The Association Committee

Jon is a native of Leeds and went to Manchester to study Textile Economics and Management in 1980, at what was then UMIST. He represented UMIST at rugby and was President of St Anselm Hall in his final year. Having graduated in 1983, he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and served 11 years in the UK, Germany and the USA, completing two operational tours during that time. In 1995 he made the step into the commercial world of media and crisis communication training, initially with a company based in Sheffield. In 2002, Jon founded his own company, Positive Impact Communications & Training, and now acts as a consultant to numerous clients and delivers training across a wide range of sectors. Beyond work, Jon is Chair of ADS, a charity that helps people deal with substance misuse and also is involved with junior football. Supporting and developing others and encouraging them to be the best versions of themselves is his passion.

Doug arrived in Slems in 1976 and lived there for all 3 years of his undergraduate career. His main reason for living in Hall at the time was his complete lack of cooking skills! He was a keen and dedicated rugby player, although not playing for the University. He did play for the Hall during their Wednesday matches and he was frequently on an early Sunday train down from Cumbria to play in the Sunday afternoon inter Hall Competition. He was the Athletic Union rep in his 2nd year in Hall. Alongside his he plugged a number of other ‘gaps’ within the Hall structure which included, passing tables at high speed through the dining room floor, building the Dexion stage for the Hall play (failed at 1st evening attempt, needed to re-visit on the 2nd evening!) as well as being in charge of lights for the Hall and waiting on at table for a variety of residential conference guests! These days he is a freelance Management Consultant, working around elements of coaching development work. He is a great believer in making use of an outdoor component in the work that he does, as that introduces a ‘level playing field’ where no one has the appropriate level of knowledge to truly tackle the task. In the last 30 years he has worked with a very diverse collection of industries including the NHS, Government departments, Banking and Insurance, Investment businesses as well as manufacturing. As well as still working, he also enjoys walking up hills, especially in the Lake District, and travelling. In recent years he has visited Nepal on number of occasions as well as Peru.

Robert went to St Anselm Hall in 2016 to study English Literature. During his time in hall, he starred in one hall play, wrote another (award winning), worked on the bar team as Head Cellarman, and became President of the Hall JCR—none of which went too terribly. Due to the limited number of contact hours as part of his studies, Robert was able to devote absurd amounts of time to other hall activities and inter-hall collaborations. After graduating, Robert moved into PR for a short time, then academic publishing. He also found space to qualify as an NCTJ-approved journalist. He is responsible for organising Aosta, the annual Alumni Association magazine, the email newsletters, and the social media accounts for the Hall.

Rob became an Anselmian in 2003 when he came up to Manchester to read Geology. When not on field trips he carried out various jobs for the JCR and represented the hall in sport whenever he could until graduating in 2006 and going off to work on oil rigs in far away sunny climates. After a year working in the North Sea in both the British and Danish Sectors (not everything goes to plan), he moved back to his native Midlands and started working for a Geotechnics Limited as a Graduate Engineer and was promptly elected onto the Association Committee. To coincide with supposed retirement from playing Rugby he handed over the reins of organising the annual Association Sports day and is now looking after Merchandise and will happily sell you various items as long as it is branded St Anselm Hall. Rob is still working at Geotechnics Limited and is now a Region Operations Manager who manages various Site Investigation and Instrumentation Projects. During this time he has been elected as a Chartered fellow of the Geological Society, served on the Midlands Geotechnical Society committee and completed an MSc in Geotechnical Engineering with Management.

Whilst in Hall, Alice was heavily engaged with JCR matters and held a variety of roles (Social Responsibility Rep, Sports Secretary, Treasurer and President in her final year). As President, she successfully lobbied the University to re-open St Anselm Hall when it was shut down in 2020. As well as maintaining general positions on the socials team and working in the Cellar Club, she completed a First Class BSc in Biology. Alice now works in Cambridge for Abcam, a biosciences company producing high quality reagents and assays for academic research and pharmaceutical companies. Alice will be maintaining the position of general member as she believes female representation on the Committee is important so the Association can provide for a diverse cohort of new residents. She brings a high level of commitment to the role, as she demonstrated throughout her time in Hall. Alice is also a competitive cyclist and continues to compete in races. In her teenage years she was even trained by Victoria Pendleton’s coach.

Bio coming soon!

