Marilyn Holness has wide experience as a London teacher and as a teacher educator. She is currently responsible for quality assurance, improvement and enhancement in the School of Education at Roehampton University, where she is the Head of Education Department designate.

She has a national profile in a number of innovative aspects of education and training. In the academic year 2006/7, extended in 2007/8, she was seconded to the Financial Services Authority as the Higher Education Specialist Advisor responsible for the HE strand of the national financial capability strategy known as the Money Doctors, helping students to take control of their finances, manage their money and develop transferable skills for life. Her track record includes the creation and management of this National Student support programme from scratch that currently impacts 70 plus universities, and around 100,000 students.

During her time at Roehampton University she has held a number of roles including the Deputy Principal of Southlands College, where she delivered effective and empathetic pastoral care for around 2,000 students, achieving a range of proactive measures and innovations to maximise the student experience, increase student satisfaction, and enhance the quality of learning for students to meet academic expectations, which contributed to the strategy to increase student retention.