Cranfield School of Management’s International Advisory Board meets twice a year to offer informed guidance to the School on its strategic direction. The Board comprises illustrious names from the world of business, many of whom are Cranfield alumni who have gone on to become business leaders.

  • Dr Nneka Abulokwe, OBE (Executive Doctor of Business Administration - DBA, 2013) – CEO MicroMax Consulting; Non Executive Director, Davies Group; Member, Audit and Risk Committee, University of Cambridge.
  • Debra Charles (Business Growth Programme 2007) – Founder and CEO of Novacroft.
  • Andrew Darfoor (Executive Master of Business Administration 2006) – Partner & Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP.
  • Warren East CBE (Executive Master of Business Administration 1990) – Rolls Royce, Chief Executive – UK.
  • Gillian Fairfield - Former corporate finance partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, Trustee, National Trust for Scotland, FTSE NED, Director at oncology discovery and drug development company Cancer Research Horizons.
  • Cat Halstead (Executive Master of Business Administration 2016) Head of Change, Crimson Ltd. Cat is the Dean’s Alumni Chair, providing the School’s alumni representation on the Advisory Board.
  • Omobola Johnson (Doctorate in Business Administration - DBA, 2013) – Honorary Chairperson of the global Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI).  She is also a former and first Minister of Communication Technology in the cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan.
  • Professor David Oglethorpe – Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Cranfield School of Management.
  • Mayank Patel OBE (Business Growth & Development Programme 2001) – Azibo Group, Founder – UK.
  • Ann Pickering – Former CPO and Chief of Staff at Telefonica 02 UK.  On stepping down from 02 in June 2020 she was appointed a Strategic Advisor to the CEO of KPMG LLP until January 2023.  Ann coaches senior executives and is a Strategic Advisor at Livingbridge, the global mid-market private equity firm.  In 2019 she was voted the UK’s Most Influential HR Practitioner.
  • David Pitt–Watson – Independent Non-Executive, KPMG.
  • Dr Ali Qassim Jawad Al-Lawati – Senior Advisor, Diwan of Royal Court, Sultanate of Oman.
  • David Richards CBE – Motorsport UK - Chairman.
  • Simon Rowlands (Master of Business Administration 1986) – Africa Platform Capital, Founder – UK.
  • Hilary Sears (Master of Business Administration 1982) – Chair, Kings College Hospital Charity and Trustee Leonard Cheshire.
  • Linda Summers (Master of Business Administration 1990) – Global Marketing Lead Work Portfolio, Reality Labs, Meta.
  • Dominic Von Trotha Taylor (Master of Business Administration 1990) – Chief Executive, Paypoint.
  • Grenville Turner (Executive Master of Business Administration 1992) – Former Group Chief Executive and Chairman of Countrywide Plc. Now Chairman of Watkin Jones Plc, Oasis Document. Storage Ltd and FSP Ltd. Also Vice Chairman of English National Ballet.