Our advisory board

Sir Keith Skeoch

Sir Keith is the Chair of the University of Sussex Business School advisory board.

He was recognised by His Majesty King Charles III in his first New Year Honours list in 2023, receiving a knighthood for services to the financial sector.

Keith is currently Chair of the Investment Association, Chair of the ring-fencing and proprietary trading independent review panel, Interim Chair of the Financial Reporting Council, Chair of the Edinburgh International Festival and a member of the UK Takeover Panel.  He is also a Trustee of the Standard Life Foundation. Keith stepped down from his former role as CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen, in September 2020.

Tosin Akinluyi

Tosin is a Managing Director and the Global Chief Operating Officer for Macro Research.

She started as an Associate with Morgan Stanley in 2003, initially in the Global Fixed Income Strategy group in New York, transitioned to the New York Commodities Division in 2005 and then, from 2007 in London, led the global Commodities Analysis Team until 2015.

Prior to Morgan Stanley she worked in energy-focused strategy and consulting roles at Entergy, Arthur Andersen and Price Waterhouse Coopers in London.

Ayo Akinluyi

Managing Director at Barclays Capital in London.

Allan Ang

Allan is the Asia Region Head of Talent & Leadership for Yum! Brands in Singapore, where he is responsible for driving an end-to-end talent approach including employer brand, talent acquisition, leadership development and talent management that impacts KFC Asia’s business across the region.

He has a career spanning multiple geographies (APAC, Europe, Middle East), and industries having worked for companies such as Visa, Estee Lauder Companies, and Vodafone.

He is adept at building the culture, capabilities and infrastructure that enable diverse and high-performing teams and organisations. Allan lives and works in Singapore currently, and has a BA Economics from the University of Sussex.

John Claisse

John is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Albourne Group in San Francisco, an independent advisory firm focused on hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real assets and real estate.

John joined Albourne in July 1996, relocated from London to San Francisco in July 2003 and became Albourne Group CEO in August 2015. John is an equity partner and member of Albourne’s Executive Committee and also chairs the firm’s Corporate Planning Council, which comprises Albourne’s function and region heads.

John helped develop the firm’s proprietary risk analytics and was formerly the Senior Analyst for quantitative equity strategies and multi-strategy hedge funds. John remains a Portfolio Analyst working with several public and corporate plans, large endowments and foundations. John holds a first class Mathematics degree and a PhD from Sussex.

Yousra Ahmed Abdelmoneim

Yousra is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant and CIA qualified Internal auditor by background. She works in risk assurance for Infrastructure and is the Capital Projects Assurance Senior Manager of PwC UK, with a focus on the Middle East. Previously, Yousra worked in external audit within Banking and Capital Markets and internal audit within local government, education and media sector.

She graduated from the University of Sussex in 2016 after completing her BSc in Economics with a placement year. She leads on social mobility initiatives in her business unit at PwC and Co-founded the PwC Refugees working group which aims at supporting refugees to secure professional employment.

Afzal Abdul Rahim

Afzal is a technology entrepreneur who currently serves as Commander-In-Chief of TIME dotCom Berhad, an ASEAN based telecoms operator encompassing Fixed Line, Data Centres and Global Submarine Cable Systems. He joined TIME in 2008 after establishing The AIMS Asia Group and Global Transit International in 2006.

Afzal founded the non-profit Malaysian Internet Exchange (MyIX) in 2006 and also serves as a Board Member of Endeavor Malaysia, an organisation that is devoted to nurturing high-impact entrepreneurs.

He began his career in the automotive sector, initially as a Chassis Development Engineer and thereafter managing clients on the engineering consultancy side of the business at Group Lotus PLC.

He holds a Degree in Mechanical Engineering with Electronics from the University of Sussex. Afzal is also a Licensed Commercial Pilot.

Barry Cleasby

Dr Barry Cleasby is Head of Risk and Assurance at Southern Water.

His current role is one of a number he has had with the company since 2015. Southern Water, a regional water utility, is a key local employers across Kent, Sussex and Hampshire.

Previously Barry worked as a civil servant, most recently at the Department of Education. Barry is an alumni of the Business School, with a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy from his time at SPRU.

Katie Ghose

Katie Ghose is Chief Executive of KIDS, a leading charity for disabled children and their families in England.

She previously served as Chief Executive of Women’s Aid Federation of England, the Electoral Reform Society and the British Institute of Human Rights. At Women’s Aid, Katie led vital work to safeguard and sustain local women’s services.

Prior to that she held leadership roles at the Electoral Reform Society, the UK’s leading democracy think-tank, and the British Institute of Human Rights, where she developed a human rights awareness programme to support disabled people and people with mental health problems. She is also a former barrister and has worked in policy and public affairs.

Born and raised in Sussex, she studied law at Oxford University and received a Masters in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside. She was appointed to the University Council at Sussex as an independent member in 2015.

Robert Hoad

Robert is currently the Director of Procurement and Property Services at Grainger PLC.

Prior to this role Robert's career has spanned multiple industries in both the Private and Public sectors, developing Commercial and Procurement functions and scaling growth businesses.

Robert holds an MBA from the University of Sussex.

Ros Kellaway

Ros is Head of EU and Competition at Eversheds Sutherland in London.

Tamara Roberts

Tamara is CEO of Ridgeview Wine Estate, the award-winning & family-run wine producer based in Sussex. Ridgeview are proud to be a pioneering force in the English wine industry and a B Corp certified business.

Founded in 1995, Ridgeview became the first English winery to gain the global accolade of ‘International Winemaker of the Year’ by the IWSC in 2018.

As a qualified chartered accountant, Tamara is responsible for the financial management of Ridgeview as well as setting & implementing the strategy across all other areas from grape to glass. Tamara is also a Governor at Plumpton College.

Godfrey Ryan

Godfrey Ryan is Chief Executive Officer at Kura.

Before joining Kura in 2020, he had a career in technology sales, building and leading high-performing teams globally in the legal services, aerospace and telecoms industries. Godfrey was part of the executive management team of several start-up and mid-size companies that exited through trade sale, private equity and mergers.

Godfrey holds an MBA from The University of Sussex.

Rupinder Sehmi

Rupinder is Managing Director and Head of UK and European Real Estate Financing and Investments at LT Land.

Professor Luc Soete

Professor Soete is Honorary Professor of International Economics at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Sandy Thomas OBE

Sandy is Director at the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (Glopan) in London.

Bing Wei

Bing Wei is a seasoned executive focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Public Private Partnership.

Armed with over 25 years of cross-border marketing and branding with Silicon Valley technology, Bing enjoys developing a vision and strategy, and leading teams to work with global government agencies and private enterprises.

Her senior roles in the Bay Area Council and Cisco Systems, together with her own PR/GR ventures and serving as CEO of an educational startup in Silicon Valley, have honed her entrepreneurial spirit.

Bing was selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar to be personally mentored by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, focusing on social innovation and impact with non-partisan collaboration.

She is a sought-after public speaker on CRS, the US-Asia relationship and cross-border marketing in US and Asian media.