Meet the team
We're a team of over 20 staff and freelancers, working with nearly 400 members including UK universities, further education colleges, students' unions and organisations.
Senior management
Tina Renshaw, Chief Executive
Tina has 30 years experience in education and training from across the UK and Australia, with leadership experience as a charity CEO and senior public servant across awarding bodies, state government departments, technical and further education, local education authorities and the not-for-profit sector. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and an alumna of Henley and Macquarie Business Schools.
Email: chiefexec@ukcisa.org.uk
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Heather Knight, Head of Policy and Projects
Heather Knight leads the organisation's policy, advocacy and strategic projects work, as well as oversight of services supporting members and international students. She served as UKCISA's Interim Chief Executive Officer from April to July 2026.
An expert in student immigration law, policy and international student welfare, Heather has been with UKCISA since 2016 and has extensive experience of analysing legislative and policy developments, engaging with government and sector stakeholders, and supporting institutions to deliver an excellent international student experience. She is registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) to provide immigration advice.
Prior to joining UKCISA, Heather worked in higher education advising international students, their families and university staff on immigration and welfare matters. She studied at Chiang Mai University in Thailand and has worked in education in both Thailand and Japan.
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Shreena Dholakia, Head of Finance and Resources
Shreena joined UKCISA in 2024. As Head of Finance & Resources, she leads on financial planning and management, human resources and operations for the organisation, and acts as Company Secretary for UKCISA.
Shreena is an FCCA qualified accountant with nearly 20 years of finance experience, including more than a decade in the not-for-profit and charity sector.
As well as a wealth of expertise in financial management and strategic planning, Shreena brings her experience of studying as an international student in the UK.
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Yinbo Yu, Head of Engagement and Partnerships
Yinbo joined UKCISA in 2019 where he leads the non-member engagement function, including stakeholder communications, international student engagement, UKCISA’s strategic partnerships function, the award-winning #WeAreInternational campaign and its student ambassador programme.
Prior to that, Yinbo was elected as the International Students’ Officer at the National Union of Students UK (NUS) for two terms, representing around half a million international students in the UK. Yinbo was educated at Nanjing Foreign Language School in China before coming to the UK to study for a BSc in economics at the University of East Anglia and an MSc in urban economic development at University College London.
Yinbo was a joint winner of the inaugural PIEoneer Awards Emerging Leader award in 2023.
Connect with Yinbo on LinkedIn
Our team
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Advocacy, Advice and Training
- Christopher Benjamin, Advice and Training Officer
- Deepa Chadha, Policy and Advice Manager
- Leontine Gnaly, Policy Coordinator
- Kate Handforth, Advice and Training Officer
- Andrew Humphrey, Adviser (freelance)
- Kimberly Kearns, Training and Development Officer
- Yasmin Khan, Adviser (freelance)
- Ros Martin, Adviser (freelance)
- Tema Nwulu, Advice and Training Officer
- Robert Young, Advice Officer and Training Lead
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Engagement and Partnerships
- Yinbo Yu, Head of Engagement and Partnerships
- Riyad Ali, Events Assistant
- Will Burton, Events and Training Manager
- Jane McCarthy, Communications Consultant (freelance)
- Anne Salter, Communications Manager
- Carolyn Sowa, Programme Officer (Student Ambassadors)
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Finance and Resources
- Shreena Dholakia, Head of Finance and Resources
- So-Ha Au, Membership Administration Officer
- Anushka Gunawardena, Senior Finance and Resources Officer
- Davinder Najjhur, HR Administrator
- Jody O’Brien, Senior Operations Officer
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