Global Committee

This Committee is responsible for reviewing and supporting international activities across the Coventry University Group and providing assurance to the University’s Board of Governors that such activities where appropriate support the international theme of the University’s corporate strategy as well as the other international activities.

 Global Committee (formerly known as International Advisory Committee) Terms of Reference

Rajat Saboo

Independent Governor

Appointed as a Non-Executive member of the International Advisory Committee in 2020, Rajat is currently the Global Director of Strategy and Business Development for the aviation fuels unit of bp, Air BP. Rajat initially joined bp in 2011 in a range of Analyst roles covering commercial / corporate development and strategy for Castrol across Automotive, Industrial and Marine markets. They previously worked at Vestas Wind Systems in Denmark, as their Servicing unit’s Strategy Development and Implementation Specialist. Working at Accenture he consulted Sallie Mae on loan management of Federal and Private education loans.

Rajat holds a Master of Business Administration from HEC Paris and a Bachelor of Engineering from Bangalore University.

Magi Hoppitt

Executive member, Chief People Officer

Magi is an experienced HR practitioner and Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  They joined the University in 2007 following a number of years working within the NHS as Associate Director of HR.  Magi is currently the Chief People Officer accountable for developing and delivering the People Strategy in support of the Corporate Plan and the provision of the full range of employment and HR services for all employers within the Coventry University Group. Magi brings more than 30 years HR expertise gained in both the public and private sector to the Group and the Enterprise Advisory Committee.

Magi is also a member of the Enterprise and Innovation Committee.

Richard Wells

Executive member (Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International))

Richard is Pro-Vice-Chancellor, International and works closely with the rest of the International team to coordinate the strategy around the University’s global activities. Prior to joining Coventry, he held several roles at the University of Aberdeen including Vice-Principal (International) and Dean for trans-national education. His academic background is in physical chemistry and specifically surface chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. He is a graduate of Birmingham, Liverpool and Dundee Universities.

Richard has extensive experience in developing international links, having established major collaborations in the Gulf, Australia, China and South East Asia. He has advised on projects in Malaysia, China and Africa for other academic institutions and various NGOs and is also a long-term scientific advisor to the European Union.

Richard Thomas

Independent Governor

Richard spent the early years of his career as an engineer and manager in manufacturing industry before moving into higher education. He has worked in a number of UK higher education providers, in roles ranging from lecturer to Assistant Vice Chancellor. Throughout his career he has been heavily involved in teaching and curriculum development in a broad range of STEM related programmes.

In addition, he has been involved in leading numerous applied research and knowledge exchange projects with a wide range of industrial partners. Richard served on the PVC International Advisory Group for Universities Wales and is a former Visiting Professor at Wuhan University of Technology. He has been heavily involved in STEM outreach activities and, during his time in the North of England, worked closely with the National Science and Media Museum on the Yorkshire Games Festival and with a number of cultural organizations, reflecting the diversity of the region.

Alongside his academic career, Richard also worked as a music journalist for many years. He has been a member of the Council of Guild HE and the project board of the Teaching Excellence Framework, and is currently a governor at Wrexham Glyndwr University, a member of the Board of Trustees at the National Museum of Wales, and a non-executive director at Careers Wales. He is passionate about the power of education to transform the lives of individuals and the strong role that universities can play in the social and economic wellbeing of the UK.

Richard is also a member of the Education Committee and Research Committee.

Steve Haywood

Independent Governor

Steve started in the automotive industry after leaving school at the age of 16 and taking up a Technical Apprenticeship with Triumph Motors, part of the group which is now Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The majority of Steve’s career was with JLR, progressing through numerous roles to eventually playing a key role in many of JLR's new model launches.

Three years of leading Value Leadership for JLR gave great knowledge and understanding of the financial drivers in the business of value management and efficiency improvement. In 2010, Steve left JLR to set up his own consultancy business and developed a portfolio of client activity helping businesses such as Healy Cars, Lotus Engineering, Proton Motor Company and a number of Tier 1 companies in their business development and product development delivery. Over the next seven years, Steve worked for Ricardo plc and Tata Technologies before retiring from full time employment in 2020 and returning to his consultancy business, through which he is currently supporting Norton Motorcycles in the UK.

Adekemi Adebajo

Independent Governor

Adekemi works at Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) as a Transactions Director where she has the overall responsibility for the coordination of LGIM’s activities associated with on-boarding of New Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) business. She is also responsible for projects associated with improving the current on-boarding process for PRT transactions. Adekemi joined LGIM in January 2015 from Capita Employee Benefits where she was Head of Asset Transfers and was responsible for building and managing a specialist asset transfer team.

Prior to that, she worked at KPMG and Willis Towers Watson as an investment consultant managing transitions on behalf of clients and also researching transition managers and custodians. She also worked as a transition manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Adekemi graduated from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and holds a BA (Ed) in English. She also obtained an MBA from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and holds the Investment Administration Qualification (IAQ) and Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

Adekemi is a member of the LGIM Culture Club, which seeks to ensure that that LGIM is a diverse and inclusive workplace. She co-chairs the Attract workstream, which partners with schools and charities to provide students from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to experience what it like to work in Investment Management and also leads the LGIM Prayer Group, collaborating with colleagues to run the Annual Carol Service.

Adekemi is also a member of the Governance and Nominations Committee.