Governance Adviser, Beyond Governance
Can you study for a governance qualification while working full time? In my experience, yes. I completed an LLM in Corporate Governance through the accredited master’s route alongside my full-time role. I was also a first-time mum with a two-year-old, so studying had to fit around work and family life.
It was demanding, particularly when assignment deadlines and work deadlines arrived together. But connecting what I was learning with what I was doing at work made the experience meaningful. Looking back, the greater understanding and confidence I gained made it worthwhile.
When I first explored governance as a profession, the qualification seemed to come up everywhere. Job descriptions mentioned it, governance professionals talked about it and recruiters asked about it.
Two colleagues helped me understand the options. One had started the Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme before deciding that the accredited master’s route suited her better. The other had completed the Qualifying Programme. Their different experiences helped me see that I had a choice about how to study.
I chose the accredited master’s route because it suited my learning style. I preferred coursework, research and written assignments to preparing for a series of professional examinations. Gaining a master’s degree as well was an added benefit.
That was a personal choice about how I learn. If you are weighing up your options, look closely at how each course is taught and assessed, and how it would fit around your other commitments.
You can check the available university programmes through CGIUKI’s validated postgraduate courses.
Most of my studying took place in the evenings and at weekends around my full-time role. During busier periods, particularly as assignment deadlines approached, research and studying took up a significant portion of my weekends.
Studying alongside work meant making room for it within a life that was already busy. There were periods when it required sacrifices, and the amount of time I needed to give it was not always easy to balance with everything else.
If you are considering it, think about the time you can realistically commit. Look beyond the course timetable and consider where the reading, research and preparation would fit into your week.
For me, the biggest challenge was balancing work, study and family at the same time. Being a first-time mum with a two-year-old made that a particularly busy period of my life.
There were times when work deadlines and assignment deadlines seemed to arrive all at once. Those were the moments when managing everything felt most difficult. Choosing a route that suited my learning style helped, but it did not remove the commitment involved.
I would not want to make studying alongside work sound effortless. It took time and perseverance. It was achievable, but there were challenging periods along the way.
What helped me most was being able to connect my studies with my day-to-day role. During the working day, I could see governance in practice. Through my studies, I could understand the theory behind it.
The two constantly reinforced one another. That connection made the learning feel practical and relevant. I was developing a deeper understanding of work I was already involved in, which made the effort feel more meaningful.
The qualification strengthened my technical knowledge, but it also helped me understand the wider context behind what I was doing. That gave me greater confidence in my role.
Early in a career, you can find yourself learning the tasks while still trying to understand how everything fits together. Studying helped me understand why the work mattered and how it related to the broader picture of governance.
That confidence was one of the most valuable things I took from the experience. I came away with a deeper understanding of the profession and more confidence in my own work.
Honestly, I would be a bit kinder to myself.
Early on, I put a lot of pressure on myself to understand everything immediately. Looking back, I can see that both studying and building a career in governance take time. There is a lot to learn, and I did not need to expect myself to grasp it all at once.
That would be my advice to someone starting out: allow yourself time to learn. Finding something difficult at first is part of the process. I would have benefited from remembering that more often.
For me, absolutely. Would I rush to do it all over again? Probably not.
Studying alongside a full-time career and family commitments required real effort. Even so, I am glad I did it. The biggest benefit was the deeper understanding of governance and the professional confidence that came from the experience.
If you are considering a governance qualification, choose a route that works for your learning style and your circumstances. Be realistic about the commitment and give yourself time to develop. My experience showed me that studying while working can be challenging and still be worthwhile.
If you choose the Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme, Campbell’s College offers tuition for its modules. You can also explore support for the Foundation Programme and the Advanced Certificate in Corporate Governance.
Browse Campbell’s courses and tuition fees to see the options.
Tanya Asimiea is a Governance Adviser at Beyond Governance. She holds an LLB, an LLM in International Commercial Law and Dispute Resolution, and an LLM in Corporate Governance, and works with boards, committees and senior leaders across a range of sectors.
