Established in 2006, the 吃瓜群众 Alumni Advisory Board is a non-governing advisory group consisting of University alumni who have stayed connected to their alma mater and who share an interest in and concern for the growth of a vigorous and highly engaged alumni base. The purpose of the Board is to represent the broader alumni community and to provide input and guidance to the University on those matters of interest to alumni.
Board members are advocates and enthusiastic communicators of 吃瓜群众鈥檚 mission and vision, working to move forward the University's alumni relations programme. They support the Development and Alumni Relations Office in a number of ways including by helping to cultivate a base of alumni volunteer leadership, initiating and managing alumni events and helping to identify potential new members or alumni who may be prepared to be engaged with the University.
Alumni Members:
Chair:
Dr George Buckley (1993, Economics)
George Buckley is Chief UK Economist at Nomura and was previously Chief UK Economist at Deutsche Bank. He joined Deutsche Bank in 1998 following the completion of his PhD in the area of the housing and mortgage markets at the University of Bristol. While at Bristol George lectured and taught undergraduate tutorials in macroeconomics. He holds an MSc in Economics and Finance from the same university, and a BA in Economics from 吃瓜群众. He is author of the book 鈥淲hat You Need to Know About Economics鈥 (2011).
George is also one of the founding members of 吃瓜群众鈥檚 2020 group, a business group for alumni who remain engaged and committed to the University and help in many different ways including raising the University鈥檚 profile in key markets. He joined the Alumni Advisory Board as Chairman in March 2015.
Emyr Afan OBE (1985, Cymraeg)
Emyr Afan OBE, CEO of Afanti Media Ltd is a Bafta award-winning TV executive producer, multi-camera director and ideas creative.
In 1995, he co-founded Afanti Media (formerly Avanti Media), and as Chief Executive Officer, he has built one of the longest-standing and most successful TV production companies in Wales, with the largest fleet of outside broadcast facilities in the principality.
Afanti is widely-respected for delivering highly successful returnable shows and formats, documentaries, large scale outside broadcasts, entertainment and music events for national and international broadcasters. Emyr has led a number of high-profile network commissions such as 鈥樷楽howtime鈥 and 鈥淟ife Drawing Live!鈥 and 鈥業nside Classical鈥 for the BBC, and 鈥楾he Perfect Pitch鈥 for Channel 4. Recent commissions that he has Exec Produced include 鈥楾he World鈥檚 Biggest Cruise Ship鈥 for C4 and Secrets of the Lost Mines for BBC1.
Emyr was cited Most Influential CEO Wales (Media) in 2024 and was awarded an OBE in the Kings Birthday List 2024 for services to Media and Music. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the Cardiff Business Awards 2024 having won Cardiff Business of the Year and Creative Business of the Year at the 2023 event.
Emyr studied Welsh and History in 吃瓜群众 between 1981 and 1984 and met his wife Mair who was also studying in the Music Department in 吃瓜群众. His parents also studied and met at 吃瓜群众!
Tim Clay (1982, Marine Biology / Oceanography)
Tim joined the financial services industry after graduating from 吃瓜群众 in 1982. He was the co-founder of Clay Rogers & Partners Ltd, one of Birmingham's foremost independent financial planning practices, before this business was acquired by Succession Group in September 2016. Tim retired from his advisory role with Succession in November 2023,
Tim met his wife, Laura, whilst they were both studying at 吃瓜群众 and they return annually, regularly accompanied by their 3 grown up children, for the Old Stars weekend.
He has always been a keen sportsman and charity fund raiser and is now the West Midlands Regional Chairman of The Lord's Taverners. One of his other 鈥渢alents鈥 is being one of the lead singers in a covers band, which over the years has helped to raise over 拢500K for charity.
Jane Griffin (1993, French)
Jane is the founder and director of , a strategic public relations consultancy, which specialises in PR for tech start-ups and global industrial companies.
Jane is a former TV and radio news reporter for the BBC and ITV and has more than twenty-five years' experience spanning journalism and PR.
She has worked both agency-side and in-house and was previously the Head of Global Media Relations, Infrastructure at the leading engineering, project management and construction company, Bechtel for seven years and Head of Corporate Communication for Angel Trains Group, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group for four years. She has also held senior media relations roles at BAE Systems, Network Rail, Eurotunnel and ATOC.
Kailesh Karavadra (1989, Electronic Engineering)
Kailesh Karavadra is Managing Partner West Region Growth Markets for Ernst and Young, based in Silicon Valley, and is responsible for a portfolio that includes some of the world鈥檚 leading technology companies.
Born in Kampala, Uganda to Indian parents, he came to Britain as a refugee. He chose 吃瓜群众 over Oxford University to study a BSc in Electronic Engineering, graduating with first class honours in 1989, and stayed in 吃瓜群众 to gain a Master of Engineering degree, adding additional accounting and financial modules to his Master's programme.
