Second term of office to finish on 31st July 2022 – not eligible for immediate reappointment

Bob Walder became Chair of Bishop Grosseteste University Council in August 2016. Following school in Hampshire and studying accountancy at Portsmouth Polytechnic, Bob Walder graduated in Economics and Politics at Bristol University in 1977. He began his career working for Mosscare, a community based housing association in Moss Side, Manchester and remained in the sector for 38 years. For the last 26 years he was Chief Executive of Longhurst Group based in Lincolnshire during which the organisation grew from 800 to 18,500 homes, employing 1,000 staff and eventually building 500 new homes a year.

Bob is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has chaired several companies and regional committees in the housing sector. He was also Vice-Chairman of Boston College of Further Education and Chairman of the Boston Regeneration Company. Bob is also a Board Member of LACE Housing in Lincoln.

Sonia Barron is the Diocesan Director of Ordinands and Vocations for the diocese of Lincoln – helping those who want to explore a call to ordination. Before that Sonia was a parish priest to five rural parishes near Newark for almost five years.

Formerly a secondary RE teacher by profession, her work as Head of Department took her to schools in London, Surrey, Nottingham and Uganda; this was in addition to teaching Biblical and Religious studies at the University of Nottingham. In recent years she has championed the work of racial justice as Archbishops’ Adviser 2005-2011, Co-chair of the Archbishops’ Anti-racism Taskforce and currently serves as a member of their Racial Justice Commission whose remit over the next 3 years is to set an agenda for change, taking action to identify, respond to and root out systemic racism in the Church of England.

Sonia’s interest in higher education and commitment to issues of fairness and justice informs her contribution as a member of the BGU Council since 2019. She has recently been elected as Vice-Chair of University Council.

Other committee memberships include the Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education; Sonia is Chair of its Learning and Development sub-committee.

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Appointed on 2012 – eligible for continuous service

Vice Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University

Peter Neil was born on the Isle of Bute on the west coast of Scotland. After working as a teacher of modern languages in Scotland he moved to Belfast where he became a Senior Lecturer in Education at Queen’s University Belfast. Whilst at Queen’s he completed a PhD in Education and began studying Theology. In 2003 he took up the role of Director of Education and Lifelong learning at Aberystwyth University, subsequently returning to his native Scotland as Head of the School of Education at the University of the West of Scotland. With a wide range of research interests centred on education and on theology, Professor Neil has written books on language teaching, Continuous Professional Development and teacher mentoring. He has researched topics ranging from language education to school leadership and ordinary theology, publishing in academic journals and speaking at international conferences. He is an ordained Anglican priest and has served in the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church.

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