Conference 2020 Speakers

Alex Berka

Market Research and Data Manager, QS

Peer to peer connections and international student decision making – 15:00 BST

Alex is the Market Research Manager at QS and oversees the analysis and design of a range of research projects they conduct. This includes the International Student Survey – the largest survey of pre-enrolled international students globally. With ten years experience working in market research, he is well versed in drawing actionable insights from surveys and has experience working across a variety of sectors.

Alex Calder

Head of Technology Solutions & Partnerships, Akero

Increasing applications and improving conversions through marketing technology – 15:00 BST

Alex’s role is to help educational institutions connect the dots between their technology systems & solutions in order to achieve a complete view of the student journey from the first interaction to enrolment. He has experience in conversion rate optimisation and behavioural psychology, which he uses to inform landing page design and create innovative and effective conversion strategies.

Alice Cassoulat

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

Online and on campus – supercharging your hybrid events strategy – 06:00 BST

After having graduated last year from university Alice came to work for Unibuddy because they offer something she would have loved to have when choosing what University to apply to. Being a French student in London, she wasn’t always able to make it to Open Days, and would have loved to have a platform that could have connected her with current students. At Unibuddy Alice is involved with driving Unibuddy’s future growth by building relationships with prospective universities in Europe.

Amanda Gregory

Co-founder and COO, Univer

MENA: the ongoing transformation of the fastest growing market in HE and why and how global institutions can leverage the opportunity – 08:00 BST

Amanda has spent her career working in the HE marketing and recruitment space, as a Director of Hobsons and Hotcourses and latterly focussed on the MENA market as a co-founder of UNIVER. Her driving force has always been that education is a force for good, not only for the development of economies but in breaking down cultural barriers and elevating knowledge sharing and understanding. The world is changing and HE must change with it, through technology and a greater understanding of how HE can transform the experience so that no young person is left behind.

Amelie Russo

Product Owner, Unibuddy

The Unibuddy Roadmap – 09:00 BST

Amelie is one of our Product Owners at Unibuddy, working on building new products and iterating on our existing proposition to provide the best experience for our users. She was previously an international student at Temple University in Philadelphia, and completed a master’s degree in Communications in NEOMA Business School in France.

Amira Hariri

Assistant Director of Admissions, Northwestern Qatar

The credible source: Adding current students’ voice to our recruitment strategy at NW Qatar – 09:00 BST

Over the past 10 years at Northwestern University in Qatar, Amira has an extensive experience in the global recruitment, admissions and enrollment management, specializing in the Gulf and MENA region. She is also responsible of managing the admission systems including Unibuddy platform and supervising the Student Diplomat Program at Northwestern Qatar. Amira holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut.

Amy Downes

Head of Customer Success (US), Unibuddy

Incorporating the student voice at every point in the recruitment cycle – 18:00 BST

As the Head of Customer Success, Amy supports our growing team of US Customer Success Managers to deliver expert guidance on the implementation, promotion and management of the Unibuddy product. Before joining Unibuddy, Amy worked as an admissions counsellor at a large London-based university. Here, she implemented one of the first ever Unibuddy platforms and developed the first Unibuddy student ambassador program.

Baiyun Liu

International Recruitment Coordinator, Arizona State University

Incorporating the student voice at every point in the recruitment cycle – 18:00 BST

Baiyun has been working at ASU for more than 4 years. She is committed to helping international students find out the fit academic program and assisting with the whole application process.

Brandon Rodriguez Torrento

Student buddy and senior, majoring in Business Management, Goucher College

Get the inside track: hear from student buddies around the world – 17:00 BST

Brandon Rodriguez Torrento is a senior majoring in Business Management at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. On campus, he’s an Admissions Ambassador, Resident Assistant, a member of the Student Engagement Team, and the Club Council Administrator.

Brendon DeGois

School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia

Supporting your indigenous student prospects – 05:00 BST

Brendon is a Noongar man from Perth, Western Australia. He graduated from The University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Science. Brendon is now a member of the student services and outreach teams at the School of Indigenous Studies (UWA), where he works to encourage Indigenous high school students to consider a university pathway.

