Our Team

We are a small charity with big heart.

We employ a dynamic, committed and vibrant team of staff, enabling us to help students love life at Herts. We're hugely proud of our staff team who you can see below. They support the Elected Officer team and are in turn supported by a large team of student staff. On this page you can get to know each of our staff members a little more!

Senior Management

The Senior Management team takes the lead on strategic decisions for the Students' Union. They oversee all of the departments, ensuring they are working towards the goals of the organisation, all the while championing the Union's values.

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Rebecca Hobbs

Chief Executive Officer

Rebecca is responsible for ensuring the strategic objectives of the Union are achieved in line with the vision and values agreed by the Board of Trustees. Rebecca works collaboratively with all staff in the Union, the Elected Officers and the Senior Management team of the University. She regularly monitors and reports on the Union's performance against the organisation's strategic objectives and annual KPIs.

Sean Ferrie

Head of Community Operations

The Head of Community Operations oversees Commercial, Community Events & Marketing teams. Sean has full responsibility for all aspects of the bars, entertainment, health & safety and promotion related to the venue. He is also the Health & Safety Officer for the Union and leads on environmental & sustainability practices. Sean works closely with various University departments to ensure our partnership remains strong.

Leena Patel

Head of People and Resources

Leena oversees the HR and Finance teams. She has overall responsibility for the welfare of staff and for providing guidance to senior and professional staff on all HR related matters. She leads on the implementation of processes within the HR and Finance functions, to deliver the Union’s strategic plans. She ensures the Students' Union's HR and Finance teams abide by the professional and legal guidelines, including employment law. Leena is responsible for ensuring policies and procedures are regularly updated in line with legislative changes. On top of this, she manages the employee benefits offered by the Union.

Stephen Owen

Head of Student Services

As Head of Student Services, Steve oversees the management of Advice & Support and the day-to-day management of the Student Development department. He leads the direction of the two departments to deliver on strategic objectives. Steve also supports the Elected Officers to ensure students are represented effectively both academically and non-academically.

Advice & Support

Our Advice & Support Centre provides free, confidential and impartial advice to support on a wide array of matters which can affect UH students. Our lovely advisers can offer guidance on academic appeals, budgeting, complaints and so much more. Whether you need specific support, or just want to talk, don't hesitate to come and speak to someone in the team.

advice@hertssu.com

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Faith Goligher

Advice & Support Manager

Faith manages our Advice & Support service. Faith supports the Academic & Welfare Advisers in delivering advice and support to students that require this service. She also works closely with partner organisations so that we can bring initiatives onto campus such as a Legal Clinic and Puppy Play Days.

Steph Keegan

Senior Academic & Welfare Adviser

Steph is one of our Academic & Welfare Advisers. She can provide advice and support to any student that requires this service.

Bonnie Tavner

Academic & Welfare Adviser

Bonnie is one of our Academic & Welfare Advisers. She provides advice and support to students on a range of issues, from academic advice through to housing support.

Commercial

A world class entertainments venue, The Forum Hertfordshire is our on-campus nightclub. Every penny students spend here is reinvested into enhancing the student experience through Union initiatives.

forummanagement@hertssu.com

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Jon Constantine

Operations Manager

Jon manages The Forum Hertfordshire. His role includes overseeing all aspects of bar operation and entertainment/event management. Events that fall within Jon's remit includes Freshers' Week, Summer Ball and all the weekly nighttime events that happen in between. Jon also takes the lead on the promotion of all commercial events.

Monica Yianni

Bars and Events Manager

The Bar and Events Manager's primary responsibility is to manage club nights at The Forum Hertfordshire, dealing with customer issues and ensuring nights run smoothly. Monica oversees a team of more than 60 casual staff members, including bar staff and the tech team. Ensuring the venue and staff members work to a high standard falls within her remit, so that The Forum can offer the best possible service to clients that use it. This includes student events and private hires, which range from University bookings to corporate events and birthday parties.

Community Events

The Community Events team produce and deliver an extensive daytime programme of activities, events and trips throughout the year for students to get involved in. They run everything from Black History Month through to Welcome Fair and film nights through to tie-dye workshops. Their goal is to bring students together in different and engaging ways, making the student experience fun and memorable.

events@hertssu.com

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Jessi Gonzalez

Community Events Manager

The Community Events Manager supports the Community Events Coordinators in the production and delivery of the annual events programme. They have a huge role to play in flagship campaigns like Welcome Week, Black History Month and LGBT+ History Month, working with the University to maximise the impact of these programmes. One of their priorities is ensuring there is diversity in the calendar of events, making sure they appeal to our diverse student body. This is largely achieved through a comprehensive Cultural Series programme, a programme of events that celebrate popular cultural/religious holidays, designed to represent the vibrant and rich community of students at Herts.

Izzy Ralfe

Senior Community Events Coordinator

Izzy role works on the delivery of non-commercial events run by the Students’ Union. This include smaller activities like games nights, all the way through to huge-scale events like Freshers Fair. They work closely with external partners to bring exciting, relevant opportunities onto campus for the benefit of students. Izzy also manages our Welcome Desks on each campus, making sure students and staff alike receive exemplary customer service.

Megan Stretch

Community Events Coordinator

Megan works on the delivery of non-commercial events run by the Students’ Union. This include smaller activities like games nights, all the way through to huge-scale events like Welcome Fair. Megan ensures the events we run are relevant to students' interests and that they comply with health and safety regulations. She is also on hand to provide support to student-led groups when they run larger events, ensuring they are as successful as possible.

