Another Scintillating Amos Ambitions Event at UCL!

Baroness Amos of Brondesbury established the Amos Bursary in 2009 to support young men from inner-city schools with family connections to Africa and the Caribbean. The Amos Bursary team has been working with UCL’s Student Funding Office since the establishment of the UCL Amos Bursary in 2014, with UCL offering up-to five awards annually to aspiring students.

There were around fifty guests that attended the illustrious event on a blistering hot summers evening with a variety of key figures imparting their business accumen to an eager young audience. We were fortunate to welcome three fantastic guest speakers in Alan Smith, Karl George, Antony Jenkins, Alan Smith and Preye Cooks. The event hosted a wide array of people from the UCL Amos scholars themselves, to year 12 students, parents, supporters of the scheme and the Amos Bursary team. UCL was ably represented by Fiona Reid (UCL School of Management), UCL’s Widening Participation team, and members of our own Student Funding Office.

Alan Smith is Global Head of Risk Strategy and Senior Executive Officer of Group Risk at HSBC. He is a member of HSBC’s Global Risk Management Board, which oversees the 18,000 member Global Risk Function, and of the Group Asset and Liability Management Committee.

Alan has worked with HSBC for 22 years in a variety of senior finance, risk and capital management roles. He sits on the Audit Committee of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Risk Studies at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. In 2015, he co-authored his first book, “Dreaming a Nation”, which won a Frank Collymore Literary Award in Barbados.

Karl George is a thought leader and nationally established consultant in governance, with over twenty years combined experience in accountancy, business, and strategic development.

Left to right: Alan Smith, Antony Jenkins, Fiona Reid, Karl George and Preye Crooks

Karl works across the private, public and third sector, in which he specializes, delivering exceptional services in governance. He was the pioneer behind the Governance Assessment Process (GAP) a leading report that contributed to the UK Corporate Governance Code. The GAP has now been delivered to over 100 organisations nationally.

Having previously authored ‘Most People Only Try, I Make Sure,’ which gives the seven key strategies for success in business. An outstanding member of his community, Karl has received many awards and accolades including being awarded an MBE in 2004.

Antony Jenkins is Founder and Executive Chairman of 10x Future Technologies Ltd, a company that is developing technology to deliver financial services that are ten times better than the status quo, and is Group Chairman of Currencies Direct, the leading UK non-bank provider of foreign exchange and international payment services. He is also a board member of Blockchain, the world’s leading software platform for digital assets.

Antony was recently appointed Chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships, a new organisation established to promote three million high quality apprenticeships by 2020 (having served as Shadow Chair since June 2016).

He was previously the Group CEO of Barclays plc for three years until July 2015. Antony holds an MA for the University of Oxford and an MBA from Cranfield.

Fiona Reid is an expert in innovation and entrepreneurship, and brings with her a wealth of experience in the social and economic dimensions of science. She developed new models of engagement for scientists, leading to multiple new ventures, networks and social enterprises being formed. She has fifteen years’ experience teaching and developing new models of education for organisations ranging from CERN to the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

If you would like to know more about the Amos Bursary, please visit: https://www.amosbursary.org.uk/.