Brittney McFadden

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

Getting In and Getting On: Supporting non-traditional learners through their Higher Ed journey – 21:00 BST

Brittney is a University Partnership Executive at Unibuddy working out of our US office. Brittney works to build relationships with prospective institutions and turn them into happy and successful partners. Prior to joining Unibuddy, Brittney worked in various areas of higher education, including campus recreation, housing, and student engagement.

Cameron Heasman

Digital Agency Owner, Campaigns You Love

From student recruitment manager to digital agency owner: Ask Me Anything – 05:00 BST

Cameron Heasman is the Founder of the Advertising Agency, Campaigns You Love based in Australia & South America. He is known as the go-to millennial for all marketing automation and advertising needs for businesses in dozens of industries. With the help of his creative team, Cameron has given businesses massive results! He regularly acts as a marketing/advertising advisor to Small to Medium business owners and Entrepreneurs.

Camille Vironda

Customer Success Manager, Unibuddy

Applied Science Universities: Supporting your domestic prospects whilst growing your international brand – 13:00 BST

Camille is a Customer Success Manager at Unibuddy. Camille works with partners in the UK and across Europe sharing best practice and helping partners get the most of the platform. Before joining Unibuddy, Camille worked at London Business School for over three years, recruiting for the MBA and Masters and Management programmes.

Caris Biltcliffe

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

Harnessing your student voice: how you can set up a successful student ambassador scheme – 04:00 BST

Caris works as a University Partnerships Executive at Unibuddy. She’s passionate about providing institutions in the Nordics, Australia and New Zealand with the technology to better connect with students through shared peer experiences. For her, the most important aspect of the role is knowing that the conversations being had are opening up educational opportunities, and are empowering prospects to make life-defining decisions all over the world.

Carolina Mantzalos

Customer Success Manager, Unibuddy

Recruiting international students in 2021 – what will it look like? – 11:00 BST

Carolina joined the Customer Success team in April as a Customer Success Manager, focusing on customers in UK, Southern Europe and the Nordic region, providing them with day to day support and helping them make the most out of their Unibuddy platform. She has 4 years of Higher and Tertiary Education in the UK at QMUL and Spain at Diverbo Pueblo Ingles where she worked hand in hand with students and ambassadors, and 2 years in Customer Success working at Hometree. Carolina wanted to bring her Customer Success skills back into Higher Education and therefore knew Unibuddy was the right fit!

Casey Mulder

School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia

Supporting your indigenous student prospects – 05:00 BST

Casey is a Ballardong Noongar woman from Western Australia. She graduated from The University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education double degree, and has been a high school educator and student services leader since 2009. Casey is now part of the Student Services team at the School of Indigenous Studies (UWA), where she is involved in high school outreach programs for Indigenous students and the Aboriginal Orientation Course.

Charee Dee Mosby-Holloway

Director of Student Diversity and Inclusion, Columbia College Chicago

Achieving true diversity and representation in your Higher Ed marketing – 19:00 BST

Charee Dee Mosby-Holloway is an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame and The Ohio State University, and has been a Student Affairs practitioner and educator for over a decade with a focus on social justice education and identity development. Her experience includes creating and facilitating diversity and social justice initiatives for students, faculty, staff, and community partners. She is committed to creating liberatory spaces for minoritized populations and managing strategic transformative change. Charee currently serves as the Director of Student Diversity and Inclusion at Columbia College Chicago. She also a lecturer at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

Corri Biemer

Student buddy and sophomore, majoring in History and Secondary Education, Goucher College

Get the inside track: hear from student buddies around the world – 17:00 BST

Corri is a sophomore History and Secondary Education major. She grew up 45 minutes north of New York City, graduated high school a year early, and is now loving Goucher. She works in the admissions office as an ambassador and is also a member of Goucher’s Women of Color Circle.

David Wei

International Admissions Conversion Officer at UniSA International, University of South Australia

Harnessing the power of shared experiences to keep students engaged throughout the international recruitment cycle – 04:00 BST

David leads and manages a team of 20+ International Student Ambassadors at UniSA International to facilitate with a broad range of prospects conversion activities through outbound call campaigns and marketing event support.

