SSG25: Getting Better All the Time: Sharing Journeys to Excellence in IT Support

Tilly Beech has worked in IT for over 25 years in a variety of roles, and has a particular interest in digital inclusion, and empowering women.

Having worked in most teams across IT since 2016 Bex made the move into leadership in 2022 and has built a number of development programs for IT staff focusing on their empowerment and mindset (IT Busters and Level Up). Completing CMI level 5 coaching & mentoring qualification in 2022 pushed Bex to pursue People focused role and was appointed Associate Operations Manager 2024. Throughout their career Bex has been using coaching to help IT staff encourage confidence, bringing creative enthusiasm to any project and now wants to share their techniques with you.

Mark Temple is Assistant Director for Service Management at the University of Glasgow, having worked there in a number of areas and roles for over 30 years. Main responsibilities include Enterprise Service Management platform and adoption, IT Service Desk(s) and IT Training.

Simon’s IT Career began in 1997 having always worked in HE. Simon started in IT Support, then Infrastructure and have since led teams as IT Support Manager and now as IT Service Desk Manager at York. Simon is passionate about supporting people from all backgrounds to succeed. In Simon’s spare time he enjoys playing the piano.

Faith is Lead IT Service Management Practitioner for University of Birmingham. As an ITIL4 strategic leader and practitioner, she brings deep expertise and a strong commitment to the ITSM community through active engagement and leadership. As a neurodiverse woman in HE and tech, she advocates for diversity and inclusion.

Casey has over 20 years’ experience in UCL's Information Services Division. She is currently Head of Service Design and Experience, helping product teams provide IT services that meet UCL's needs. Casey is passionate about collecting and utilising user feedback to improve services with measurable improvements.

Jake has worked for the University of Southampton for over fifteen years and has been leading teams both small and large for most of that time. He has a strong track record for turning team performance around and building positive and inclusive team cultures. Jake is a popular speaker at UCISA known for his highly engaging talks that always give you practical takeaways.

21 years in IT Service Management, including 14 years at PepsiCo,  Paula have held various roles such as Service Desk Analyst, Europe Service Management Lead, and Global Product Owner (ServiceNow). Currently, Paula lead the UCL Service Management team, providing processes to support effective and sustainable services for research and learning.

Martijn Adams is Xurrent’s General Manager for the European region. For 25 years Martijn has been active in the IT and Enterprise Service Management industry. He has been the lead consultant for over 100 service management implementations across the globe.

With 20+ years of maintaining and owning productivity platforms within Higher Education, Scott Everid is currently the Service Management Platform Owner at UCL. His role involves managing product roadmaps, gathering user requirements, and ensuring continuous improvement across digital service platforms that support UCL’s academic and administrative functions

Harriet is a web content developer at the University of York, leading the overhaul of IT Services web pages. She has nine years’ experience in higher education and specialises in user-centred design and creating digital content that is functional, clear and engaging.

Lily has led communications for IT Services at the University of York since 2022. She's passionate about translating technical information into accessible, engaging content as well as championing the department's work across the University and beyond. Previously she worked as an Account Manager at a communications agency which specialised in regeneration and placemaking.

Jack is a Microsoft-focused Solution Architect at Nasstar, specialising in designing and delivering cloud-native solutions that drive real-world impact. With deep expertise across the Microsoft ecosystem including Copilot Studio, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and AI services Jack helps organisations architect scalable, secure, and user-centric platforms. He brings a pragmatic, hands-on approach to solution design, bridging the gap between technical complexity and business value.

Owen leads the Workplace technology teams, who design develop and support the end point services which underpin teaching and research at Leicester. With nearly 20 years in the HE sector, he is keenly aware of the challenges we all face around resources and staff and is always looking for innovative ways to be more operationally efficient.