Introducing our Founder

Hi, I'm Clare, founder of AssurED.

After almost two decades working in the public sector and higher education, I recently took a step that was both exciting and a little daunting - I left a role I loved to build something new.

I wanted to bring together my senior leadership experience in a successful dual-intensive UK university with the insights I’d gained as a Non-Executive Director and through my MBA.

That something became AssurED.

Why AssurED?

Through my work in governance, leadership, and strategy, I saw first-hand the increasing pressures facing UK higher education, and the growing need for institutions to explore alternative operating models as they move towards a more sustainable financial footing, while also navigating both immediate challenges and long-term opportunities.

Smaller, specialist, and emerging providers – along with Students’ Unions – face many of the same regulatory, strategic, and operational demands as larger institutions, but often with fewer resources and more limited internal capacity. They’re delivering vital, ambitious work, but accessing affordable, flexible, senior-level support at the right time can be a challenge – particularly for projects that are narrow in focus, time-sensitive, or too small in scale for traditional consultancies. And when support is available, it often comes from consultants with little direct experience of the sector, adding time, complexity, and the need for translation that institutions can ill afford.

AssurED Services

That’s why I set up AssurED, a boutique consultancy created to offer the kind of support I saw was missing: high-quality, targeted input across governance, strategy, and delivery, grounded in real sector experience.

We’re small by design, which means we can work flexibly, move quickly, and bring genuine understanding of the higher education landscape. Whether it’s stepping in during periods of change, supporting boards and senior teams, or helping institutions prepare for key regulatory or strategic milestones, AssurED provides practical, senior-level input exactly when and where it’s needed most.

If that sounds like the kind of support your organisation could benefit from, I’d love to hear from you. Let's chat.