David Woods-Hale

Director of Marketing and Communications, Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association

The Business School Leaders and International MBA Survey 2020: 360-degree insights into the future of business education – 13:00 BST

David Woods-Hale joined AMBA in 2016, to launch its magazine AMBITION. While retaining editorial direction of AMBITION and BGA’s sister title Business Impact, David is also responsible for the marketing, corporate and consumer communications, conference production, public relations, and research and insight functions across AMBA & BGA.

Denise Nijhuis

Coordinator Student Recruitment and Admissions, University College Roosevelt

Recruiting international students in 2021 – what will it look like? – 11:00 BST

Denise Nijhuis has been working in the field of International Student Recruitment and Admissions for over seven years. At University College Roosevelt (UCR) she oversees the admissions process from start to finish, including recruitment activities in the Netherlands and beyond, as well as admissions policies and procedures. Outside UCR she serves as Vice-President for Professional Development of the International Association for College Admissions Counseling (IACAC).

Desmond Kohn

Business Development Manager, Sinorbis

Creating a persona-driven content plan for students and parents in China – 10:00 BST

As Business Development Manager at Sinorbis, Des works closely with clients and prospects to understand the strategic role China plays in their business and define a digital marketing approach to meet their goals. Des is passionate about helping businesses and universities to create a digital marketing presence in China that is built on solid foundations, so they can reach their full growth potential in this difficult market. Since joining Sinorbis he has worked with universities in 5 different countries.

Dr Jose Guillermo Palermo

Senior Student Recruitment and Development Officer, University of Manchester

Using peer to peer across multiple faculties – 12:00 BST

Jose completed his PhD at the University of Manchester before completing an internship with the Student Recruitment and Widening Participation team. Following his internship, Jose has held different roles at the University including in the engineering school and the Open Day team.

Dr Karen Sutherland

Social Media Lecturer – University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Using social media to build robust Higher Education communities – 08:00 BST

Dr Karen Sutherland is a social media and public relations educator, researcher and consultant with more than 20 years industry experience in marketing, public relations and communication roles for organisations such as Monash University, ABCTV and Fremantle Media. Dr Sutherland’s passion lies in connecting social media students to business-owners who seek digital support. Dr Sutherland’s work has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals and is the co-author of Public Relations and Strategic Communication published by Oxford University Press.

Elliot Newstead

Head of UK Student Recruitment & Outreach, University of Leicester

Think like a start-up – 11:00 BST

Elliot is the Head of UK Student Recruitment and Outreach at the University of Leicester, overseeing a (now virtual) team in charge of recruiting undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK. The team’s activity includes working with schools, colleges and external partners, including Unibuddy, across the UK. Elliot leads on the use of Unibuddy at Leicester winning the HELOA Best Practice Award for Marketing and Communications in January 2020 for its implementation and inclusion across the customer journey. Elliot is also the Membership Engagement Manager (UCAS) for HELOA focusing on virtual events and new product development.

Emma Froud

Head of Business Development (UK), Unibuddy

Supporting your indigenous student prospects – 05:00 BST

With over 15 years of experience in higher education, including as Head of Student Recruitment and Widening Participation at Oxford Brookes and Queen Mary University of London, Emma Froud is passionate about the sector and works at Unibuddy to help partners from all around the world create digital peer to peer platforms.

Emma Porter

Student Marketing and Recruitment Manager, University of Manchester

Using peer to peer across multiple faculties – 12:00 BST

Emma has over 15 years marketing experience across number sectors. She joined the University of Manchester around 2 years ago and has covered various roles during this time. Currently, Emma is responsible for the recruitment and marketing activities across the faculty of Humanities.

Frank Tramble

Vice President & Chief Communications Officer, Howard University

Crisis PR: the do’s and don’ts – 16:00 BST

Frank is a communication and development specialist with a decade of experience in higher education fundraising, telefund, direct mail solicitation, E-solicitation, social media strategy management, marketing & branding. This also includes international advertising experience. His skills include interpersonal communication, internal office collaboration, effective management practices of 250+ staff, social media strategy, budget & operations management, successful system upgrading, and new system implementation & marketing.

