Lewis Coakley is the development officer for higher education within NUS, with responsibility for employability policy and projects including the NUS student skills award. Originating from Sunderland, Lewis went on to become Chair of the Trustee Board and President at Leeds Metropolitan University Students' Union and a Governor within the University for two years, in addition, he was a member of the Browne review of higher education funding stakeholder forum.

Within the students' union and university and acting as a governor in a Leeds primary school, Lewis' experience ranges from senior appointments to financial management and from business planning to organisational leadership. More recently whilst at NUS he has been able to focus on the problems around graduate employability and work with many stakeholders to create solutions.