The Oxford to Cambridge Partnership is pleased to announce the appointment of two highly accomplished individuals as Non-Executive Directors who will join from 1st September:
- Dr Barbara Ghinelli, Director, Innovation Clusters and Harwell Campus, UKRIScience and Technologies Facilities Council
- Professor Lynette Ryals OBE, CEO of MK:U and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University
Dipesh J Shah OBE, the Partnership’s Chair, welcomed Barbara and Lynette. He said, “I’m delighted that Barbara and Lynette are joining the Partnership Board. They bring a range of skills and experiences, as well as local knowledge, to the Partnership Board. I look forward to working with them in our shared endeavour across the Oxford the Cambridge region.
”The Partnership will champion the Oxford to Cambridge region as a world leader of innovation and business, acting to achieve environmentally sustainable and inclusive growth that brings benefits to communities now and in the future. It will do so by bringing together people and organisations with the expertise, insights, and roles, to deliver innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges faced.
Professor Lynette Ryals OBE said, “I am delighted to be joining the Partnership Board at this exciting time. Both MK:U and Cranfield University sit at the heart of the Oxford to Cambridge region, with close links to business, industry and the community – I look forward to working with the Board to promote and harness the incredible potential of our region to deliver innovation and sustainable growth”
Dr Barbara Ghinelli, said, “I am deeply honoured to be a part of the OxCam partnership.“Innovation is a team sport, and it is essential that we unite our efforts to create an environment in the region where individuals and organisations can truly thrive, actively participate, and make world-changing impact. I look forward to working with the Partnership to enable a supportive ecosystem that encourages creativity, collaboration, and the pursuit of breakthrough ideas, so that we can unlock the full potential of our collective talents.”
ENDNotes to editors.For further information about the Oxford to Cambridge Partnership (OCP) please contactKaren Clarke, Head of Communications, OCP Transition Team on 07849 476579 or via email on karen.clarke@semlep.com
Biography
As Chief Executive of MK:U, Lynette leads a distinctive new education offering based in MiltonKeynes. MK:U delivers applied, business-focused education and innovation in data, digital, and smartcity technologies. Lynette is a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Cranfield University which is Milton KeynesCouncil’s lead education partner on MK:U.
Lynette's professional background is in financial services and management consultancy. She is aFellow of the Society of Investment Professionals, Fellow of the Chartered institute of Logistics and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has an MA (Oxon), an MBA, and a PhD from Cranfield which researched how understanding customer profitability changed customer management practices in two international financial institutions. Previously she was Professor of Strategic Sales and Account Management in Cranfield University's School of Management and then inaugural ProVice-Chancellor (Education). She was also Chair of The Case Centre (2011-2017) and Dean of Cranfield School of Management (2017-2019).Lynette was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours 2019 for services to higher education.
Biography
Dr Barbara Ghinelli, Director, Innovation Clusters and Harwell Campus, UKRI-STFCShe is also a Board Member at the Rosalind Franklin Institute and Chief Scientific Advisor toAdvanced Research Clusters (ARC), Brookfield Asset Management.Barbara is responsible for the development of the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at UKRISTFC. She has worked alongside the Joint Venture partners to establish Harwell as an exemplar public-private partnership model that has driven economic growth, fostered national and international collaborations, attracted inward investment, and advanced the frontiers of science.
Barbara has established the cluster model deployed at both STFC’s Harwell and Daresbury Science& Innovation Campuses and oversees their development. She has led the creation of six thriving innovation clusters in Space, Health, Energy, Digital and a new in Quantum, across the two sites.These now include over 300 organisations collocated on the campuses, with average staff growth of more than 20% per annum and supporting more than 500 organisations across the U.K. Oxford to Cambridge Partnership13 July 20233Barbara joined STFC in 2010 as Executive Director of Business Development. Successes included the creation of the International Space Innovation Centre (now Satellite Applications Catapult) at Harwell and the securing the first multi-million investment into the High Performance ComputingCentre (Hartree) at Daresbury.Barbara joined STFC from EADS Astrium (now Airbus DS), where she managed Business Development across Europe for the €3.2 billion joint ESA / EU Earth Observation Programme forGlobal Monitoring of Environment and Security (now Copernicus). She secured a number of large contracts during her time at Astrium. Barbara graduated in Electronic Engineering at the University ofYork, completed her PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Space Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging at theUniversity of Sheffield and holds a Certificate in Management from the Open University.