Programme Committee
Belfast 2025

Sue Harbour is the Associate Dean & Executive Director of Berkeley Career Engagement (BCE) at the University of California, Berkeley. Sue has spent over 25 years in higher education and specifically Career Services.  At UC Berkeley she has overseen the rebranding of a well established career office and created a culture of access and equity for students and a culture of growth and development for staff. 

Prior to arriving at UC Berkeley in 2018, Sue spent 12 years in Career Services at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she was the Senior Associate Director and managed the day to day operations of a team of 25 to build career development programs that were innovative, industry-driven, and responsive to both the needs of students and the marketplace. While at UNC, she led an initiative to develop a comprehensive model of professional development for the 400+ full-time staff members within Student Affairs and overhauled the new staff orientation and onboarding process and created a structured mentoring program for Student Affairs.  Sue began her career in higher education at UC Riverside where she spent 10 years in a variety of career services roles in the Career Center.

Sue has presented at numerous conferences including: NACE, SOACE, GCSS, NCACE, NCCA and NCDA. She has sat on the Executive Board of NCACE and served as the President of NCCDA during the 2012-2013 year. She has won numerous awards from NACE for innovative practices in Career Services both at UNC and most recently with UC Berkeley for Excellence in Technology for utilizing google tools to create a KPI dashboard to visualize trends in BCE programs and appointment data.

Cherise has over 18 years of experience in employability services, with expertise in change management, innovation, and partnership building. In her current role as Director of Careers and Student Enterprise at the University of East London, she provides strategic leadership to deliver a cross-institutional approach to embedding careers in the curriculum and driving meaningful industry engagement. Cherise has spearheaded a number of major transformation projects, successfully embedding an institutional ‘Graduate Employability Framework’, expanding services to the academic schools, and creating bespoke careers content for the curriculum. Under her leadership the service has won a number of high profile awards recognising the university’s ‘Careers 1st’ strategy, impactful social mobility programmes and the use of strategic partnerships to support graduate employability.

Previously, Cherise spent a decade in the ‘welfare to work’ sector, where she successfully designed and delivered employment programs for the Department for Work and Pensions. She also gained experience in high volume recruitment for organisations such as British Airways, solidifying her background in supporting employability and workforce development.

Stephen is Director of Careers & Employability at the Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. He has extensive strategic leadership experience having worked in HE careers sector for over 20 years. During that time, he has been fortunate to work with some amazing colleagues and had the privilege to lead some fantastic teams and, as such, been involved in some major innovations and developments in the careers and employability space. Areas of interest are widespread covering all aspects of our work but his current focus includes organisational culture; diversifying talent into careers work; managing change within teams and services; and measuring impact of careers work. The Careers Service at Manchester Met has recently received national and international recognition for its pioneering careers work, picking up a number of awards in 2023 including Best Student Program at the Global Careers Services Summit in London. A keen writer, speaker, and researcher of all aspects of employability, his doctoral thesis was entitled “Expectation, Interaction And Transition: A Study Of University Careers Fairs” (a subsequent article on this research was published in the NICEC Journal. In his spare time Stephen is currently writing (very slowly) a crime fiction novel and is an avid follower of Manchester City Football (Soccer) Club.

Dawn Carter is the Global Director of TA at Uber and manages the strategy and teams for our Global University Programs & Recruitment and Talent Coordination.  She was the first ever Global Head of University Recruiting & Programs at Uber in 2019 and worked to drive the strategy that would centralize and scale our programs.  Dawn has over 20 years of experience in leading global university & diversity strategies with organizations like Amazon, Intuit, NetApp, Northrop Grumman, Teradyne and Walt Disney Imagineering.  

She is an active leader in her craft and has held many leadership roles in both the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges & Employers (MPACE) and  National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).  In both organizations she held executive leadership volunteer roles and presided as President and Past President for each organization.  She is currently the Chair for NACE’s Advocacy committee. 

