THA Committee

President

Gillian Karran-Cumberlege (1982)

Gillian Karran-Cumberlege is a co-founder of Fidelio Partners with its remit of “Building Better Boards”. She advises Chairs internationally on Board effectiveness and composition with a clear focus on delivering value for shareholders and stakeholders. Gillian is recognised for her commitment and contribution to embedding D&I (Fidelio is accredited by the UK’s Hampton-Alexander Review) and ESG, including promoting climate change competence in the Boardroom.

Gillian is a Board and Steering Committee Member of Chapter Zero, the Directors’ Climate Forum; a Board Member of the German British Roundtable; Stipends Committee Member, Trinity Hall, Cambridge and President of the Trinity Hall Association. Previously Gillian served as an Independent Board Member of Jaguar Land Rover India and a Member of the Harvard Business School Alumni Board.

Prior to founding Fidelio Gillian held senior executive roles within some of Europe’s leading corporates; this included Global Head of Investor Relations for Volkswagen AG (2000 – 2007) where she was the most senior female executive globally. Previously Gillian had enjoyed a highly successful career in banking for example heading Group Investor Relations for UBS (1998- 2000). She started her career in Banking Supervision with the Bank of England.

Gillian has an MA in History from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, attended the Harvard General Management Programme and is a Fellow of the UK IR Society.

Secretary

Dr David Billett (1968)

David studied Chemistry as an undergraduate and postgraduate at Bristol (BSc, MSc, PhD) before matriculating at Trinity Hall in 1968 as the University’s Oliver Gatty Student. Here he pursued post-doctoral research in Biophysical Chemistry with the late Dennis Haydon (Fellow 1965-1988) for three years. Leaving Cambridge, David worked as a research and development chemist, then information officer, in the chemical industry on Teesside (ICI). After 10 years he decided to focus on secondary teaching, completed a PGCE at Durham (St John’s College), and taught chemistry at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire for 20 years. Since retiring in 2003 David has maintained some professional activity in chemistry as an examiner and moderator, writer and occasional tutor. David and his wife Sue still live in Pickering. He remains involved in the Cambridge Society of North & West Yorkshire, in administration (past Chair), organising events, including Freshers’ Events in York, and networking with our neighbouring Cambridge Societies. In Cambridge David has close links with CUDAR and was shortlisted for the Alumni Board in 2017. David remembers enjoying his time at Trinity Hall, having particular interests in music and the Chapel. He tries to attend at least two or three events each year, which helps with meeting alumni from a wide range of matriculation years. David assisted in the organisation of the College’s regional dinner at Harewood House, Yorkshire in October 2010.

Finance Officer

Roy Warden (1973)

Roy (on the right in the photograph) read history at Trinity Hall from 1973 to 1976. He worked in tax administration for 40 years in the Inland Revenue, Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs, qualifying as an accountant during his career. He left HMRC in September 2016 to pursue a range of activities.

Committee members

Emily Bosley (2012)

I am currently working in the NHS, jointly in financial governance and in the Covid-19 vaccination programme. Prior to this I worked as an auditor at KPMG, where I qualified as an accountant. I matriculated at Trinity Hall in 2012, reading Natural Sciences; my final year focussed on cell and developmental biology. While at college I participated in a range of extra-curriculars, including coxing at THBC, treasurer of the JCR, and tech for Ents. I was also involved in the college musical put on in my final year (Cabaret).

Jonathan Cornwell (1992)

Jonathan came to Trinity Hall in 1992 to read Economics having previously studied French and Spanish at UCL. He has worked in book publishing in London, Paris and Madrid, for internet companies and on government education projects in the Middle East and China. He now runs conferences and art exhibitions and is director of a conference series at Jesus College, Cambridge, which brings together government, industry and the media to discuss vital issues of the day with expert academics. He has two children and lives in Cambridge and London.

Lee Evans (2010)

My association with Trinity Hall began in 2010 when I matriculated and began three years of studying Politics, Psychology & Sociology. After three happy years at the College – including twice participating in the College’s annual telephone campaign with the Development Office – I graduated in 2013.

Since then, I briefly worked in politics before beginning a career in business. For three years I led an organisation involved in creating innovative, tech-led approaches to assessment in apprenticeships, with a special focus on the needs of the health and social care sector. In July 2021 I decided to leave that business to work on a new venture, supporting employers in developing their leaders and managers, especially those who are least likely to undergo formal training.

