Today (4 October 2021) marks Wendy Appleby’s first working day for the University, in the new role of Vice-President (Operations).
In this role she will provide leadership and executive management to Professional Services, largely assuming the responsibilities previously held by the Chief Operating Officer. As part of the senior leadership team, she will play a key role in delivering the University’s vision and new strategy. Wendy joins us from University College London where she was Registrar and Head of Student and Registry Services & Secretary to Council.
We asked Wendy a few questions, ahead of her first day.
Q During the process of applying for the role and preparing to join us – what have been your early impressions of our University?
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, and the University’s location in Winchester as well as Southampton. I have also been impressed by the scale of enterprise activity. There is great potential for the University’s future which makes it an even more exciting place to be joining.
Q What do you hope to achieve in this role?
First and foremost, 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. To help achieve this, I bring a strong track record of service improvement through developing staff, simplifying processes and the careful deployment of IT systems.
Q What is your proudest career achievement up to now?
Throughout my career there have been a number of achievements that I have looked back upon with pride. To select one or two from my most recent posts, I was proud to deliver successfully a complex project of governance reform that culminated in the change of the name of Queen Mary University of London and implementation of its degree awarding powers. At UCL, the merger with the Institute of Education and achievement of a 29% step change in the scale of our activity stands out alongside the establishment and development of UCL’s student enquiry service, recently marked by the achievement of a Customer Service Excellence Award. Finally, I am incredibly proud of the achievements of colleagues who have worked with me in the teams that I have led, some of whom are now in senior leadership roles themselves.
Q Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not be able to tell from your CV or LinkedIn profile?
If you look closely at my LinkedIn profile you will spot a period of world travel in the mid-90s; I haven’t lost the travel bug and love to visit new places, experience different cultures and learn about the history, flora and fauna. In lockdown, I started to learn Spanish but that is very much still a work in progress and on hold for now to allow time to get to grips with my new role.
