New members appointed to University Council
Release Date 30 March 2015
Three new members have been appointed to the Council of the University of Reading following its meeting last week.
Mrs Kate Owen, Mrs Penny Egan and Dr Bina Rawal have been appointed to membership of the Council in Class 2, which consists of 15 non-employees or non-registered students of the University.
The Council, which meets four times each academic year, is the governing body of the University.
It determines the University's overall strategy as well as managing its resources (including finance, land, property, investments, contracts, and other business affairs), approving changes to the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances, appointing Officers of the University and reviewing and promoting teaching and research in the University. It also acts as the ultimate body to deal with grievances raised by staff or students.
Biographies of the new members
Mrs Kate Owen was Vice President, Executive and Organisation Development for BP until 2006 during a time of major mergers and change. She spent 24 years in the oil industry and 10 years in the retail industry, local government and Industrial Training Boards after graduating from the University of Nottingham.
She has just retired after eight years as a Governor of Imperial College, London and is a now a Trustee for Imperial College Union. She is a Non-Executive Director of the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust.
Mrs Owen will serve on the University Council from 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2018, replacing Sir John Sunderland.
Mrs Penny Egan CBE is currently the Executive Director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission, joining the organisation in February 2007.
She joined the Commission after stepping down as the Executive Director of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) where she was the first woman to have led the RSA in its 250-year history.
Mrs Egan is a trustee of the RSA Academies Board. She stepped down as Chair of the Geffrye: Museum of the Home in 2014 and finishes her term as a lay member of Warwick University Council in summer 2015. She was made a CBE for 'services to international education' in the 2013 New Year's Honours. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art and the Royal Society of Arts.
Mrs Egan will serve on the University Council from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018, replacing Mr Robert Dwyer, Vice-President of the Council.
Dr Bina Rawal was the Director of Research, Medical & Innovation at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and had responsibility for driving the agenda for Research & Development and Innovation on behalf of ABPI member companies in the UK. She joined the ABPI in October 2012 from the Wellcome Trust, where she was Head of Clinical Development within the research charity's Technology Transfer (Innovations) Division.
She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in London and holds Fellowships of the Royal College of Pathologists and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
Dr Rawal will serve on the University Council from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018, replacing Mr Stephen Hawker.
Other recent additions to the University Council include Mr Tom Beardmore-Gray, Lord (Nigel) Crisp, Dame Moira Gibb, Mr Simon Pryce, Professor Sue Walker, Dr Orla Kennedy and Mrs Maureen Martin.
Current members of Council include:
- Mr Christopher Fisher (President of the Council)
- Mr Robert Dwyer (Vice-President of the Council)
- Ms Sue Woodman (Vice-President of Council)
- Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor
- Professor Steve Mithen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
- Professor Gavin Brookes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
- Mr Vincenzo Raimo, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement)
- Professor Robert Van de Noort, Pro-Vice- Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resource)
- Mr Tom Bartlam
- Mr Tom Beardmore-Gray
- Lord Nigel Crisp
- Dr Peter Erskine
- Mr Robin Evans
- Mr Stephen Hawker
- Dame Moira Gibb
- Mr Howard Palmer QC
- Dr Paul Preston
- Mr Simon Pryce
- Mr Stephen Sherman
- Sir John Sunderland
- Dr Orla Kennedy
- Mrs Maureen Martin
- Mrs Sally Webber
- Professor Hugo Tucker, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science
- Professor John Board, Dean of Henley Business School
- Professor Richard Ellis, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences
- Professor Ben Cosh, Dean of the Faculty of Science
- Professor Sue Walker, Professor of Typography
- Ms Natalie Harper, President of Reading University Students' Union
- Ms Tilly Corless, Welfare Officer, Reading University Students' Union
Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading said: "The Council plays an essential part in the governance of the University. Coupled with the existing talent, our three new members will add immensely to the effective working of the Council. I look forward very much to working with them."