society, a heritage railway based in Haworth.

Terry Hartwell is a Chartered Surveyor with over 35 years experience in commercial property.  He graduated from Bristol Polytechnic (now UWE) with a BSc. in Valuation and Estate Management, becoming a Fellow of the RICS in 1993.

Terry has recently been a member of the management board of Wm. Morrison Supermarkets, as Group Property Director, advising on all property related matters and was responsible for the roll-out of Morrison's store formats throughout the country.  Prior to this he was International Property Director for Kingfisher plc responsible for the property activities of the retail brands of B&Q, Castorama, Screwfix and Brico Depot, here in the UK, in Europe and the Far East.

Whilst at Kingfisher, Terry also had a spell in front line operations running one of their new trading divisions for 18 months and he also sat on the Pensions Trustee Board for nearly ten years.  He was previously a member of the Property Advisory Group of the British Retail Consortium and a Council member of OTRA (the out of town retailers association).  Terry is Pro Chancellor of the University of Bradford and is Chair of the University Finance Committee.

Professor Zahir Irani is a Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic, Innovation and Quality) and previously Pro-Vice Chancellor and has also been the Dean of the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, University of Bradford.

He studied Manufacturing Engineering and then working as a Project Engineer before then doing a PhD in Investment Decision Making at Brunel University London (UK).  He started his academic career in a Department of Computer Science at Brunel University. Five years later securing his Chair followed by becoming Head of Department, where he championed industry-academia partnerships.  His research interests at that time explored investment decision making in Engineering organisations, expanding to focus on Public Sector Investment Decision Making as local and central Governments started to invest in their eGovernment infrastructure.  Much of his work at that time is now considered normative, where it also attracted funding from UK research councils, Qatar Foundation NPRP-6,7 and 8, Industry and from the EU as part of the FP 6-7 and H2020.  A move into the Business School saw his research interest broaden, along with changes in his methodological approaches to include techniques such as Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) which is an AI based technique.  He remains research active, graduating 31 PhD students and has a H-index of 83.

His Interdisciplinary background has allowed him to publish across Engineering, Information Systems, Operational Research and Business-related journals.  His professional development has seen him complete his leadership and financial management raining at Harvard Business School and University of Cambridge respectively. Having completed a 7-year tenure as Head of Business School where he won the Times Higher Education (THE) Business School of the Year award, he accepted an invitation to work in Government, where he was seconded to Whitehall to become a Senior Policy Advisor in the Cabinet Office during the UK coalition Government.  On completion, he returned to academia, to become the Founding Dean of the newly established College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences at Brunel University London. Later headed to the University of Bradford where, as the Dean of Faculty (Management and Law) he led the merger with the Faculty of Social Sciences.  He is an active proponent of the Civic University and is the chief architect of the 5-year Bradford District Council Economic Recovery Plan that was developed in response to Covid and through the Bradford Council Economic Recovery Board where Professor Irani was Chair.  

Zahir is the Executive Board champion for Age issues.

Zahir Irani Tweets: @ZahirIrani1 

Kate has been working in Financial Services for the past two decades in a broad range of roles across Audit, Risk and Finance, now sitting on the ExCo for Yorkshire Building Society as their Chief Internal Audit Officer.  She is responsible for its 'third line of defence' in the Society's risk management model, including evaluating how it manages its capital, liquidity, credit, operational and regulatory risks. 

Kate is dedicated to promoting meaningful, lasting diversity in the workplace, understanding how it enhances innovation, decision-making and ultimately the bottom-line.  As the Executive Sponsor of its DE&I activities, Kate supports YBS with its responsibility to create and sustain an inclusive and equitable working environment, where all colleagues can realise their true potential.

Sally Neocosmos has over 35 years experience in higher education administration and management.  During her full-time career she worked in pre and post 1992 universities, most recently as Registrar and Secretary at the University of York.