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Evon Chung is a Chartered Governance Fellow who has spent more than a decade bringing order to some of the most complex corporate structures in the world. As Manager of Global Corporate Services at Deel, she oversees the governance of around 350 entities across 125 jurisdictions, leading an international team of sixteen lawyers and governance professionals. Before Deel she held senior corporate secretarial roles at The Law Debenture Group and Eversheds Sutherland, running multi jurisdictional projects for FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 clients.
She has also sat on the other side of the exam paper. Some years ago, as a Subject Matter Expert for the Institute, she set and reviewed questions for the foundation level examination. She no longer does so, and her work with Campbell’s is purely as a tutor. The insight stays with her, and few tutors understand better what an examiner is looking for.
Evon came to governance by accident. An engineer by training, she joined a charity board of seventeen trustees, none of whom had a governance background, to help write the minutes. A few years later a law firm invited her into corporate secretarial work, and she never looked back. In a previous life she was a volunteer emergency ambulance technician, which taught her to stay calm under pressure, decide quickly on incomplete information, and know when to lead and when to hand over.
She teaches strategy as a form of storytelling. Her students arrive knowing the words and leave able to use them.
“Strategy is not about execution. It is about direction, intent, and asking the bigger questions.”
Steven Jones has spent his career making governance work where it matters most. As Deputy Director for Governance & Accountability at the Department of Health and Social Care, he leads the teams responsible for the governance of one of the UK’s largest government departments, supporting Ministers, the Departmental Board and senior leaders through periods of significant organisational change. His work spans corporate governance, board effectiveness, risk, accountability, public appointments and legal compliance, with responsibility for governance frameworks affecting millions of people.
Before joining DHSC, Steven led governance across some of government’s most complex programmes, including the UK’s border response during COVID-19, Brexit preparations at the Cabinet Office, and corporate governance for HM Revenue & Customs’ largest business group. Alongside his public service career, he founded Disability Connect Mentoring Scheme, advising organisations on disability inclusion and accessible leadership, and serves on Transport for London’s Independent Disability Advisory Group.
Steven teaches Company Law from the perspective of someone who uses it every day rather than someone who simply studies it. He believes the biggest misconception is that company law is about compliance alone. The rules matter, but the real question is why they exist, who they protect and what happens when the law reaches its limits. That is where judgement begins, and where governance professionals earn their value.
He describes governance simply: it is about who has power, how they are held to account, and what happens when they are not. Once students understand that, the legislation stops feeling like a collection of disconnected rules and starts making sense as part of a much bigger picture. His aim is for every student to leave not just knowing directors’ duties, but being able to explain them, apply them and use them confidently in practice.
Away from governance, Steven is a mentor, disability advocate and podcast host. He is also, somewhat unexpectedly, a partly qualified counsellor and the owner of a tortoise called Frank.
“People often think governance is just about board meetings. It is not. It is about who has power in an organisation, how they are held to account for using it, and what happens when they do not.”
Jamie Hunt is a barrister and a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute who has spent his career at the demanding edge of regulation, governance and risk. He is Director of Governance and Legal at the Royal Institute of British Architects, where he leads governance, legal, risk, data protection and procurement, advises the board, and serves as the organisation’s Designated Safeguarding Lead. He also advises Social Work England on complex fitness to practise matters. Before RIBA he was General Counsel at the Security Industry Authority and Head of Legal at the ACCA.
He earned his Chartered qualification through the Fast Track route and passed with distinction. He brings deep experience of risk to the module he teaches, having advised audit and risk committees and senior risk officers on operational, reputational and strategic risk across regulated organisations.
Jamie is also a natural teacher and examiner. He trains advocates for the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, lectures in advocacy at the University of Westminster, and serves as Lead Examiner for the Bar Standards Board professional ethics examination. He previously lectured in Corporate Governance and Boardroom Dynamics at Campbell’s College. Students gain an instructor who understands risk as a practitioner and knows exactly how to prepare a candidate for assessment.
John McLean is a chartered company secretary and a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute, currently Head of Governance and Company Secretary at Great Places Housing Group. He has built his career in complex regulated settings, advising chairs, boards and executives across corporate governance, risk, data protection, safeguarding and quality. Before housing he managed national programmes at NICE and led performance and compliance roles across local government.
He earned his Chartered qualification the recent and the hard way, completing the programme between 2023 and 2025 with distinctions in both Company Compliance and Administration and Boardroom Dynamics. He now tutors both at Campbell’s College.
