Past governors

Eileen Baker taught in secondary schools from 1969 until 1974 when she took up her first lecturing post.

Recruited to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate in 1988, she specialised in the inspection of English in the university sector and production of the Chief Inspector’s Annual Report.

Formerly the Principal of Bishop Grosseteste College of HE, she has served on amongst others the Standing Committee of Principals’ Council, The Teacher Training Agency Board, the General Teaching Council, the National Mathematics Inquiry, the HEFCE Sector Strategy Group, Lincoln Cathedral Council and the ‘Vision of Lincolnshire’ committee.

Awarded a professorship by the University of Hull in 1998, on retiring in 2003 she received an OBE for services to higher education and an honorary doctorate and Visiting Professorship from Leicester University.

Lady Janet Jones was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Clwyd in 1998.

Lady Janet is a long-serving magistrate who has held a number of high profile magistrate roles throughout England and Wales.

She was formerly a Council Member of the Wales and England Magistrates’ Association and an Executive Member of the Clwyd Magistrates’ Association.

She was formerly a member of the Lord Chancellors’ Advisory Committee in Clwyd and Chairman of the Flintshire Bench of Magistrates (2001-2005).

Lady Janet is committed to the Voluntary Sector.

She is currently president of Flintshire Pre-School Playgroups Association, Deeside Mencap and Deeside Guides Association.

She is a trustee of P.A.C.T and North Wales Victim Support.

She was formerly a Member of Clwyd’s School Governing Bodies.

Jane James was appointed in March 2009 as Policy, Government & Public Affairs Manager for Chevron Ltd, based at their Pembroke Oil Refinery. Chevron’s Pembroke refinery is one of the leading employers in South Wales. The company has around 1,100 Texaco-branded service stations in the UK as well as lubricants, marine and aviation businesses.

Jane was Director of Prince’s Trust Cymru from 2004 to 2008 delivering programmes to over 4,000 young people throughout Wales.

Her involvement in the Welsh food industry over the previous ten years has included Managing Director of the Welsh Meat Company, Centre Manager of Food Centre Wales – a food technology centre, and agricultural PR across a range of production sectors.

She has also played a major role in developing and diversifying the family farming business in Pembrokeshire.

She was a Licensed Reader of the Church in Wales for twenty years, and was a member of the BBC’s Audience & Broadcasting Councils for Wales from 1998 until 2009. She was the first holder of the Welsh Woman Farmer of the Year title in 1997.

Jane is a Governor of Christ College Brecon and an associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies. She is married with two grown up daughters.

Originally from Yorkshire, Matt  moved to Wrexham in 2004 to study for a BA in applied arts /jewellery metalwork.

After completing his degree in 2007 he  was elected Vice President of the Students' Guild.

This post provided him with a good introduction to working with the University and with the National Union of Students on a wide range of student campaigns.

At the end of his term of office as Vice President, Matt was elected President of the Students' Guild for 2008/09 and has been working to strengthen further the relationship between the Students' Guild and the University, including encouraging students to become more involved in representing the student body in all aspects of University life.

Sir David Henshaw was the Chief Executive of Liverpool City Council from 1999 to 2006.

He was also Chief Executive of Liverpool Culture Company, Deputy Chair of the board of the Mersey Partnership and Chair of Liverpool Partnership Group.

A past President of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Adviser to the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, he was also an adviser to the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, a member of the Treasury’s Public Services Productivity Panel and a member of the OGC Efficiency Programme Board.

He is also an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University and an Honorary Doctor of Sheffield Hallam University, a former Fellow of Liverpool University, a former Visiting Fellow of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Chairman of the Faenol Trust, and a member of the Board of the European Institute for Urban Affairs at Liverpool John Moores University.

After leaving Liverpool in 2006 he was appointed by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to undertake a re-design of the child support system in the UK.

He is also Chairman of NHS North West and Executive Chairman of Rethinking Consulting Ltd.

Most recently he has been involved in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit Capability Review programme of central government departments.

He is also a Non Executive Director on a number of other private and public bodies.

Sir David was knighted in 2004.

Brian Howes spent 40 years in the pharmaceutical and paper industries.

He chose to move to Wales in 1988 as President of a European Business Division of Kimberly-Clark Corporation to establish a manufacturing site and European office in Flintshire.

He also managed Kimberly-Clark’s pan-European logistics and human resources functions. 

He was awarded an OBE in 1993 for services to the paper industry.

Brian was appointed Chairman of Finance Wales plc in 1999.

He has had various non-executive appointments including the OpTIC Technium in St Asaph and served on the Advisory Board of Business in the Community – Wales.

He has an interest in enterprise education, having chaired Livewire Cymru, the Prince’s Youth Business Trust and Young Enterprise in North Wales.

He has also served as a board member of Theatr Clwyd and is Treasurer of Oriel Mostyn.

Hilary Stevens was Chairman of Conwy & Denbighshire NHS Trust from 2001 to May 2007 and a member of the NHS Confederation Management Committee for Wales.

She chaired the first Strategic Partnership Board in North Wales. Prior to joining the Trust she was a non-executive Director at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology & Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trust.

Hilary previously founded the National Childbirth Trust on the Wirral and became the first President.

She is a Tutor and Counsellor with the National Childbirth Trust and was Chairman of the Maternity Liason Group for the Wirral (one Trust & two Primary Care Trusts) for six years.

