Trustee board

Our Board of Trustees is the highest decision-making body at NTSU. Their duty is to ensure that the charity (Nottingham Trent Students' Union) complies with our governing document and the law.

NTSU's Board is chaired by NTSU President Anna O'Hara. They safeguard the vision and values of the Union, establish the organisation's strategic direction, and ensure it meets the needs of its members. 

Our trustees ensure NTSU strives for good operational practice and review and monitor the organisation's performance and progress towards its objectives. In addition, the trustees ensure the organisation works within its charitable purpose and complying with its governing document at all times.

Every trustee is responsible for this. Even if specific tasks are done by individual trustees, employees or volunteers, all trustees are responsible.  

Each trustee has their own experiences that collectively help the Board to carry out its role. They are all equal in terms of responsibility and fall into three categories:

  • Officer trustees
  • Student trustees
  • External trustees

Officer trustees

Anna

Anna O’Hara - President:

Anna O’Hara was elected as VP Postgraduate of Nottingham Trent Students' Union (NTSU), taking office in July 2022. She was then elected President, taking office in July 2023. She sits on various boards and committees at the University and chairs the Board of Trustees at NTSU. Her role focuses on managing the relationship between NTSU, NTU and the local community, including Nottingham Students' Partnership.

As VP Postgraduate, Anna focused on postgraduate and international student engagement and improving the experience for taught postgraduate students and doctoral researchers. One of her main goals was to bring awareness to the funding postgraduate students can receive, making study more accessible for all students. She also set out to create a sense of community to ensure students have a better educational experience at NTU.

While at NTU, she studied BA International Relations and Media and MA Media and Globalisation on a Research Pathway Scholarship, both focusing on the Music industry and the effects of the pandemic on the industry. Alongside her studies, she took part in multiple extracurricular activities, including:

  • Being an active member of NTU Cheer for four years and was voted captain in her third year (20/21)
  • Elected as a course rep for MA Media and Globalisation
  • Completed multiple work placements at Universal Music Group
  • Senior student ambassador at NTU
  • Worked at Nottingham Trent Students Union

Anna completed her undergraduate studies in 2021 and her postgraduate degree in March 2023 whilst working full-time at NTSU. She will finish as a sabbatical officer in July 2024.

 

Zahra

Olivia Brooks - VP Community & Welfare:

Olivia Brooks (She/Her) is the current VP Community and Welfare, she has recently completed her undergraduate degree of Psychology with Criminology. She is a member of the Executive Officer Team and sits on various boards and committees focussing on improving the student experience and support, among these are ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) and Health and Safety Sub-Committee. She will be involved in the Consent Lead Team, IAS, EDI and the sustainability teams at NTSU and NTU.

Her overall aim is to create a safe and inclusive environment for all students, using her experience of social secretary of Women's Welfare and club crew at night clubs to guide her throughout the year. As well as that, she participated in 2022's Movember initiatives and undertook Modern Day Slavery awareness workshops. She will carry both of these interests respectively into various awareness campaigns throughout her term in office.

 

Jess

Jess Walker – VP Education:

Jess Walker was elected as the VP Education for NTSU and began her term in July 2023. As VP Education, Jess sits on various quality assurance boards and academic standards committees at the university, which allows her to voice the academic experience and needs of the students to those at the highest levels of the organisation. Working alongside other Executive Officers, and NTSU’s student voice team, Jess is committed to improving student support and advocating for student needs throughout their academic journey at NTU.

During her term in office, Jess is focused on ensuring consistent support for students across all campuses and schools at NTU, ensuring they receive the academic support needed and deserved whilst completing their academic journey. As a former course representative and student mentor, Jess is passionate about supporting students throughout their time at NTU and beyond, and she aims to enhance their experience by increasing visibility for her team of course representatives and providing up-to-date feedback and action for their peers, whilst also working alongside Employability and the Executive Team at NTSU to provide professional work opportunities for students.

Jess pursued a BA in Business during her time at NTU and actively participated in extracurricular activities to enhance her professional skills. Her experience as the President and Social Secretary of an NTSU society honed her skills in communication, delegation, and representation, which she now employs as VP Education. Jess is passionate about student welfare and support during their academic journey and will be utilising student responses from various ventures to improve engagement and provide the best student experience possible.

