People Committee
This Committee considers and determines matters in respect of the University's human resources. This includes ensuring that pay and conditions of employment are properly determined and implemented for all categories of employees and monitoring the University's staff composition.
Karen Martin
Chair of the People Committee and Independent member of the Board of Governors
Karen is in her first term of office as an independent member of the Board of Governors and Chair of the People Committee and Remuneration Committee. Karen’s background has been in the NHS where she has worked for 38 years. Karen has extensive experience as an Executive Board Director in different NHS organisations, including Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and a wealth of experience in transformation, Human Resources/workforce, organisational development, leadership, communications, corporate affairs and change management. Her career has spanned a range of health organisations including health authority and both acute and mental health services and has always held responsibility for education, learning and development within these different organisations.
Karen has previously been a school governor and a Trustee at Foxford School academy and is a qualified Executive Coach.
Karen is also Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Board of Governors.
Stephen Brooks
Independent Governor
Appointed in September 2021 as an Independent Governor, Stephen’s early career included international HR roles with Bank of America, General Electric, Morgan Grenfell and Deutsche Bank.
Later he moved into management consultancy and was a partner at KPMG and PA Consulting. During this time, he worked with a wide range of commercial and Government clients in the UK and abroad.
He brings expertise and practical experiences of People management, leadership, change management and organisation design.
He is currently Chairman of the commercial operations of the Faculty for Medical Leadership and Management - charity that seeks to improve leadership skills in the medical professions. His previous roles include Chairman of the East London Small Business Centre, Director of Higher Education for Capability and Trustee Director of the PA Pension Fund.
Stephen is also a member of the Remuneration Committee.
Helen Nixseaman
Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors
Currently in their first term as Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors and second term as a Governor, Helen was appointed in September 2017. Prior to this Helen was an external co-opted member. Helen is a Chartered Accountant with expertise in risk management and internal controls, with a career that has included being a risk assurance partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Helen has an MA in Natural Sciences and an MSc in Biochemical Engineering.
Helen is Chair of the Strategy. Finance and Resources Committee, Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors and a member of the Governance and Nominations Committee, Remuneration Committee and the Education Committee.
Nick Sale
Chair of the Board of Governors
Appointed as an Independent Governor in September 2018, Nick became Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors and Pro-Chancellor in September 2020, before being appointed as Chair in September 2021. An experienced business leader and company director who worked as a chief operating officer in the automotive industry until early in 2018, Nick has a successful track record working throughout the world in Professional Services for both IT and Engineering Companies. More recently Nick has worked as an advisor and Non-Executive Director to both UK and International Technology Companies and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Nick is also Chair of the Board of Governors and Governance and Nominations Committee and a member of the Strategy, Finance and Resources Committee, Remuneration Committee and the Research Committee.
Professor John Latham CBE
Executive Member (Vice-Chancellor)
John is Vice-Chancellor and CEO of the Coventry University Group.
He is a double graduate of the University and has a background in information technology and telecommunications. Previously he worked for a number of private sector organisations including JHP Group, Jaguar Cars and BT (which - included a period as a sponsored Research Fellow). In 2015, John was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Fellowship of the British Computer Society for his services to the IT industry. John remains active in the IT space, currently as an advisor to TechnologyOne an Australian based software provider and also Chair of the Universities UK/JISC Software Negotiations & Strategy Group.
John has throughout his career held high-profile roles at regional, national and European levels promoting innovation, technology and economic development. Including spending periods of time working in in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany and being a long-term advisor to the European Commission.
Additionally, John has held several Ministerial appointments in the UK and overseas. Currently he is a Non-Executive Board Member for the Department of Business and Trade in the UK, a Non-Executive Director for Qualification Wales an arms-length body of the Welsh Government, a Non-Executive Director for the NHS England Workforce Training and Education Committee. An Advisory Panel Member for the Home Team Academy of Singapore and most recently he was appointed as an Independent Panel Member on the Advisory Assessment Panel for the Recruitment of members to NHS Bodies.
Additionally, John is a Director of the University Alliance mission group of universities, and a Member for the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) for the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System.
Finally, John is an Extraordinary Professor in the area of enterprise and entrepreneurship at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, where in 2019 he additionally received an Honorary Doctorate for his services to UK Higher Education. In the same year he was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours with a CBE for his Services to Higher Education.