Since taking early retirement in 2008 she has undertaken a number of interim management and consultancy assignments related to higher education.

She has wide-ranging experience of national policy development as a UK civil servant, as a technical adviser to the South African National Commission on Higher Education, and as a member of numerous policy committees and task groups.

She also has direct experience of governance in higher and further education and schools. She was awarded the OBE for services to higher education in 2010. 

Sally is Chair of the University People Committee.

Sanjay is a graduate of Imperial College, London where he qualified as a Chemical Engineer and after 8 years with ICI in North Yorkshire, has acquired over 25 year's of Industry experience across retail, aerospace and defence and Consumer Products.  He is currently Group CIO at Tate & Lyle, a global provider of distinctive, high quality ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage and other industrieis and whose Purpose of Improving Lives for Generations is realized by adding taste, texture, nutrition and increased functionality, like fibre to products that millions of people around the world use or consume every day.

Sanjay has a passion for learning and transformational change and is a member of several CIO forums where he has been requested to present and write papers on the future of technology, automation and the role of CIO in the Future.  He leads a people champions and an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion community within the IT function and has extensive experience in recruitment, mentoring and coaching.

Sanjay lives in Richmond, Surrey with his wife Sayjel who teaches healthy cooking and their two teenage children. Sanjay has travelled extensively and has lived and worked in Switzerland and The Netherlands with Nestle, Unilever and PepsiCo.

Ibrahim graduated from International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan in 2005 with a Master's degree in Economics and Finance.  In 2010 Ibrahim completed his Chartered Management Accountant's degree from Chartered Institute of Management Accounts UK.

Ibrahim has 20 years of international experience, working in finance and commercial roles across large organisations.  Currently he is working as Commercial Director Finance for Atos, managing Public Sector & Defence market segment covering UK&I and Northern Europe Regions.

Zoe Burns-Shore graduated from the Newcastle University with a BA in History and Politics.

With a real passion for values-led leadership, Zoe has gone on to work in both the creative and commercial worlds.  With a broad career encompassing brand development, marketing, strategy development, customer and people experience, operational delivery and digital transformation, Zoe now works as Director of Customer Experience at Yorkshire Water.

Born and bred in Yorkshire, Zoe is committee to helping the region flourish and creating opportunities for all.  She champions Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within Yorkshire Water and beyond, offering coaching and mentoring to a wide range of people.  Always committed to learning Zoe has recently completed the IOD Chartered Directorship.  

Zoe lives in Huddersfield with her husband and two teenage children and loves to cook, read and listen to music.

Sally has been a senior leader in schools and colleges for the past forty years.  She has led two successful, innovative colleges - Milton Keynes (1996-2003) and Activate Learning (2003-2022).  Whilst, at Activate Learning she and her team transformed a medium sized failing institution into a high quality, financially strong group of seven innovative colleges across three counties, three training providers, six schools and international work with a turnover of 150 million pounds.  To achieve this Sally led over four mergers and acquisitions.  Sally's key interest is in creating learning organisations where people develop both their emotional and thinking capabilities.  To this end she developed a Learning Philosophy which became the cultural heart at Activate Learning.  

She is a keen advocate for vocational education and was the President of the Association of Colleges July 2020 until October 2022.  She was given a CBE in 2013 for services to education.  She has chaired and been a member of a range of local regional and national boards.  She is chair of Learning with Parents.  She coaches/mentors' senior leaders and works with a range of organisations on culture change and redesigning the curriculum.

Sally likes reading, learning travel and being active.

Paul is a businessman, investor and philanthropist with over 40 years' experience with a range of leading global companies in fast moving consumer goods, information technology, telecommunications, leisure and hospitality and media sectors.

His most recent role was as CEO of Arqiva Group, a privately held provider of critical UK national broadcast infrastructure where he is now a no-executive board member.

With a passion for technology Paul is a founder investor and member of the investment committee at Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Funds and is Chair at action.ai, providing voice based ai solutions for customer service organizations.

