Our Experts
Louise Simpson
Louise is an expert in communications, strategy and stakeholder relations for higher education. Before becoming a consultant, she was Director of Communications at the University of Cambridge, working closely with the Vice-Chancellor, the leadership team, academics and colleges, as well as the key external audiences for 10 years.
She co-founded The Knowledge Partnership, TKP, with Dave Roberts, a specialist higher education consultancy, in 2004. She also set up and directed The World 100 Reputation Network, a membership and reputation research group for directors of reputation, communications and internationalisation at global universities. Through this she created The World 100 Reputation Tracker, which is used by many universities to benchmark their reputation performance in the UK and more widely.
She also devised the methods still used by many universities to track reputation – including the Triple test and the 1-5 point scoring of key reputational factors.As a higher education consultant, she has worked for many universities and public sector bodies, delivering insights and recommendations around stakeholder engagement, reputation and strategy. A significant part of this role has been to enhance their impact and relevance, looking at ways of differentiating their offer for global audiences and improving rankings. She has probably undertaken more reputation audits for universities than any other consultant, and was employed as director of TKP to conduct Manchester’s reputation audit from 2007 to 2021.
Louise has an MPhil in Reputation management in higher education with Manchester University Business School, and a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge (MA Cantab). She also graduated from the Goldman Sachs programme for leaders of small businesses, delivered through the Said Business School Oxford
Alan Ferns
Alan is a communications and marketing professional with a proven track record of building winning teams and creating distinctive brands. He devised the first External Stakeholder Audit whilst Director of Communications at the University of Manchester in 2004 for the new President of the merged Victoria Manchester University and UMIST under Alan Gilbert. This Audit has been repeated every two years since then and Alan is seen in the sector as one of the pioneers of reputation auditing.
As a reputation and communications consultant and former senior leader at The University of Manchester, Alan led communications during the UK’s most successful higher education merger in 2004 and built the brand that transformed the global reputation of The University of Manchester.
For the past two years, Alan has held an honorary position at The University of Manchester and has been working as a Reputation and Communications Consultant. He has conducted reputation audits and communications projects for universities in the UK and Europe as a freelancer and as an associate for The Knowledge Partnership. He has also delivered in-person and on-line training to communications professionals at universities across the world for The World 100 Reputation Network and Times Higher Education (THE).
Alan served as Executive Director and then Associate Vice-President at The University of Manchester from 2003 until 2021 with responsibility for external relations and reputation management on the senior leadership team. He worked closely with the two most recent Presidents at Manchester to develop the strategic plan. Enhancing the University’s Global Reputation is a key goal in the plan. The University improved its position in all major league global tables between 2004 and 2021, rising from 78th to 35th in the ARWU.
Alan also re-organised and transformed the team of 100+ staff involved in delivering communications, marketing and student recruitment marketing across the University (Winner of Best Team at Northern Marketing Awards and Shortlisted for “Outstanding Team” in CIPR National Excellence Awards 2016) and established a new External Relations Strategy Group (chaired by the President) which maps key stakeholders, monitor their perceptions, manages interactions and measures the University’s reputation.
Prior to Manchester, Alan worked in external relations at the Lancaster and Salford universities. He worked with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford in the early 1980’s to establish CAMPUS – the Campaign to Promote the University of Salford, which generated support and funding from business, industry and the public to ensure the university’s survival following a 44% cut in Government funding.
Alan holds a BA in Politics from the University of Lancaster and an ILM Postgraduate Level 7 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. He is a Graduate of the Common Purpose National 20/20 Programme for Senior Leaders and a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). Alan serves on the committee of the World 100 Reputation Network, which covers more than 50 of the world’s leading universities, and is a Trustee with Citizens Advice and Young People’s Wellbeing Project (#BeeWell).
Eilis O’Brien
Eilis is an expert in strategic communication, reputation building, public affairs, branding and marketing.
From 2004 to 2023, Eilis was responsible for developing the communication and marketing strategies to underpin the strategic plans for University College Dublin. A member of the University Management team, she led the external relations portfolio, rebranding the University, managing the global-first marketing campaigns, creating the pan-university communication strategy and developing a reputation strategy covering education and student experience, research and impact, and focusing on international, alumni and employer communities.
Prior to joining UCD, Eilis set up the communication and marketing function at Dublin City University, which incorporated strategic communication planning, branding, media relations, student recruitment, marketing, public affairs liaison and government relations, and alumni development.
Eilis has extensive experience in communication and marketing across the public and private sectors in Ireland. She developed and implemented the communication strategy for the Food Safety Promotion Board: one of the six all-Ireland cross-border implementation bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement. She developed the communication strategy for the Office of Tobacco Control in its pre-start-up phase. This Office was responsible for the introduction of a ban on smoking in the workplace and Ireland was the first country to implement such legislation.
She was the first Director of Communication, Education and Training for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland when it was established in response to the BSE crisis and, in 2023, was appointed to its board as a non-executive director.
She has run reputation audits for University College Dublin to help it shape its leading Irish brand strategy.
She was Public Relations Manager of Banking of Ireland for eight years, where she was responsible for the development of an integrated communication approach throughout the Group.
She was Public Relations Manager for Bord Gáis Eireann for five years during the period when Bord Gáis expanded from being a gas transmission company to a national retail operator by taking over and absorbing a number of local utility companies, including Dublin Gas. The industry also experienced a fatal explosion and considerable restructuring.
Eilis also has experience in developing communication plans and advising bodies and corporations involved in energy, building, food production, natural resources and public health. Eilis holds an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a BA in Economics and Geography from University College Dublin. She is a non-executive director of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.