Meet Your Alumni Team

Olivia Blythman
Alumni Relations Manager
"I’m passionate about developing our alumni community so that former students can feel connected and involved with the Business School long after graduation”. Read More

Olivia Blythman
Alumni Relations Manager

I’m passionate about developing our alumni community so that former students can feel connected and involved with the Business School long after graduation.

I work with the Marketing, Corporate and International Relations and Central Alumni teams to develop, implement and manage an effective alumni relations strategy, focusing on developing relationships and networks, engaging and supporting alumni, alumni communications, and developing and managing an events programme.

My role involves:
- Development and management of alumni events both in the UK and Overseas, including the Business School alumni showcase lecture, breakfast seminars, graduation, international receptions, networking and development of overseas chapters.
- Development of our alumni international activity strategy.
- Management of all rankings communications
- Development of the Business School alumni strategy
- Development and management of the Business School alumni website
- Developing and managing alumni social media communications
- Currently working on a project to survey alumni for insight to help shape our future strategy

Please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me at o.blythman@leeds.ac.uk
(please note that Olivia works Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)

Anna Wellard
Alumni Relations Manager
I have worked in alumni relations since 2002 and really enjoy the people side of the role; networking with our alumni and getting news and updates from across the world. Read More

Anna Wellard
Alumni Relations Manager

I have worked in alumni relations since 2002 and really enjoy the people side of the role; networking with our alumni and getting news and updates from across the world. We currently have nearly 17,000 alumni in 108 countries across the world so it’s a truly global community.

My time is spent working on projects and strategies to bring the alumni community closer together and connect with the School for the benefit of both. I work closely with the marketing and communications team, Global Employment Team, central alumni office and programme offices. I have particular responsibility for MBA alumni.

My main responsibilities include:
- Managing alumni communications including the production and distribution of  an annual alumni magazine and regular e-newsletters
- Managing alumni contributions to the Business School’s rankings process
- Joint projects with the Global Employment Team
- Development of an MBA alumni relations plan
- Designing and implementing the School’s alumni relations strategy

You can contact me on a.wellard@lubs.leeds.ac.uk

My working days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Fridey Cordingley
External Communications Manager
I oversee alumni relations, events and PR for the Business School. We aim to showcase our excellent learning and teaching, share our research and build lasting relationships with alumni and other partners and enable you, our alumni to network with each other. Read More

Fridey Cordingley
External Communications Manager

I oversee alumni relations, events and PR for the Business School. We aim to showcase our excellent learning and teaching, share our research and build lasting relationships with alumni and other partners and enable you, our alumni to network with each other.  
We want alumni to feel they can and want to contribute to the development of current students and their university experience and are always looking for new and innovative ways to do this.

Chris Burgess
Alumni Assistant
I support the alumni relations team and the marketing department in building and sustaining a mutually beneficial rapport with our alumni, student and corporate communities. Read More

Chris Burgess
Alumni Assistant

I support the alumni relations team and the marketing department in building and sustaining a mutually beneficial rapport with our alumni, student and corporate communities. My role involves maintaining and managing our database of alumni; assisting at events; and distributing communications such as newsletters and our annual alumni magazine 'Network'.

The best ambassadors for Leeds University Business School are our alumni, and we are always happy to hear from you and find out what your current situation is – so please don’t hesitate to get in touch at alumni@lubs.leeds.ac.uk

Alison Holyoak
Events Assistant

I oversee, manage and develop events for our alumni, students and the corporate community and I love the buzz of an event when everyone has been stimulated by a great speaker and wants to share their ideas about it.

Our events programme aims to facilitate the creation of productive business relationships, encourage knowledge transfer, stimulate debate and develop a sense of community amongst all our partners and our alumni breakfast seminar series and the Leeds University Business School Alumni Lecture are great examples of how we do this.