 

 

Anna

Bella Voice – VP Postgraduate:

Bella Voice was elected as NTSU’s VP Postgraduate, taking office in July 2023. Bella focuses on the postgraduate, international and doctoral researchers' experiences, and academic representation. Bella works closely with the VP Education and the NTSU student voice team to look after academic course reps at postgraduate level.

While at NTU, Bella studied Law at both undergraduate and postgraduate level with a focus on the LPC which started in September 2022. In particular, she has an interest in Employment, Human Rights and Immigration Law and has volunteered in an Immigration law firm alongside her studies.

Bella also volunteered for two years on a society committee where she led sustainability events, raised money for charity and ran various events for the members of her society.

In addition to her extra-curricular activities at NTSU, Bella has also represented the University on a national basis in the CEDR Negotiation Competition and she has sat on Nottingham Law School’s collaborative law forum.

 

Jodi

Jasmine Gaunt: VP Opportunities

Jasmine Gaunt was elected as NTSU's VP Opportunities, taking office in July 2023. She sits on various boards and committees at the University, and her role focuses on supporting societies and providing opportunities within NTSU to the wider student population.

During her time at NTU, Jasmine has had various achievements and engaged in many extra-curricular activities alongside her studies, some of her highlights are:

  • Being an active member of NTU Cheer since 2019/20
  • Completing a 13-month placement as a Sport Science and Testing Intern at Gymshark
  • Volunteering as Vice-Captain of a Fresher Rep team during Freshers week 2022 and winning Vice Captain of the week
  • Working as a course rep for a year
  • Running the Birmingham half marathon as a team with colleagues from Gymshark to raise money for Alzheimer's Society 
  • Volunteering as a Games Ambassador at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games
  • Working as a Gymnastics Coach when back in her hometown

Jasmine is set to complete her undergraduate studies in August 2023

 

Jodi

Jodi Stephens - VP Sport:

Jodi Stephens was elected as NTSU's VP Sports, taking office in July 2022. She sits on various boards and committees at the University, and works with both NTSU and NTU Sport to improve the student sporting experience at NTU.

While at NTU, she studied Exercise, Nutrition and Health. Alongside her studies, she took part in extra-curricular activities, including:

  • Volunteering as a Healthy Lifestyle Advisor for Your Health Your Way, aiding the development and facilitation of nutrition and fitness sessions.
  • Created recipe books for local community food banks
  • Volunteered as Waterpolo Officer for NTU's Swimming and Waterpolo club during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years
  • Worked as a course rep for her undergraduate degree course

 

Jodi

Dylan Neary – Brackenhurst Officer:>

Dylan Neary was elected as Nottingham Trent Student’s Union’s (NTSU) Brackenhurst Officer in July 2023. Dylan acts as the main source of insight for the Trustee Board bringing forward that Brackenhurst student voice, his main goals for this year are to improve student safety around campus and improve events focusing on building an inclusive community at Brackenhurst. Dylan is also completing his 3rd year, studying Zoology, and he works in the Brackenhurst Bar alongside his studies.

 

Student Trustees

 

Sully

Sully Owolabi

Sully Owolabi is currently a Business Management and Marketing student undertaking a year out in industry. He was appointed Student Trustee in June 2022.

Sully brings an array of psychological and business knowledge from his studies and involvement in consumer and product analysis for consumer-focused companies. He wishes to provide insights that address the underlying pressure points affecting performance. In addition, he is passionate about students' voices and representation across all student demographics at NTU.

With a keen interest in analytics, Sully uses data to create meaningful data visualisations and drive more informed decision-making and is on track to achieve Google-endorsed Data Analytics certification. Sully hopes to continue his studies and use his skills and experiences to contribute to the continuous improvement of NTSU's products and services, maximising the satisfaction of the charity's beneficiaries.

Due to conclude his studies in 2024, Sully has volunteered for two years with NTSU, where he will help raise money and give students opportunities to improve their university experience.

