Selection Committee

Stephen Critchley was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Oriel College, Oxford, where he read Chemistry. After a spell in industry, he returned to the University and was awarded a D. Phil. in X-ray Crystallography.

He subsequently trained as a Chartered Accountant and had a wide-ranging career in the accountancy profession, latterly leading the Public Sector practice of PwC in the East Midlands. He left the profession to become Chief Finance Officer of Transport for London from which he has now retired.

Stephen is a Trustee and Chair of the Finance Committee at United Learning Ltd, a Trustee of Caterham School and a former Trustee and Chair of the Finance Committee at the RAF Benevolent Fund. He is also actively involved in community activities in his local village.

Anne was a senior civil servant until 2020. The majority of her career was in the Department for Education where she held a range of posts, many of which involved support for disadvantaged learners. Her final role there was as Director of Further Education.

Before joining the civil service, she was an officer in the Royal Air Force serving in Hong Kong and at RAF Cranwell.

Anne is currently chair of governors at The Sandwell Colleges, a large further education and sixth form provider, a trustee of the largest academic qualification awarding body in England AQA and lead education trustee for a national charity, NACRO.

Anne gained an MBA form Nottingham Business School and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Professor Dr Marianne Howarth is Emeritus Professor of Modern Languages and former Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University.

A Germanist by academic background, she studied at the universities of Hull, Vienna, Münster and Nottingham. She has taught at Coventry, Marburg, Brighton and Nottingham Trent universities, and was a Visiting Lecturer at Manchester Business School.

The author/co-author of several business German textbooks, her main research interests centre on Anglo-German relations, in particular on relations between Britain and the former German Democratic Republic. She has published widely in English and German on many aspects of this topic, including the campaign for recognition, the GDR presence in Britain, the early years of the diplomatic relationship and on partnerships between British and GDR towns and cities. Marianne was a founder member of the International Association of the Study of German Politics.

In addition to her academic interests and activities, Marianne has extensive experience in academic standards and quality management. She was Chair of Nottingham Trent’s Academic Standards and Quality Management Committee, an auditor/reviewer for QAA and QAA Scotland, and the international reviewer in teams appointed to accredit provision at institutions in Ireland and Germany. Marianne was also the first chair of QAA’s Subject Benchmark Statement for Languages and Related Studies.

Kate joined Lincoln Bishop University Council in April 2023.

Kate worked in the NHS for the vast majority of her working life in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. All of her career was spent in the Human Resources function. She was Director of Human Resources in 4 NHS Trusts.

Kate is Vice Chair of West Nottinghamshire FE College; Vice Chair of Active Lincolnshire and Associate Non Executive Director of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

Kate gained an MA in Human Resource Management and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.