Governance and Nominations Committee

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 was as Director of Further Education.
Before joining the civil service, Anne was an officer in the Royal Air Force serving in Hong Kong and at RAF Cranwell.

She is currently chair of trustees for a growing multi-academy trust in Leicestershire and governor of a large further education college. She is also vice chair and lead education trustee for NACRO, a national social justice charity.

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

She is studying for a Masters in Philosophy.

A member of BGU Council since 2018, Bishop Nigel Peyton has been Assistant Bishop in Lincoln Diocese since 2017. He was previously Diocesan Bishop in Dundee, Scotland, following service as Archdeacon of Newark.

His governance experience includes service as a Governor of Abertay University Dundee, Chair of Trustees of St Margaret’s Residential Home for the Elderly Dundee, Non-Executive Director of the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, School Governor and Magistrate in Nottingham.

Nigel has degrees in history and in theology from Edinburgh University and from Union Theological Seminary New York. His published Lancaster University doctorate explored contemporary Church of England Parish Clergy. An Honorary Scholar at Liverpool University Management School, Nigel’s continuing academic research focuses on Christianity, organisation and social context. He is passionate about stimulating faith in public life, inspiring young people, educational access and lifelong learning.

No information at present

Dr. Sacha Mason is Head of Programmes for Education, Health and Lifelong Learning and Associate Dean for Research . She joined Bishop Grosseteste University in 2008 following a successful career in further education and as a primary teacher. Sacha is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and her current research and publication interests focus on Relationships and Sex Education, mature learners and widening participation, and academic literacies.

Karen was born in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire and was the first person in her family to go to university. She read for her first degree in History at the University of Sheffield and holds Postgraduate qualifications from the University of Sheffield and Manchester Metropolitan University. Before beginning her academic career, she worked as a researcher for the BBC and the Home Office.

Professor Stanton’s distinguished career within Higher Education includes being the Vice-Chancellor of both York St John University and Solent University, Southampton. She has also held senior leadership roles at the universities of Birmingham, Nottingham, King’s College London, and Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).
Karen has an outstanding record of international achievements having set up University campuses in New York, Oman and a College of Nursing and Midwifery in Bangladesh. In 2014 she led the team from Glasgow Caledonian that won the Unilever Global Development Award in recognition of their work to reduce inequalities and poverty in Bangladesh.

Professor Stanton has a strong national profile and reputation for her work on the role of universities in the community and regional economy. This has included work with the UN Global Compact and supporting the Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus to bring the microlending Grameen Bank to Scotland. Whilst at King’s she was Director of the Centre for Digital Humanities and at GCU she established the Centre for Climate Justice in association with Mary Robinson. At Solent she established Research Centres in Marine Sustainability and Autonomous Surface Shipping.

She is a previous Chair of the Cathedrals Group of Universities, Deputy Chair of GuildHE and a former Trustee of UCAS and the United Nations International Services. She is currently a Governor of both Corndel College London and the University of the Arts, London.

Professor Stanton is a Fellow of the RSA and a Champion of the Chartered Management Institute. She also supports sustainable businesses through her work with the Social Enterprise Accreditation Mark. She is a Patron of the Island Charity which provides a safe space for vulnerable children and young people.

In the summer of 2023, she was awarded both an Emeritus Vice Chancellorship and a Honorary Doctorate from Solent University. Professor Stanton is regularly invited to give keynote lectures at conferences on both the future of technology in Higer Education and on how Universities can expand their international portfolios.

Over her 25 year career in Higher Education Karen has dedicated herself to working with her teams to provide students with a transformational education experience and to widening participation to Higher Education.