Online Careers Panel

Our own Autumn events kick off with a virtual/online Careers Panel on Tuesday 2nd September at 6.30pm to be held via Microsoft Teams.

Our Careers Panels have proved very popular in recent years, giving Scholars an ‘access all areas’ pass to a range of role models to hear their insights and candid advice.

This event is for you whether you are:

• still at university and are wondering what the future holds
• taking your first steps on the ladder and wanting to maximise your opportunities
• looking for a career pivot

Moderator

Fay Margo (KS 1997)
Fay holds a Master’s degree in French WW1 literature, and a Bachelor’s degree in French and Italian, both from Leeds University. After living and working in Lyons, France for three years as a radio journalist and a teacher at Lyon University, she became a financial journalist, writing for publications including the Economist, the Financial Times group and the private equity trade press. Later she worked as Investor Relations Manager at pan-European private equity fund Cipio Partners. She is currently CEO of Brackendale Consulting, a private equity marketing and communications agency, which she founded in 2013. Fay has moderated the KSA Careers Panel since 2023 and is an accomplished panel moderator in her own field.

Panellists

Ollie Branston (KS 2019)
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in Experimental Psychology in 2022, Ollie deferred his graduate scheme with EY to take 16 months travelling and ticking off bucket list items including a marathon, a skydive and living and working in Zambia. EY then extended his deferral so he went to work for a start-up in the renewable energy space, Modo Energy, looking at GB Power Market data analytics. After almost a year there, he decided to jump back to the graduate scheme, and have since been at EY-Parthenon, the strategy consulting arm of EY, for almost a year, where he mainly works in energy and advising private equity.

Francesca Cumming (KS 2015)
Fran graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Materials Engineering in 2019. Her plans to go travelling for a year were interrupted by the global shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic, so she began an accountancy training contract at a mid-sized firm in London. She qualified in 2023, and moved to a larger firm, Forvis Mazars, within its Global Infrastructure Finance team. Fran’s work centres around developing financial models for clients all across the energy and infrastructure space at all stages of the project lifecycle.

Dr Will Hodder (KS 2014)
Will has a PhD in Meteorology from the University of East Anglia and an undergraduate degree in Astrophysics from the University of Manchester. He started his career as a research engineer in the nuclear energy sector, and has since developed his skills in project management, extreme statistics and climate science. He is now a lead research engineer at EDF Energy UK R&D, working on met-ocean-related topics for the renewable energy sector. Will manages a comprehensive work package for EDF R&D and EDF Power Solutions, improving energy yield assessments, hazard characterisations and operational efficiency for offshore wind developments around the world. Will enjoys the challenge of finding solutions for cutting-edge problems in the energy sector, the relationship between the Earth system and vital infrastructure.

Pippa Giles (KS 2014)
Pippa has an MA in Applied Security and Strategy and a BA in Arabic with French from the University of Exeter. At university she volunteered with several NGOs in Greece, Jordan, the UK and France supporting refugees. Pippa later joined the Cabinet Office, doing roles in Government Security, Brexit and Covid-19. She transferred to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in 2021, having been offered a role in Afghanistan. The Taliban takeover of Kabul curtailed plans and Pippa found herself working on the crisis from London, before taking up the role of Afghanistan Human Rights Desk Officer, then moving to the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Qatar. She is currently a diplomat at the British Embassy in Lebanon (having started her role a week before the Israel-Lebanon conflict escalated). She is specialising in crisis response, policy and conflict resolution in the Middle East.

David Hill (KS 1989)
In addition to a biology degree at Royal Holloway University of London, David holds an MBA and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. After embarking on his planned career, working in the water industry, teaching wildlife science at Pennsylvania State University, and leading conservation projects for a UK charity, an accidental detour into local government led to a senior executive career in the public sector. David has been a chief executive at councils and NHS providers and worked as Improvement Director with NHS Improvement. David retired early and is now developing a small portfolio of trustee roles.

To register, simply email the KSA Secretary, Neal Clifton, secretary@kitchenerscholars.org. Neal will also send the Microsoft Teams link a day or two in advance of the event. Neal will also be sending a reminder about the event during week commencing 25th August. We will be recording the Panel and uploading it onto our nascent YouTube Channel, where you can find a recording of last year’s Panel. Kitchener Scholars’ Association – YouTube