The *AD Education UK Corporate Board (the Board) is the primary governing body overseeing the activities of SAE UK and ICMP, both part of the AD Education Group. The Board is collectively responsible for determining the future direction of these institutions and fostering an environment in which their missions are achieved while safeguarding the interests of students and other key stakeholders.
Specifically, the Board’s responsibilities include approving the vision, mission, and strategic plans of the institutions; appointing the Chief Executive; determining the composition and terms of reference for each Committee in the Governance Framework; approving overall staffing and facilities plans; and setting overall financial objectives and plans, including annual operating budgets.
Importantly, the Corporate Board maintains oversight of the institutions’ quality assurance and enhancement (QAE) activities by monitoring identified academic and performance quality indicators (AQIs and PQIs). This ensures that appropriate resources are allocated to enhance the quality of the student experience and safeguard academic standards across both SAE and ICMP.
It should be noted that the Corporate Board minutes are published subject to redactions of text which the Board considers to be commercially, legally, or otherwise operationally sensitive. These minutes can be accessed through the appropriate institutional channels.
Click here to access ICMP Policies
Click here to access SAE Policies
*AD Education UK where referenced is the legal entity “ICMP Management Limited”
AD Education UK Corporate Board
The Corporate Board is chaired by an independent, external non-executive Director and composed of the following members:
Professor David Baker Chair
David has over 30 years’ experience in higher education, including as Principal and Chief Executive of the University of St Mark and St John (‘Marjon’) and as Deputy Chair of the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). He has written widely in the field of library and information science (LIS). He is also a professional musician with a first-class degree from Cambridge and a master’s qualification in music. Read more
Steffan Davies Chief Executive Officer
Steffan serves as the Chief Executive Officer for AD Education UK, a creative technology and contemporary music education provider that proudly includes the Institutes of SAE and ICMP. SAE is the world’s largest independent provider of creative media and technology education, recognised as an institution of opportunity that empowers students to build successful careers in the creative industries. ICMP is a leading institution in contemporary music education, fostering equal opportunity of talent development through innovative programmes and strong industry connections that shape the future of music professionals. Read more
Professor Tony Harris Principal
Tony is a musician, academic and educator with over 20 years’ experience in the education sector. His role at ICMP is the strategic leadership and management of the institution’s academic provision, portfolio of programmes, teaching and learning development, and the faculty team. His career history is unusual in that he’s had the privilege of working in all educational phases and sectors, from primary through to doctoral study, and he prides himself on a comprehensive understanding of music learning processes. Read more
Jenny Marzano Chief Operating Officer
Jenny has been an ACCA Fellow since 2009. Her finance career spans multiple industries, including education – working at London South Bank University and the London Business School – banking and insurance. After a long tenure at the Bank of Cyprus, Jenny took on a senior role at media access organisation Independent Media Support. She enjoys working with small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those that give back to the community. Read more
Joanne King Marketing Director
Jo is an experienced senior leader and company director. A digital marketing and technology expert with over 15 years’ experience in e-commerce and Higher Education settings, Jo also has extensive knowledge of recruitment and agent management within international markets including China, Korea, India and across Europe. As a business mentor for the last seven years she’s been supporting individuals, startups and entrepreneurs to implement fast-growth strategies across a variety of industries. Read more
Hannah Collins Finance Director
Hannah started her career in Finance at PwC, one the world’s leading accountancy firms, where she became an ACA qualified accountant. Training for her qualification in audit, she gained valuable insight into risk assessment through understanding client’s business model, overall control environment and key systems and processes. Moving into industry, Hannah paired the technical, risk-based lens with forward looking finance and business partnering. Hannah brings a depth of experience from both commercial and charitable sectors, from her career in audit practice and industry, having worked in various financial and corporate governance roles.
Paul Kirkham Director
Paul is a farmers’ son from Cheshire who graduated from Edinburgh University in 1987 with an honours degree in agriculture. He then spent 15 years building a highly successful career in a large multinational organisation, managing large companies in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Nigeria and Uzbekistan. However, he always had a passion for songwriting and decided in 2002 to take a sabbatical year enrol as a student at the then Guitar Institute to improve his musical skills and knowledge. Read more
Martin Day Senior non-executive Director
Following a career in finance of more than 20 years, Martin moved to the education sector. Initially building the international network of Henley Business School and then developing provision of banking degrees at the London Institute of Banking & Finance (formerly the Chartered Institute of Bankers) where he was Managing Director. He is also a Board member of ABE Global (an international provider of professional qualifications) and has been a committee member of national bodies regulating the banking and higher education sectors. Read more
Ann Mroz MBE Non-executive Director
Ann joined the ICMP Board in 2023, she is a highly experienced professional with strong connections in government and politics, higher education and schools. Ann was responsible for re-engineering the Times Higher Education World University Rankings as an academic tool and has a vast amount of knowledge of and connections to the UKs education system from early years to university. Read more
James Denton-Clark Non-executive Director
James is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Saathi & Saatchi, and has more than 25 years’ experience in the advertising industry and an impressive track record of leading teams to deliver award-winning campaigns.
Prior to his current role, James has spent the last 12 years at Karmarama, leading the agency through its sale to Accenture in 2016 and the subsequent integration project. Prior to his role as creative agency CEO of Accenture Song and CEO of Karmarama, James was previously chief client officer and managing director, after joining the agency in 2010 as client services director. Prior to Karmarama, he was at BMB for four and a half years after joining from DDB.
Redacted Minutes
Please note that the Corporate Board minutes are published subject to redactions of text which the Corporate Board considers to be commercially, legally or otherwise operationally sensitive. Corporate Board minutes can be found below: