Meet the Senate

Dr Victoria Smith-Collins, Researcher

Dr Victoria Smith-Collins, Managing Director of Smith-Collins International, is one of our most experienced trainer-facilitators and coaches.

Victoria has over 20 years of academic and corporate experience that spans international markets. She has trained/supervised academic programmes up to MBA level (including delivering lectures, tutorials and dissertation supervision). Victoria has also worked extensively with the Chartered Management Institute, delivering programmes, examining and
verifying assessment work.

Victoria specialises in leadership/management development, with a focus on strategic leadership, consumer psychology (the subject of her Ph.D), organisational development and change management. She has worked internationally for 13 years, where she has worked for an international training institute and has headed the Learning and Development function at one of the Middle East’s largest regional banks.

Whilst at the training institute, Victoria grew and developed a number of professional UK based programmes (including those from CMI and CIM). She logged over 1500 hours of training/facilitation, training professionals from the financial services sector and other public and private sector organisations. Before moving to the bank, Victoria took on a senior business development role which primarily involved consulting with key clients (cross-sectors) and partnering with them to understand their development needs and tailor programmes to fulfil those needs.

Dr Ian Grime, Researcher

Ian is a leading expert in Marketing, working with leading brand across a varied and successful career.

Dr Ian Grime is a marketing and education consultant working with a number of SME’s advising on their marketing direction. He also works with key industry professional body’s and delivers bespoke marketing education to a number of clients. Previously, Ian was Head of the Marketing, Operations and Digital Business (MODB) within the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University and has 20 years teaching marketing and branding in Higher Education. Ian has excellent experience of curriculum development and quality assurance in HE and has also worked with a number of commercial clients including Tesco, Halfords, The Southern Co-op, Booths and George (Asda). Ian has a Ph.D. in Branding and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Retail Management. Ian’s outside interests lie in athletics where he has represented Great Britain (5 times) and England (11 times) and is a Level 3 Senior coach at Salford Harriers.

William McKee, Researcher

Starting out as a civil engineer responsible for large infrastructure projects, William became fascinated with the “people” side of business. Now a qualified business psychologist and executive coach, he aims to bring a refreshingly practical approach to culture, people and performance. Over the last 10 years, he has worked with leaders and managers in organisations like British Airways, the Met Office, Bombardier, the NHS and multiple local authorities. He also spent time supporting SMEs and start-ups as well as working in the Middle East with one of the world’s largest food producers. As a result, he can relate to a wide range of people and organisational contexts.  

Credentials:  

• Member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and holds the Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential  
• Lecturer with Henley Business School, teaching on its Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching (PCEC) programme 
• Holds a Team Coaching Certificate from the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) 
• Holds a foundation certificate in Nancy Kline’s Time to Think coaching method 
• Recently interviewed for the book Coaching with Research in Mind on utilising psychometrics with coaching, as he aims to strike a balance between practical ‘rules of thumb’ and the latest evidence-based research. 

Kim Morgan, Senator

Kim Morgan

MA (Coaching and Coaching Development)

ICF MCC credentialed coach

Founder and CEO of Barefoot Coaching Ltd

Kim is an internationally recognised expert in coaching and coach training, one of the select band of coaches accredited by the ICF as a Master Certified Coach. She draws extensively on her own experience of what works in practice to make successful individuals, great leaders, productive teams and organisations, and outstanding coaches.

Kim designed and launched an ICF Accredited and University Approved Postgraduate Certificate in Personal and Business Coaching in 2001.

Barefoot Coaching has been at the forefront of the coach training industry for over twenty years. Over 4,500 coaches in the UK and globally have chosen Barefoot to begin or to build their professional coaching careers.

Kim’s passion to spread the word about coaching has resulted in two best-selling books:

Watts, G & Morgan, K (2015) The Coach’s Casebook: Mastering the Twelve Traits that Trap Us. Cheltenham: Inspect and Adapt Ltd

Morgan, K (2019) The Coach’s Survival Guide. London: McGraw-Hill Education

Kim has had a monthly coaching column in Psychologies Magazine for the past six years and she is a sought-after conference speaker on all things coaching related. 

Kim Morgan MCC, MA Coaching and Coaching Development

CEO and Founder,  Barefoot Coaching Ltd

Professor Chris Pyke, Senator

Emeritus Professor Chris Pyke

Highest Qualifications: MPhil. FCCA, CPFA.

