Alumni Advisory Board

The Board consists of up to 16 members; including the Chair who is appointed by the Board, 2 internal members from the College and up to 12 members of the alumni community and up to one co-opted member. Terms are typically three years with an option to renew for another three. Co-opted members serve for one year with the option to renew. Board meetings take place four times a year.

If you’d like to contact the Board, please email the Development team at development@pmb.ox.ac.uk.

Steve Atkinson (1973)

PPE (Chairman of the Alumni Advisory Board)

Following graduation, I worked in local government for 39 years, starting as a Trainee in Preston and ending with 12 years as the Chief Executive at Hinckley and Bosworth, which I led to an ‘Excellent’ rating by the Audit Commission. For six months in 2015, I combined that role with that of Interim Director for the District Councils’ Network, representing all 201 District Councils in England. Now (semi) retired, I am the Independent Chair of the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership and of two Health Joint Ventures in Leicestershire. I have independent roles on the Ethics Committees of Coventry City and Birmingham City Councils and undertake management consultancy from my own company. I am married to Jennifer and have two grown-up sons and five grandchildren.

Vivienne Artz (1987)

Philosophy and Theology

What do you do with a degree in Philosophy & Theology? Today, I am the Chief Privacy Officer at Refinitiv and President of Women in Banking & Finance, and those studies and dialogues so many years ago are more relevant today than ever, as my role involves considering the impacts of artificial intelligence, ethics and data, culture, diversity & inclusion, governance and a whole host of “big questions”. I started that journey after Pembroke by taking up the mantle of the law, and joined a number of Pembroke colleagues on the law conversion course and qualification, and then to private practice in the City. I then moved to Citibank for 17 years, as an in-house lawyer, and broadening my role to include privacy advocacy, championing gender equality and the ethics of innovation. Being “grounded” with Covid-19 has given me the opportunity to spend more time with my family, pets, in the garden and to take up more regular running again. I am delighted to be a member of the Alumni Advisory Board and to have the opportunity to help support Pembroke’s journey as a college and community.

Jane Chesters (1987)

Modern Languages

Pursued a career in Human Resources. Initially working in food manufacturing, her career in HR then progressed in professional services in property and consulting ( Accenture). In 2002, she left the safety of a big firm to set up her own boutique HR consultancy. Orion Partners has flourished over the last 17 years, delivering for a broad spectrum of clients in both the public and private sector. She also works as an Executive coach and lectures at Henley Business School on HR management. She is married with two young daughters and lives in South Oxfordshire.

Ga Lok Chung (2001)

Engineering Science

Currently a Management Consultant at KPMG, advising clients on Customer Experience transformation and Technology. At the weekend he is a volunteer counsellor with Childline.

Kenny Sperry (2013)

French

Kenny currently works in advertising at AMV BBDO and has previously worked for WPP, Wunderman Thompson and HEC Paris. From her role as a school governor, as well as work with Teach First and Schools Plus over the years, Kenny is passionate about equal access to education and is interested in increasing alumni involvement in Pembroke's access initiatives. She is the youngest board member in the Watford Palace Theatre's 112-year history and she is a frequent theatre-goer and cinephile.

Tristan De Souza (2003)

Economics and Management

Upon leaving Pembroke, Tristan embarked on a career in real estate private equity and went on to gain an MBA from Harvard Business School. He now runs the European arm of ARK Capital Advisors. Tristan lives in London with his wife and two children and is in regular contact with many Pembroke alum.

Carol Hopper (1982)

Jurisprudence

Carol is a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and advises funds, investors, bank and non-bank lenders and corporate clients on a wide array of domestic and international real estate transactions. She acts for investors at all levels of the capital stack and across the full risk spectrum. Carol has over 30 years of experience working on real estate deals in a wide range of sub-sectors, including office, industrial, residential, hotel/leisure, education, infrastructure/energy (particularly energy-from-waste and windfarms), and public/private finance transactions.

Keith Howick (1972)

Engineering Science

Born and went to school in Guernsey. Career in Intellectual Property; Chartered Patent and Trade Mark Attorney, and European Patent Attorney. Partner in Carpmaels & Ransford for 30 years, retired in 2014 after being Managing Partner and Senior Partner. Currently on the Board of IPReg, the independent regulator for the IP professions. Married to Anne in 1976. Both active in our local church in Beckenham. Main interests are family, sport (active in hockey and cricket, and happy to watch any sport), and music.

Jack Kinnersly (2011)

PPE

Currently works for a small mid-market private equity fund and sits on the board of several businesses. His focus is on turnaround investments and traditional sectors. Has been involved in alumni activities since 2017 and is interested in how the college can help recent graduates.

Jennifer Ma (2000)

Economics and Management

Started career in Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch and Investment Management at Goldman Sachs; before co-founding ARCH Education and ARCH Community Outreach in Hong Kong. Her expertise spans across curriculum development of skills programs for youth, education advisory to teenagers, and school consultancy. As the recently appointed Chief Strategy Officer of Chow Tai Fook Education Group, Jennifer is responsible for key business development projects and is involved in the operations of a network of schools and kindergartens in Hong Kong and Greater China Region.

Simon Richards (1974)

Botany

Qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Touche Ross & Co (now part of Deloitte) and then pursued a career in business, firstly developing and then Chairing a small private bank and then was responsible for floating a company engaged in security risk management on AIM, with offices in London, Cape Town, Singapore and in the USA; for which he acted as Chair and Finance Director for 17 years until sold to US investors in 2016. Since then he has been engaged in the voluntary charitable sector and is currently vice-chair of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Finance and Treasurer of the Royal Philatelic Society London. Married to Alison they have two sons, and he has four adult sons from his first marriage.