Meet the Directors
Our Board of Directors is comprised of highly experienced professionals from the insurance and education sectors. The Board is responsible for UMAL’s strategy and their experience and expertise ensures that our business operates effectively, delivers the best products and service possible and protects our Members interests at all times.
James Roberts
Chief Executive and Director
James joined UMAL as CEO (Designate) in September 2023, becoming CEO in December 2023.
James started his career at Eagle Star in 1990 (Zurich since 1997) carrying out a number of Underwriting, Distribution and Management roles across the Midlands, North West and South East.
In 2007 James became Head of Navigators and General, the specialist Pleasurecraft insurance division of Zurich, before taking on the role of Head of Region for the Southeast and most latterly at Zurich the role of UK Head of Sales and Distribution, and a member of the Retail Exec.
Having left Zurich in March 2020, James became Chief Commercial Officer and Director at ZavFit Ltd (a health tech start-up) along with establishing his own consultancy business supporting the scaling up of a number of commercial insurance brokers and Insuretechs across the UK.
James has over 30 year experience in the insurance sector.
Paul Cusition, FCCA
Chair
Paul served as CEO of UMAL from January 2018 to December 2023 when he then became Chairman.
Paul began his career as an Accountant in private practice, qualifying in 1981. He then joined Sun Alliance (now RSA) where, following a number of roles, he became a Director for their Global Risks Division, which encompassed their Major Clients and London Market Operation.
In 1999, he joined Travelers, a major US Insurance Group, where he became their Chief Underwriting Officer for their International operations, covering UK, Lloyds, Ireland and Canada. He was also a Director of their Lloyd’s Managing Agency.
In 2012 Paul was recruited to become the Active Underwriter of a Lloyd’s Syndicate which had been purchased by Private Equity Investors. Following a successful turn round of this business Paul established a Managing General Agency writing business on behalf of Munich Re which was sold in December 2017.
Paul has over 35 years of experience in a wide range of Insurance operations and has been an FCA approved person since 1998.
Mike Davies, FCCA
Non Executive Director
Most recently, Mike was the Director of Finance at Bangor University from 2009 to 2020. He qualified as an accountant in 1982 and moved into the HE sector after extensive senior level experience in the Construction, Engineering, Transport and Services sectors.
Nicola Cardenas Blanco
Director of Legal Services,
University of Birmingham
Nicola is a solicitor with over 16 years of post-qualification experience. Her background is in civil litigation and regulatory law, where she worked in private practice in national and international firms and advised a range of commercial organisations and further and higher education institutions. In 2014, Nicola made the move to practice in-house for a UK university.
She is Director of Legal Services at the University of Birmingham. Nicola has a research interest in overseas risk management in UK universities having completed a doctorate on the topic, and is also a member of the Association of University Legal Practitioners.
Martin Hay
Finance Business Partner,
Glasgow Caledonian University
Martin qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2000 before moving into corporate finance with KPMG Transaction Services and then Barclays Leveraged Finance, gaining extensive experience across all sectors, covering acquisitions and mergers, flotations and buyouts.
Following a move into Industry and Business Partnering roles in the financial and manufacturing sectors, Martin then moved into Higher Education and has 12 years combined experience with both Glasgow University and now Glasgow Caledonian University where he is the Senior Finance Business Partner.
His Higher Education experience includes responsibility for University budgeting and forecasting, Risk Management, and Insurance.
Julie Charge
Dep Chief Exec & Chief Financial Officer,
University of Salford
Julie Charge has worked at the University of Salford since 2014, originally as the Executive Director of Finance, but has most recently taken up the role of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer.
Julie oversees the professional services of the University, including Finance, Strategy, Estates, Digital IT, Student services and Marketing.
Julie qualified as an accountant in 1995, completing her Masters in Business Administration in 2009. she has over 30 years of experience working in Finance. She’s worked in a variety of Public and Private sectors including Health, Manufacturing and Higher Education.
Darren Xiberras
Chief Financial Officer,
Cardiff University
Darren Xiberras is currently Chief Financial Officer of Cardiff University and a member of the University Executive Board. He oversees all aspects of the University’s finances and financial performance.
Prior to joining Cardiff University, Darren was Chief Finance Officer at the University of South Wales.
Prior to joining the HE sector Darren held numerous roles in the private and charity sector including Group FD of a listed PLC. He trained as an accountant with South Wales Electricity PLC.
Darren currently holds the chair for the Welsh Higher Education Finance Directors’ Group (WHEFDG) and sits on the Executive Committee for the British Universities’ Finance Directors’ Group (BUFDG). He is also a board member of the National Citizen Service and chairs their audit and risk committee.
Julie Barnes
Deputy Chief Executive,
The City of Liverpool College
Julie joined The City of Liverpool College as the Deputy Chief Executive in 2016. Prior to taking up her role at The City of Liverpool College, she was the Director of Finance at Salford City College.
She has specific responsibility for overseeing the areas of Finance, HR, MIS, Estates, IT and Student Services functions of The City of Liverpool College Group. Julie qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2001 and had 10 years’ experience in auditing various different sectors including education, charities and commercial entities.
During her time within the accountancy profession, she also completed various secondments which included 2 years working as an Audit Supervisor in Philadelphia co-ordinating and overseeing audits across the US and also a period of time in the Forensic accounting department of the accounting firm investigating allegations of fraud and other financial regularities.
Meet the Team
Unequalled cover and superior knowledge, expertise and service from our team.
