Category: Professional services

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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Director of Strategic Planning

Anna Shierson has accepted appointment as Director of Strategic Planning with effect from 1 February 2023, for a period of three years. Anna will succeed Dr Malcolm Edwards, who is taking up a part-time role within the Division also with effect from 1 February 2023 and for a period of three years. 

Reporting to the Provost, Anna will lead the Strategic Planning division, which is responsible for supporting the academic mission of the College particularly within the context of expert knowledge of the external funding and policy environment.   

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Director of Legal and Regulatory Services 

Bridget Edminson has accepted appointment as Director of Legal and Regulatory Services, with effect from 1 September 2022.

Reporting to the College Secretary and General Counsel, in this role Bridget will lead the team which advises on all legal matters for the College including those covering commercial contracts, corporate and finance, dispute resolution, intellectual property, information technology, charity, and employment law as well as law and regulation specific to the Higher Education sector.

Bridget will join the College from the University of Sussex, where she is currently General Counsel and Director of Governance and Compliance. In this role she has established a central legal function and has assumed responsibility for a range of institutional compliance functions. She also led the university’s COVID-19 response, which received two Higher Education Business Continuity awards, and the university’s response to the UUK Guidelines on Security-related Risks in Internationalisation.

Prior to joining the University of Sussex, Bridget spent 18 years in the Government Legal Service. She worked at the UK Ministry of Defence for 14 years, most recently as Head of the General Law Team. Bridget completed her bachelor’s degree at LSE, followed by an MA at King’s College London, and her Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law; she was called to the Bar in 1997.