London, England, United Kingdom
A transformational executive leader and internationally recognised engineer with a proven track record of strategic and operational delivery and strong governance. Significant and varied executive and non-executive board experience in higher education, charity, health and commercial sectors. Experience in dealing with risk management, financial challenges, organisational transformation, regulations, HR issues, health and safety, safeguarding, audits, cyber security, corporate and charity law, general legal issues, reputational challenges, industrial relations, geopolitics, and EDI. Currently President of Queen Mary University of London, having previously worked for the University of Manchester; the Building Research Institute; the Steel Construction Institute; Consulting Civil & Structural Engineers Clarke Nicholls and Marcel; Cameron Taylor Partners; and Lovell Construction Services, as well as over 20 organisations as non-executive or board chair. Social mobility champion with an inspiring personal story of success from apprentice draughtsman at the age of 16 to President of a leading UK Russell Group University. Author of over 140 research papers and practical design guides, and awarded nine prizes for leading research work. Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, and member of the Institution of Fire Engineers. Awarded CBE for services to Engineering in January 2020. Lead expert in reviewing the structural fire design on iconic buildings in London, including The Shard, The Pinnacle, Heron Tower and Leadenhall. Expert witness for a number of projects including the collapse of the World Trade Centre 7 Building in the USA in 2001. Provided trusted expert advice to UK Government on controversial and emotive safety issues post Grenfell (until 2024). At the UK Social Mobility Awards 2024, presented with the personal ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ for "making one of the leading universities in the country an absolute citadel for social mobility." (https://www.somo.uk/winners-2024/). Listed as one of fourteen people in the 2026 "Social Mobility Movers and Shakers List", for personal contribution to social mobility (https://socialmobilitylist.com/) Listed in the 2026 International Fire Safety Journal’s 'The Built List' as a top 20 influencer in fire safety and among the top 100 influencers in the wider built environment, for structural safety, fire engineering and higher education leadership.
Overall strategic and operational responsibility for the Russell Group University, with a history dating back to 1785, with nine campuses in London, four campuses in China, and campuses in Malta and Paris. The University has 33,000 students and over 6,000 staff represented from over 170 countries, with a turnover of c£750m. Queen Mary is one of the UK’s leading global universities, highly rated for its research and innovation, teaching and learning, and wide-ranging public engagement. Introduced a distributed leadership model; significantly strengthened the financial position (increasing cash reserves from zero to over £350m and cash generation to over c.£80m/year); increased overall income from £420m to c.£750m; secured a private placement of £160m; increased overall student applications by 74% and competitive research grant income by over 60%; and developed with staff, students and wider stakeholders a 10-year 2030 strategy. I have ensured strong governance, addressed previous poor compliance issues and have led significant organisational change resulting in over £61m cost savings, whilst continuing to improve the quality of education and research delivered across the University. The University generates £4.4bn/year for the UK economy. Through the difficult periods of the Covid-19 pandemic and the sector-wide industrial action, I continued to ensure a clear focus on the student experience, research excellence and local, national and international impact. This included improving our performance in teaching and research metrics, whilst ensuring that we remain financially sustainable for the long-term. During my tenure I have changed the culture to ensure parity of esteem between research and education and equality between academic and professional support staff (PSS), which was not present when I joined, creating a culture of inclusive support and delivery of excellence.
The University had only one Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. I was Deputy designate from April 2014, carrying out duties as the Deputy from this date, providing strategic leadership and operational management across the entire University with over 38,000 students, over 11,000 staff and a turnover of c£1bn. I provided the vision, leadership and delivery of the University’s major high profile research projects including the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials (£64m), The National Graphene Institute (£61m), Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (£60m), UK Research Partnership Investment Fund awards (£33m), Headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array (£200m), The Sir Henry Royce Institute (£283m), Dalton Cumbria Nuclear Facility (£20m), and the Nuclear Manufacturing Facility (£11m). I also had overall responsibility for internationalisation and the cultural institutions.
The University operated a leadership model where all six Vice-Presidents contributed to the strategy, delivery and key decisions on all major activities across the University covering research, teaching and learning, and social responsibility. I contributed to overall financial management, capital planning, HR, strategic relationships with industry, government, alumni, and overseas partners. I also chaired University working groups, including a review of the Medical and Human Sciences Faculty which led to a re-structure in this area. I also provided advice to new members of the Executive Team and helped in re-shaping/improving a number of discipline areas across the University. As Dean, I was responsible for the strategic leadership and operational management of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (FEPS) with an income of over £270m, over 10,000 students and over 1,900 academic and support staff. Within the first 2 years of the role, I was responsible for turning an annual operating deficit of £14.6m into a £6.9m surplus, which increased to a steady-state operating surplus of over £10m. I provided strong overall leadership, resulting in a significant step change in the quality of engineering and science within the University, which was recognised and demonstrated in key metrics both nationally and internationally. My style of leadership and management promoted collegial working across disciplines to address grand challenges and provide world-class education.
Responsible for a budget of £24.2m and line-manager for 79 academic staff, 84 support staff and 63 research staff. The School had just over 1000 UG students, 400 PGT students and 200 PGR students.
Main duties: 1) Conducting experimental and theoretical research into all aspects of structural fire design (investigating steel, concrete, timber and masonry structures). 2) Carrying out experimental and theoretical research into steel connections. 3) Writing design guides (BRE digests and SCI Publications) in structural fire design and wind loading. 4) Writing proposals for research and consultancy work. 5) Managing projects/contracts to ensure they stay within budget. 6) Management of technical staff. 7) Securing an annual income exceeding £250K. 8) Calibration of the Eurocodes dealing with the design of steel and composite structures. 9) Acting as the UK National Technical Contact (NTC) for Eurocode 4 Part 1.2. 10) Chairman of the Working Group to draft the amendment to BS5950-8 (Fire Design of Structural Steelwork). 11) Presentations to practising designers. 12) Completion of a Management CPD programme.
Main duties: 1) Writing SCI published guides for the design of steel-framed buildings in fire. 2) Manning an advisory desk, which involved answering questions from practising engineers on all aspects of steel design. 3) Presenting CPD courses run by The Institution of Structural Engineers and SCI. 4) Providing background research and comments on the structural fire parts of the Eurocodes to allow development of the UK National Application Documents. 5) Non-linear modelling of steel structures at ambient and elevated temperatures. 6) Development of fire design rules for the UK ‘slim floor systems’, marketed by Corus.
As a research assistant, I completed an EPSRC research contract which involved developing a computer program to investigate the behaviour of steel-framed buildings subjected to fire spread. The work required to fulfil this contract was completed in parallel with my Doctorate studies.