Name: Lara McCarthy

Job title: Head of Governance Services

Department: Secretary to Council’s Office

Number of years at Warwick: 21

There’s no such thing as a typical day, but, in brief, my job involves...

leading a team of eight governance professionals ensuring that the University is continuing to provide ‘education’ and ‘research’ in their broadest sense, upholding our Charter and Statutes and enabling the University Strategy.

This can mean having conversations about how to minute meetings, looking at terms of reference, re-writing ordinances and regulations, advising on the best route for a project idea to take through the committee structure, working with departments on governance arrangements.

Two major projects have taken place within our team this year that have already had an impact on how we do things at Warwick. The governance team has changed the way that agendas, minutes and papers are structured and we have piloted the use of a board portal. Our aim is to reduce the amount of time it takes to produce the papers etc for meetings, as well as deliver them in a more sustainable way.

My most memorable moment at Warwick has been...

introducing our then very small daughter to Tony Blair when he visited campus with Bill Clinton. Daughter was very unimpressed but appreciated Cherie Blair crouching down to get level with her and ask her who she was and what she thought about things.

In my time at Warwick, the biggest change I’ve seen is...

the campus estate. When I was here as a student, Corners Nightclub was where University House is and there weren’t any roundabouts anywhere! The SU building didn’t exist and the running track at Westwood was brown not blue. Pleased to say that my first year room in Bericote still exists!

Warwick's kept me here because...

there is always something interesting to get involved with. At the Medical School it was about establishing the largest graduate entry medicine cohort and in the Secretary to Council’s Office it is about simplifying what we do, so hopefully making governance less scary.

The best thing about working at Warwick is...

it gives you opportunities to make a contribution to the wider community whilst making your own job that little bit more interesting. When I was in the Medical School I was the University representative on a local NHS Council of Governors and having stepped down from that role I’m now their Organ Donor Committee Chair. I’ve met some incredible people who I deeply admire for their hard work, personal resilience and integrity.

My favourite place on campus is...

Butterworth Hall during graduation. I carried the University mace at the first graduation ceremony for the Medical School in 2004 and somehow have done it every year since. The reading of the Declaration of Geneva is always moving and very noisy!

Enjoyed hearing from Lara? Hear from some of our other Long Service Award recipients

"I’ve met some incredible people who I deeply admire for their hard work, personal resilience and integrity."