First day for new Vice-President (Operations)

Wendy Appleby has begun working in her new role as the University of Southampton’s Vice-President (Operations).

Image: Wendy Appleby, Vice-President (Operations)

Wendy, who was formerly Registrar and Head of Student and Registry Services and Secretary to Council at University College London, takes up the responsibilities previously held by the Chief Operating Officer.

Ahead of starting her first day in post, she said: “My early impressions of the University have been extremely positive in terms of the excellence of much of our teaching and research, the University’s leadership and focus on the student experience. Like most people, I was aware of the University’s reputation for engineering and oceanography before applying for the role and have since discovered the breadth of disciplines; strengths in music, art and the humanities. I have also been impressed by the scale of enterprise activity.

“I hope to play an important role in the delivery of the University Strategy. I plan to build on the existing strengths of Professional Services to achieve a strong alignment of our services to the academic mission of the University. In particular, I wish to ensure that the people in our community, notably our students and academic colleagues, feel supported and are able to benefit from the expertise of our professional services staff.”

Professor Mark E. Smith, President and Vice-Chancellor, said: “Wendy will play a key role, along with our Senior Vice-President (Academic) Professor Phillip Wright, in ensuring we deliver our new University Strategy at pace, responding with greater agility to external opportunities and threats, and creating a more joined-up ‘One Southampton’ community and culture.”

Wendy has worked in higher education administration for over 30 years, primarily in functions related to education administration, student support, academic and institutional governance. Before joining UCL in 2014, she spent eight years as Secretary to Council and Academic Registrar at Queen Mary University of London, and has worked in a further five higher education institutions in London.