Dr Tim Westlake: Chief Operating Officer

Biography

Tim is the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary. He moved here from the University of Manchester where he was Director of the Student Experience until 2017, having started there as Director of International Development in 2005.

He has a university career of more than 30 years, holding both senior management and academic positions at a variety of UK universities.

At Cardiff University Tim held three roles, from 1995 until 2004, culminating in becoming the University’s first Director of International Development. Prior to this, he was Senior Lecturer in Town Planning at Birmingham City University.

Tim gained a Bachelors, Masters and PhD in Town Planning from Cardiff University.

As Chief Operating Officer, Tim has overall responsibility for the University’s Professional Services. The prime objectives of the role are to ensure effective delivery of day-to-day operations of the University and to ensure the Professional Services are positioned to effectively support the development and delivery of our strategic aspirations. The Professional Services divisions aim to provide exceptional support to our academic schools and departments, and services directly to students; alumni and staff.

As University Secretary, he is Secretary to Senate and Council and responsible for University governance. Tim is a member of the University Executive Team, University Leadership Team and is Chair of the University Health and Safety Committee.

See Dr Tim Westlake’s University profile page.

Role

As Chief Operating Officer for the University of Sussex, Tim is responsible for all of the Professional Services divisions. He is also Secretary to the University’s Council and responsible for governance matters.

You can visit the Professional Services pages to find out who leads these divisions and their areas of responsibility.

Professional Services staff provide expertise across the University to support the delivery of our strategic aspirations. The divisions aim to provide exceptional support to schools and departments, and services directly to students; alumni and staff; to other clients of the University, including the local and regional community; and to a range of partners, friends and supporters.

These services include:

Academic Registry
the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
Communications and External Affairs
Development and Alumni Relations
Finance
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Human Resources
IT Services
the Library
Planning, Governance and Compliance
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Student Recruitment and Marketing
Student Services
Sussex Estates and Facilities.