The Fellows work with Faculty members to maximise the potential sharing of learning about leadership from both the academic and practitioner.

Business School’s Centre for Leadership announces new Fellows

Five new Fellows have this month been appointed to the University of Exeter Business School’s Centre for Leadership.

The Fellows will bring insight, energy and experience to the Business School, working with Faculty members to contribute to their leadership expertise and helping to facilitate stronger links between the Centre and wider business world. 

The new Fellows appointed in January 2022 include:

• Stuart Brocklehurst
• Karime Hassan MBE
• Gordon Seabright
• Moira Sinclair OBE
• Dr Maureen Vontz

Each of the Fellows has significant senior leadership experience in business and wider civic society.

Stuart Brocklehurst is CEO of North Devon-based company Applegate, which focuses on the development of innovative machine learning technologies to help organisations buy better. He is Chair of the regional Innovation Board, a board member of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, a member of the Steering Group for the Great South West All Party Parliamentary Group and a regular public speaker on innovation.

Karime Hassan MBE is CEO and Growth Director of Exeter City Council and has recently taken on a new role leading Exeter City Futures’ work on driving forward the city’s Net Zero ambitions. He has a long track record over the past 35 years in local government, received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Exeter in 2019 and was appointed MBE in the recent New Year’s Honours.

Gordon Seabright is CEO of the Creative Land Trust and was previously CEO of the Eden Project. He is a non-executive director of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, where he leads on communications, a particularly active role during 2020 with both the G7 and UK City of Culture bid raising Cornwall’s profile. He has a long association with the Business School as a guest contributor to different taught and Executive education programmes, and also helped set up the Eden Project’s renewable energy programme.

Moira Sinclair OBE is CEO of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, one of the UK’s largest independent charitable foundations, and has a long career with leadership roles working across the arts, health, education, heritage, housing and countryside. She is also Chair of two charities, the prestigious Clore Leadership Programme and East London Dance as well as a member of the British Library’s Advisory Council.

Dr Maureen Vontz is an organisational and executive development consultant. She is a Doctor of Professional Studies in Organisational Change, gained from Middlesex University and has an MBA from Vanderbilt University. She is also a certified team coach and member of the Chartered Management Institute. Based in the UK for the past 25 years, Dr Vontz has worked and travelled extensively consulting with a varied client base of global, multinational, and regional organisations including Avanade, the NHS, HSBC, ArcelorMittal, AstraZeneca, Microsoft, Newey & Eyre, CallCredit, the ICRC and Salisbury Cathedral. She was previously a Managing Director at Duke Corporate Education, where she built and led a portfolio of global business in executive education, and was a corporate client director and faculty member at Ashridge Business School.

The new Fellows will join a cohort of existing Fellows, who – together – work with Faculty members to maximise the potential sharing of learning about leadership from both academic and practitioner.

Professor Alexandra Gerbasi, Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Exeter Business School, said: “We are delighted to welcome five new Fellows to our Centre for Leadership. We are excited to be working with them over the next few years on our Business School strategic priorities of responsible leadership, digital transformation and environmental sustainability.

“The Fellows join our established cohort of Fellows who have provided really useful insight and leadership experience to the Business School in recent years.”

Date: 13 January 2022