Professor Wendy Thomson CBE is the Vice-Chancellor and the principal officer of the University, responsible to the Board of Trustees and for business conduct of the University.
Person
Rita Akushie
Pro Vice-Chancellor Finance and Operations
The Pro Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Operations) is responsible for Finance, ITDS, Human Resources, Residential Services and Estates & Facilities Management. She also provides strategic lead for CoSector, a leading provider of innovative digital services.
Rita is an accomplished senior finance and commercial leader. She has developed and led large finance and corporate support teams. She is a fellow of both the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales) and of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
Rita first started working in audit in 1990 as a trainee-chartered accountant. She then left public practice and spent the next 24 years of her career with social housing organisations including Gateway Housing, Newlon Group, Thames Valley Housing and Sovereign.
Immediately prior to joining the University as Chief Financial Officer, she was CFO for Cancer Research UK.
Rita has held Executive Finance Director/ CFO roles since 1999 and her experience includes corporate funding strategy and implementation, business planning and tax. She has also led on strategic matters including mergers, acquisitions, growth, diversification, and change management. In addition to finance, she has held executive responsibility for corporate services, technology, business improvement, governance, risk management and procurement.
She has held several non-executive positions, including Chair of the Audit Committee of The Beatson Institute and is currently a NED of HICL Plc, a UK-Listed Infrastructure Investment company.