Frederico Silva

Assistant Director of Admissions and Strategic Recruitment, Northwestern Qatar

The credible source: Adding current students’ voice to our recruitment strategy at NW Qatar – 09:00 BST

Fred Silva is the Assistant Director of Admissions & Strategic Recruitment at Northwestern University in Qatar. He has worked in the field of international education for over 10 years and implemented enrollment strategies for institutions in the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Fred is a volunteer with the Council of International Schools and International Association for College Admissions Counseling. He has presented in international conferences and conducted training courses for new professionals in the field of international admissions.

George Huyton

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

Tackling webinar fatigue: how you can keep your online events engaging – 17:00 BST

George has worked at Unibuddy since 2018, helping to grow the worldwide partner base of Unibuddy. As a University Partnership Executive, George helps to form relationships and communicate with potential customers to understand how our peer-to-peer engagement platform can help them.

Georgia Horsley

Customer Success Executive and host of our fortnightly UK & ROW ambassador training sessions, Unibuddy

Getting the most from your student buddies – 07:00 BST

Georgia has experience working on Student Ambassador schemes firsthand at CCCU, both as an ambassador and as a member of staff in the Student Engagement Department (working on developing partnership schemes, student feedback & learning and teaching strategies). This experience has equipped her with an understanding of the importance of student voice. At Unibuddy, Georgia supports your Customer Success Manager through the on boarding process, hosts our Ambassador training and manages our support channels.

Ian Pierson

Customer Success Manager, Unibuddy

The secret to smooth sailing virtual events – 14:00 BST

In his role at Unibuddy, Ian works with our partners to help them achieve the most out of the platform and peer to peer. Ian has a wealth of experience in higher education having worked in senior level roles at three UK universities, including managing external partnerships for a leading UK Business School. He also has a wealth of experience in international education after being an International Director for a globally-renowned careers guidance organisation.

Ilaria Giacon

University Partnerships Manager, Unibuddy

What have 6 million messages taught us – 10:00 BST

Jack Craig

University Partnerships Manager, Unibuddy

What have 6 million messages taught us – 10:00 BST

At Unibuddy, Jack works with Universities to harness the voice of student advocates and meet their various recruitment goals. Jack has an extensive Higher Education background, having spent over 10 years working for Universities in recruitment, business development and programme delivery roles. Jack’s previous role was at London Business School, where he was responsible for building and establishing their suite of London-based experiential programmes.

Jamie Diaferia

CEO and Founder, Infinite Global

Crisis PR: the do’s and don’ts – 16:00 BST

For more than two decades, Jamie Diaferia has worked behind the scenes on many of the biggest stories in the news, counseling individuals and organizations on high-stakes crisis and litigation matters. In 2020, Business Insider included Jamie on its list of top crisis PR executives. The list recognizes the “18 top public relations experts CEOs scramble to hire in a crisis.” Before founding Infinite Global, Jamie was a journalist and lawyer. He is a graduate of The Taft School, Bucknell University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Jamila Walker

University Social Media Manager and Adjunct Professor, Old Dominion University

Achieving true diversity and representation in your Higher Ed marketing – 19:00 BST

Jamila Walker is the University Social Media Manager and Adjunct Professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia with over ten years of experience in digital, public relations and marketing. Jamila leads the institution’s social media program and works with different colleges, departments, faculty and students to identify the most effective way to disseminate key messages across digital platforms and tracks the success of those messages across multiple channels.

Josh Boltuch

Head of Operations, Unibuddy

Think like a start-up – 11:00 BST

Josh joined Unibuddy as Head of Operations in January 2020 and is now leading the Customer Success teams as well. Josh moved to London with his wife and two dogs from Brooklyn, NY, where he was CEO of Fancy Hands, Inc., one of the largest US-based virtual assistant services in the country from 2014-2019. Before working at Fancy Hands, Josh was co-founder and co-CEO of Amie Street, the first dynamically priced music discovery platform which became Songza, and was acquired by Google in 2014. Josh attended Brown University where he received a BA in English Literature.