Research

Our Research team is responsible for gathering and analysing student feedback, ensuring the Students' Union and our key partners have the insight needed to ensure our services are catering to the needs of our students. The team conducts collects student feedback in a number of ways, including focus groups and surveys. They use both quantitative and qualitative research to inform the recommendations they make to internal and external departments.

research@hertssu.com

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Vacant

Insight & Policy Manager

The Research & Policy Manager leads our research work, making sure that the Union has an in-depth understanding of the needs and priorities of our diverse student body. They will play a vital part in the growth of our research provision and the Union’s development as a whole, working closely with senior staff within the SU and at the University to identify areas for improvement. The role covers a wide range of topics, including large research projects and advising the development of services based on feedback.

Arub Abbas

Insight Coordinator

Arub is responsible for the curation and analysis of our research projects, from focus groups through to surveys. They will crunch the data and provide us with recommendations, including areas that may need campaign attention and services that may need improvement. They also watch sector and national trends closely, monitoring how we compare with other Unions and Universities in the sector and collaborating with them for joint research where beneficial.

Student Development

Our Student Development team works hard to represent the academic interests of students and provide them with a range of opportunities to enhance their employability. This is achieved largely by supporting our impressive pool of student leaders, including Student Reps and School Community Organisers, as well as overseeing community-building and campaigning platforms like societies and networks. The department also works very closely with the Elected Officers, supporting them with to campaign effectively based on the feedback and research they collate.

reps@hertssu.com

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Lizzie Kiely

Student Development Manager

As the Student Development Manager, Lizzie oversees the Union's representation work, including a huge network of School Community Organisers and Student Reps. She also has overall responsibility for the growth of our networks and societies, ensuring they are receiving the support they need. Lizzie is also responsible for all things democracy and governance, such as the Students' Union Elections, AGMs and Student Council. The department also offers hands-on support to the Elected Officers, helping them to campaign effectively based on student feedback.

Cian Kelly-Lyth

Representation Coordinator

As Representation Coordinator, Cian supports the representative side and structure of the Students' Union, working closely with Student Reps and School Community Organisers to help them drive positive and meaningful change within their schools. Cian also oversees Student Council, the main representation forum of the Students' Union.

Eva Rodericks

Societies Coordinator

Eva is responsible for supporting the development and maintenance of the Union’s student groups, providing administration and operational support, ensuring student-led activities and events are engaging and high quality. Eva is the main point of contact for societies and networks, working closely with them throughout the year to ensure their success.

Libby Freeman

Training and Development Coordinator

Libby leads on our training and development programmes for student leaders, making sure they have the knowledge, tools and skills required in their roles. She's here to empower our student leaders - and students more widely - to be successful in their roles and maximise on employability opportunities.

Finance

Our finance department oversees all of the Union's financial activity. They handle all internal and external payments, as well as making sure all staff - permanent and casual - are paid.

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Kishani Praemnath

Acting Finance Manager

Kishani's main role is to reconcile the takings which come from the Forum. She looks at any discrepancies, keeps track of the floats being used and carries out regular compliance checks. Other aspects of her role are bank and Barclaycard reconciliations, payment runs and monitoring stock and transfers between venues. Kishani records and monitors income received at both Welcome Desks and the website. She also assists with budget preparation, VAT returns, monthly cash flows and management accounts.

Jill Trott

Senior Finance Assistant & Payroll

Jill's role includes processing the monthly payroll for permanent staff and weekly payroll for student staff. She also deals with holiday pay, Auto Enrolment, HMRC submissions and Gender Pay Gap reporting. Jill process supplier invoices and raise sales invoices for the Union and UHSU Enterprises Ltd, in addition to credit control. Jill also handles petty cash claims, credit card expenses and the preparation of month end accounts and year end accounts.

Vicky Barrett

Finance Assistant

Vicky prepares the monthly management accounts, reconciles balance sheet controls, processes internal transfers, assists in annual budgets and subsequent forecasting for the remainder of the year, maintains the fixed asset register, prepares year end audit schedules and ad hoc analysis reports as required.

Human Resources

Our HR department takes care of all staff employed by the Students' Union. They make sure that the welfare of staff is a priority, in addition to guiding staff in how to comply with our policies and practices.

recruitment@hertssu.com

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Eve Peacock

HR & Training Administrator

Eve's job role involves both permanent and student recruitment from the initial advertising to appointing and issuing contracts. She also deals with all permanent employees and Elected Officer training after it has been authorised by line managers. Beyond this, Eve assists the Head of People and Resources with the Union’s wider HR function, including the management of facilities.

Marketing

The Marketing department works hard to ensure that all Union activity is promoted. They work closely with the Advice & Support, Commercial, Community Events and Student Development teams to make sure that their projects are communicated effectively to students.

website@hertssu.com

Click here to meet the team

Samantha Gibson

Acting Marketing Manager

The Marketing Manager oversees the marketing and communications for Hertfordshire Students' Union. This includes everything from communications planning and reporting to coordinating graphic design and distribution of print materials. Samy also leads on developing and maintaining the overall SU branding and signage, design and functionality of the website, Marketing Strategy and UH staff communications.

Gemma Smith

Graphic Designer

The Graphic Designer is responsible for creating all artwork needed by the Students' Union. Gemma's role is especially varied as she produces graphics for a range of digital channels, creates artwork for each of our departments and works towards strengthening our branding across both campuses. She has been key in giving our branding a much needed refresh, creating templates for various platforms and producing bespoke artwork.

Chloe McKendrick

Marketing Executive

Chloe leads on delivering marketing and communications for the events and activities that the Students’ Union hosts, working closely with the Community Events team to ensure their initiatives are promoted effectively to the student population. Key areas of promotion across the year include seasonal events, the Cultural Series, the Students' Union Awards and Student Choice Awards.

Kerry Dunne

Marketing Executive

Kerry produces the marketing and communications for Advice & Support, the Elected Officers, Student Reps, SCOs and any other representation initiatives being led by the Student Development team.