Category: Professional services

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.