Susannah has worked in the Higher Education sector for over 25 years. Her people-focused and creative approaches have resulted in successful large-scale operations and change initiatives that have enabled staff, students and institutions to thrive.
Since establishing her consultancy in August 2021, she has worked on over 30 projects including on service design, executive leadership, Office for Students requirements, policy and regulation reviews, full degree-awarding powers submissions, the TEF, academic governance reviews and senior staff appointments. Susannah is also a TCM Group trained workplace mediator and workplace investigator.
Between 2013 and 2021, Susannah was Director of Student & Academic Services and Registrar at City, University of London. As a member of the University Executive Committee, she worked with colleagues through a substantial period of strategic development, and led projects that necessitated fundamental change to ways of working to better support students. During her time in post, City was shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Most Improved Student Experience (2017) and teams in her Directorate were shortlisted (2016, 2018) for or winners (2019) of Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards.
Susannah’s engagement in Higher Education extends to working with world-leading conservatoires and specialist arts institutions. In consultancy, she has worked with seven such institutions on a wide range of projects. She is a governor of the Central School of Ballet and was previously a trustee of the National Centre for Circus Arts (2006-15 and Deputy Chair from 2011) and of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama (2007-15). She holds a BSc (Hons) Music and an MA Arts Management. Her MA included substantial research into music conservatoires and widening participation which was subsequently shared with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
In 2021, Susannah’s contributions to the HE sector were recognised by being awarded a Fellowship of the Association of Higher Education Professionals (AHEP). She has been a trusted mentor to many colleagues and is currently a mentor for the AHEP scheme. She is also the founder and presenter of Job Shadowing HE: The Podcast which she established to provide insight into HE professional services roles and to support colleagues in their career planning.