A committed philanthropist he supports a significant number of charitable organisations, with a focus on social mobility and educational impact.

Paul holds a BA in Scandinavian Studies from University College London and an MBA from the University of Bradford where in 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate. 

Before joining Matt Hamnett & Associates Limited (MH&A) in the autumn of 2022, Matt was the senior official in the Department for Education responsible for 'provider market oversight' - ensuring that public funding was used for the purposes it was intended, fostering financial sustainability across the sector, and taking the action necessary to support education institutions when they fell into financial distress.  He previously worked in the deals team of a big four firm, and as an insolvency practitioner.

Tori McKay is Policy and Development Officer within the Directorate of Learning, Teaching and Quality Enhancement (LTQE) at the University of Bradford.

Tori’s role is to lead on the development and implementation of institutional academic strategy, policy, regulation and guidance in order to safeguard the quality and standards of the University and drive improvements in the student and staff experience.  

Tori joined the University in March 2018 and prior to this, worked as part of the quality assurance and educational development function within a private international higher education pathway institution. She has 10 years of experience working in quality assurance and enhancement roles in the higher education sector and also has experience and qualifications in teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Tori holds a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Durham and an MA in Publishing from the University of Central Lancashire. Tori’s work within LTQE involves working with multiple areas, teams and individuals across the institution and, since joining the University in 2018, she has been involved in many strategic and operational improvement projects/activities.

Vishanth is a Professor of Digital Governance in the School of Management and Associate Dean for International and Enterprise in the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences at the University of Bradford.  Vishanth has also served as Dean and Associate Dean of Resources and Planning in the Faculty. 

Before moving to the University of Bradford, Vishanth held various senior management roles at Brunel Business School and was a Professor of Digital Governance at Brunel University London.  As a research active scholar. Vishanth maintains a  healthy research track record and continues to publish in Chartered Association of Business Schools 3* and 4* journals.  Vishanth's current research and teaching are multidisciplinary and centred around public sector policy implementation, process transformation through digital technologies, social innovation, and the implementation, diffusion, and adoption of disruptive technologies in society.  Vishanth's passion for solving societal problems through research and innovation has allowed him to attract over £25 million of R&D funding over the last decade from the EU, ESRC, Qatar Foundation, British Council, and UK Local Government, and produce two REF2021 impact case studies for the University of Bradford. Given the changing landscape of the UK with Europe, Vishanth is particularly passionate about research and innovation to tackle the societal challenges prioritised in the National Industry Strategy, including the use of emerging technologies to transform health and social care, and using community-led innovation to deal with increasing levels of digital inequality, scarcity  and poverty.  

Prior to joining academia, Vishanth worked in several multinational organisations including BAT Industries and IBM.  Vishanth draws from over 30 years of commercial and academic experience to combine leadership, innovation and intrapreneurship to accomplish both personal and institutional success. In Vishanth's current role as AD for International and Enterprise, he leads the international strategy for his Faculty and supports the University through developing new global partnerships with academia and industry to advance student and staff mobility, curriculum innovation and research excellence at Bradford. 

Biography of Amir Sharif

Maryann Hardy is Professor of Radiography with the Faculty of Health Studies and is an elected member of Senate.  She has previously held the role of Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Health Studies and has represented the University and Profession of Diagnostic Radiography on external bodies, most recently being Vice-President for Education at the British Institute of Radiology and Trustee of the charity, positively contributing to both financial and people strategy and governance.

On leaving school, Maryann completed a 3 year professional diploma as a Diagnostic Radiographer and worked within the NHS for 12 years at various hospitals across the UK. While working clinically and supporting a young family, she completed a BSc Degree (Maths) with the Open University and a part time Master Degree in Healthcare Practice at the University of Bradford.  In 1998, she was appointed to a fixed term Radiography Lecturer position and has remained with the University ever since in a variety of roles.

