Executive Board
Overview
The Executive Leadership Board supports the Principal in delivering the vision, strategy, and objectives of School of Coding & AI. The Board provides leadership, coordination, and oversight across the organisation’s educational, operational, commercial, and support functions, ensuring that activities are aligned with the organisation’s mission and strategic priorities.
The Executive Leadership Board plays a key role in translating strategic goals into operational plans and ensuring that School of Coding & AI continues to deliver high-quality education, learner success, innovation, and sustainable growth.
The Board monitors developments across the education, technology, digital skills, artificial intelligence, and policy landscape to identify opportunities, challenges, and emerging trends that may impact the organisation, its learners, and its partners.
Working closely with the Board of Governors and Academic Board, the Executive Leadership Board provides leadership in implementing organisational strategy and ensuring that School of Coding & AI operates effectively, responsibly, and in accordance with its governance framework.
Responsibilities
The Executive Leadership Board:
- Supports the Principal in delivering the strategic priorities approved by the Board of Governors.
- Develops and implements operational plans to achieve organisational objectives.
- Reviews opportunities, challenges, and emerging developments across education, technology, digital skills, and artificial intelligence.
- Monitors organisational performance against agreed objectives, targets, and key performance indicators.
- Oversees the delivery, quality, and effectiveness of educational programmes and learner outcomes.
- Reviews financial performance, resource allocation, and organisational sustainability.
- Monitors strategic and operational risks and ensures appropriate mitigation measures are in place.
- Supports partnership development, innovation, and organisational growth.
- Works closely with the Academic Board to ensure high standards of teaching, learning, and educational quality.
- Provides reports, recommendations, and assurance to the Board of Governors.
- Promotes a culture of excellence, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
The Executive Leadership Board is accountable for ensuring that School of Coding & AI delivers its mission effectively while maintaining high standards of educational quality, operational performance, and organisational stewardship.
Suki Gill
Suki Gill is an experienced Higher Education leader with a strong track record of driving academic quality, regulatory compliance, and student success within the UK higher education sector. Currently serving as Principal at the School of Coding & AI, she provides strategic leadership across academic provision, ensuring alignment with Office for Students (OfS) regulatory requirements, particularly Condition B2. Her work has focused on strengthening academic support, enhancing student engagement, and embedding robust quality assurance systems to improve outcomes and institutional effectiveness.
Suki has led a range of impactful initiatives including developing an institution-wide English for Academic Purposes (EAP) strategy, targeted mathematics support for Computing and IT students, and a structured induction programme designed to improve student transition, retention, and progression. She has also established effective student voice mechanisms through course committees and module feedback systems, ensuring continuous improvement across provision.
With over twenty years of experience in education and academic leadership, Suki combines strategic oversight with a strong commitment to teaching, learning, and inclusive practice. Her background includes multiple Head of Department roles in Computer Science, where she developed high-performing teams and innovative curricula. She holds an MSc in Computing, a PGCE from the University of Surrey, and continues to champion widening participation, staff development, and high-quality educational experiences for all learners.
Harry Athwal
Harry Athwal serves as the Director of Admissions and Enrolments at the School of Coding & AI, bringing over 15 years of experience in regulatory compliance across leading global organisations. He holds a Law degree from the University of Wolverhampton and began his career in risk and compliance, consulting on large, high-pressure projects with organisations such as KPMG, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank.
In his current role, he oversees admissions operations, ensuring alignment with regulatory frameworks while maintaining high standards of compliance and operational efficiency. With a strong focus on ethical practice and quality assurance, Harry plays a key role in shaping admissions strategy, championing widening participation and upholding the organisation’s reputation as a leader in technology education.
Professor Mak Sharma
For more 35 years at Birmingham City University (BCU), Mak has provided leadership to 4 highly successful departments with annual incomes in excess of £10m. During this time Mak has combined his knowledge of electronic engineering, computer science, and business to lead the development and delivery of over £14m worth of enterprise projects, related to computer networking, IoT, data analytics, AI, logistics, optimisation, and the teaching and training of healthcare professionals.
In addition, Mak has an international reputation for his extensive work on the use of Vendor Resources and embedding these into various qualifications to support students into further study and jobs. He has continually worked to engage with 10 of the largest tech companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, SAS, Oracle etc… to provide a rich set of problem-based learning throughout computing, communications, engineering, business and health courses. These courses have been the basis of the collaborative work with the MoJ, industry and commerce. During this work, he has travelled extensively and supported many African and Asian countries, which also includes supporting research and enterprise projects.
This leadership in education has earned him his professorship, a range of invited roles and the Olympic torch bearer for the 2012 UK Olympics – Mak dedicates the honour of the torch to his Cisco colleagues who nominated him, and to his Cisco team at BCU.
Regarding research, Mak has co-edited a book and co-authored more than 25 publications, including book chapters on a range of topics such as computer science education, healthcare and dementia. Mak is currently involved in leading, organising and publishing in IEEE International Conferences and journals (IEEE, IGI and Springer). However, his main passion is in the use of technology-enhanced living to support those patients with mental health, dementia and generally old age.
In 2023, Mak was appointed Dean of Business Development at Global Banking School a private HE provider, which is a part of the Global Education Group (GEDU). Here, he supported the development of new courses, employability and partnerships. In Sept 2025 Mak was appointed the Provost (Chief Academic Officer) at the School Coding, a private HE provider, where he now leads on all academic strategy, research and enterprise and both national and international business development.
Kuljit Uppal
Kuljit Uppal is a senior finance and commercial leader with extensive experience operating in complex, regulated environments, including higher education, public sector procurement, and large-scale infrastructure contracts.
He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Law and a Master’s degree in Finance and Financial Regulations, underpinning strong expertise in governance, compliance, and financial oversight.
Kuljit has held senior roles at organisations including VINCI (PFI Education -Universities & Schools (£70m)), MITIE (Healthcare (£20m)), Department for Work and Pensions (FAS procurement £3.5b), Skanska (Healthcare £80m)), Interserve (Defence (£150m)) and ISS (Defence & Aerospace (£90m)) , where he led financial and commercial functions across portfolios exceeding £150m, with accountability for P&L performance, financial planning, risk management and commercial functions.
He brings significant expertise in managing complex contractual frameworks, including PFI and government procurements, ensuring compliance with regulatory, audit, and value-for-money requirements.
Kuljit has led major contract negotiations, financial modelling, and governance improvements, alongside managing multidisciplinary teams and resolving high-value commercial matters.
He also contributes at the board level through non-executive experience, supporting effective oversight, risk management, and organisational assurance.
Kuljit’s approach is grounded in strong governance, transparency, and delivering sustainable financial performance aligned with regulatory expectations.