Karen Garcia

Senior Admissions Counselor, St. Francis College

The three key steps to setting up a successful student ambassador scheme – 19:00 BST

Karen is a Senior Admissions Counselor at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. One of her main roles is to supervise the college’s Student Ambassador Program. This includes recruiting, training and managing ambassadors. Having these ambassadors makes such a difference with our recruitment events, and she truly enjoys watching this program grow each year.

Kevin Chao

Senior International Recruitment Coordinator for Admission Services, Arizona State University

Incorporating the student voice at every point in the recruitment cycle – 18:00 BST

Kevin Chao is the Senior International Recruitment Coordinator for Admission Services at Arizona State University (ASU). He is an alumnus of ASU and studied Business Management with a minor in Mandarin, Chinese. He has been involved in the education realm for over 15 years and has been with ASU Admission Services for over 7 years. He has a passion for working with students from all over the world to find their path and purpose to achieve their educational endeavor.

Kevin Obomanu

Customer Success Manager, Unibuddy

Achieving true diversity and representation in your Higher Ed marketing – 19:00 BST

Kevin has worked in Higher Education for nearly 10 years, formerly as a Coordinator of International Student Services, International Admissions Officer, and Coordinator of the International Student Buddy Program. Kevin now works as a Customer Success Manager at Unibuddy, helping our partners across the USA harness the power of their current student voice!

Kim Heuacker

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

Harnessing your student voice: how you can set up a successful student ambassador scheme – 04:00 BST

From international student to student ambassador, Unibuddy became the obvious choice when Kim started looking for a job as it allowed to continue helping students make one of the most important decision of their lives. Kim will draw upon her experience as an international student during this session.

Kimeshan Naidoo

Chief Technology Officer, Unibuddy

What the future of Unibuddy Tech looks like – 16:00 BST

Kimeshan Naidoo is a South African computer scientist and technology entrepreneur. He is the CTO & Co-Founder of Unibuddy, a London-based EdTech company. Naidoo graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BSc Electrical Engineering degree. He moved to the United Kingdom in 2015, and graduated with an MSc Computer Science from University College London. He was featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list in 2020.

Laura Cragg

Student Recruitment and Widening Participation Officer, University of Manchester

Using peer to peer across multiple faculties – 12:00 BST

After graduating from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in English Literature, Laura taught English in Quebec, Canada for a year. Her career at The University of Manchester started in 2009 as an intern working on the flagship WP programme, the Manchester Access Programme (MAP). Laura then established Manchester Higher in her next role, a collaborative programme between The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University before moving into her current role.

Laura Youens

Customer Success Manager, Unibuddy

Using peer to peer across multiple faculties – 12:00 BST

Laura is a Customer Success Manager at Unibuddy. Laura works with our UK partners, guiding them through the onboarding process and helping them to get the most out of the Unibuddy platform. Laura has over 5 years of Student Recruitment and Marketing experience across multiple UK institutions, most recently as Student Recruitment Manager at UAL.

Liz Shepherd

Managing Director of THE consultancy, Times Higher Education

Pent up demand? Why students won’t stay grounded for long – 06:00 BST

Elizabeth has over 15 years’ experience in international higher education research and consultancy. She has worked in the UK, North America and East Asia, and specialises in internationally comparative research methods, evaluation methodology and education policy analysis. Elizabeth joined the Times Higher Education (THE) in December 2019 to lead their Consultancy services team. Elizabeth is also studying towards the completion of a PhD, exploring the education policy context of Vietnam.

Lou Greenwald

Head of Business Development (Americas), Unibuddy

Tackling webinar fatigue: how you can keep your online events engaging – 17:00 BST

Lou joined the Unibuddy team in 2018 as the first U.S. based team member, focusing on building partnerships with HE providers in North America. Lou has 20+ years of experience working as a front line international admissions professional at universities in the Boston area and also experience working on the service provider side.

Lyndsey Spiers

Student Staff Manager/Interim Events Manager, Lancaster University

The secret to smooth sailing virtual events – 14:00 BST

Lyndsey has worked for Lancaster University for three and a half years following a few years sailing the world on cruise ships for a living, and has been involved in Unibuddy since the launch a couple of years ago.

