Meet the Executive Team

Professor Carl Lygo is a barrister, a Diplock Scholar, a Blackstone scholar and a Professor of English Common Law.

He has been a member of faculty at the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University, London Guildhall University, City University London and the University of East Anglia. For his ground-breaking work in establishing BPP Law School as a leading professional law school, he was included in the UK's 'Hot 100 Lawyers' list by The Lawyer magazine.

For 20 years, he was at BPP Professional Education Group. He progressed from being a tutor to becoming the founding Vice-Chancellor of BPP University and Group Chief Executive of BPP Holdings plc. 

He inspired and led the growth of BPP's Business School, Law School, School of Health and School of Foundation & English Language Studies, and executive responsibility for universities in the Netherlands and the IUBH business school in Germany.

In 2015, Professor Lygo was voted as one of the 'Top 50 Most Influential People in UK Higher Education by Wonkhe. Professor Lygo has served as a Non-Executive Director on the UK Higher Education regulatory bodies, Office for Students (OfS) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

In 2018, he was appointed as Executive Chair of the Board of Governors at the University of Applied Sciences Europe (UE) in Germany and Chairman of Global University Systems' Public Affairs Committee. He is an Association of Colleges Global Medal winner and was honoured with the 'Outstanding Contribution by an Individual title at the Education Investor Awards 2018.

He was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive at Arden University in 2019 and is committed to extending access to Higher Education and promoting access for all in society as Arden continues to go from strength to strength.

Prof Lu is a resilient and entrepreneurial education leader with over 20 years of professional experiences in both public and private education institutions of the global higher education. 

As the Provost of Arden University, Prof Lu is highly committed to support the delivery of the University’s Vision and Mission and further consolidate the distinctive academic portfolio and expand the global footprint of Arden University by promoting access, innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. 

Prior to joining Arden University, Dr Lu served as the Provost and Global Academic Director at London School of Commerce Group (LSC) where she took strategic responsibilities  in designing, developing, and implementing the LSC Group global academic strategy to support the Group’s vision and mission by enhancing its institutional effectiveness and increasing the group’s global visibility as well as meeting the development and financial targets globally. As the Principal of LSC Malta as well as the LSC Group Provost, Dr Lu successfully led various Quality Reviews, Accreditations, and Inspections both in the UK and overseas including Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Malta. She sparked innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, diversity and flexibility in the Group’s academic culture and created transformational change in teaching, learning and the development of research-informed culture. 

Prof Lu has held several senior academic leadership posts and international development leadership roles in several UK universities including Newcastle University, Plymouth University, Northumbria University and Bournemouth University in the UK before joining LSC. 

Professor Lu’s research field lies in the inter-disciplinary research on innovation management including Triple Helix (University-Government-Industry) model innovation, entrepreneurial education, and cross-culture innovation management . In addition to the global engagement activities, as Associate Dean of Faculty of Business and Law at Bournemouth University, she also led multi-disciplinary research team to conduct research projects around innovation, establish the Research Centre funded by research councils nationally and internationally via academic collaborations. 

As part of her global engagement activities, Prof Lu  has served as the General Conference Chair of the China Association for Management of Technology (CAMOT) since 2008 and has successfully organized seven CAMOT International Conferences. She has published in many international peer-reviewed Journals and is the founding editor of the Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China, the Associated Editor of the International Journal of Innovation Studies and the Editor of the Special Issue of Tsinghua Management Review. She holds Visiting Professorships in Henan University, Beijing International Studies University, Sias International University and Tongji University in China.

Prof Lu holds BA(Hons) from Northumbria University. She holds MBA and DBA from Newcastle University in the UK. 

Steve is a highly experienced university administration professional, with a deep understanding of the Higher Education sector developed over 25 years. He has spent his entire career in Higher Education roles, spanning the full breadth of university functions including Faculty, Strategy, Planning, Student Experience, Inclusion, Registry, Quality and Standards, Governance, Compliance, Information Technology, Estates, and numerous strategic projects. He is relentless in ensuring high quality standards and cares deeply about the integrity of Higher Education.

Steve is a member of the Association of Heads of University Administration and is their spokesperson on Quality and Standards.

Steve does not seek personal accolade or award, preferring to focus entirely on the continuous improvement of Arden University on behalf of its students, staff, and shareholders.