John is a law graduate who fell for governance because, by his own admission, he is nosey. He likes to know how decisions really get made. He describes the work as less admin and more drama with a very good audit trail, full of personalities, politics with a small p, and the occasional plot twist. He teaches the human side of the boardroom as seriously as the rulebook, because he has watched perfectly compliant boards descend into chaos the moment nobody is willing to challenge anything.
There is one more thing. Out of university and in debt, John paid it down by winning more than fourteen thousand pounds across Weakest Link, Supermarket Sweep, Eggheads and The Chase. He has a gift for retaining information, much of it useless, all of it ready.
“If it is not written down properly, it did not happen. Or at least not in a way anyone can defend.”
Richard Poole is an accounting and finance specialist with more than twenty years spent teaching and marking the ICAEW, ACCA, ICAS and CIMA qualifications. As Managing Director of RJP Financial he lectures for providers worldwide, and he teaches financial reporting at Queen Mary University of London, where the PwC Flying Start programme he contributes to was named PQ Programme of the Year in 2025. He has helped write one of the most widely used taxation texts in higher education and built online courses now sold around the world.
He found financial accounting hard when he first learned it. That memory shapes how he teaches. He reassures students that there is no such thing as a silly question, and he uses plain explanations and real stories to make daunting ideas stick. He treats a set of accounts not as debits and credits, but as a story waiting to be understood.
His interest in governance came later, sharpened by hearing Erika Eliasson-Norris speak about her experience, which made him want to understand the field more deeply. Away from the classroom he is a lifelong sportsman who played semi professional football, and he draws his energy from team sport.
“Instead of seeing accounts as a series of debits and credits, think of them as a story waiting to be understood.”
Evon Chung is a Chartered Governance Fellow who has spent more than a decade bringing order to some of the most complex corporate structures in the world. As Manager of Global Corporate Services at Deel, she oversees the governance of around 350 entities across 125 jurisdictions, leading an international team of sixteen lawyers and governance professionals. Before Deel she held senior corporate secretarial roles at The Law Debenture Group and Eversheds Sutherland, running multi jurisdictional projects for FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 clients.
She has also sat on the other side of the exam paper. Some years ago, as a Subject Matter Expert for the Institute, she set and reviewed questions for the foundation level examination. She no longer does so, and her work with Campbell’s is purely as a tutor. The insight stays with her, and few tutors understand better what an examiner is looking for.
Evon came to governance by accident. An engineer by training, she joined a charity board of seventeen trustees, none of whom had a governance background, to help write the minutes. A few years later a law firm invited her into corporate secretarial work, and she never looked back. In a previous life she was a volunteer emergency ambulance technician, which taught her to stay calm under pressure, decide quickly on incomplete information, and know when to lead and when to hand over.
She teaches the Foundation Programme the way she would have wanted it taught to her — starting from first principles, building confidence early, and making sure no student feels out of their depth for long.
Marieclare Peter is a Chartered Governance Fellow who has built her career at the meeting point of governance, sustainability and financial services. She is Deputy Company Secretary of Monzo Europe, where she designs and runs governance frameworks for the board and its committees, and she advises senior leaders across banking on governance that keeps pace with a fast moving world. Her work spans board effectiveness reviews, transformation programmes and the thoughtful adoption of emerging technology, including AI.
She is twice a winner of the DMJ Governance Hot 100 as a Governance Trailblazer, and she won the ICSA Tom Morrison Essay Prize. Her MSc in Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, completed with distinction, included research into the experience of company secretaries, a role she believes is still widely misunderstood. She is also an examiner for the Institute in another subject, so she knows the standard from the other side of the exam paper as well as the front.
Marieclare arrived in governance by a well told accident. She learned early that she would not make a great lawyer, spotted a trainee company secretary role, and has stayed for nearly a decade. The film The Big Short sharpened her sense of why governance matters and how badly its absence can end.
Away from the boardroom she runs on curiosity. She once ran a cake business, plays piano and sings, is learning Spanish, cooks in a kitchen for people who are homeless, and is devoted to her two cats.
“Anything that is governed requires governance. And governance directly correlates to outcomes.”