Marcela Mejia-Martinez

Assistant Vice President of Admissions, Chapman University

Getting In and Getting On: Supporting non-traditional learners through their Higher Ed journey – 21:00 BST

Marcela Mejia Martinez leads the efforts for undergraduate admission at Chapman University. Marcela joined the Chapman University staff in 1998 and has held various roles in the admission office becoming the head of undergraduate admission in 2007. Marcela has lead the undergraduate team to adopt a values-based, student-centered approach. A daughter of immigrants from Colombia and a first generation college student, she is a steadfast advocate for the liberal arts, first generation students, and internationalization. She believes that higher education is a  space where we transform lives and communities.

Marina Pollehn

Student buddy and M.Sc. International Economics & M.Sc. Business Information Management Student, Erasmus School of Economics

Get the inside track: hear from student buddies around the world – 17:00 BST

Marina is currently starting her 6th year at Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, the Netherlands – where she moved to from Hamburg, Germany. Two years ago, she decided to join the Unibuddy trial of her university to help other students finding their own “right path”.

Marnicq Mengels

Online Marketing & Social Strategist, KdG University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Applied Science Universities: Supporting your domestic prospects whilst growing your international brand – 13:00 BST

At KdG University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Marnicq is the gatekeeper for the domestic branch of online Marketing en Social Strategy. From Instagram takeovers to resonating social campaigns. Marnicq is always making sure to stand out in a small country like Belgium.

Murray Simpson

Chief Growth Officer, Net Natives

Achieving true diversity and representation in your Higher Ed marketing – 19:00 BST

Murray Simpson is the Chief Growth Officer at Net Natives with nine years of experience in the higher education sector. Murray specializes in the strategic direction and delivery for education clients and partners across the US, UK and Europe, supporting them to sustain and grow their student enrollments through research, creative, advertising and technology innovations.

Nuntasinee Muadmanee

Chief Inspiration Officer, COMmellow project

Boosting your recruitment with peer to peer – 07:00 BST

Nuntasinee Muadmanee (aka Fatima) is Chief Inspiration Officer (CIO) at COMmellow Project, A Marketing and Branding Consultancy for Higher Education. Currently having worked as Former Head of Marketing & Student Recruitment at University of Malaya, Malaysia and Former Manager at Institutional Collaboration Unit at Multimedia University, Malaysia – Fatima has a wealth of Higher Ed experience.

Paige Steffy

Customer Success Manager, Unibuddy

The three key steps to setting up a successful student ambassador scheme – 19:00 BST

Paige is a Customer Success Manager here at Unibuddy. Before joining our team she worked with a variety of student ambassador programs at both large, public institutions and small, liberal arts schools. Last year she worked toward her master’s degree at Royal Holloway University of London, where she was a graduate ambassador and a Buddy on their Unibuddy platform. She has a deep passion for helping students achieve their Higher Education goals.

Patrick Hayes

Chief Development Officer, Times Higher Education

Pent up demand? Why students won’t stay grounded for long – 06:00 BST

Patrick Hayes is the Chief Development Officer at THE (Times Higher Education), the data provider underpinning university excellence in every continent across the world. He is responsible for the student-facing division at Times Higher Education. Hayes was formerly Director of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), the industry body representing 400+ companies with a combined revenue of £2.4bn; and a Director of EdTech Exchange, the largest network of EdTech founders in Europe.

Paula Keve

Communications Consultant

Crisis PR: the do’s and don’ts – 16:00 BST

Paula started her career at Bloomberg L.P before moving on to integral roles at BNP Paribas and the Wall Street Journal. Paula also played a key role in Dow Jones’ shift of perception in the marketplace, from traditional publisher to a modern, ambitious media company. Now based in her native London, Paula has spent the last few years consulting for a range of businesses, often leveraging her experience in large corporations to help some of the most innovative and ambitious startups in the market.

