Employer Advisory Board
Our Employer Advisory Board is a consultative body of alumni working across a range of careers relevant to our disciplines. It helps to guide Faculty activity in developing new programmes and work experience opportunities, as well as supporting students directly through networking opportunities.
Greg Sutch
CEO, Intralink Group
BA (Dual Honours) Japanese and Geography, 1993
After graduating from the University of Sheffield with a dual honours degree in Japanese and Geography, Greg worked in Japan for 12 years and China for three before locating back to the UK in 2008.
His first job was on the JET Programme as a Coordinator for International Relations based in Toyama, Japan. In 1996, he joined Intralink, an international business development consultancy, and set up the company’s offices in Tokyo. Since then, he has opened offices in China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Europe and the United States, and now manages a team of 140 employees across 10 countries.
During his consulting career, Greg has worked with hundreds of startups, SMEs and multi-national corporates, as well as regional and national governments, to accelerate their international growth, promote cross-border collaboration and attract foreign direct investment. He has worked across a range of verticals, including automotive, energy, electronics and healthcare.
Greg is a Japanese speaker and is based at the company’s headquarters in Oxford.
Megan Yeo
Senior Policy Advisor, Department for Education
BA French Studies, 2017
Upon graduating from the University of Sheffield in 2017, Megan spent 3 years working as a seminar teacher in the French higher education system.
Since joining the Department for Education in 2020, she's held multiple diverse roles including drafting ministerial correspondence for the higher and further education portfolios, working on the department's response to COVID-19, and developing and implementing school food policy.
She's currently working on reforms to the children's social care system in line with the implementation strategy "Stable Homes, Built on Love".
Jason Spencer
Business Development Director, ITV
BA Philosophy, 1995
After graduating, Jason moved to Manchester where he held a succession of jobs from writing questions for a BBC quiz show to being Assistant Manager of an off license to working at Manchester Evening News.
After travelling around the world for a year, he moved to London and worked at media agencies - from press buying to media planning roles at Carat and PHD - before moving back to Manchester to start a family. He ran a media agency (PHD North) as Managing Director for 5 years, scaling up the business and winning awards for their client work, before moving to ITV in 2011.
As Business Development Director for the past 12 years, Jason has led the growth in revenue of ITV’s commercial teams across the UK outside London in delivering creative business solutions through working closely in partnership with advertisers and their agencies.
Emily Cuthbert
Creative (Art Director and Copywriter) at McCann
BA English Literature (with Employment Experience), 2019
As part of her studies Emily completed a placement year as an Assistant Brand Manager at Unilever. Since graduating she's progressed from Junior Copywriter to Junior Creative, to Creative, at advertising agency McCann, a global leader in marketing services. Emily has led and supported marketing campaigns for a number of well known organisations and has been shortlisted for national industry awards including Most Promising Creative Individual.
Luke Impett
Public Affairs and Partnerships Lead, Airbnb
BA History and Politics, 2010
Luke graduated in 2010 and undertook a few internships before joining the Civil Service in 2011 (also as an intern) at the Cabinet Office. From there he built his career in a few different fields, mainly focussing on constitutional relations, trade and devolution - taking him to roles at the heart of government and to work on Scottish Independence, Brexit and Covid. From there he left the Civil Service to work on his first passion: travel - joining Airbnb in 2019 and eventually going on to lead their public affairs and partnerships role in Northern Europe.
Nia Deo
Producer Sony Music Entertainment
BA (Hons) English Lit 2019
Charlie Forshaw
Built Environment Lead - Rainmaking
MBA 2023 Cambridge, MSc 2018 Lund, BA History and Philosophy 2013 Sheffield
Charlie joined the Deloitte graduate programme working mostly with Infrastructure and Capital Projects clients, Health and Social Care and some High Net Worth Entrepreneurial families. After 4 years she left and moved to Sweden to study for a Masters degree. She also started an Internet of Things company helping older people stay safe at home for longer. Charlie was approached by Arup, a large sustainable development and Engineering consultancy to set up an innovation team focussed on developing new propositions to reduce carbon and have a positive impact on sustainability. She built and lead the team for three years, leaving Arup to pursue an MBA and work with Emerging technologies in the climate and sustainability space. Charlie currently advises companies doing anything from carbon capture to rewilding or sustainable fashion, and works with accelerator programmes to support early stage companies to grow. Charlie works for Rainmaking on complex multi-stakeholder projects in the sustainable construction space. She’s currently working to help a large regional development organisation build residential housing that is greener, cheaper and quicker to build.
