Cambridge Ahead announces new Board appointment - Dr Julia Wilson

27/05/2022

Cambridge, UK. 26 May 2022: Cambridge Ahead, the business and academic member organisation dedicated to the sustainable and inclusive growth of Cambridge and its region in the long-term, is delighted to welcome Dr Julia Wilson, Associate Director, Wellcome Sanger Institute to its Operational Board.

Julia is responsible for strategy development, and partnerships at the Wellcome Sanger Institute – building and supporting the relationships required to underpin its strategic vision via a range of activities with the scientific community, commercial entities, funders and other key stakeholders.

She is also responsible for ensuring that the Institute’s Associate Research Programme portfolio consists of high-quality, high-impact research covering the breadth of organisational interests and enhances the profile of the Institute and Faculty across the national and international scientific community.

A member of the Academy of Medical Sciences FLIER Programme, the BioIndustry Association Genomics Advisory Committee, Chair of the Open Targets Governance Board, President of the Rising Network, member of the Global Gene Corp Scientific Advisory Board and Earth BioGenome Project International Steering Committee; Julia was previously Assistant Director of Research at Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Science Programme Manager at the World Cancer Research Fund.

Commenting on her appointment, Julia said: “I am delighted to join the Board of Cambridge Ahead at an exciting time for the organisation and its members. I’m looking forward to working with the team and our wider community to collectively advocate for and support the sustainability and success of Cambridge.

“This is one of the UK’s most knowledge intensive regions and I’m excited by the challenge of making a difference for everyone in this special place.”

Julia joins: Professor Roderick Watkins (Anglia Ruskin University), Duncan McCunn (Barclays), Rob Carter (RG Carter), Dr David Cleevely (Entrepreneur), Professor Andy Neely (University of Cambridge), Kirsty Gill, (Arm), Dr Richard Anthony (Jesus College, Cambridge), Christopher Walkinshaw (Marshall of Cambridge), (Alex Plant (Honorary Vice Chair, Cambridge Ahead), Harriet Fear (Chair, Cambridge Ahead) and Jane Paterson-Todd (CEO, Cambridge Ahead).

In addition to Julia’s appointment to the Board, Cambridge Ahead is also pleased to announce two new Project Chairs to the Technology and Skills Groups. They are:

• Andy Rose, Chief System Architect and Fellow at Arm

Andy is responsible for technology strategy in Arm’s Architecture group. Having lived, studied and worked in Cambridge for 29 years, Andy is passionate about technology being used to help improve quality of life for all. To this end Andy and his team have taken the lead in creating PSA Certified. This certification scheme offers a framework for securing connected devices, from analysis through to security assessment and certification. It provides standardised resources to help resolve the growing fragmentation of IoT requirements and ensures security is no longer a barrier to product development. For Andy, the motivation in helping create PSA Certified was to enable good security practices to be adopted at scale, thereby making the connected world safer for everyone.

Commenting on his appointment as Chair of the Technology Group Andy said: “As a result of the pandemic the role of technology in our day to day lives has never been more important. It has become indispensable in the way we access jobs, training and services and in the way we communicate. This presents great opportunity but also significant risk – all too often a digital divide acts as barrier to opportunity as opposed to an enabler to support great quality of life. I am excited to Chair the Cambridge Ahead Technology Group as we work to identify opportunities to improve awareness of, and access to, technology in the local region.”

• Gareth John, Chief Executive of First Intuition

Gareth John is Chief Executive of First Intuition, the accountancy training provider which is based in Cambridge and operates in other locations across East Anglia. Gareth has been involved in professional education since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant 25 years ago and has strong relationships with the major UK accountancy awarding bodies such as ICAEW, AAT, ACCA and CIMA.  In the last few years Gareth has been heavily involved in the roll-out of the accountancy apprenticeship standards (from level 2 to 7) to the majority of his large and regular clients and is a passionate advocate of the broad benefits these robust programmes bring to learners and their employers. He is regularly involved in Apprenticeship policy discussions with ESFA, DfE, IFATE, CBI and many other key stakeholders. Gareth has also been leading the national development within First Intuition of Leadership & Management and Digital Technologies & Data Analytics training programmes aimed at qualified accountants, and therefore is intimately aware of the growing need for a wider set of lifelong career skills for finance professionals. Gareth is also an ICAEW Council member, chair of the East of England Regional Strategy Board and sits on the CBI’s East of England Regional Council.  

Gareth commented of his appointment to Chair of the Skills Group: “As I take up the role of Chair of the Cambridge Ahead Skills Group the challenges which employers are facing in labour market supply and access to key talent are as acute as I have ever seen. The work that the group does to bring together major employers in the Cambridge region with skills providers and local authorities has therefore never been more relevant or more important.

“We are focussed on how we can help to create a local skills system that is more responsive to rapidly changing market needs, improve the quality of careers education and increase the uptake and quality of local apprenticeship provision. From identifying practical local interventions to brokering collaborative partnerships to lobbying central government, the members of the Skills Group have a powerful part to play in improving employer access to the people, talent and skills they need to drive the economic success of the city and region.”

With expertise spanning academic research, technology and business, Julia, Andy and Gareth bring vast knowledge and experience which will be invaluable as Cambridge Ahead continues its work to promote sustainable economic growth and quality of life for Cambridge and the city region.

To find out more about Cambridge Ahead visit: www.cambridgeahead.co.uk