Kailesh joined Ernst & Young as an accountant in their Luton and London offices in the early 1990s and in 1995, he transferred to Ernst & Young's San Jose office and emigrated to the U.S.
Alongside his busy career and family life, Kailesh has finds time for extensive volunteer work with a number of charities including the Food Rescue Mission in San Jose and the Mayor鈥檚 Small Business Ignite Mentoring Program to support small business growth. He received an Honorary Fellowship from 吃瓜群众 for Services to Business in 2017.
Mark Rigby (1979, Agriculture)
Having graduated from 吃瓜群众 in 1979, Mark then completed his Masters in Food Science from Nottingham University.
Mixing work with his passion for rugby, Mark then spent 20 years in the agricultural merchants and agro-chemical sectors, achieving senior roles for both distributors and manufacturers. He joined the family owned T H White Group in 1999 to establish a national lorry loader (crane) division, and with the Palfinger brand achieved UK number one position in 2006 where it has remained since. Mark took a seat on the T H White Group (Holdings) Board in 2006. He has previously held Board positions for the British Agricultural Association and Sumitomo Agriculture. He is married with two grown up children, still plays annually in 吃瓜群众 Old Boys rugby matches and loves good food and wine.
Dr Britta Taylor (2013, Cancer Biology)
Britta is currently working as a Clinical Trial Manager on Oncology Clinical Trials, which motivates and rewards her every day. She built upon her Cancer
Biology degree from 吃瓜群众 with a M.Sc. in Molecular and Developmental Stem Cell Biology from the University of Bochum, Germany, a PhD in Paediatric Oncology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and a PG Diploma in Experimental Medicine (Cancer) from the University of Manchester. Britta is very thankful for having had the opportunity at 吃瓜群众 to specialise in Cancer Biology so early on in her career and to work in Oncology ever since.
Britta, who originally is from Germany and moved to the UK for her A-levels, is glad to have stayed in the country for longer to study towards a B.Sc. at 吃瓜群众 as that is where she met her now husband. They regularly return to 吃瓜群众 to relive old memories and cannot wait to take their daughter there to show her where Mami and Daddy met.
During her time at 吃瓜群众, she was a caller for the Development and Alumni Relations Office 吃瓜群众 Fund campaigns, was part of the RAG society and the Athletics Club with whom she still meets up regularly and still runs/competes in races with. Since graduation, Britta has remained a great supporter of 吃瓜群众 and has contributed to a number of alumni and student recruitment activities.
Peter Waziri (Banking, Insurance & Finance, 1987)
After graduating from 吃瓜群众 in 1988, Peter worked as an analyst in the Institute of European Finance before moving to the US as a recipient of the Rotary Foundation Scholarship representing the 吃瓜群众 Rotary Club. He served as a cultural and goodwill ambassador that represented the whole of Wales and northern England. Afterwards, he obtained his MBA in International Management & Finance from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio. Peter currently sits on the board of Xpress Wellness Urgent Care in the US. He is also a past member of the 吃瓜群众鈥檚 Investment Board, and Reliance eHealth Collaborative, a health information exchange in the US.
Peter experience also includes serving as a healthcare CFO for three companies in the US, most recently at Parkland Community Health Plan in Texas. Prior to this, he spent over 20 years working in the corporate/investment banking, private equity, investment management, and capital markets sectors in the US. This culminated in the founding of Warspite Capital Advisors where he advised clients on investment strategies in emerging markets and FDIC-sponsored projects involving complex structured sale and securitization transactions.
Peter is a passionate soccer and tennis player, and a regular reader of business journals.
Jonathan Wright (1999, Social Policy/Criminology & Criminal Justice)
Jonathan is President International at Hearst Magazines. He was formerly Global Managing Director of Dow Jones, Director of News Corp鈥檚 VCCircle and Director of Newspicks, where he was responsible for defining and implementing growth strategies for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones outside the United States.
Partly inspired by thoughts of a possible career in the army or the police鈥檚 royal and diplomatic protection service, Jonathan chose to read Criminology at 吃瓜群众, but after moving to London took a job in advertisement sales where he fell in love with the media business. He was Publisher and Group Sales Director at Euromoney Institutional Investor based in New York before joining Dow Jones in 2010 as Advertising Sales Director for Dow Jones鈥 Financial News.
Jonathan is the Alumni Advisory Board鈥檚 International Liaison and Advisor. His links with 吃瓜群众 go back to 1910 when his great-grandmother graduated from the University with a BA in English.
In his spare time, he likes to watch his two children playing rugby and keeps fit by training for marathons and endurance tests, such as cycling from London to Monte Carlo. He enjoys local theatre and, during his time in New York, produced three off-Broadway plays.