Head of Directorate appointments confirmed

Appointments have been made to the remaining four Head of Directorate roles created as part of the ongoing Professional Services workstream – one strand of our work in response to the current financial challenges.

Following a competitive internal recruitment process, the following colleagues took up these new posts on 1 October 2023:

• Director of Student Experience & Education – Matt White
• Director of Research & Innovation – Karen Henderson
• Director of Planning, Governance & Legal – Julie Rowe
• Director of External Relations – Fiona Blair

These new appointees join the four Heads of Directorate already in place:

• HR – Claire Rolstone
• DTS – Stuart Brown
• Estates – Andrew Casselden
• Finance – Andrew Grice

The appointments to these posts mark the beginning of a process of transition to our new Directorate structure running through the 2023/2024 academic year.

It is important to make clear that, for the time being, colleagues across the Functions will continue to work as normal and existing reporting lines will remain unchanged. Therefore, colleagues wishing to contact Professional Services teams should continue to do so via existing routes.

In the coming weeks, UEB will confirm what proportion of the already-agreed total savings target for 2024/25 onwards will be allocated to Directorates.

The next step will be for the new Directors to work together to begin to determine how they plan to achieve this alongside supporting the delivery of critical revenue growth.

The transition process is being overseen by the Professional Services Steering Group and coordinated by a project management team over the next 12 months. It will be progressed in a coordinated way, alongside the other professional services streams of work, with colleagues kept updated at each stage.

Richard Messer, Chair of the Professional Services Steering Group, said: “On behalf of my UEB colleagues, I would like to thank all those who applied for the Director roles.