Jonathan Black has been director of the University of Oxford Careers Service since 2008. Prior to this he held a number of senior commercial roles at Booz & Co, Harcourt Brace, and Times Mirror and was co-founder of an internet start-up successfully sold to Elsevier.

Jonathan is a Professorial Fellow and Tutor for Welfare at New College, and for six years wrote the regular ‘Dear Jonathan’ careers column in the Financial Times.

He published, “How to find the career you’ve always wanted” described by Baroness Gillian Shephard as “One of the most practical and comprehensible career guides ever produced”.

Careers Adviser Dr Mike Moss offers advice on career planning, job search strategy, and applications.

Mike coaches and lectures on innovation, creativity, sustainability, culture, and confidence.

Prior to Oxford, Mike was in Research and Product Development at Procter & Gamble in the UK, Italy and Belgium. As an inventor he holds 54 patents, is a Chartered Scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, with a side interest in music production.

Dr Chris Jeffs began his career within academic research focusing on climate change ecology, completing a DPhil (PhD) and postdoctoral research position at the University of Oxford’s former Department of Zoology.

Chris secured a career transition beyond academia to lead science communication, public engagement, and career development work at the British Ecological Society, an international charity and learned society for research staff and students. 

Chris has worked as a freelance science communicator, mentor/tutor, and project manager for clients conducting ecological surveying and public engagement work.

Following post-doctoral work at Cambridge, Dr Abby Evans taught Science in secondary schools before moving into careers work at Oxford University.

Abby leads the team of Careers Advisers at the University Careers Service.

With a particular focus on science and education, she regularly contributes to outreach activities for the University, and widening participation initiatives. She chaired a national advisory group on Teaching and Related Professions, and is a contributing author of publications on science, engineering, education and academic careers.

John is Treasurer and Finance Director of St Anne’s College, Oxford. Prior to this he had an extensive career in international banking in the UK, Asia and the US, with senior positions at Citibank, Deutsche Bank and HSBC in capital markets, syndications, structured finance, sales and client relationship management. He was also involved in graduate recruitment at these institutions. John has a keen interest in career development, is a qualified coach, and has advised start-ups at Oxford University Innovation. He is non-executive chair of Collegia Partners Limited, an Oxford based pensions business, and trustee of a number of Oxford based and educational charities including the Nuffield Oxford Hospitals Fund, the Marc Fitch Fund and the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation. He was also a local councillor in Buckinghamshire from 1995 to 2017.

Fleur Houghton started her career on John Lewis’ Graduate Retail Management Scheme then moved into retail management consultancy, gaining experience in both the operational and strategic sides of the retail sector. She later worked in global strategic insight consultancy.

Most recently, after gaining a professional qualification in Learning & Development, Fleur transitioned her career to work in Oxford where she supported University staff with personal, professional and career development via management and leadership development programmes, coaching and mentoring and career development tools.

In her current role as a Careers Advisor, Fleur works with students and alumni through 1:1 and group sessions and is part of the Creative Careers and Finance & Management Consultancy clusters.

On graduating from St Anne’s, Helen commenced a 30 year career in policing during which she worked in a wide range of uniform, detective, multi-agency partnership, and management roles. She was Head of Human Resources in the Cheshire Constabulary, gained years of experience as an assessor at the Police National Assessment Centre, and recruited staff to a very wide range of operational and professional roles in policing and across the public, criminal justice and charity sectors. After 27 years working in Merseyside and Cheshire she moved to the Metropolitan Police Service as an Assistant Commissioner, where she was responsible for local policing across London’s 32 Boroughs and over 25,000 officers and staff.

Helen retired from policing to become Principal of St Anne’s College in 2017. She is regularly invited to speak on leadership related topics and undertakes media interviews on policing issues. She is committed to supporting the development of all students and staff at St Anne’s so that they can discover and succeed in their ambitions, and live purposeful and bold lives.