Membership

Independent Members

Vindi Banga (Chair)

Vindi joined Clayton Dubilier & Rice's (CD&R) London office in 2010 as Partner after a 33-year career at Unilever. At CD&R, Vindi is the Chair of the firm’s global ESG initiative.

Vindi was previously Chairman of CD&R portfolio companies Kalle GmbH, Mauser GmbH and Diversey, Inc. He served on the Board of CD&R portfolio companies, High Ridge Brands and Diversey, Inc. Mr. Banga helped establish the Firm's joint venture in India, Kedaara Capital Advisers.

Vindi assumed the role as Chair of the UK Government Investments (UKGI) in September 2021. He was appointed Chair of Marie Curie in January 2018, and was the Senior Independent NED on the Board of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plc until July 2022 when he joined GSK spin-off, Haleon plc’s, board as Senior Independent NED. He is also a NED on The Economist Group board.

He holds a B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and a M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad).

 Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

Sir Leszek was appointed as a Trustee to Cancer Research UK in July 2016 and as Chair in November 2016.
Following a distinguished academic and clinical research career and prior to his appointment as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cambridge in 2010, Sir Leszek’s roles included Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council and Deputy Rector of Imperial College London. He was also a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. His work in vaccines included Europe’s first trial of a vaccine for human papillomavirus to treat cervical cancer, research conducted at the University of Cardiff and funded by Cancer Research UK.
He was knighted in 2001 for his pioneering work in vaccines.

Ms  Karen Briggs

Karen Briggs became an Independent Council member and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee from 1 January 2024. 

She has held a number of senior leadership roles at KPMG, The Bank of England and FTI Consulting.  She served on the Executive Committees of KPMG UK and FTI Consulting EMEA and was a Board member for K Capital, KPMG's global technology investment fund.

She was an Advisor to the Board of Banking Supervision whilst at The Bank of England.

Karen Briggs is an alumnus of the University of Leeds and has a degree in Mathematics. Karen is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She is a Trustee and NED of the Invictus Games Foundation and an Advisory Council Member for Elevate City, a women's leadership network. She is a big supporter of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Ms Katherine Coates

Katherine Coates became an independent member of Imperial College Council from 1 January  2024. 

Katherine is an alumna of Somerville College, Oxford where she studied jurisprudence. She spent her career at global law firm Clifford Chance LLP where she became a partner in 1990 and led the insurance and financial services practice. She was also a member of the firm’s Partnership Council and chaired the audit and risk committee. Following retirement in 2021 she remains a consultant to the firm and currently holds non executive director positions with the U.K. International Financial Reporting Standards Endorsement Board, Talbot Underwriting Limited, Great Lakes Insurance U.K. Limited and Phoenix Re. She is a member of Cancer Research U.K. and the Worshipful Company of Insurers.

Sir Ron Kalifa OBE

Sir Ron Kalifa is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Ron is Chair of Network International, a FTSE company and leading payments operator. Ron is a Non-Executive Director of the Court of Directors to the Bank of England, a Trustee of the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales and is a Non-Executive Director for the England & Wales Cricket Board. He authored the Government-commissioned independent Review which defined a strategy and delivery model for the Fintech and high growth sectors of the economy.

Ron was CEO of Worldpay for over 10 years and later Vice Chairman, developing it from a small start-up and transforming it to a globally recognised company. He spent his career in finance across the UK, Europe and the USA and has covered many aspects of business including strategy, marketing and operations.

Sir Ron was knighted in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday 2022 Honours List for services to financial services, technology and public service

Mr Deepak Khanna

Deepak Khanna is President, Human Health Europe & Canada, at biopharmaceutical company MSD. In this role he is responsible for MSD’s Human Health business across this region. He also represents MSD in the Patient Access Committee and the European Markets Committee at EFPIA, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. Deepak was previously the President of the ABPI, the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, from 2012 to 2014. Deepak has over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with broad functional expertise including strategic and operational roles across various geographies and divisions. Prior to his current role Deepak held other senior positions at MSD, including SVP and Regional President EMEAC Oncology, where he led commercial operations for MSD’s oncology business across Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Canada, and SVP and Managing Director of MSD in the UK and Ireland. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in marketing from Santa Clara University.

