The following people have been appointed to serve on the University Council with effect from 1 August 2010:
Ruth Foreman
After graduating from the University of Oxford with a BA in Maths, Ruth established a career as a chartered accountant, advising business owners in a range of sectors. She is currently Managing Partner at Baker Tilly chartered accountants, having fulfilled a similar role at Robson Taylor prior to their merger with Baker Tilly on 1 May this year.
Her knowledge of the issues affecting businesses comes from a combination of leading roles in professional practice and secondments into industry. Through an 18-month secondment in 2001/2002, she gained considerable experience of a large project management team which delivered a pan-European start-up for a US investor in the technology sector.
Ruth already uses her expertise to support higher education in the region, as an advisor to early stage student enterprises at the University of the West of England, and to the SETSquared partnership of universities in the South West which encourages enterprise activities and the growth of new business opportunities through spin-outs.
She is currently a co-opted member of the University’s Audit Committee.
David Gould
Having gained his first degree from the University of Sussex, David joined the Ministry of Defence, Naval Weapons Department, graduating seven years later from the NATO Defence College in Rome. He was then seconded to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the UK Delegation to NATO.
Positions as Under Secretary for Supply & Organisation (Air Force) and Under Secretary for Policy in the Ministry of Defence then followed, with a secondment to the Cabinet Office in 1993 where he had responsibility for contingency planning and current operations, counter-terrorism, defence equipment, civil and military nuclear policy, export controls and the implication of more widespread public use of cryptography.
On return to the Ministry of Defence, David took up the post of Under Secretary (Fleet Support) before becoming Deputy Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency and Chief Operating Officer of Defence Equipment & Support.
David retired from the MoD in March 2008 to set up his own consultancy business. He is currently a member of the Oxford University Business Economics Programme Steering Committee.
Mark Hawkesworth
Having completed an MSc at the University of Bath, Mark’s early career was in electrical engineering working with Taylor Woodrow, Trafalgar House and BICC. He then moved into corporate finance where he worked on acquisition and disposal programmes. After spending time with Lazard Brothers and Baring Private Equity Partners, he has for the last five years been a Director and Investment Partner with Nova Capital Management, retiring in January of this year.
Mark’s work has involved close working relationships with entrepreneurs and management teams involved in SMEs in the UK, continental Europe and North America. In most cases he has sat on the board of the companies in which he completed an investment. He continues to chair a venture capital trust which invests in early stage technology based companies.
He has worked for nearly 10 years with Gordons School in Surrey and is treasurer and trustee of the Gordon Foundation which supports the school.
Roger Whorrod
Roger has both an undergraduate and masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bath. His early career was in electrical power generation, North Sea oil exploration, in the City and as a management consultant. In 1980 he became an entrepreneur and started a company manufacturing equipment for the commercial and industrial construction industry.
Thereafter he owned several other businesses, the last engaged in the manufacture of electrical equipment for the petrochemical industries world wide. All his main businesses have now been sold to major companies in America and Europe, but although now retired, Roger is still involved in the development of a small business designing, manufacturing and marketing LED lighting products used in hazardous areas.
Roger is actively involved with the University; his bursary scheme for engineering students is in its fifth year and he gives an annual lecture to third year engineering students on entrepreneurship. He and his wife give a dinner each year for students and representatives of the Faculty of Engineering.