Alumni Volunteer of the Year Awards

Each year, a few particularly generous graduates go above and beyond in their volunteering activity to guide, advise and inspire students, and to support the University. These awards recognise their deeply valued contributions.

A collection of people from the Volunteer Awards Night

Off

As they've done in previous years, many of our outstanding volunteers attended a Thank You Event on campus, where they had the chance to meet students who've directly benefitted from their generous time and support.

Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award 2026

Jason Spencer - Business Development Director at ITV (BA Philosophy 1995)

Two people standing together, smiling and shaking hands

Nominated by James Zeller for his support of students across the faculty of Arts & Humanities. Here's what James said about Jason’s impact:

Jason makes an impact across both the strategic and the operational. He contributes to the shaping of our employability strategy and our work with students and employers. He is everything you could ask of an alumnus in a senior role: ready and willing to share his social capital to support others, but not to do it for them.
In terms of student impact, Jason has facilitated activity that has reached hundreds of students. He has likely met hundreds of our students by now, always challenging them to stay in touch beyond a simple LinkedIn connection request.
Through his actions, he is rapidly becoming a major strategic partner. Our programmes and experiences for students are markedly better thanks to his insight and, more importantly, his generosity with his time.
James Zeller

Jason has been an integral part of the Arts & Humanities employer advisory board since 2024. In that time he has also been a dedicated volunteer at a number of networking events in the faculty sharing his career journey and business insights. Jason has also filmed several videos and messages to support the aims of the advisory board.

On top of all of his personal volunteering, Jason has facilitated a number of amazing opportunities for A&H students including a visit to the Emmerdale set helping students gain an insight into a range of creative careers.

Within the past academic year alone he has also delivered a masterclass on ‘Marketing, Media and Making an Impact’ alongside fellow alum Lucie Cave as part of the Boardroom 2025 leadership series, attended a networking evening in Manchester as part of Northern City Connections, and provided 2 projects across 2 departments at ITV, as part of the Spring Internship Scheme.

As a father of two children - one who is at university and the other who is about to go to university - I know how challenging the world of work is now. So it has been an honour to be part of the fantastic Employer Advisory Board over the past two years, involved in advising how Sheffield University can adapt in order to thrive. The highlight for me has been working on the Spring Internship Programme this year. ITV took part in this and we were bowled over by the insights from the students who worked on the briefs we set. We are now exploring how to take these ideas into our business, and considering how we can further support the students who worked on the ITV briefs. I'm looking forward to being part of this and many other brilliant initiatives over the next year on the Board.
Jason Spencer
Alumni Volunteer of the Year 2026

Highly Commended

Lee Williams - Senior Employment Law Solicitor at Freeths (LLB Law 2015 & LLM Law 2017)

Nominated by Faye Hazelby for his support of students across the School of Law. Here's what Faye said about Lee’s impact:

Lee has been generously supporting our programme participants through the alumni networking and law firm visits for around 6-7 years. Over that time he has supported and inspired hundreds of Year 12 students. In recent years, he has also arranged for the Access students to visit the law firm that he now works at. During this visit he has delivered an inspirational introduction to studying law and working in a law firm, and has also arranged for a number of his colleagues to run a speed-networking activity with the students. Usually this is an annual visit, but this year our programme cohort has been larger and he has kindly arranged to run the visit twice to allow all of the participants to attend. Lee's support has been invaluable!
Faye Hazelby

International Alumni Volunteer of the Year 2026

Misa Okumura (BMus Music 2008)

Nominated by Kester Spach for going above and beyond in her role as Alumni Group Lead for Japan. Here's what Kester said about Misa’s impact:

Working with Misa is an absolute pleasure; she is extremely friendly and thoughtful, and always quick to bring a smile to my face whenever we talk. Misa has single-handedly revived the alumni group in Japan. Through her efforts, we have reconnected with over a hundred alumni who had limited or no interaction with the University since graduation. She has created a foundation for more alumni volunteers to emerge in order to support recruitment and other opportunities. She has also provided a model for how alumni groups can operate independently with limited resources and still manage to engage a large number of alumni; a model which she has been willing to share with other group leads. I would really like to celebrate all the hard work she has contributed to the group, and everything she has done to build the supportive, enriching alumni network in Japan.
Kester Spach

Misa became the Japan Alumni Group Lead in 2025, reviving the previously inactive group and helping it become a large and thriving alumni group with over 220 members. Over the past year, Misa has, entirely by herself, organised 6 events in 3 cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka) for countless alumni across the country.

Misa has consistently gone above and beyond in her role as group lead; for instance, planning a detailed trip to the Osaka Expo in September 2025, working with the British pavilion staff to arrange a private afternoon tea for Sheffield alumni.

The full list of Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award 2026 nominees was as follows - congratulations and many thanks to all of you!

Nick Stannard (BA Business Studies 2003)
Charles Turner MBE (Executive MBA 2020)
Tianen Xie (BA Politics & Sociology 2023)
Clive Humby OBE (BSc Applied Maths & Computer Science 1975, Postgraduate Honorary degree 2016)
Chantal Touma (MA Law 2025)
Lee Williams (LLB Law 2015, LLM Law 2017)
Xiaoxia Fu (MSc Psychological research methods 2026)
Richard Pickard (BA Geography 1997)
Callum Van Dyk (MSc Occupational Psychology, 2020)
Alankrith Shankar (MBA Business Administration 2023)
Ruth Brown (Executive MBA 2013)
Ahsan Jadoon (MBA Business Administration 2023)
Richard Winfrow ( MBA Business Administration 2020)

Career Mentoring Awards 2026

Mentor of the Year Winner

Holly Fake (BA Philosophy, Religion and Ethics 2024, Business Manager at Lloyds Banking Group plc)

Matt Giloney (MSc Real Estate 2022, Senior Surveyor at CBRE)

Highly Commended Mentor of the Year

Tom Heathcote (MEng Aerospace Engineering 2010, Assistant Chief Design Engineer at Rolls-Royce plc)

Mentee of the Year Winner

Toby Huter (MA International Relations)

Highly Commended Mentee of the Year

Evie Bellingall (1st year BSc Psychology)

Coco Gordon-Jeary (2nd year BEng Aerospace Engineering)

Community Fundraiser of the Year Award 2026

David Cutts - Fundraising for MND research in memory of Gemma Middleton

A group of people stand in front of the SITraN building — Dave Cutts (2nd from right)

Dave, with support from his incredible fundraising team, have dedicated years to fundraising in memory of Gemma Middleton, who died from MND in 2019. Dave’s daughter Meghan helped to care for Gemma and he saw first hand how Gemma battled MND but always retained her smile and beauty in the face of adversity. One of Gemma’s final wishes was to not be forgotten and to continue fundraising for her chosen causes. Those words Dave has never forgotten.

Dave’s first event in 2023, shortly after knee surgery, was the Outlaw Triathlon at Thoresby Park. He took part in the Woodhall Spa Triathlon in 2024 and continued his fundraising with football shirt raffles and football cards Most recently, he completed the Rother Valley Triathlon, and even with additional injuries he showed exceptional determination in completing the course - all in Gemma’s memory.

Dave's commitment to fundraising for MND research at SITraN is nothing short of inspiring. Dave and his team have raised thousands of pounds for MND research. It’s thanks to amazing fundraisers like Dave, that SITraN is able to continue leading the way in MND research.