Business world’s a stage for new dean

Jul 19 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

TEESSIDE University’s new business dean should be able to cope with dramas of industry after being a director at the Globe theatre in London.

Dr Jenny Naith has joined the Business School as Assistant Dean for Partnerships. In this new post she will play a leading role in developing the school’s work-based learning, particularly for postgraduates.

Jenny, originally from London, grew up in Guildford, Surrey. She is a graduate of Warwick and Middlesex Universities and her early roles include:

:: Director of London’s Bear Gardens Museum (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre)

:: Director of theatre and museum education for the former Inner London Education Authority (ILEA)

:: A management consultant specialising in professional and organisational development. Clients ranged from financial services in the Stock Exchange to strategic health authorities. She said: “My job at the Globe was fantastic. I was incredibly young to be given such an amount of authority, where I was involved in the recreation of a full-sized replica of an early 17th Century theatre for performance and educational work.

“I worked with wonderful people at ILEA and as a management consultant brought role-play techniques into the commercial sector to help develop leadership qualities.”

In 1991 Jenny moved into higher education, with the first of several roles at Middlesex University, to develop and implement work-based learning, where she initiated a partnership with Marks & Spencer. She was later awarded the first national teaching fellowship for this field.

She said: “I care passionately about work-based learning. Seeing M&S food managers who had few qualifications but extensive experience going on to achieve their masters degrees and changing their lives was particularly rewarding.”