Chris Pyke is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting and Finance, a Chartered Accountant and an independent consultant. He has a wealth of experience managing and leading in higher education over the last 27 years at a variety of modern universities:

• University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) (2017- 2022): Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Justice; Overall responsibility for the strategic leadership and management of the faculty which included Business, Enterprise, Law, Policing, Criminology, Social Sciences and Public Services. Responsibilities included developing the faculty research culture and Chairing UCLan’s internal REF 2021 Panel C. Research active with publications included in UoA 17 (Business and Management Studies) of REF 2021.
• Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) (2013-2017): Associate Dean in the Faculty of Business and Law, Head of Accounting, Finance and Economics and Professor of Accounting and Finance; Established and developed new research clusters in Banking and Finance, Behavioural Economics, and International Economic Development.
• University of Chester (2008-2013): Associate Dean in the Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Head of Chester Business School and Bank of America Professor of Consumer Financial Services.
• Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) Liverpool Business School (1995 - 2007): Subject Group Leader Accounting and Financial Management and Head of the Centre for Public Service Management

Chris’s research interests are broad ranging and include capital asset pricing, downside risk, public sector cost accounting and Islamic banking. During his career, he has been responsible for developing international research collaborations and has produced numerous conference and journal articles. His most recent publications include:

Cyganska, M., Kludacz-Alessandri, M., Pyke, C., (2023) “Healthcare Costs and Health Status: Insights from the SHARE Survey”, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20(2):1418 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph2002141 , January 2023

 Rutkowska-Ziarko, A., Markowski, L., Pyke, C., Amin, S. (2022) “Conventional and Downside Capital Asset Pricing Model: The Case of The London Stock Exchange”, Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, Vol 54, November 2022, ISSN 1044-0283

Elamer, A.A., Ntim, C.G., Abdou, H.A., Pyke, C. (2020) ‘Sharia Supervisory Boards, Governance Structures and Operational Risk Disclosures: Evidence from Islamic Banks in MENA Countries’, Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, Vol 46, November 2020, 100488

Cyganska, M., Cyganski, P. Pyke, C. (2019) “Development of Clinical Value Unit Method for Calculating Patient Costs” Health Economics, Wiley June 2019, https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3902

Dr Shobana Nair Partington, Senator

Dr Shobana Nair Partington

Shobana joined Manchester Metropolitan University with a background in economics studying her undergraduate studies in University Malaya, postgraduate studies in Leeds University (studentship funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Organisation) and finally completing her PhD (studentship funded by the Low Pay Commission) at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research area has been on pay practices and working conditions mainly in the hospitality sector. She is originally from Malaysia and have been living in the UK now for over 24 years.

Shobana is currently the Head of Department for Operations, Technology, Events and Hospitality Management at Manchester Metropolitan University’s triple accredited (AACSB, EQUIS, AMBA) Business School. She has strategic responsibility for over 2,000 students and 60 academic staff across a full range of UG and PG programmes including business technology, digital technology solution (degree apprenticeship), events management, international hospitality business management, business analytics, operations and supply chain, and project management. The role is wide reaching, having responsibility for student experience, learning and teaching, internationalisation, and the promotion of high-quality research and knowledge exchange. Her previous leadership roles at Manchester Met included Head of School of Tourism, Events and Hospitality Management, Associate Dean for Student Experience, Principal Lecturer for Events Management, and Programme Leader for Tourism Management.

Shobana strongly believes in student engagement and industry-led, innovative delivery and assessment that provides the necessary skills for work-ready, entrepreneurial graduates. She is a Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE) and a member of CABS Learning, Teaching and Student Experience committee. She is also a member of the Northwest Business Leadership Team (NWBLT): Diversity Drivers, to help shape and drive forward their aim to increase diversity in the most senior business positions in the Northwest. She is passionate about driving changes not only in term of student award gaps but also promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplace. 

Professor Mike Thomas, Senator

Professor Mike Thomas is currently Chair of Morecambe Bay University Hospitals NHS Trust, Chair of the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Provider Collaborative Board, and Chair of Making Space, a national mental health and wellbeing charity. He also holds a number of NHS, welfare and educational roles at Regional and National level.