Mr Ric Lewis

Ric is Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Tristan Capital Partners, an award winning independent real estate investment management firm. Ric founded the firm in 2009, continuing the collaborative track record he established with former partners at Curzon Global Partners/ AEW Europe.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, USA, Ric was awarded the 2021 Urban Land Institute (ULI) European Leader Award for his contribution to development and real estate, along with his civic and social endeavours. Ric founded The Black Heart Foundation, dedicated to improving educational access and outcomes for talented, underprivileged people. He also serves on a number of Boards, including Dartmouth College; The Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation; and Legal & General Group Plc.

Dr Mary Meaney Haynes

Mary is an Imperial alumnus, NED on the Board of Jefferies International Limited, and Member of Council at Imperial College. Mary currently works with a range of companies on their most important strategy and organization topics.  She is a member of the Advisory Board of Beamery, the new talent operating system that enables the world's largest companies to attract, engage and retain talent at a global scale.

Prior to this, Mary was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company where she served on McKinsey's global Board (the Shareholder's Council), led the global Organization Practice, and published a book with co-author Scott Keller entitled: Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths.  While at McKinsey, she worked in over 30 countries with some of the largest companies in the world in consumer products, chemicals, energy, and pharmaceuticals.  She has lectured extensively in France, the US, UK, and China.

Mary was a co-founder of the McKinsey Women’s Initiative, which aims to promote women leaders in business. She is currently running a Remarkable Women's Program with TeachFirst to support women in education.

Dr Mahnaz Safa

Mahnaz was appointed Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in September 2022. She is also the NED responsible for Diversity and Inclusion, and the Chair of the Remuneration Committee.

With 30 years of experience in finance, Mahnaz has been a Senior Executive at UBS, Citi and ANZ. She led Debt Capital Markets for EMEA and headed Markets for Europe and America. Whilst at UBS and Citi, she co-chaired their respective women’s leadership Executive Committees. She has previously served as a Senior Independent Director on the Board of Alternative Credit Investments, a FTSE 250 company. Mahnaz holds a PhD in computer aided technology from Imperial College.

Current additional appointments:

Non-Executive Director at Jefferies International Limited

Member of the Council at Imperial College where she is the Champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Professor Jeremy Sanders CBE FRS

Jeremy Sanders is an alumnus of Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge. He is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. Jeremy’s research career has included wide-ranging contributions to organic, inorganic, biological and physical chemistry, recognised by his election to the Royal Society in 1995 and, amongst other awards, the Davy Medal in 2009.

From 2006 to 2010, Jeremy served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, overseeing its 800th anniversary celebrations. He was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Affairs at the University of Cambridge between 2011 and 2015, where he was responsible for the University’s 11,000 staff, its environmental and energy policy, relationships with the local community and the North West Cambridge Development. Jeremy was Chair of the Chemistry panel for the 2008 national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and is currently a Trustee of Storey's Field Community Trust. He was awarded a CBE for services to scientific research in 2014.

Mr Subhanu Saxena

Subhanu Saxena is currently Managing Partner at New Rhein Healthcare LLC Private Equity, and President of the New Rhein Foundation. He has been a director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as a Senior Advisor to Bain Capital, and a member of the Health Policy Advisory Board for Gilead, and has previously held various board and advisory roles, such as Supervisory Board member of Kiadis Pharma
A highly accomplished global executive, his experience has spanned markets in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia and industries including pharmaceuticals, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), consulting and banking.
In other prior roles, Subhanu was with Cipla, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company with a presence in over 170 countries as MD and global CEO. He has also served as a member of Novartis' Pharmaceutical Executive Committee and held previous roles with Citigroup, Boston Consulting Group, and Pepsi Co Inc.
Subhanu graduated with an MBA from INSEAD France, Fontainebleau, and a M.A. (Hons) in Engineering Science from Oxford University. Subhanu plays classical guitar and also teaches Sanskrit and ancient Indian literature and is an executive committee member of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, the largest Centre for Indian classical arts in the UK. He speaks 6 languages, Russian, French, German, and Sanskrit, in addition to his native English and Hindi

