Dr. Naeem Aslam

Member of CCE Board

Dr. Naeem Aslam is a practising medical doctor and healthcare entrepreneur who brings a rare combination of clinical authority, business leadership, and governance experience to the Board of Commonwealth College of Excellence. His career spans frontline patient care, healthcare management, and the strategic growth of healthcare ventures, giving him deep insight into both delivering high-quality services and building resilient, well-governed organisations.

Dr. Aslam's clinical grounding brings rigour to quality assurance, safeguarding, and risk management, directly relevant to the compliance and student outcome standards required under the Office for Students (OfS) funded Higher Education sector. His entrepreneurial experience contributes strong financial oversight, strategic planning, and growth-focused decision-making, all essential to institutional sustainability in a regulated environment.

Key Contributions to the Board

• Regulatory expertise supporting robust quality assurance and risk frameworks aligned with OfS conditions of registration
• Commercial acumen guiding financial sustainability and strategic growth
• Leadership across multidisciplinary teams, strengthening stakeholder engagement and institutional culture
• Advocacy for transparency and accountability, core to good governance and OfS public interest principles
• A strong record of mentoring professionals, supporting staff and student development

Dr. Aslam is committed to helping Commonwealth College of Excellence build a high-performing institution that meets regulatory expectations while delivering an outstanding student experience. His dual perspective as clinician and entrepreneur equips him to strengthen the College's governance, risk oversight, and long-term direction within the HE sector.

Noman Talib

Member of CCE Board

Noman Talib is an entrepreneur and experienced education professional with extensive expertise in online and digital education, educational technology, strategic development, regulatory compliance and business growth.

Over the course of his career, Noman has developed and supported a number of successful education businesses and online learning platforms, building considerable expertise in creating flexible, accessible and scalable models for digital education. His experience spans strategic development, digital learning infrastructure, learner engagement, business operations, quality improvement and technology-enabled education.

Noman brings this experience to the Commonwealth College of Excellence (CCE), where he currently serves as a Board Member and contributes to the College’s strategic development, governance and future direction.

A key area of his contribution is supporting CCE in maintaining and strengthening the standards, governance and institutional practices associated with its regulatory responsibilities, including its ongoing OfS requirements. Working alongside the Board and senior leadership team, Noman contributes his experience to discussions around regulatory compliance, quality standards, institutional performance, student experience and continuous improvement.

He also plays an important strategic role in supporting the College’s digital transformation and online education strategy, helping the College strengthen its digital learning capabilities, develop effective online delivery models and explore opportunities for sustainable growth.

His vision is to support CCE in maintaining high academic and institutional standards while embracing innovation and technology to build a sustainable future. Through his Board contribution, he supports the College in strengthening its regulatory position, expanding access to high-quality education and developing modern learning opportunities that respond to the changing needs of students and the wider higher education sector.

Dr. Abdul Matin Khan

Member of CCE Board

Matin Khan has been involved in management and leadership at a very early age. He has worked around the globe eg, in Asia, Africa, and Europe. At the age of 29, he became the General Manager of Finance and Management Accounting of one of the biggest Corporations in Pakistan namely, Ghee Corporation. Globally, he has played a vital and successful role as the head of International Development Projects funded by IFC, SDC, and DDC in Sudan and Cameroon for eight years.

Matin Khan has been involved in education for the last thirty years and is responsible for managing, teaching, assessing, and development education projects in the UK. He has worked as head of the college/ Principal for five colleges in the UK and a senior lecturer at North London University.

In recognition of qualifications and vast experience in teaching and academic management, he was appointed visiting professor of two main universities in China namely, East China University and Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics. Presently, Matin Khan is the founder and head of the CommonWealth College of Excellence (CCE) which was established in 1987. Less than a year ago, CCE was inspected by QAA for Quality and standards and was awarded an exemplary report.

The college is registered with the Office for Students (OfS) and is delivering higher education courses in London. During 2023,2024 he served as NED on the board of directors of a very large higher education institution.

Christina Dzineku

Member of CCE Board

Christina is an academic, consultant and Board Member. She is also completing a part-time doctorate, with research exploring disability, belonging and inclusion in education.

Her varied professional experience spans corporate nutrition, teaching, course leadership, academic partnerships, equality, diversity and inclusion, wellbeing and compliance. Christina also contributes to Times Higher Education, writing on equity, inclusion and social justice.

