Fola collaborates with member universities to achieve successful and beneficial outcomes across various functions. She focuses on developing core skills, standardising work practices, encouraging collaboration and the exchange of best practices, and providing support, advice, and guidance to promote continuous improvement. Additionally, she assists leaders in addressing challenges in the Higher Education sector by leveraging insights from both within and beyond the sector.
Fola’s professional experience includes serving as the Digital Change Lead at Historic Royal Palaces from 2016 to 2018, and as a Senior Consultant at EY from 2014 to 2016. Prior to that, she was the Head of Policy and Performance/Head of Business Transformation at the Borough of Bexley, and also worked at the Borough of Southwark as a Corporate Training Lead, Performance, and Project Manager. Earlier in her career, Fola was a Lecturer and Deputy Head of Department at the University of Ibadan and the University of Benin in Nigeria, where she also conducted research funded by WHO, UNDP, and the World Bank on tropical diseases.
How has Fola recently supported universities?
- UCISA: strategy development and annual strategy review including workshop facilitation, strategy development, impact statement development, critical friend and challenge
- University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education: Academic Workload Model development, evaluation, refinement and roll-out
- University of Oxford, Estates Services: developing agile ways of working to ensure a fit-for-purpose function post-pandemic
- University College London: positive future research culture review.
Outside of work, Fola likes mentoring young adults, reading, and watching quiz shows (but not taking part as she is worried about making a fool of herself!).