Profile

Portfolio

As the University’s Finance Director it is my primary responsibility to ensure that the Institution has the financial means to realise its plans and ambitions and that a proper account can be given of the stewardship of its resources.

In practical terms this means making sure that the University’s development strategy is based on a realistic understanding of the available resources and opportunities and that the budgeting, planning and resource management processes are aligned to support the Strategy and are also fit for purpose.

The University’s plans are ambitious and I am therefore particularly focused on how to make the best of the University’s existing resources as well as on the augmentation of those resources whether through grants, donations or affordable borrowing.

My job also requires me to maintain a watch on the University’s exposure to risk. Risk and uncertainty are inevitable aspects of the University’s commitment to continuing development; the challenge is to ensure that ambition and risk are properly balanced.

Biography in brief

I graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1987 from where I went to KPMG and undertook my training as an accountant. I worked in commercial manufacturing and service industries until 2001 when I joined the University of Birmingham as Assistant Director of Finance.  After Birmingham I went to the University of Exeter in 2005 as Director of Finance.  Over the time I worked at Exeter my role was expanded to include Grounds and Estates, Residences and Hospitality, Sport and Music and Procurement and Legal Services.

In 2012 I joined INTO University partnerships as their European Managing Director with the responsibility to lead ten university joint venture teaching centres focused on recruiting non-European Students, primarily on English and university pathway programmes.