The 2021 Chartered ABS Fellows announced

We are delighted to announce five new Fellows of the Chartered Association of Business Schools. Professor Jane Harrington, Paula Whitehouse, Michelle Ovens, Tim Mescon and Professor Alistair Bruce have all received the award in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Chartered ABS’s mission over the course of several years.

The Fellows were recognised at the Chartered ABS Annual Conference on 9 November 2021.

Professor Jane Harrington, University of Greenwich

Jane has served the Chartered ABS well in a number of capacities over the years and maintains a highly favourable view of the Association and its aims.  Indeed, she has helped the Association make progress in the achievement of some of those aims in her time. Jane instigated our first Learning and Teaching Conference in 2011, which has become a mainstay of the business and management educators' calendar. Her contributions to learning and teaching in the business and management education sector, in particular, have been noteworthy and she has worked well with the Chartered ABS in establishing a position as one of the pre-eminent guardians of professional business and management education in the country.

Jane served as Vice Chair of the ABS, as it was then, and was on the selection panel that appointed Anne Kiem as Chief Executive. She served as DVC at University of West England before her current role as Vice-Chancellor at Greenwich.

Jane has maintained links with the Chartered ABS, even after moving on to other roles beyond business and management, and has continued to share wisdom and experience by chairing and speaking at numerous events.

Paula Whitehouse, Aston Business School

Paula has done outstanding work for the Small Business Charter (SBC), not only within Aston Business School.

She has represented the SBC in APPG enquiries and a Select Committee briefing. She has been a trusted source of advice for the central SBC team at Chartered ABS. More recently she led on the curriculum development for the Government funded Small Business Leadership Programme (SBLP) and is doing the same for the Help to Grow: Management Course (HtG:M). She is admired by HMT and BEIS colleagues for her knowledge, experience and pragmatic approach in working with Government to produce an outstanding curriculum, with first class learning materials. She is respected by colleagues across the sector for the fair and even-handed way in which she works with all submissions and suggestions.

She has gone above and beyond to ensure the highest quality, even under very tight deadlines. The SBLP and HtG:M would not have been so effective if it wasn’t for her work. Finally, she has gone out of her way to support new schools expressing an interest in becoming SBC accredited and in delivering HtG:M.

Michelle Ovens CBE, Small Business Britain

It goes without saying that Michelle was an excellent Chairperson, and brought much enthusiasm and energy to the Small Business Charter Board. Her stature and standing in the wider business and policy community, as well as connections with BEIS, HM Treasury and other parts of Government have been a real asset to the development of the Small Business Charter.

During her time as Chair of the Small Business Charter, Michelle took the time to understand and engage with business schools. She galvanised the Board, bringing the voices of the academic and SME members onto the same page, and became an important advocate for business schools.

In championing the Small Business Charter, Michelle also helped raise the profile with a broader range of organisations than we were known to previously. Michelle left the Small Business Charter in an even stronger position than it was when she arrived, and these foundations have enabled us to pursue Help to Grow as a flagship initiative.

Tim Mescon, AACSB

Tim has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to UK business schools. During his tenure as Chief Officer, EMEA he has greatly expanded business school visibility and impact in the UK serving as spokesperson, thought leader, and advisor, bringing over 40 years of experience in business education. He passionately promotes the value of business education and the contribution of Chartered ABS and AACSB’s mutually aligned mission, connecting members and stakeholders regionally and globally to inspire continuous improvement through networking and the sharing of best practices.

Tim often promotes Chartered ABS at various conferences. He is a strong advocate of our Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE) programme, and frequently cites the Small Business Charter as a world class exemplar of impact, innovation and engagement.

Professor Alistair Bruce, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University

Alistair is a well known figure amongst the business school community, particularly amongst the research and wider leadership groups. He is a leader with a  passion for the development of the research environment which promotes inclusive and highly effective and impactful scholarship in business, management and economics and indeed social science community nationally and internationally.

He has served the community of business schools in multiple capacities, and has been a leading figure in the research development for Chartered ABS as a member and Chair of its Research Committee, leading the contributions to Chartered ABS response consultations for REF and other research challenges. Professor Bruce has recently stepped down as the Chair of Chartered ABS Research Committee. During his time as Chair, the depth and breadth of research grew rapidly amongst the business schools and he played significant role in developing a cadre of business school ADRs and Research Directors.