Across her work, she is passionate about creating environments where people feel included, supported and able to thrive.

Dr Mark Jones

Member of CCE Board

Dr Mark Jones is an independent consultant working in higher education and related sectors who works at the intersection of technology, pedagogy and commercial strategy. An experienced senior leader with a passion for troubleshooting, driving change and building high performing teams, he has delivered operations and transformation projects in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Prior roles include five years as Chief Operating Officer of the Higher Education Academy (now part of Advance HE), four years as Director of Curio Group's EMEA operation and seven years as Founder-Director of educator CPD platform OneHE. Today, he supports start-ups, scale-ups and turnarounds as a consultant, interim and non-executive director. He is based in York, United Kingdom.

Dr. Namita Shete

Member of CCE Board

Dr. Namita Shete is a higher education and sustainability professional with experience in leadership, course development, quality enhancement and stakeholder engagement. She has led an international MSc, with responsibility for academic quality, course performance, student outcomes and continuous improvement.

Her experience spans higher education, research, consulting, industry and the non-profit sector. She has worked with academic, professional, business, public-sector and third-sector organisations, developing partnerships and translating research, policy and complex sustainability issues into practical recommendations and programme content. Her PhD from the University of Bath focused on social responsibility, governance and impact, with a particular interest in responsible business and the relationship between organisations and their wider stakeholders.

As Chair of the Academic Committee at the Commonwealth College of Excellence, Dr. Shete brings experience in programme development, academic quality, stakeholder engagement and evidence-based decision-making. She is committed to educational excellence, inclusive education and effective governance, with a particular interest in ensuring that students receive high-quality education and meaningful opportunities for progression.

Ray Bloom

Member of CCE Board

Ray brings more than 40 years of experience in the financial services industry to the CCE Board, with a background spanning financial management, investment administration, operations, risk management and governance.

Throughout his career, Ray has held senior positions and developed a strong understanding of the importance of effective oversight, sound financial management, appropriate controls and good decision-making. He is particularly interested in ensuring that organisations have the right information and processes in place to manage risk effectively while continuing to develop and achieve their objectives.

Ray joined the CCE Board because he wanted to use his experience in a meaningful way and contribute to an organisation with an important purpose. He is keen to support the Chair, fellow Board members and the executive team wherever his experience can add value, particularly as CCE develops and grows.

Ray believes that good governance is about more than policies and controls. It is about creating the right environment for constructive challenge, accountability and informed decision-making, while ensuring that the organisation remains focused on its purpose and the people it serves.

Christopher Payne

Member of CCE Board

Christopher Payne has more than ten years' leadership experience in UK Higher Education, during which time he has developed an advanced understanding of national policy developments and their particular application to the independent context. With significant senior contacts across the sector, Chris is currently the University's AHUA representative and regularly contributes to debate with sector commentators through his active LinkedIn profile.

Chris' professional journey began in music. Trained at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University and Conservatorium of Music, Monash University, Chris worked for over a decade as a freelance musician and music teacher, before progressing into senior management roles at specialist arts institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance and Ravensbourne University.

As a University leader, Chris has overseen governance, compliance, and institutional resilience at Board level and delivered transformation at scale while preserving organisational culture and reputation. Chris has established successful working relationships with the Office for Students, the Charity Commission and other regulators, and has worked closely with Trustees and Chairs, providing assurance, risk oversight, and policy advice. As a University administrator, Chris' philosophy is that governance and management is best led by people and guided by process rather than the other way around, and that a healthy workplace culture is best fostered by means of an engagement and outcomes-driven, rather than rules-driven, approach.

Namita Mandhana

Member of CCE Board

Namita is a senior strategy and business transformation consultant, specialising in business change and growth. Over the course of her career, she has worked in change, strategy and business transformation in both private and public sector settings.

She began in a management consulting firm, where she worked on a number of global change projects in retail, finance and FMCG companies. She then spent a number of interesting years at the BBC, working on a variety of transformation and strategy development programmes with different teams and departments. She also trained in Lean methodology, and particularly how that could be applied to non-manufacturing settings.

Most recently, Namita has spent time working with government departments in the Civil Service, including DCMS, DfE and NHS Digital, as well as Cross-Governmental programmes.

She has also established an Atelier that specialises in providing logistics, travel and product experiences to clients between Europe, UK and India.