Conference Speakers Biographies
Sheila Cannell
Director of Library Services, Edinburgh University Library
Sheila is Director of Library Services at the University of Edinburgh, having previously been Deputy Librarian and Medical Librarian from 1999 to 2002. Member of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) Management Board.
Steve Egan
Director of Finance, Higher Education Funding Council (England), (HEFCE)
Steve Egan has been Director of Finance and Corporate resources at HEFCE since 1996. In this role he has been responsible for the rewarding and developing staff initiative, creating the Equality Challenge Unit, the transparency review, project capital and the Council’s work in leadership, governance and management.
Prior to joining the Council, Steve was Director of Finance at the National Rivers Authority. Before this he worked his way from graduate trainee to Chief Financial Accountant of British Gas, during which time he obtained an MBA at the University of Bath.
Ian Gibson MP
Chairman of the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee
Ian Gibson was born in Scotland and educated at Dumfries Academy. He attended the University of Edinburgh, where he was awarded a BSc and a PhD. After working at the University of Edinburgh and Indiana, where he held a post-doctoral fellowship, he joined the University of East Anglia. At the UEA Dr. Gibson was Dean of the School of Biological Sciences and served as head of a 10 strong research team investigating various forms of cancer. In 2003, the University awarded him an Honorary Professorship.
In 1997, and again in 2001 he was elected as Member of Parliament for Norwich North. He specialises in science and health issues and chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer, the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba. He is former Chair of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. He is also co-manager and occasional pivotal defender in the Parliamentary football team.
The most recent report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee was the inquiry into scientific publication, resulting in the report Scientific publications: free for all? published earlier this year.
Pat Noon
University Librarian, Coventry University
Pat Noon has been the University Librarian at Coventry University since 1993. Before that he worked at De Montfort and Stafforshire Universities. Pat is also Managing Director of CU Library Ltd the company created to deliver library services to the university based upon their new Lanchester Library building opened in 2000. The creation of the company enabled the university to considerably improve its tax efficiency
Caroline Pung
Head of Stragegy and Planning, the British Library
Caroline Pung is the Head of Strategy & Planning at the British Library. She was originally a chemist, working on quantum mechanical simulations of gas-phase reactions. She moved from science to work for McKinsey & Company, a global strategy consulting firm. With McKinsey she consulted to a range of corporations and non-profit organisations from the UK, Europe, and the US on key strategic, organisational and operational issues. Since joining the British Library Caroline has been leading a corporate strategy review as well as overseeing a recent study measuring the Library’s impact on the UK economy.
Sir Ron Cooke
Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
Ron Cooke became Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in December 2003. Prior to that he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of York from 1993 until 2002. Whilst at the University of York Sir Ron enhanced its reputation as a dynamic institution and amongst other things he was personally responsible for the creation of three companies and several spin-off companies. He is also is co-founder of regional university associations and the Worldwide Universities Network, which has in its membership universities from the UK, the US, China and Europe.
Before moving to York, Professor Cooke was Vice-Provost, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Professor and Head of Department of Geography at University College London. As Professor of Physical Geography, he is a leading expert in his field, specialising in desert geomorphology, and was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society in 2000.
He has played a key national role in higher education as board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and inter alia as Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee and of the e-University Working Group. Professor Cooke was knighted for his services to higher education in September 2002. Since April 2003 he has chaired the HEFCE Board's Quality Assessment, Learning and Teaching Committee, and is a member of the Board of the Science Museum.
Rebecca Williams
Director of Development, King's College London
Rebecca Williams is Development Director at King's College London, where she is responsible for all fundraising and alumni relations activities. King's is nearing completion of its first capital fundraising campaign, a major component of which was the College's Library. Rebecca has 10 years' fundraising experience in the higher education and arts sectors, and is a graduate of the University of Oxford