 

Jessie Hamilton

Jessie Hamilton is a Second Year BA English & Philosophy student at Nottingham Trent University. She currently holds the role of Student Trustee within NTSU, as well as sitting on the Finance sub-committee. She additionally holds roles as a CenSCE Panellist and CERT Student Mentor, while also pursuing voluntary work alongside NTU’s Enactus Leadership Team and co-leading NTU’s ‘Left Collective’ Student Community

Jessie has trained in facilitation and talking circle leadership, and previously worked as a manager within the hospitality industry as well as a team assistant within complementary medicine and arts collective spaces. She is passionate about sustainability, alternative finance, social welfare, and collective intersectionality of issues.

Jessie’s most recent voluntary experiences have included: Coordinator for 'Towards a Greener Meadows' Community Group; Administrator for Meadows Community Helpers; Basic Income Conversation Leader; Green New Deal UK Organiser; Climate Strategist for Climate Action Nottingham; and Treasurer for Windmill Community Gardens.

Catarina

 

Catarina Lopes

Catarina is an international student from Portugal studying the LLB in International Law at NTU. 

She was a Course Representative in her first year of university and was involved with other opportunities such as the Virtual International and European Student Exchange or NTU's global week. 

She is currently a student trustee at NTSU, a part-time editor at Lawyer-Ed, and a student mentor for Nottingham Law School's first-year undergraduates. For many years, she was a scout, volunteer at a food bank, competitive swimmer, an exchange student in Erasmus+ projects, and an individual delegate at Portugal's Youth Parliament and European Youth Parliament programme. 

Catarina has a wide range of interests, focusing on law, politics, philosophy, and critical thinking.

External Trustees

 

Geoff

Geoff Love - University Appointed Trustee

Geoff Love was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Commify, Europe's leading business messaging solutions provider. After leading a management buyout of Nottingham-based Esendex, he partnered with private equity to create the Commify group of companies. Working with over 35,000 businesses worldwide and with turnover approaching €100m, Commify's mission is to 'make business communication brilliant'. The group operates around a dozen global brands from its Nottingham headquarters.

After graduating from Sheffield University with a degree in Business Studies, Geoff started his career in retail banking, specialising in marketing, where he held many senior roles with the likes of Lloyds TSB and Alliance & Leicester. He was Customer Marketing Director of HomeServe and a member of its UK board, seeing its sales increase tenfold during his tenure before swapping insurance for software.

Geoff lives in Nottingham with his two teenage children and wife, a senior lecturer at NTU.

 

Kudzai Muzangaza

Kudzai is a Principal Auditor and Chartered Accountant (ACA) at Capital One UK. He is responsible for the execution of risk based internal audits across the Capital One UK and Canada card businesses covering a suite of activities which include Customer Service, Risk Operations, and Legal and Governance.

He is a graduate of the University of Lincoln, having completed a degree in Psychology and was the President and Chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Lincoln Students' Union. Kudzai completed his training with PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and was heavily involved in the internal audits of Higher Education organisations, charities and publicly listed companies.

Outside of work Kudzai is an avid music and Formula 1 fan. He currently splits his time between Nottingham and London.

 

Dr Georgie Benford

Dr Georgie Benford is an Associate Head of School at the University of West England, Bristol. She is a Criminologist and academic leader with a wide range of educational governance experience. Georgie joined the board in June 2023, but her first experience of trusteeship within an SU, was as a Sabbatical at Loughborough University. Returning to this sector she hopes to make an impact on NTSU's sustainability, wellbeing and equality agenda.

Board Summaries 

Engaging with our Trustees

The Board of Trustees takes many important decisions to ensure the safety and good governance of the Union. For members of the Students' Union (i.e. NTU students), your primary route to the Board of Trustees is through the Officer Trustees, who you elect in the second academic term of each year.  

You can engage with our democratic decision-making through our Union Meetings, Student Council, and Big Ideas scheme. Many of the policy decisions made in these forums go to the Board for ratification to ensure they are safe, legal, and fit within our charitable purpose.  

If you want to find out more or raise anything with our trustees, please contact Anna O'Hara, NTSU's President and Chair of the Board, at president@su.ntu.ac.uk. She will be happy to help.  

You can also learn more about how charities operate and the role of trustees on the Charities Commission website.