Corporate Services Board

Remit

Strategic alignment 

• Oversee the delivery and implementation of  corporate strategies and plans with two key aims:
• Ensuring corporate professional services infrastructure, working closely with academic services, enables the University to deliver the mission for public good, and our staff, students and users can thrive in our physical and digital environment.  
• Ensuring the University is protected, compliant and meets its regulatory and legislative requirements.
• Develop, lead and contribute to strategic projects, plans, and services across the Corporate Services area, working in partnership with other areas to deliver institutional plans and objectives. Ensure that impact, dependencies, opportunities and risks are understood and addressed and that long-term benefits for the University are realised. 

Financial planning and resource management  

• Providing governance and assurance regarding the delivery of financial, planning, and performance targets, and ensuring Board-level visibility of performance across the Corporate Services area. This includes:

• • Oversight of Corporate Services Directorates’ revenue and capital budgets.
  • Ensuring the annual planning process is effectively implemented across Corporate Services areas of professional services, including the development and implementation of investment and efficiency plans; ensuring alignment with faculty and Academic Services planning.
  • Establish and monitor a framework of Strategic Performance Indicators (SPIs) designed to measure the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of corporate professional services.
  • Management of resources (financial, human, and technological) across the area, within the budget envelope,  to deliver strategic and operational goals.
  • Promote resource sharing and provide constructive challenge to ensure resourcing decisions are made in the best interests of the entire institution. 
  • Strategic workforce planning across the Corporate Services area, considering and contributing to plans for professional services organisational change and development to ensure cohesion, impact and that streamlined approaches can be embedded.

Partnership working

• Work in partnership and collaboration with senior leaders across the University to co-create strategies and ensure that service priorities are aligned with the University strategy, and enable excellence in education, research, and innovation.
• Undertake regular reviews of performance and user perspectives on relevant professional services, including external benchmarking to identify opportunities for improved outcomes.

Governance and Assurance

• Ensure appropriate governance and assurance approaches, and policies are being applied and monitored at an operational level to ensure efficiency and effective management of compliance and risk for the University. 
• To monitor and review the effectiveness of managing the corporate risk(s) and other key risks related to the Committee's business and advising and assuring the relevant UEB corporate risk owner.
• Ensure the Corporate Services area of PS is business-ready for new implementations and that lessons learned are incorporated into future programmes of work to improve success.

Operational excellence

• Provide functional expertise and knowledge to enable specialist aspects of service delivery and operations, focusing on student recruitment, marketing, technology, people, estate management and facilities, campus development, change management, legal services, risk management, financial management/control and corporate governance and compliance. 
• Integrated support:  
• Identify and coordinate changes to operations, as the University’s strategic and operational needs evolve and the legislative and regulatory environment changes.
• Identify opportunities to enhance overall organisational effectiveness; enhancing structures, infrastructure (processes/technology), and community to deliver efficiency, connectivity, innovation and agility. 

Leadership and People

• Oversee the development of professional services staff in the area to ensure the workforce possesses the skills and competencies required to meet evolving institutional needs. This includes monitoring the effectiveness of staff training and developing initiatives that support internal mobility and career progression.
• Foster a culture of transformation and collaboration across Professional Services, and between PS and Faculties, to optimise the University strategy and achieve our academic mission.

Authority

CSB reports into UEB via the Chief Financial and Operating Officer, who is a UEB member and Chair of CSB, and through the formal reporting mechanisms set out below.

CSB has delegated authority to make decisions on professional staffing and operations across corporate professional services.

Reporting to UEB

CSB reports key points arising from its meetings to UEB as follows:

• Frequently: At least eight times per year: through minutes of CSB.
• Ad hoc: where urgent University-wide matters pertaining to academic services require direct escalation to UEB for decision or discussion. 

Reporting to the Committee

CSB is empowered to establish its own sub-groups and committees to reflect the requirements of University-level initiatives, promoting a task and finish approach where possible. The actions of the groups/committees (or updates drawn from these in writing) should be presented to UIC on a timely basis.

CSB maintains a critical interface with Pro-Vice-Chancellors (Research, Education and Students, and Enterprise, Partnerships and Engagement), Academic Faculty Deans, and other areas of Professional Services.

Meeting frequency

CSB will meet a minimum of eight times per academic year.  Additional meetings may be called at the discretion of the Chair. 

Meeting modes

Meetings will be held either in-person, online or via a hybrid format, subject to agreement by members.

Meeting dates 2025-26

Date	Time
Tuesday 17 March 2026	15:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 19 May 2026	15:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 16 June 2026	15:00 - 16:30

Joint Think Tank Meeting dates 2025-26 (with Academic Services Board)

Date	Time
Tuesday 21 July 2026	15:00 - 16:30

Meeting dates 2026-27

Date	Time
Tuesday 18 August 2026	15:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 15 September 2026	15:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 17 November 2026	15:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 15 December 2026	15:00 - 16:30
Monday 8 February 2027	15:30 - 17:00
Monday 8 March 2027	15:30 - 17:00
Tuesday 18 May 2027	15:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 8 June 2027	15:00 - 16:30

Joint Think Tank Meeting dates 2026-27 (with Academic Services Board)

Date	Time
Monday 12 October 2026	15:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 19 January 2027	15:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 20 April 2027	15:00 - 17:00
Monday 12 July 2027	15:00 - 17:00

 

The Committee’s membership comprises ex officio members and those appointed by nomination as representatives of academic faculties, professional support services, students and staff.  

Other membership considerations

Professional Support members are drawn from across the University and between them have sufficient experience to be able to speak to the matters discussed by ASB from a range of levels and experiences. 

In consultation with the Chair, members may authorise an appropriate colleague to represent them if they are unable to attend a meeting. Individual colleagues may be invited to attend in order to advise and inform on select items as and when the need arises.

Quorum

50% of members, or 50% rounded up where the number of members is odd.

Membership Review

Membership will be periodically reviewed by the Committee itself on behalf of UEB's approval by the Chair. Membership is otherwise coterminous with the individual’s appointment term. Gender balance and wider EDI considerations should be factored into the Committee’s reflection on its own size and composition.

Members

• Nigel Alcock, Chief Financial & Operating Services Officer (Chair)
• Timothy Andrew, Head of Strategic Projects Office
• Tyrrell Basson, Director of Informational Technology
• Joan Concannon, Director of Reputation, Economic Development and Advocacy
• Adam Hewitt, University Secretary
• Jamie Holliday, Director of Finance
• David Hudson, Director of Global Recruitment, Marketing and Admissions
• Rachael Millhouse, Director of HR
• Chris Garlick, Director of Property Services and Campus Development
• Lisa Woods, Director of Facilities Management and Campus Services

In attendance

• Jo Black, Senior Executive Officer and Head of PS Central Administration (Secretary)

In attendance as required

• Rachel Barson, Director of Communications
• Simon Donoghue, Director of Strategic Planning and Performance