Outside of my professional life, I am involved in local politics – including as Chairman of a constituency association – and I am the Chair of Governors at an SEN school in the town where I grew up. I am also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

The Revd Cortland Fransella (1967)

Cortland read Modern and Mediaeval Languages (principally mediaeval French and Provençal, with Spanish) from 1967 to 1970. He rowed minimally and lived in College all three years. Cortland has loved the Hall ever since for the opportunities which it gave him and for the supportive environment which it offered then and continues to offer to all its students, not least by virtue of its small intake. After Cambridge, Cortland worked for the Diplomatic Service for 40 years and added Cantonese, Italian and a smattering of Bahasa Melayu to his languages. Drawn back into the ambit of the Hall at a 25th anniversary dinner in London, Cortland has never really left it since. Frequent visits for several years to Edinburgh, where his wife had studied, brought them back into contact with Cortland’s tutor and Director of Studies Jim Laidlaw, with whom he remains in regular touch. For the past 20 years Cortland has been a Church of England priest and was delighted a couple of years ago to be able to arrange a successful THA event at Lambeth Palace. He values the maintenance of ties between Hall alumni and alumnae not only for nostalgia but also in the hope that help can be provided for students of today and tomorrow who face harsh financial demands. Cortland’s work since 2011 with the charity IntoUniversity constantly reminds him that, whilst intellect, aptitude and academic potential may be evenly distributed amongst the population, educational opportunity is not. Cortland strongly supports the idea of the THA nurturing today’s students with bursaries or in other ways which prevent financial worries hampering their progress.

Lizzie Iron (1977)

Lizzie is forever in debt to her brother-in-law for introducing her to Trinity Hall, when she vaguely thought she would apply to Clare. Among the first in-take of undergraduate women, she joined a gentlemen’s club and left a thriving co-ed community, the essence of which was lifelong friendship. She comes back often, and walking under the crescent at the lodge gate still feels like coming home.

English and drama at Cambridge were fizzing in the late seventies: tutorials with Peter Holland often felt like intellectual vertigo as he mined the layers of Shakespeare’s language, while Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson – and Andrew Marr – were all cutting their teeth. At the time, some were more obviously destined for fame than others. A couple of terms of fair-weather coxing also gave Lizzie the unique experience of The Bumps, and she can still just about propel a punt if there’s enough champagne in the picnic hamper.

After college – and a memorable wedding ceremony in the Chapel – Lizzie was catapulted into 30 years of mobile life with the British Army, finally landing in the charity sector for her first proper job, running the Army Families Federation, which represents the interests of army families. Various roles in the Third Sector have given Lizzie insights into different government departments, and she has been lucky to be involved at critical periods in each area of work. As legal processes are modernised and reformed after legal aid was slashed in 2013, it’s a fascinating time to be working in a charity that helps people trying to represent themselves through the civil and family courts.

Cambridge and Trinity Hall were Lizzie’s foundations as an adult: she relished the sense of quality, developed a taste for history, and has valued the important thread of continuity since she first climbed the steps to the top of N staircase.

Having been a rather ineffectual year-rep for rather a long time, Lizzie will be pleased to try and contribute more actively as a member of the THA committee!

Raman Singh (2010, Land Economy)

Raman’s association with Trinity Hall began in 2010 when he came up to Cambridge to read for a BA in Land Economy. Inspired by the exceptionally warm welcome that he received as an international student, he successfully stood for election to the JCR Committee in his second year. In 2013, he transitioned to life as a graduate student in Economics (completed GDip and MPhil). He left academia in 2016 for a short stint as a Research Associate (Trade and Economy) at the Brookings Institution. Before he knew it, he was back at Cambridge to undertake a PhD in the field of ‘happiness economics’.

Nine years after he first arrived in Cambridge, he finally mustered the courage to leave academic life for a career in the Civil Service. He began his career as an economist at HM Treasury in 2019, working on international economic policy, including Brexit negotiations and the Foreign Office aid budget. In 2021, he took up a position to work on domestic economic issues (e.g., Russian sanctions, supply chain resilience). His current role at the Treasury includes work on the government’s response to the ongoing energy crisis.

Alongside his career at the Treasury, he has the privilege of returning to Trinity Hall each December as a member of the undergraduate admissions panel (to interview students for Economics and Land Economy). He also returns each year in Lent term to supervise undergraduate papers in Economics (History and Philosophy of Economics) and Land Economy (Urban Economics; The Built Environment). Maintaining this direct link to the student community at Trinity Hall brings him great pleasure.

Outside professional life, he is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He has contributed to academic journals, book chapters, newspapers etc. on a variety of subjects (e.g., economics of subjective well-being, energy economics, trade policy). On weekends, he enjoys playing golf with friends, and tries to keep-up his interest in clay pigeon shooting (in which he represented Cambridge at varsity-level).

Raman hugely values the objectives and work of the Trinity Hall Association (THA), and he is honoured to support THA in delivering these goals.