Tunde Olanrewaju

Tunde is the managing partner for McKinsey’s UK, Ireland and Israel offices and a member of McKinsey’s Shareholders Council, the firm’s board of directors. In his client service, he works with a range of financial services, private equity, real estate, consumer facing and public sector institutions on strategy, digital transformation, analytics, operations, organisation and culture. He was also one of the leaders that helped create McKinsey Digital, bringing design, software engineering, data science, and product capabilities into the firm to support clients on technology, new business building and the application of data analytics / AI at scale.

Tunde was previously the firm’s Global Chief Technology and Platform Officer, responsible for client and colleague-facing technology assets across the world, including their cyber and operational resilience. He also publishes regularly, with his recent research examining the evolving UK corporate landscape and how to best unlock ambition, growth, and outperformance; as well as an independent report on the impact of the UK arts sector in collaboration with 70+ leading UK arts institutions.

Outside McKinsey, he is a trustee of Oxfam, a not-for-profit organization that fights against poverty, and a board member of Innovate UK, the United Kingdom’s commercial innovation agency, which is part of UKRI. He holds a first-class master’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Imperial College London.

Jamie Ritblat

Jamie Ritblat is the founder and chairman of leading real estate investment and advisory company Delancey, and one of the property industry’s most pioneering entrepreneurs.

Over the past two decades, he has been at the vanguard of investment trends and he has overseen the purchase, development and sale of over £20bn of property-related investments, and led some of the most high profile, complex transactions in recent years. For instance: the repurposing of the former Dickins and Jones Department store on Regent Street into offices and leisure; the development of the Rolls Building, which was pre-let to HMCS for the new UK Commercial and Business Court; the acquisition and transformation of the London 2012 Athletes’ Village into the multi-award winning neighbourhood, East Village; and the repurposing of the former 2012 Press and Broadcast Centre into the thriving, world-renowned campus Here East.

He continues to play a leading role in the redevelopment of a new town centre for Elephant & Castle, and is currently Chairman of The Earl’s Court Development Company, the business set up to deliver the new neighbourhood at London’s largest cleared Zone 1 site, which is set to showcase the best in sustainable design.

Adrian Hennah

Adrian joined the Council in November 2024.

He holds non-executive Board roles at Unilever, J. Sainsbury and Oxford Nanopore Technologies. He is a trustee of Our Future Health, and an adviser to CEPI.

Previously he worked in the healthcare, engineering and consumer goods sectors; including at GSK, and as CFO of Invensys, Smith&Nephew and Reckitt Benckiser; and as a non-executive Board member of RELX and a number of early stage companies.

He is an alumnus of Cambridge University and the London Business School. And a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Internal Members

President, Professor Hugh Brady

A graduate of University College Dublin (UCD), Professor Brady trained in general medicine and nephrology, and was awarded PhD and MD degrees for research in renal physiology and molecular medicine, respectively. His academic career as a physician-scientist included positions at Harvard Medical School, the University of Toronto and UCD. He is an international authority on the pathogenesis of renal inflammation and diabetic kidney disease. 

Professor Brady is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the Queen’s University Belfast, an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Anaesthetists in Ireland and the Robert Menzies Medal from the University of Melbourne.   

Professor Brady is a non-executive director of Kerry Group plc; a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU); and chair of Ireland’s Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group. He has also served as a member of Ireland’s Higher Education Authority; chair of the Irish Universities Association; chair of the Universitas 21 Network of global research universities; member of the Western Gateway Partnership Board, and was a non-executive director of ICON plc from 2014 to 2022. 