Phil read History in between turning his limited artistic talents to supporting Hall socials and Bogle Rag Mags. He was lucky to have enjoyed 3 years in Slems, coming away with life-long friends and his wife Sally (ex-Langdale Hall, sister hall to Slems). On graduating he joined an insurance company working in Norwich and then Manchester before taking the Queen’s Shilling in 1983 and heading off to Sandhurst to commission as an officer in the Royal Corps of Signals. Service followed in Germany, Cyprus and UK with deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. His service finished with a tour as Defence Attaché covering several Balkan countries and then on loan service to the Bosnia Herzegovina Army. Following military service Phil worked for an arm of a military charity as a director which specialised in professional accreditation, qualification, and preparation for transition for Service Leavers. Now semi-retired, he is an expert employment witness to the Courts specialising in former service personnel claims. He still regularly plays hockey in goal for a local team in Salisbury. He and Sally have three sons with Matthew, his middle son, also a Manchester graduate and who was a 3-year Slems resident (2005-07).

Peter was previously Secretary to the Association following his graduation in 2006. He was resident in Hall for the entirety of his undergraduate studies which began in 2000 when he came up to study medicine. During that time he also completed a BSc Hons. Degree in Anatomical Sciences. He undertook numerous roles whilst resident at the Hall with the highlights being a term as JCR Secretary and 3 years as rugby captain, which included a victory in the intermural competition. He undertook most of his postgraduate medical education in the Midlands and gained Membership of the Royal College of Physicians and Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists. Peter currently works as a Consultant Haematologist at Royal Stoke University Hospital and has a particular interest in medical education, teaching both undergraduate medical students and doctors in training. Peter’s role in the Association is to represent the views of the alumni at the St Anselm Hall and Canterbury Court Advisory Committee, a meeting between senior University staff, senior JCR committee members and the Alumni Association.

Ben joined Hall as the Residential Life Officer, or Warden, in July 2016 following the completion of his PhD in History from the University of Manchester. During his three years in Hall, he worked with wonderful tutors, students, alumni, and colleagues to help deliver major renovations on the Cellar Club, Closed and Open JCR, Library, Dining Hall, and Chapel. In 2017 Slems finally welcomed female students, leading to a resurgence in the Hall’s community and delivering four consecutive female JCR presidents! He also oversaw the relaunch of the Aosta magazine, The Fallen project, a JCR website, as well as an online Hall archive. His brief stewardship of St Anselm Hall was made special by the people and their dedication to our small but mighty community. Ben now lives and works in Switzerland – a job for which says he owes St Anselm Hall a great debt of gratitude.

Bio coming soon!

Charlie read “Enjoying Slems” and fitted in a social degree in Ophthalmic Optics. He captained the rugby team (which in those days played weekly), the tennis team and table tennis team. He also led the bridge team to a memorable, albeit dubious, victory of the JCR over the SCR. In between representing Slems at every sport (quantity not quality), he fitted in being Social Secretary. Having peaked so early in life he took it easy for the next 40+ years, running optical businesses across the country and sitting on numerous professional and representative committees. Now semi-retired he still keeps poking his nose into optical affairs and remains on the board of several organisations. He is a lifelong member of his village rugby club where he watches weekly and bores the younger generations with his “the older we get the better we were” stories.

Paul Lee was JCR President 1974-1975 and read for a BA in Politics and History and Diploma in Social Work and Social Administration graduating with honours. On leaving university he worked for Tameside’s Social Services Department. Due to a chronic lack of drive, ambition and ability he stayed there building Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land until retirement in 2013. More successfully he has been married to Catherine for 41 years and has 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren. His dotage is spent babysitting, tending his allotment, playing golf and volunteering at Chatsworth House in the gardens.

David’s tenure as Chair (2019-22) involved the unprecedented challenge of steering the Association through the global COVID-19 pandemic, something he did with good humour and determination. Often the interface between the JCR and the University David was instrumental in ensuring that the hall was in a position to reopen its doors and welcome new Anselmians.

Esperanza is a biologist who, until recently, was working at the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science. She is now living in her terra materna, Argentina. Esperanza lived in St Anselm Hall for three out of four years of her Biology BSc, spending the other year at the University of Cambridge studying renal immunology. While at St Anselm Hall, she was first the Library Rep (setting up a successful Book Club), then Secretary, and in her final year became the President of the JCR. Esperanza led the Hall through its reopening, a difficult period after a year closure of the Hall (2020-21). As Wesbite Secretary she built a completely new website for the Association to introduce a more modern feel, and continues to develop digital content.

Simon is an experienced international PR expert. He is fluent in four languages and has advised national governments, global corporations and charities on their strategic communications. He project managed the Madrid 2016 Olympic bid press office, implementing media activity in Asia-Pacific and the Americas, as well as Europe. His clients include multinationals, with a current emphasis on Latin America, Russia and Europe. He is also a crisis communications consultant and writer. Simon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Chair of Governors at Christ Church School, London, and an elected member of the London Diocesan Synod.

Bio coming soon!