Mike has been active within the NHS for forty years, predominantly as a psychotherapist specialising in Eating Disorders and has simultaneously held a number of academic posts alongside Professorial roles in four universities. These include Dean of Faculty, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor.

An ex-submariner, Mike was co -founder of the College for Military Veterans and Emergency Services, (Cmves), and remains active in supporting veterans and families into, and within, civilian life.

In the last fifteen years his research interests and publications have been in the areas of Leadership, Good Governance, and Collaborative working, focusing on the principles of kindness, fairness and equity within organisations and their impact on output, engagement and organisational wellbeing. He has also written extensively in the fields of Mental Health and currently holds two Visiting Professor roles, (in Organisational Leadership, and Mental Health respectively).

In 2018 Mike was recognised as one of the top 50 Global Kindness Leaders by Lloyds, was awarded the North of England Higher Education Leader of the Year, (2018), and as Vice-Chancellor led his university to win the Times Higher Education International University of the Year, (2018), Community University of the Year, (2018), and Innovative University of the Year( 2017 and 2018).

Recent Publications
Thomas, M. & Haskins, G. (2022), In Search of Fairness in Leadership. Chapter 3 in Witzel, M. (Ed), Post-Pandemic Leadership - Exploring Solutions to a Crisis, (pp 22 - 37). Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon.

Thomas, M. Haskins, G. & Johri,L. (2018), Kindness in Leadership. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon

Thomas, M & Steen, M, (2016), Mental Health Across the Lifespan. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon.

Professor George Lodorfos, Senator

Professor George Lodorfos is Dean of the Leeds Business School at Leeds Beckett University.

He is an electrical and electronic engineer by first degree, holds Masters’ degrees in Automation and Control as well as in Innovation and Technology Management, and a PhD in Strategic Management of Research and Development. George joined Leeds Business School in 2002 as a Lecturer in Strategy and Innovation, progressing to Head of School, then Director of Research and to Dean in 2016. With more than 20 years’ experience of delivering excellence in teaching, research and knowledge exchange, he is deeply committed to making a positive impact on students, staff, stakeholders and communities. As a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, his Teaching and Learning experience is extensive and continues to leave a pedagogical footprint within his School and University and at both national and international level.  

His research is focused on business improvement and sustainable management, with an approach that sits at the strategic interface of marketing and management. He believes we cannot understand the complex challenges facing organisations or consumers by adopting a single disciplinary approach, and that we must therefore take a systems perspective to analyse specialisation, how functions relate to each other and also to individuals. He has tested this approach in various research settings including different types, size and sectors of organisations. His research employs a range of methodological approaches including case studies, qualitative enquiry and quantitative analysis (primarily survey-driven, using statistical analysis and structural equation modelling).

George is an active member of a range of professional associations and business networks and has extensive experience as both a member and chair of various school, university and external boards and committees. He is also a company director and has undertaken wide-ranging research and knowledge exchange programmes to champion and support Small Business Development and Growth.

Research Interests

George’s research interests are in the broad thematic areas of Innovation, Enterprise and Change, Consumer Behaviour and Organisational Resilience.

Research themes include:

• Organisational changes in the form of mergers, acquisitions, demergers and divestments and    the effect that they have on organisations' performance.
• The management of research and development in technology intensive industries.
• The factors that enable SMEs' sustainable development (including resilience).
• The factors that affect consumer behaviour in different settings.

The focus of his research and knowledge exchange studies, and therefore the impact of his work is on how to accelerate sustainable and inclusive business growth for enterprises.

Sample publications include:

Amoo N, Lodorfos G, Mahtab N. Over Half a Century of Strategic Planning Performance Research – What Have We Been Missing International Journal of Organizational Analysis 03 Jan 2022 (Journal article)

Essien E, Kostopoulos I, Konstantopoulou A, Lodorfos G. Do ethical work climates influence supplier selection decisions in public organizations? The moderating roles of party politics and personal values. International Journal of Public Sector Management 32(6):653-670 02 Aug 2019 (Journal article)

Kostopoulos I, Lodorfos G. Conceptualizing and Measuring Perceived Service Complexity Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 27(1):38-54 29 Jan 2019 (Journal article)

Boateng A, Du M, Bi XG, Lodorfos G. Cultural distance and value creation of cross-border M&A: The moderating role of acquirer characteristics International Review of Financial Analysis 63:285-295 27 Dec 2018 (Journal article)