Provost, Professor Ian Walmsley FRS

Professor Ian Walmsley FRS became the second Provost of Imperial College London in September 2018. Before joining Imperial, Professor Walmsley served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) and Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford. Professor Walmsley graduated from Imperial with first class Honours in physics in 1980, and completed his PhD at the University of Rochester before working as a postdoc at Cornell University. He became Assistant Professor of Optics at the University of Rochester in 1988, and held a number of roles there before joining the University of Oxford in 2001 as Professor of Experimental Physics. He was also a Senior Visiting Fellow at Princeton University. He was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) of the University of Oxford in 2009, becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) in 2015. At Oxford, he led the Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub and headed up the creation of the Rosalind Franklin Institute. In recognition of his contributions to quantum optics and ultrafast optics, Professor Walmsley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the Optical Society of America. He was a member of the EPSRC Physics Strategic Advisory Team and was on the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics’ Science Advisory Board.

Chief Operating Officer, Mr Robert Kerse

Robert Kerse was appointed Chief Operating Officer in February 2023. 

Reporting to the President, Robert is a key member of the senior leadership team and the University Management Board. He has responsibility for Campus Services, Estates, ICT, Finance and the Commercial & Investment Activities Group. Robert plays a key role in helping to shape the development and implementation of the University's vision, strategic goals, objectives, and values.  

Robert held a similar role at the University of Bristol since 2016, including being the senior responsible owner for Bristol's new Temple Quarter Campus. Robert spent thirteen years in several executive roles within the social housing sector in London and the West Country before moving into Higher Education. He started his career training as a chartered accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, after being educated at the University of Cambridge. Robert is the Treasurer and Chair of the Resources Committee of the young person's homeless charity, Centrepoint.

Professor Peter Todd

Dean of Business School, Professor Todd is responsible for all aspects of the School’s strategy, operations and finances. Professor Todd’s academic expertise lies in information technology and innovation management, spanning computer science, psychology and management. His research brings these different disciplines together to examine how people interact with technology. He has a wealth of experience in senior academic roles across Europe and North America. Most recently, he served as the Director General (CEO) and Dean of HEC Paris, the first non-French holder of the post.

Professor Nigel Brandon

Nigel Brandon is an alumnus of Imperial University London, having graduated with a BSc in 1981 and a PhD in 1984. Professor Brandon joined the then TH Huxley School for Environment, Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperial in 1998 as Senior Lecturer in Electrochemical Engineering, and transferred to the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology in 2001.

He was appointed to the Shell Chair in Sustainable Development in Energy in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering in 2004. Professor Brandon was the Director of the Energy Futures Lab from 2005 until 2014, and was its founder as a College Global Challenge Institute in 2009. He has been Dean of the Faculty of Engineering since October 2017, having previously been the Faculty’s Vice-Dean (Research) since May 2016. He is the Director of the Sustainable Gas Institute and the BG Chair in Sustainable Gas. Professor Brandon’s research is focused on electrochemical devices for energy applications, with a particular focus on fuel cells, electrolysers, and batteries. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008, and was awarded an OBE for services to UK-China science in 2011.

Professor Richard Craster

Richard Craster is an alumnus of Imperial University London, having graduated with a BSc in 1989. He has been the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial University since January 2020. Previously he was Head of Department of Mathematics at Imperial Univeristy for six years until 2017. He is also Director of the CNRS-Imperial "Abraham de Moivre" International Research Laboratory in Mathematics. He has worked at Imperial University since 1998, apart from two years spent in Alberta, Canada, before he returned to become Head of Mathematics. He chaired the A-level Content Advisory Board, which shaped the content of the current A-level in Mathematics. He sits on the scientific advisory boards of the Smith Institute (www.smithinst.co.uk) and Multiwave (an SME in metamaterials), and has undertaken numerous consultancy and advisory roles in both industry and government. His research is mainly in the area of acoustic metamaterials, elastic wave propagation and fluid mechanics, and ranges from theory and simulation through to experiments, usually undertaken with collaborators in engineering and physics.

