David has 17 years’ executive-level experience gained at four universities in the UK. He has been executive lead for governance, strategy, global engagement, strategic transformation, the Professional Services, and student number acquisition. David has also project managed merger negotiations between universities and has led multiple institution wide change programmes, addressing issues from academic size and shape to the effectiveness, efficiency and resilience of support services.

In addition to this, he has 16 years’ experience in Non-Executive Director roles gained with national higher education sector agencies, within the Secondary and Further Education sectors, with education related charities, and as a Governing Board member of a University.

David has held senior leadership roles across UK higher education, including Interim Pro-Vice Chancellor for Strategy at Kingston University London; Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Partnerships and University Recruitment at Leeds Beckett University; Deputy Principal, Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary at Royal Holloway, University of London; Vice-President (Administration) at the University of Surrey; Registrar at Kingston University London; and Sub-Dean and Faculty Senior Tutor at the University of Reading. He has also held non-executive roles as Trustee and Audit and Risk Chair at Jisc and UCAS, and Vice-Chair of the Corporation at West Thames College.

How has David recently supported institutions?

  • Project Leader & Chair of a Joint Executive Project Board to lead merger proposals between Royal Holloway, University of London and St George’s University of London
  • Executive lead for multiple building projects for the University of Surrey and across Royal Holloway’s Grade 1 Listed estate
  • Delegate on multiple Department for Business and Trade UK Higher Education Missions
  • Member, Advisory Panel – UUK/Guild HE Taskforce for a Review of the UK External Examining system

David’s fun facts are that he once lived and worked in Japan and he is also a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, and an Associate Fellow of The Royal Historical Society. Outside of work, David is on a mission (which he says “seems to be taking a lifetime”) to achieve fluency in French.

Connect with David on LinkedIn