Di Pedder has worked for Leeds University Union (LUU) for the past 24 years and has played a vital role in everything the Union has achieved during that time.

She has been a visionary – leading the way on how student’s unions represent, support and engage with students.

She has been a mentor – working closely with dozens of colleagues, helping them to develop and go onto amazing careers.

She has been compassionate – handling difficult situations over the years with kindness and a level head.

Leeds University Union would simply be a totally different place without Di, and we’d like to talk about her incredible impact over the past 24 years.

Di as a Visionary

A key attribute of Di’s has been her strategic vision. As the Member Services Manager she manages Campaigns & Democracy, the Student Advice Centre, Student Activities and the Opportunities and Community departments. In every aspect of student membership, Di has lead the way - often setting examples of best practice which countless of other Union’s have adopted.

Student Advice

As a student at Warwick in the 1980s, before the development of a professional advice service, she had been a welfare volunteer and instigator in the SU starting to invest in advice and welfare support. After graduation, she continued to pioneer advice work and joined one of the country’s very first student advice centers at Coventry Polytechnic. On 1^st May 1989, Di joined LUU as Welfare Advisor. She went on to become the Student Advice Centre Manager at LUU in 2003, transforming the department and setting a new standard for how SU’s support students at university.

Di’s commitment has meant the development of welfare provision to a ground breaking advice service which is proactive, creative and interactive. In turn, this means that students get the help they need at the right time.

In 2010 Di became the Union’s Membership Services Manager, where she remains today. In this role she has continued to lead on the development of the Student Advice Centre and has worked closely with many members of staff.

“Di has been immensely supportive, friendly and approachable. She is so passionate about her work which is very inspiring. She always looks for opportunities for her staff to develop. She puts a lot of trust in my abilities to work and let me make key decisions with her support. She lets me put my views across and equally gives her honest opinion. She has always come across as one of my friends rather than a manager which is really nice and also comforting. Di is an absolutely amazing person to work with!”

Chloe Rankin, Student Advisor (Trainee)

Community Engagement

When LUU first achieved SUEI Gold accreditation in 2006 one of the highlights of the audit was the role LUU was developing in relation to the local community. Di had worked closely on LUU’s first Community Strategy, which received recognition nationally as a ground breaking piece of policy and strategy for an SU. This work saw a drastic change in the way campus engages with the local community and has created new partnerships which have had a lasting impact on student living in Leeds. Di’s role has been crucial to building new relationships, commissioning new projects for LUU to deliver, working closely with the elected Community & Welfare Officers, and championing student engagement across the city. This has led to increased student engagement in the local area elections, volunteering and increasing numbers of local residents coming onto campus to attend events and access facilities.

A big part of Di’s work has also been to forge key links with local institutions such as the NHS, West Yorkshire Police & Leeds City Council. Through these collaborations, Di has achieved a massive amount. This year crime in student areas has reduced by 40%, largely thanks to the police working alongside the crime reduction partnership Knowledge, that Di has been an integral part of. The Union’s work with the council has also resulted in increased student engagement with local politics.

Relationships with the NHS

Di has been key to our growing engagement with important decision makers in the local NHS. This year DI has forged strong relationships with people across Leeds, and is acutely aware of how to ensure NHS commissioners consider students when allocating money in Leeds. Not only that, but Di has consistently involved the Welfare Officer in the work that she does, which has been an invaluable learning exercise for this officer.

All of this has helped increasing number of students feel that Leeds isn’t just a temporary place they live, but a place they call home for three or more years.

“Di has an amazing ability to knit together diverse and complex areas of work. She has been so supportive of me as Community Officer and challenged me and the community team to re-imagine community engagement - positioning it as something every department in LUU can be involved with. Her knowledge of Leeds has been invaluable and has allowed us to make huge progress in the last few years.”

Ben Fisher, Community Officer

Representation

Di has overseen the biggest student elections in the UK, for the third year running, with a national record of 11, 383 votes this year. She has also overseen the recruitment of a record number of course and school reps, allowing for more students than ever to improve the quality of their education.

Jobs

Another service Di has led on has been the development of our Opportunities department – and more specifically Joblink. Joblink is a service which advertises part time jobs to students whilst at university.

“Personally for me, there isn’t much that can phase Di. She is often a much needed anchor in the storm of student life! As a manager she takes the role of a critical friend. Whatever we achieve, she inspires us to do more, reach higher and push farther.”

Gail Hardwick, Joblink and Helpdesk Manager

Di as a Mentor

Di takes immense pleasure from supporting her colleagues and helping them to develop. Over the years she has worked with hundreds of staff, many of them have been lucky enough to be managed and mentored by Di. Many of these have since gone on and excelled in their fields, including Imogen Wiltshire, now the CEO of Kings College Students Union; and Ben Vuillumy, who is the current CEO of York Students’ Union.

This year, like the years before, is no exception. Di has dedicated much of her year to mentor the Union’s Welfare Officer Katie Siddall. Her experience of working in student support, has allowed her to help Katie make the most of a role that can at times be extremely a challenging. Di has also worked alongside each of the other six executive officers, each of whom respect and admire her immensely.

“As an officer, Di is an inspiration to work with. She has a huge bank of knowledge and if I ever have a problem she knows exactly how I need to go about dealing with it. I am inspired to be a strong and resilient leader because of Di, and I don’t know what I would do without her.”

Katie Siddall, LUU Welfare Officer.

“It is my absolute privilege to consider Di Pedder a colleague of the past 10 years. As Chief Executive, I can honestly say we have an amazing staff team who are talented and dedicated to our cause. Like many amazing people, Di stands out from the crowd without wanting any recognition for herself. She has impacted so many students lives in a life-changing way. She continues to impact me personally as a leader and inspire LUU to achieve greater things for our students tomorrow.”

Aidan Grills, LUU Chief Executive.