Dawn has also been an active leader for the last 15+ years for MESA statewide in CA and Washington.  She currently sits on the MESA Board of Directors representing Uber.

Rachael Collins has over 19 years of experience in the higher education sector, with a rich and diverse background in employability-related roles. Presently serving as the Deputy Director of Careers & Employability at the Manchester Metropolitan University, Rachael brings a strategic approach to achieving institutional priorities, with a particular emphasis on business engagement, enterprise, digital & marketing, and strategic projects.

Rachael plays a key role in raising the team’s external profile which this year has contributed to the Careers & Employability team winning a number of prestigious high-profile awards for their sector-leading work.

Throughout her career journey, Rachael has held various positions, including Career Advisor, Head of Placements, and, most recently, Head of Student Success. In her most recent role, she focuses on student-centric initiatives, future-proofing the employability offer, and building stakeholder partnerships. Rachael is committed to empowering students and equipping them for the ever-evolving landscape of work.

Roger Gfrörer has led the University of Zurich’s Career Services since its inception in 2008. With a PhD in Human Resource Management, Roger initially joined the university’s HR department after completing his doctoral studies. Prior to that, he spent five years as a senior assistant to the Chair of HRM at the University of Zurich. During the 1990s, while pursuing his studies, Roger gained diverse work experience, including five years at Tamedia, four years at IBM Switzerland, and two winter seasons as a ski instructor in the Swiss Alps.

 Roger has extensive knowledge of the Swiss education system. He lectures on HR and career development at various educational institutions, including universities (at the Bachelor, Master, PhD, and Post-Doc levels), schools of applied sciences, and colleges of professional education with a focus on vocational training.

A founding member of several regional Career Services Networks, Roger is also actively involved in numerous global career services organizations. As of 2024, he has taken on the additional role of Head of the Department for Study Orientation, where he oversees the entire student journey at the University of Zurich.

Akihiko Ieshima is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Career Center at Osaka University. His research areas are lifelong developmental psychology and career education. At Japanese universities, faculty members are required to carry out research, teaching, administration, and social contribution, and he performs all these tasks with great power. He founded the Career Center at Osaka University and received many awards including the 2023 EY Global Career Services Summit Awards: The Bob Athwal and Tom Devlin Founders Award for Innovation. He also undertakes work for the Japanese government and academic societies. In 2025, he will become the chairperson of the 47th conference of Japanese Society for the Study of Career Education. His research focuses on career role models, particularly the influence of media on career development. His career education classes are very popular, with more than 1,000 students taking his classes each year. He is a very curious person and tries many new things in life. During the coronavirus pandemic, he found a new hobby: attending acting school and working as an extra in movies.

Larry Jackson is Senior Associate Director for Berkeley Career Engagement at University of California Berkeley, a top 5 public research university that serves over 42,000 students. Larry has over 12 years of career services experience having worked for University of California and Northwestern University. He has been recognized for his leadership within career services having served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and being awarded the NACE Rising Star Award. He has also contributed to the professional development of career services professionals by delivering regional and national presentations at annual conferences for NACE, NASPA and Midwest ACE.

Trevor Johnston is the Head of Careers, Employability & Skills at Queens University with responsibility for strategic planning and leadership of the Service in accordance with the University Corporate plan with particular focus on enhancing the employability of Queen’s students. 

Prior to joining Queen’s Trevor held a range of private sector roles as UK Business Development Manager for National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies and Regional Manager for Northern Ireland with SummitSkills, a Sector Skills Council with responsibility for representing employers. He has previously led the development of an All-Ireland Interreg Funded Renewable Energy Installer Academy establishing regional training provision for a range of renewable energy technologies and an Ireland wide training, certification and quality inspection scheme for renewable energy installers. 