Professor Deborah Ashby

Professor Deborah Ashby is Interim Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial University London where she holds the Chair in Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials. She was previously Director of the School of Public Health and was Founding Co-Director of Imperial Clinical Trials Unit. Her research interests are in clinical trials, risk-benefit decision making for medicines, and the utility of Bayesian approaches in these areas. 

She is a Chartered Statistician and Honorary Member of both the Royal College of Radiologists and the Faculty of Public Health Medicine. She was awarded the OBE for services to medicine in 2009, appointed an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2010, elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2012 and was President of the Royal Statistical Society for 2019 and 2020. 

Staff Representative

Professor Liz Lightstone

Staff Member on Council

Dr Liz Elvidge 

Dr Liz Elvidge is currently the Head of Postdoc and Fellows Development. She is the newly appointed member of Council representative of the academic job family.

As Head of Postdoc and Fellows Development she is the principal advocate for early career researchers (ECR)- postdocs and fellows at  Imperial and has been responsible for leading and developing a sector leading centre for ECR’s in the UK. Her cross-college role enables her to connect with the University's most senior managers via the HoDs, Vice Deans for Research, Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) and Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) as well as the academic community, the researchers and the PTO staff who provide support for research.

She has worked at Imperial for 15 years and has worked in Academia for her entire career. She is a leading expert on researcher development. Her publications include ‘What every postdoc needs to know’, Elvidge, Spencely and Williams.

Previous committee experience includes elected member of the Council of the Higher Education Academy, membership of BBSRC and NERC committees and project work with Wellcome.  Outside the University Liz is a member of LERU CARE group and on the steering committee. Internally she is on the University Research and Enterprise Board, Faculty of Medicine Research Committee, Faculty of Engineering of Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine Culture Committee, Faculty of Engineering Equality Diversity, Culture and Inclusion Committee, Faculty of Natural Sciences EDI committee, and the EDI Forum.  Membership of these committees enables Liz to both advocate for the ECR’s as well as to the EDI agenda.

Liz undertakes casework for the University in partnership with the employee relations team and was recently appointed as Magistrate on the Cambridge Magistrate court bench.

Staff Member on Council

Alice Ashley-Smith

Alice is the Department Operations Manager for Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a role she has held since 2019.

Alice leads the Departments’ administrative function, managing a team of professional, technical and operational staff across finance, HR, post-award, facilities and education to support the department in achieving its mission. She works closely with the Head of Department, Department Management Committee and Faculty leadership to develop departmental strategy and planning. She manages departmental finances and undertakes strategic projects.

Prior to this role, Alice supported the establishment of the Data Science Institute as the Operations Manager for 5 years. Alice also worked in various operational roles across the Faculty of Medicine, having initially joined Imperial as a Management Trainee. Alice graduated from the University of Southampton with a BA in History.

ICU Representative

Christian Cooper

President of the ICU

Camille Boutrolle

Camille Boutrolle is President of Student Union at Imperial University London for 2024-25. She is London born and raised, and holds a master’s degree in aero engineering. In her time at Imperial, Camille’s interaction with the Union has mainly been through sport and holding several executive positions on CSP committees, including the running of IC's netball club.

University Secretary and Registrar 

Mr Richard Martin

Richard Martin is Registrar and University Secretary at Imperial. Reporting to the President as University Secretary (and also to the Chair of Council as Clerk to Council) and to the Provost as Registrar, Richard has overall management responsibility for corporate governance and the Academic Services Group.

Richard began his career in Higher Education as a Graduate Management Trainee at Imperial in 2000, before moving to work at UCL’s Faculty of Engineering Sciences and in Australia where he was responsible for establishing UCL’s first overseas campus in Adelaide as Chief Operating Officer of UCL Australia. Richard returned to Imperial in 2011 to take up the role of Faculty Operating Officer for the Faculty of Engineering, after which he served as Director of Transformation and in 2020 was appointed Director of Academic Services. Richard was appointed Registrar and University Secretary in March 2024.