Having travelled a non-traditional path into higher education and academia, Maryann is an advocate of authentic and relatable education that can make a difference to lives and society, promoting the achievement of dreams regardless of the circumstances of birth, demography or life experiences.  Her recent (2022) National Teaching Fellowship award recognised her long standing contribution to teaching and learning innovation locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.  She is also an established researcher and widely published, influencing practice and policy within healthcare and Diagnostic Radiography as well as supporting enterprise and industry partnerships.

Faiz Ilyas is the Student Feedback Coordinator for the University's Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, working on increasing student engagement and student experience across the Faculty.  He also works on the Faculty's alumni and social media engagement as well as supporting accreditation activity.

Faiz is a licensed private hire driver and has extensive experience in the private hire and hackney carriage trade, currently a director at Fiacre Charter Ltd, formerly Ilyas Cars.  He also helped establish, La Reign, a women's make-up, hair and beauty studio.

Faiz originally joined the University of Bradford's Faculty of Engineering & Informatics in 2015, as a student where he pursued a degree in Civil & Structural Engineering, graduating with a BEng, first class honours.  during these formative years at the University, Faiz was actively involved in the Students' Union, taking on several voluntary roles in student societies and the UBU Council until he was elected to run the Union as the lad sabbatical officer and Chair of the Union's Board of Trustees.  Throughout this time, Faiz proactively worked with the University on various projects, ensuring the student voice was at the forefront of University decision making.  Projects included the Emm Lane campus relocation, sponsoring and securing the Graduate Workforce Bradford (GWB) Project, and the 2019 Vice-Chancellor recruitment.

Faiz is also extensively involved in the local community, through his involvement in his local parish council as well as having taken part in many initiatives such as campaigning on firework abuse, supporting Shearbridge Residents Association, Covid-19 Vaccine campaigns, amongst others.

Hamza Khan is the elected Student Affairs Officer and the Chair of the Student Unions' Trustee Board for 2023/2024.  Hamza has completed his Masters from the University of Bradford in Advanced Biomedical Engineering and graduated in 2022.  Hamza served last year as the elected Community and Activities Officer and played a vital role in bringing the engagement and student life back onto campus in a post Covid world.  As a student, Hamza was involved in many different areas such as the Vice-President of the Cricket club, treasurer of Paksoc and the Inclusion Officer on the Sports Committee 2022/23 where he was part of a team that organised socials, weekly training sessions for the team, educational events for students and promoting inclusivity in everything he does which is very near and dear to his heart.

Working very closely with students in Bradford for the last 3 years Hamza understands the needs and expectations of the students from their student experience and has hence taken the role to be a representative of the student's needs.  He is a strong believer in having students at the heart of anything you do as they are leaders for tomorrow and will shape the future for tomorrow and therefore wants to develop student representation within the University.

Hamza loves Bradford and is very proud of the diversity and inclusivity at the University and within the city, he looks forwards to contributing towards the University to make it a better place for students and staff.

Iqra Tabassum is the elected Education Officer for the year 2022/23. Iqra has been at the University of Bradford since 2018 and graduated in the summer of 2022 with a first-class honours in Civil & Structural Engineering.  Iqra is the recipient of the Civil Engineering Department Project Oral Prize and the Bradford Soroptimist Leadership Prize Award.  Iqra also held the position of Vice-President & Secretary at the Civil & Structural Engineering Society (CivSoc) at the University of Bradford Student Union where she was part of a team that organised social and educational events for students.

With previous experience as a mathematics tutor in an external company and a student representative within the university Iqra understands the intricacies of the education system and has taken on the role to be a representative of the student's needs.  She takes a keen interest in the development of the student representative system and methods of incorporating the students voice and needs into the teaching methods within the University.

Iqra was born and raised in Bradford and is proud of the diversity within the city, she looks forwards to contributing towards the University to make it a better place for students and staff.