She has held board positions in both the private and voluntary sectors and has a background of initiating patient and public involvement in the Health Service and bringing the Arts into the healthcare setting, a template now being rolled out across Wales.

Geoff Andrews has spent over 30 years working at senior management and board level in high-tech, high growth businesses.

He has a first degree in Physics and Mathematics and a Master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Management of Technology.

In 1993 he led a management buyout team to acquire a Pilkington business in Communications Systems.

The business grew to have a £60 million turnover by 2001 when it was acquired by a large American multinational.

Geoff is now Chief Executive of Clearview Associates Limited, a successful management consultancy company currently working with a number of blue chip clients on strategic organisational managerial and business development projects.

Bob Hill has lived in Milton Keynes since 1972 where he became Commercial Director and later Deputy General Manager at the Development Corporation.

He joined the British Rail Property Board in 1992 as Managing Director and in 1994 became Property Director of Railtrack plc.

In 1998 he established his own property consultancy, Peerless Hill Partnership.

He is currently a Trustee of the Milton Keynes Parks Trust and of the Powell Foundation - a charity helping the aged and those with disabilities, and has been a Board Member of De Montfort University, Buckinghamshire Health Authority and the Milton Keynes Theatre and Gallery Company.

Judge Hughes was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1971.

He initially practised in London as well as on the Wales and Chester Circuit in Chester where he specialised in Crime, Family and Civil Law.

During his distinguished career to date he has held a number of senior appointments including Head of Chambers at 40 Kind Street, Chester; Assistant Boundary Commissioner (Wales), Assistant Recorder, and Recorder.

He was appointed Circuit Judge in 1998 and for seven years until April 2007 he was Designated Family Judge for Warrington.

Judge Hughes is currently appointed as a Judge on the Wales Circuit sitting in the Crown and County Courts in North Wales, and Liaison Judge for Powys Magistrates as well as Diversity and Community Relations Judge for North Wales.

He was elected in 2007 to the national Committee of the Council of Her Majesty’s Circuit Judges.

Professor Bhowmick retired in 2009 as Consultant Physician Intermediate Care County Hospital Pontypool. He remains Emeritus Consultant physician Glan Clwyd Hospital Rhyl, ex-Associate Postgraduate Dean Wales, ex-Clinical Director of Medicine.

He pioneered many services for the elderly in Wales and was awarded the OBE.

He chaired the Standing Committee of Postgraduate Medical Education and played a pivotal role in shaping the education and training of junior doctors in Wales for almost a decade.

He established the first in UK Academic Department of Geriatric Medicine in a small district general hospital.

He initiated and led the development of Medical and Clinical Audit in Wales.

Cardiff University awarded him the Fellowship and a Personal Chair.

In recognition of his significant contribution for Stroke Services the Stroke Interest Group in Wales has created the Annual Bim Bhowmick lecture and Bim Bhowmick Bursary.

He has been a Councillor and first ever Censor from Wales of Royal College of Physicians, London.

He is a senior MRCP examiner and Chairman of the Equality and Diversity Committee.

He has been awarded the prestigious Founders Medal by the National British Geriatric Society – the highest honour for the most distinguished physician.

He recently published his memoirs “You Can’t Climb A Ladder With Your Hands In Your Pocket” which has been reviewed as “Riveting”, ”For any reader there will be 10% perspiration and 90% inspiration”.

Professor Bhowmick won the BUPA foundation Medical Charity UK award in recognition of his pioneering work in Intermediate Care in 2008. In 2009 he received the Lifetime Achievement NHS Wales Award, given for the first time ever.

He is a Fellow of Glyndŵr University.

Malcolm Thomas was appointed Director of NFU Cymru in 1999 and in 2008 became Director of Membership and Regions of NFU UK, working from the NFU Headquarters at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

He was previously the Deputy Director and Head of Policy in NFU Cymru for ten years.

Mr Thomas has vast experience within the agricultural industry having worked with the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (now known as DEFRA) and within the Agricultural Department of the Welsh Office in Cardiff.

Mr Thomas was born and bred on a dairy farm in Llangynog, Carmarthen and has since returned with his family to his roots.

Mr Thomas is a Member and past Chair of the Corporate Board of Coleg Sir Gar and a member of CBI Wales.

Mr Thomas was a governor until June 2011.

Originally from Pontypridd in South Wales, Carwyn moved to Wrexham to study for a BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies.

He achieved his degree in 2009 and was elected Student President for the academic year 2009-10.

Carwyn is a keen rugby player and throughout his three years has represented and captained the Glyndŵr University rugby team. This was a great honour for him, and it has taught him the need for diplomacy and clear thinking at difficult times. He was also scouted by the North Wales under 23s team and represented Glyndŵr University at the Welsh Universities trial in South Wales. 

Carwyn is keen to build on the achievements of his predecessors and to develop the Student’s Guild even further. His main aim is to create greater student participation in the University and ensure students have the best possible experience at Glyndŵr University.

Lynda Powell is Director of Campus Management and Commercial Services at Glyndŵr University.

Graduating from Blackpool and the Fylde College with an HND in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management, she continued with her studies and in 2007 completed an MBA from the University of Wales.

Lynda has spent 20 years in the hospitality industry and now specialises in strategically managing a range of commercial services within the higher education sector, in order to ensure that a high quality standard of service is delivered to customers and to maximise the potential income streams from all available sources. She also advises on customer service practices across the University.

Lynda is a member of the Institute of Hospitality.