Celebrating Cardiff Met Students' Union Trustee Board During Trustee Week 2024

Trustee Week 2024 is an opportunity to celebrate the dedication and influence of the Cardiff Met Students' Union (SU) Trustee Board. The Board plays a vital role in shaping the SU’s strategic vision, ensuring financial stability, and advocating for students' interests within Cardiff Met. For Trustee Week we want to highlight the Board and the individuals on the Board, who support Cardiff Met Suto deliver an inclusive, impactful student experience.

Celebrating Cardiff Met Students' Union Trustee Board During Trustee Week 2024

Trustee Week 2024 is an opportunity to celebrate the dedication and influence of the Cardiff Met Students' Union (SU) Trustee Board. The Board plays a vital role in shaping the SU’s strategic vision, ensuring financial stability, and advocating for students' interests within Cardiff Met. For Trustee Week we want to highlight the Board and the individuals on the Board, who support Cardiff Met Suto deliver an inclusive, impactful student experience.

 

What Does the Trustee Board Do?

The Trustee Board is responsible for overseeing the SU and its activity, setting long-term objectives, and making sure the SU meets its legal and financial duties. This includes approving budgets, supporting high-impact initiatives, and ensuring that Cardiff Met SU remains accountable to its mission and members, you!

The Trustees work in close collaboration with the Student Officers and senior SU staff to make sure that the needs of the members drive the SU’s agenda. Trustees bring a range of perspectives and skills to their roles, combining student and professional experiences to steer the SU’s ongoing development.

The Board is supported by specialised and focussed subcommittees. These subcommittees focus on areas such as finance, risk, and policy, enabling the Board to delve deeper into specific challenges and opportunities that matter to students and the SU.

 

Meet Our Trustees

The SU’s Board is made up of up to four Officer Trustees (the Officers are elected to represent students each year, we currently have two Officers, the SU President and SU Vice-President Education), up to four Lay Trustees (Trustees from outside of the organisation who bring external skills and expertise to support the SU), and two Student Trustees, one from each campus (we are currently appointing these roles).

Our Board is made up of:

Dan Flaherty, SU President and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Interim Chair of Finance & Remuneration Committee

Dan is the 2024-25 Cardiff Met SU President, having joined the university in 2022 to study Business (finance) MBA. As an international student having spent a significant amount of time on both Llandaff and Cyncoed campuses, Dan has developed a comprehensive perspective on the student experience at Cardiff Met. Dan also plays for the Men’s basketball club for the past two seasons, taking part in the promotion campaign for both the BUCS Men’s 1st team into the Premier Division and the National League Men's side.

 

Rewathi Viswanatham, SU Vice-President Education

Rewathi is the SU Vice President Education for 2024/2025 having been re-elected after serving as Vice President in 2023/2024. Rewathi is an MSc International Business student, and her primary focus is ensuring that all Cardiff Met students are heard and their needs are met. In her current role as an Education Officer, she remains dedicated to building on these efforts, collaborating with student representatives, participating in key committees, and driving initiatives that enhance the student experience. She is also committed to empowering students, ensuring their time at Cardiff Met is both fulfilling and impactful.

 

Elgan Hughes- Lay Trustee, Chair of People & Culture Committee and Policy, Procedure, & Participation Committee

Elgan is the Student Engagement Manager at Cardiff University. He has over a decade of experience of working in Students’ Unions and Higher Education (HE). Elgan has held roles across the Students’ Union movement from being Elected President of Birmingham City University (BCU) to Senior Leadership Team role at De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU) as the Head of Membership Services. Elgan has also worked in HE institutions in enhancing and developing student as partnership activities and employing students within the institutions to deliver co-creative objectives.

 

Aled Lewis- Lay Trustee, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee

Aled is Head of Operations at the Cymru Football Foundation and an experienced leader with a track record of successful strategic and operational delivery having worked in a variety of roles across the sports sector most recently as Head of Grassroots at the Football Association of Wales. He played an integral role in establishing the FAW’s Sustainability Strategy, one of the first to be developed amongst FIFA’s 211 Member Associations. Currently Aled is the Head of Operations at the Cymru Football Foundation, an independent charity recently established in partnership with the Football Association of Wales to support the development of football facilities. Aled is also a Cardiff Met graduate, leaving UWIC in 2008 with a degree in Sports Development.

 

Ceri Wilcock- Lay Trustee, Chair of the Governance & Democracy Task & Finish Group

Ceri is the Deputy Director at the Open University (OU) in Wales has worked in a variety of senior management and student-facing roles across the Higher Education sector for the last twenty years. In her current role Ceri leads all aspects of the OU’s work to support the student experience across Wales. With a particular interest in fees and funding policy and how it impacts access to higher-level study, Ceri maintains an expert understanding of how learners and institutions are funded in Wales. Ceri is a passionate believer in the transformative impact of education and lifelong learning. She has held School Governor roles across the Vale of Glamorgan, worked with adults in community learning projects across Newport and worked as an undergraduate tutor in Arts & Humanities. Ceri is an English graduate of Exeter University, and also studied part-time for an Open University degree in Social Policy. She is qualified educational guidance practitioner and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

 

As we celebrate Trustee Week 2024, the SU extends its thanks to the Trustees who contribute their time, knowledge, and commitment to making a positive difference for students. If you would like to find out more about the Trustees and how your SU is run, visit the Governance pages of the SU website!