Professional Services Trustees

Professional Services Trustee

 

• Current post-holder: Mrs Jilly Huggins (she/her)
• First appointed: 1 August 2023
• Current term of office ends: 31 July 2026

Biography

Jilly Huggins has a degree in Social Policy from the University of Bristol and an MBA from the Open University. She is currently the Head of Transactional Services in Finance, where she is driving various strategic initiatives to enhance the student experience of managing university fees and finances.

Prior to this, she led the internal side of the University’s co-sourced Internal Audit function, having previously worked in corporate governance, audit, and risk.

She was an executive board member of the Council for Higher Education Internal Audit until 2022. With a background in the Further and Vocational Education sector, Jilly is a passionate advocate for the transformative experience of education.

She has a keen interest in broadening access to higher education, having come to university herself as a mature student, and worked during her studies with the University’s Widening Participation team to engage with young people in the local community.

Jilly is also a member of the Honorary Degrees Committee.

 

Professional Services Trustee

• Current post-holder: Ms Lucy Collins (she/her)
• First appointed: 1 November 2024
• Current term of office ends: 31 July 2027

Biography

Lucy Collins has a BSc in Sociology, and an MSc in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Bristol. She is currently the Director of Student Opportunity, where she is responsible for the end-to-end of the student journey from recruitment and admissions through to careers and skills.

Lucy has always worked within education, with a focus on student recruitment, diversity and inclusion. She believes strongly in the transformative effect of higher education: she was responsible for the sector leading Bristol Scholars programme, an initiative designed attract high quality students from the city of Bristol whose potential is not reflected in their predicted A Level grades, as well as the introduction of contextual offers.

Lucy has been a school governor for over 20 years at local state secondary schools.  She served as Vice Chair on the Board of Venturers Trust, a multi-academy trust in Bristol, co-sponsored by the University and the Society of Merchant Venturers from 2020-2024 and is currently on the board of South Bristol Youth, a charity committed to tackling educational inequalities in South Bristol.