Director of Corporate Relations

Dr Allyson Reed has been appointed as Director of Corporate Relations. Last week she represented Warwick on an all-party parliamentary group trade mission to Singapore and Indonesia to strengthen business ties, and she will join the University formally by the beginning of May 2013.

Allyson will contribute to Warwick’s institutional corporate engagement strategy by leading collaborative activity with business, helping academic departments to engage with industry and identifying critical corporate problems Warwick academic expertise can help to solve. Allyson also has an honorary professorship in the Department of Chemistry at Warwick.

Allyson joins Warwick from the Technology Strategy Board – the UK’s national innovation agency, where she was a founding Director of Enterprise and Communications. She was responsible for the Board’s innovation strategy and leading on business-university and government engagement, entrepreneurial developments and communications. Prior to this role, Allyson held a number of senior management roles in science based businesses including at QinetiQ and Oxford Instruments and at the CCLRC – now part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Director of Food and Retail Strategy

Tony Howard has joined Warwick as Director of Food and Retail Strategy. Once Tony has acquired an appreciation of the particular challenges of the University and campus context he will be applying his significant retail and commercial expertise to help develop the range of services, facilities and products at the University. Previously a senior manager across Europe, Middle East and Africa with Starbucks, Tony also has wider high street retail experience with the Whitbread Group and in the commercial arm of Ferrari. Tony's appointment is part of the University’s wider ambition to build capacity and breadth of experience and thinking in the Campus and Commercial Services Group. He will report to the Director for Campus Services, Mike Roberts.

Director of Human Resources

Gillian McGrattan will be joining the University as Director of Human Resources. Gillian is currently Corporate Services Director at National Savings and Investments, having been People Director at NS&I before this. NS&I operates as an agency of HM Treasury and Gillian played a pivotal role in enabling the organisation to attract and retain financial services skills and capabilities to sustain high performance whilst operating within the relative constraints of the civil service. Under Gillian’s leadership, NS&I has scored consistently high scores in successive civil service employee surveys for leadership and management of change. Prior to joining NS&I in 2008, Gillian worked as National Director of HR Development at Grant Thornton UK LLP and in a range of senior roles at NatWest.

Gillian is new to working in the higher education sector but has experience of Warwick through completing an MBA at the Warwick Business School in 1995. She is expected to start by the end of June 2013.

Ken Sloan, Registrar and Chief Operating Officer, says

Allyson, Tony and Gillian are high calibre appointments for Warwick. They will all bring a significant level of expertise and experience and I’m confident they will enhance the University’s leadership of the operations in these critical areas.”