Raluca Pasare

International Officer, University of Manchester

Using peer to peer across multiple faculties – 12:00 BST

Raluca is an international educational professional with over 5 years of experience in international student recruitment, marketing and admissions. She has recently joined the team at The University of Manchester and is currently working to support students from across North America, Hong Kong and Macau, with their application for degrees across various disciplines.

Regine Toh

Senior Digital Marketing Officer, Curtin University Malaysia

Boosting your recruitment with peer to peer – 07:00 BST

Regine has 6 years of dynamic marketing experience in the higher education industry. She started off as a student recruitment officer with Curtin University, Malaysia for the first 2 years before transitioning into the digital marketing role with the same university. She’s now the senior digital marketing officer overseeing all aspects of online promotions and digital marketing campaigns.

Rhian Miller

Director of Global Programs & Associate Designer, AIME

Supporting your indigenous student prospects – 05:00 BST

Rhian is a proud Wirangu, Narranga and Wongi woman and like many Indigenous students grew up in a world that had limitations on what she could be and what she could achieve throughout her life. Then she met AIME, as a shy and reserved 17 year old in High School and throughout the last 6 years she has been fortunate enough to take the AIME program to new places, meet young leaders from around the world and deliver on our promise of giving responsibility for the solution to the person thought of as problem, so they can lead and implement change.

Sanna Heikkinen

Marketing Planner, University of Helsinki

Recruiting international students in 2021 – what will it look like? – 11:00 BST

Sanna’s heart beats for peer to peer marketing and student engagement. She has 14 years of experience in the field of student and staff mobility, applicant communication and student marketing and recruitment. Currently, she is coordinating student ambassador activities at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Sarah Barr Miller

Head of Insight and Consultancy, UCAS Media

The 2020 cycle – keeping pace with applicant sentiment and behaviour – 12:00 BST

Sarah joined UCAS in March 2017, to head up a new team in UCAS Media dedicated to helping providers make informed data-led decisions through the provision of data products and services. She joined from dunnhumby, a London-based retail consultancy, where she spent many years working with retail data. Latterly, as Data Director, she formed an integral part of the international sales team. Sarah’s focus is now to shape and deliver UCAS’ data consultancy offer, whilst establishing UCAS as an expert in the HE sector providing actionable insight.

Sean O’Dea

University Partnerships Manager, Unibuddy

Boosting your recruitment with peer to peer – 07:00 BST

Teaching Chemistry in the classroom turned Sean into an ed-tech enthusiast, with his last two years spent implementing new technology at schools across the world which led Sean to Unibuddy. He now helps our new partners put their student voice online.

Sharon Feijen

Communications and Marketing Officer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Recruiting international students in 2021 – what will it look like? – 11:00 BST

After working in the corporate sector for some years, Sharon joined VU Amsterdam one and a half years ago. In her job, she is responsible for the marketing and communication of English-taught programmes. Her role covers a wide range of areas, from websites to brochures and from fairs to Student Ambassadors.

Simon Hamlin

Senior Account Executive and International Consultant, Study in the USA

Attracting & nurturing new student leads – 18:00 BST

Simon has previously worked as a counselor at an American high school in Israel, in Public Relations at a high tech PR firm in his hometown of Seattle, and in Marketing at a music startup. After taking over a decade out to be a professional actor, he returned to pursue several of his passions – international travel, education and marketing. This led him to Study in the USA, where he’s spent the past 7 years helping US schools connect with international students.

Sofia Fry

University Partnerships Manager, Unibuddy

What do your students really want? – 20:00 BST

Having spent her year abroad in Paris working at an eLearning company, Sofia discovered her enthusiasm for ed-tech. With 5 years experience across various industries including marketing technology and IT, Sofia now focusses on building partnerships with Higher Education institutions across Canada to help them to engage with the best fit students for their university.

Sophie Barton

Student Recruitment and Outreach Events Assistant, Lancaster University

The secret to smooth sailing virtual events – 14:00 BST

Sophie is an Events Assistant at Lancaster University. She studied Events Management at Manchester Metropolitain University and previously worked at Low Wood Bay Hotel as a wedding Coordinator. She has two Labradors called Oakley and Luka, enjoys walking in the Lake District, the Gym, baking, and socialising with friends.