Marie Laffey is the Head of the Career Development Centre at the University of Galway, which supports 19,000 students. With a rich background encompassing both academia and industry, Marie brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role. A graduate of University of Limerick with a BSc in Computer Science in 1991 and the University of Galway with a BA in Education & Training in 2012, Marie further augmented her qualifications with a Postgraduate in Adult Guidance & Counselling from Maynooth University in 2016, followed by a MEd in Adult Guidance & Counselling in 2018. Committed to professional development, Marie pursued Level 1 ICF Coaching in 2019, completed a Postgraduate in Executive Leadership from Technological University Shannon in 2022, and completed a Postgraduate program in AI for Professionals at the University of Galway in 2024. Marie was appointed to the role of Chair of AHECS (Association of Higher Education Career Services in Ireland) in August 2024.

Prior to her tenure in the university, Marie spent over two decades of invaluable experience in the ICT sector in Ireland, assuming various senior management roles within large multi-national corporations Her industry tenure was characterised by the establishment and management of large global distributed project teams specialising in the development of web services.

Marie is passionate about AI and how it can be employed in the delivery of career services to extend the reach to students and better prepare students for the evolving world of work. Most recently, Marie has been accepted onto the University of Derby Doctorate in Education programme where her research focus will be on the impact of AI on career guidance. Marie is an active and visible advocate for D&I and was a member of the AGCAS Disability Task Group for 6 years and Student Affairs Ireland (SAI) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion sub group. Marie is also a member of the European Coimbra Employability task group in Europe with a focus on the impact of AI.

Alan is a tragic 70’s music rock lover, he enjoys playing his guitar (badly) and sings in a (non performing) band – The Geriatrics. As much as he would like, that doesn’t pay the bills. He is the Deputy Director of Student Success at Curtin University having been there for just over three years. His portfolio comprises Careers and Employability and a Social Impact Hub. Alan has over 20 years’ experience in the career development field and has been involved nationally and internationally for many years through his involvement in NAGCAS (National Association of Graduate Career Advisory Services), where he is currently National President. Alan’s extensive experience includes past roles such as Associate Director, Student Success at QUT and Careers and Employment Manager for over a decade. He serves on the Career Industry Council of Australia (CICA) executive and chairs the board of Graduate Careers Australia. This will be his third outing on the program organising committee, for the Global Career Services Summit and he is thoroughly looking forward to attending (he probably won’t bring the guitar though!!)

Maura Quinn leads Early Career, DEI and Talent Acquisition Programs at Liberty Mutual. She has dedicated her career designing and implementing innovative recruiting initiatives and executing on best in-class customer service to better attract, engage and hire talent from all backgrounds for internships and entry level positions. She began this career journey with Liberty Mutual almost 22 years ago as a new college graduate.

Maura graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management and marketing. She currently serves on the College Industry Board, the Association of Campus Recruiting Executives and formerly the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Board of Directors.

Mark is the Director of Business Engagement, Employability and Careers at Leeds Beckett University. His responsibilities include developing the institution’s strategic approach to enhance the employability of all students and graduates across the broad portfolio of subjects at Leeds Beckett; driving academic engagement with the employability agenda; ensuing that the University is integrated into (and represented) in regional and national skills policy; and establishing a data driven approach to employability education.

Mark leads the central Business Engagement Unit – which spans embedded careers education within the curriculum, graduate transition support, experiential learning, responsive employer led professional development initiatives, and employer engagement. 

Mark has extensive experience of leading careers provision which capitalises on engagement with a diverse range of stakeholders to deliver strategic impact. He has worked in the careers profession for over 21 years, 16 of which in Higher Education. He has held a range of professional function from starting as a careers practitioner, to leading employer engagement, operational management, head of service and now as part of Leeds Beckett University’s senior leadership team.  

Mark has been a proactive member of the AGCAS community in the UK, previously spending 6 years as their Director of Advocacy, and more recently as a lead trainer on the AGCAS leadership training programme. He holds a keen interest in the impact of policy on professional practice and leadership in the careers profession.