The external recruitment process for our new Executive Director of Engagement and Advancement began in September and has successfully concluded with the appointment of Shaun Williams.
Shaun will be responsible for bringing together our communications, marketing, fundraising and alumni relations activities into a new single directorate. He will develop and deliver a single joined-up strategy for the University’s vital engagement and advancement agenda, strengthening the global reach and impact of our brand and reputation.
Ian Dunn, the University’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
I am delighted that Shaun is joining us for what will be a very exciting time for our University and that we will be able to use his extensive experience of communications, marketing, engagement and partnerships across multiple sectors.
Shaun is a former Director of Corporate Affairs at the international disability charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, at the Guardian and Observer national newspapers, and at ITV broadcaster Carlton Communications plc, and is the former Chief Executive of the trade body for the UK’s independent television and feature film sector. Until recently he has been an Independent Governor of London Metropolitan University, and he is currently a non-Executive Director of NHS Blood and Transplant.
Shaun said:
I am delighted to be joining a university with such an extraordinary breadth of research, innovation and impact, and with a reputation which reaches across the world. I am very excited at the opportunity to create a new overarching engagement and advancement agenda, and I look forward to helping strengthen still further Southampton’s global reach and impact in the years ahead.
Shaun will report directly to Ian Dunn and will work closely with the University Executive Board (UEB). He will commence his appointment from the 9 January 2017.
The position of the new Executive Director of Engagement and Advancement is continuing the strategic action in forming the Professional Services Leadership Team.
