our people

Chief Executive

Carl Gilleard

Carl Gilleard was appointed chief executive of AGR in June 1998 following nine years as the Executive Director for METRA Services Ltd, a national recruitment consultancy charged with improving the recruitment and retention of graduates into local government. He was also joint regional director of the West Midlands Employers Organisation. The earlier part of his career was spent in Education Management and Personnel Work.

He is co-author of 'If Only I'd Known' published in 2002 as a resource for young people to help them maximize the benefits of their higher education experience. More than 60,000 copies have been ordered by schools and colleges throughout the UK.

He is, or has until recently been, a member of the following:

Carl Gilleard is frequently quoted in the national and trade press, is regularly interviewed on national television and radio and has spoken at conferences in Mexico, United States, Australia, South Africa, Denmark and Hollard on graduate recruitment and development issues.

Carl co-ordinates the Education, Training and Development Task Group within AGR.

Information Services Manager

Tracy Nolan

Tracy joined AGR in October 1998 as Information Services Manager after completing a BSc in Geography, as a mature student.

She has held roles in both the public and private sector, and has extensive experience of both recruitment and publishing.

Tracy is editor of our bi-monthly magazine, Graduate Recruiter, and is also responsible for the development of the AGR website.

In addition to monitoring graduate media coverage, Tracy is responsible for AGR’s publications and research capacity.  

She also facilitates the IT Industry Sector Focus group within AGR, and assists with the development of the AGR conference and awards programme.

Membership Co-ordinator

Genevieve Cropper

Genevieve joined AGR in October 2006.

Genevieve is responsible for recruitment and retention, which includes improving communication and activity amongst AGR members.  She also works with the Membership Task Group to establish and run Sector Focus Groups and new membership services.

Genevieve graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2001 with a BA in Geography. Genevieve has since worked for a number of charities and non-profit organisations, including Victim Support and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Genevieve recently returned from living in Western Austrailia for twelve months where she worked for Australia Mutual Provident and Rio Tinto. 

Executive Assistant

Andrea Soukup

Andrea graduated from College in 1993 in South Africa. In 1999, she moved to the UK and lived in London until 2006. During her time in London, she worked as a PA in the Harvey Nichols head office and then moved on to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, where she worked as a PA for three years and spent a year in the Human Resources Department on a secondment basis.

After spending a couple of months in Australia in 2006, Andrea relocated to Warwick, where she started work for AGR. She is Carl Gilleard's Executive Assistant and is also responsible for the administration systems office as well as co-ordinating the AGR events programme.

Administration Assistant

Claire Dyer

Claire left school after completing her GCSE's. Following this she spent a year at college studying Travel and Tourism. She is now part of the AGR team supporting them in their various activities. Claire is completing a college course to attain an NVQ2 in Business Administration.