Bella Abrams
Group Chief Technology Officer, Jisc
Executive MBA, 2011; BA History, 1999
Bella Abrams is the Group Chief Technology Officer at Jisc, where she provides strategic leadership for technology developments, ensuring high performance, security, and innovation in technology products and services for the education and research sector.
With over 20 years of experience, Bella is a values-led, people-focused leader in technology and digital services. Her career spans higher education, further education, and private equity-backed digital organisations, where she has delivered complex digital products, cyber security solutions, and data platforms.
Bella has held other board roles, including Chair of the Russell Group IT Directors Forum and Trustee of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT). In 2023, she was recognized as one of Computer Weekly’s UK top 50 most influential people in technology. She excels in leading large, complex teams, transforming traditional IT functions into dynamic, customer-focused units, and improving service levels, staff engagement, and team morale.
With a background in arts and humanities, Bella brings a unique perspective to her technology leadership. She is passionate about supporting students and enhancing their educational experiences through innovative technology solutions.
Isha Jain
Marketing Communications Lead, Vyntelligence
BA English Literature 2021 and MA English Literature, 2022
Isha Jain is a marketing communications professional with a diverse background spanning technical writing, editorial leadership, and strategic content development. Originally moving to the UK as an international student, she has built a multidisciplinary career across sectors including insurance, data centres, utilities, and telecommunications.
Following her graduation, she joined the Learning & Development team at a leading insurance firm as a Technical Writer, where she also supported Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. She later worked in B2B publishing as an Editor, overseeing a digital magazine, managing news content, and leading sector-specific events.
She now leads Marketing Communications at Vyntelligence, a SaaS company driving innovation in frontline operations across global utilities, telecoms, and retail. In this role, she combines her editorial expertise and strategic insight to deliver impactful storytelling and content-driven engagement.
Beyond her professional work, she remains closely connected to the literary community as a Fiction Editor for an independent magazine and authors a personal newsletter. She is also actively involved in community initiatives, supporting causes related to animal welfare, befriending the elderly, and youth development.
Drawing on her experience, she is committed to amplifying voices, connecting ideas, and fostering inclusive narratives in both corporate and community settings.
Laura Billings
Early Careers and Campus Recruiter at Standard Chartered (via AMS)
BA History with Year Abroad, 2020
After graduation, Laura studied to become CIPD qualified, relocated to London and began working at a large not-for-profit within their recruitment and onboarding team. In 2021, Laura moved across to the media industry where she worked at both ITV and Disney in their respective recruitment teams, helping to facilitate the launch of ITVX (ITV) and programmes such as the Jedi Academy (Disney).
In 2024, Laura transitioned into the investment banking industry and now specialises in early careers. She currently works at Standard Chartered and covers all early careers roles within the bank across Europe, including the hiring and programme management of the summer internship and graduate programme, as well as executing on campus strategy.
Alex Deadman
Self Employed - Strategic Communications
BA Philosophy
In his 20 years since leaving University, Alex has worked in the music industry as an artist and promoter. This led to spending time as a journalist and then in PR. Alex was a founder of the award-winning Sheffield based Tramlines Festival and remains part of the core team to this day as Communications Director. Alex also works extensively in youth music, adult social care and education. This includes being a director and tutor for Musical Works and 13 years with disability arts charity, Under the Stars. He currently lectures on Water Bear Music College's Music Business BA.
Alex also operates a record label and runs strategic communications for 'Tickets for Good', a Sheffield-based startup that gives free tickets to NHS staff, charity workers and people affected by the Cost of Living Crisis. Leading on their PR, user growth and their expansion to the US.
He's passionate about Sheffield music in all forms and the long term cultural importance of the city. Alex is also a member of our Music Board of Collaborators in the School of Languages, Arts and Societies.