Sophie Henderson

University Partnerships Manager, Unibuddy

Harnessing the power of shared experiences to keep students engaged throughout the international recruitment cycle – 04:00 BST

Sophie joined the Partnerships team in February, focusing on building partnerships with HE providers in the Nordics, Australia and New Zealand. She has 6 years of experience working across a variety of industries, including Healthcare and Tech. After spending a year working and studying for a PGC in International Business in New York, she is now supporting universities across the Nordics and ANZ attract, engage and retain a diverse student population.

Sophy Silver

Director of Communications, Tik Tok

Crisis PR: the do’s and don’ts – 16:00 BST

Sophy has spent a long time working in-house in a variety of organisations across media, tech and advertising over the past 20 years and has a passion for this sector in particular. Some of her experience includes Facebook, Instagram, ITV, eBay, Carphone Warehouse and King.

Victoria Mahoney

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

Get the inside track: hear from student buddies around the world – 17:00 BST

Victoria currently works in our Partnerships team at Unibuddy to build relationships with prospective institutions and turn them into happy and successful partners. She was previously a student worker & tour guide in the admissions office at St. Joseph’s College, a small private college in Brooklyn NY, where they implemented Unibuddy and Victoria became a buddy!

Vindhya Joseph

Engineering Manager, Unibuddy

What the future of Unibuddy Tech looks like – 16:00 BST

Vindhya has been on this journey with Unibuddy for nearly a year and half now. She says that Unibuddy offers a lot of interesting and challenging technological problems to solve, and that she enjoys being part of the team of super smart and motivated buddies solving these problems. Though Vindhya is a full stack engineer, she is partial towards the backend & infrastructure problem spaces.

Vivienne Stern

Director, Universities UK International

The changing international sector – 14:00 BST

Vivienne has over 20 years’ experience of working in higher education policy and politics at national and international level. Prior to her role in UUKi, Vivienne was Head of Political Affairs at Universities UK, and led the sector’s response to several major pieces of legislation relating to universities. Before that she worked for the Chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee, and as policy specialist working on topics including quality, student experience, innovation and university-business links.

William Ndut

Director of Marketing, Communication, and Community Development, Indonesia FinTech Association (AFTECH)

Getting the most from your student buddies – 07:00 BST

Born and raised in Jakarta, William obtained his Master of Strategic Communication degree from The University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2019. He was a UWA UniBuddy and StudyPerth International Student Ambassador back then, and is currently serving as a UWA Graduate Ambassador. William has authored three books and co-authored two books about education and personal development

Yahya Wahbeh

Head of UX, Unibuddy

What do your students really want? – 20:00 BST

As an international student himself, Yahya wished that a tool like Unibuddy existed when he was applying to college. He has previously designed products and experiences at Tesla, Microsoft and Blackberry. Yahya joined the London Office in 2018, focusing on creating the best experiences for universities and students worldwide, with a keen interest in data and the stories that unfold from it.

Yolanda King

University Partnerships Executive, Unibuddy

The secret to smooth sailing virtual events – 14:00 BST

Yolanda is a University Partnership Executive with previous experience working for the Police service as an analyst. Yolanda is a University of Nottingham Graduate where she studied for 5 years and competed as a Sports Scholar. Yolanda worked for one year as Students’ Union Postgraduate Officer.

Zach Busekrus

Founder and Brand Strategist, Enrollify

10 Creative(ish) Ideas for Higher Ed Email A/B Tests to Supercharge Marketing and Enrollment – 20:00 BST

Zach is the founder of Enrollify — a resource hub and community for enrollment managers and higher education marketers . He is also the Director of Marketing Strategy at DD Agency— an enrollment marketing technology agency that helps undergraduate and graduate institutions recruit students through inbound marketing. He thoroughly enjoys developing and executing content marketing, SEO, and copywriting strategies to help schools attract, engage, and delight right-fit students. When he’s not in the office, he enjoys discussing life’s quandaries over coffee (or a good bourbon) with friends, earning splat points at Orange Theory, and adventuring across the globe with his wife!