Category: Professional services

Deputy University Secretary and General Counsel

Bridget Edminson has been appointed to the position of Deputy University Secretary and General Counsel.

In this role, Bridget will lead the Central Secretariat, Risk Management, Safeguarding, Research Integrity, Internal Audit and Corporate Compliance functions, in addition to her ongoing leadership of the Legal and Regulatory Affairs team.  

Bridget joined Imperial in September 2022 and has established a high-quality legal and regulatory compliance team. Prior to joining Imperial, Bridget was General Counsel and Director of Governance and Compliance at the University of Sussex, and prior to that worked for 18 years in the Government Legal Service. 

Registrar and University Secretary

Following the recent appointment process, Richard Martin has accepted appointment as Registrar and University Secretary, with effect from 1 March 2024.

Richard will combine the responsibilities of University Secretary (Central Secretariat, Legal & Regulatory, Risk and Corporate Compliance) with his current role leading Academic Services.

He will report to the President as University Secretary (and also to the Chair of Council as Clerk to Council) and to the Provost as Registrar leading the Academic Services Group.

Richard began his career in Higher Education as a Graduate Management Trainee at Imperial in 2000, becoming Deputy Faculty Administrator for the Faculty of Engineering in 2003 and then moving to work at UCL and in Australia where he was responsible for establishing UCL’s first overseas campus in Adelaide as Chief Operating Officer of UCL Australia.

Richard returned to Imperial in 2011 to take up the role of Faculty Operating Officer for the Faculty of Engineering, after which he served as Director of Transformation and most recently Director of Academic Services.

Chief Information Officer

Following a full external search, Jenny Rae has accepted appointment as Chief Information Officer with effect from 26 October 2023.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, in this role Jenny will lead the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) division and be responsible for all aspects of Imperial’s Technology Strategy which will support the organisation to realise its digital ambitions.

Jenny took on the role of Acting Chief Information Officer in August 2023, and previously held the role of Director of Digital Products at Imperial since January 2022. Prior to joining Imperial, Jenny worked at Found Tech as Chief Operations Officer, leading the product, technology and business operations functions, and held several senior roles at both Vodafone and BT Group.

Acting Chief Information Officer

Jenny Rae has taken up the role of Acting Chief Information Officer for an initial period of 6 months, contingent on the appointment of the substantive post holder. 

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, in this role Jenny will lead the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) division and be responsible for all aspects of Imperial’s Technology Strategy which will support the organisation to realise its digital ambitions. 

Jenny has been Director of Digital Products at Imperial since January 2022. She previously worked at Found Tech as Chief Operations Officer, leading the product, technology and business operations functions.  Prior to this, Jenny held several senior roles at both Vodafone and BT Group. 

White City Development Director

Sarah Cary will take up the role of White City Development Director on Monday 18 September 2023.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, in this role Sarah will be responsible for the delivery of development and construction projects for Imperial’s White City Campus. The projects will comprise academic buildings, leisure and service facilities, as well as infrastructure development works to support residential accommodation, student accommodation, office space, science incubation and scale up facilities.

Sarah is currently Executive Director at Enfield Council where she leads regeneration and development across the London Borough of Enfield, including Meridian Water, a single-site neighbourhood regeneration project creating 10,000 homes and 6,000 jobs across the borough.

Prior to this, Sarah held senior roles at British Land, where she helped deliver major mixed used developments across the country before leading the company’s sustainability strategy.

Interim Dean for the Faculty of Medicine and Interim Director of the School of Public Health

Professor Deborah Ashby will take up the role of Interim Dean for the Faculty of Medicine, from 1 August, following Professor Jonathan Weber’s retirement as Dean at the end of July. Professor Weber will continue in his role as Director of our Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) until further notice. Professor Ashby has agreed to take up the role on an interim basis for 12 months, while recruitment continues for the position, and will therefore be stepping down from her role as Director of the School of Public Health.  

Professor Neil Ferguson has agreed to take on the position of Interim Director of the School of Public Health from 1 August, while recruitment takes place for Professor Ashby’s replacement.  

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Director of Strategic Programmes & Change

Karen Foster took up the role of Director of Strategic Programmes & Change on Tuesday 2 May.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, in this role Karen will provide essential leadership to programmes and projects to deliver improvements to systems and processes. Leading the Strategic Programmes & Change Team (formerly known as the Change and Operational Improvement team) and working closely with the Chair of the Operations and Infrastructure Committee and other Professional Services Leaders, she will develop and oversee the delivery of the portfolio of improvement projects that are required to ensure that our Professional Services delivers a world-class support service.
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Director of Principal Gifts 

We are pleased to welcome Andrew Paterson who has been appointed as Imperial’s Director of Principal Gifts. Reporting to the Vice-President (Advancement), Andrew will join the senior Advancement team on 27 March 2023. 

The role provides overall coordination of the Principal Gifts Programme – i.e. the pursuit of Imperial’s highest value philanthropic opportunities. Working with Advancement’s faculty-specific and central fundraising teams, the Principal Gifts Team supports all faculties, institutes and networks at Imperial to deliver transformational gifts. 

Andrew has served as the Head of Principal Gifts and Senior Associate Director of Student Support at the University of Cambridge since 2018. While at Cambridge, Andrew played a central role in designing and delivering their successful Student Support Initiative, which raised over £370 million in under four years. Prior to joining Cambridge, Andrew had a long career in private equity-related contexts and management consulting for businesses and organisations, predominantly in the energy sector. He holds an MSci in Fluid Dynamics and an MA in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from Cambridge.

Director of Risk Management

We are pleased to welcome Elaine Heyworth as Director of Risk Management with effect from 1 February 2023. In this role, Elaine is responsible for the College Risk Management Framework which supports delivery of the academic mission.

Reporting to the College Secretary and General Counsel, Elaine will lead on assurance and oversight of risk management, crisis management and business continuity. She will advise College leadership on risk management issues and embed best practice risk management principles into College operations. Elaine takes over from Paul Manning who as our Interim Director of Risk Management has been responsible for introducing many improvements and innovations during his time at Imperial.

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