Liz was Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive at Staffordshire from 2016 to 2022, having previously been Deputy Vice Chancellor at Sheffield Hallam University and Derby University, following a long career at Teesside University.

With a commitment to universities playing their role in the community, and supporting opportunities and initiatives to improve the life chances of our young people. Living in Staffordshire, Liz is a member of four Multi-Academy Trusts in the region and also one in London. She is Co-Chair of the Opportunity Area Partnership Board in Stoke on Trent and sits on the Stoke-on-Trent Children’s Improvement Board. Opportunity areas are at the heart of the government’s plan to level up outcomes for children and young people in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country.

Liz has served on a number of charitable Trust Boards. Whilst in Derby she was Chair of Safe and Sound, a charity that supported children, and their families, that suffered sexual exploitation and worked to eradicate the grooming of young people and she was a Trustee of the Donna Louise Trust in Stoke-on-Trent caring for and supporting children and their families who have life shortening conditions.

Liz believes that the education sector, employers and civic partners should work together to improve social mobility and the health and well-being of young people in Staffordshire and beyond, ensuring that they achieve their potential and become the best they can be.

Liz was appointed to the Order of the British Empire with a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2019 for services to higher education. In 2020, Liz became a Deputy Lieutenant of Staffordshire.