Welcome to our new Chair of Council and Pro-Chancellor, Sir David Normington, who this week (16 October 2017) chairs the first meeting of the University Council for 2017/18 and meets members of the Senate.

The Council is our executive governing body, responsible for the financial, property, investments and general business of the University, and for setting the general strategic direction of the institution. As Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council, David’s principal role is to ensure that the necessary business of the Council is carried out effectively and in a manner appropriate for the proper conduct of public business.

On taking up his new role, David said:

I admired Warwick long before I joined its Council and, as I have got to know the University over the past six years my admiration has grown. It is therefore a great pleasure and a privilege to become the University Council’s chair.

There are turbulent times to be taking over as chair with Brexit, the uncertainty over tuition fees and the growing trend to more Government regulation. I am confident, however, that if the Council and Senate, working together, maintain a clear sighted focus on our core mission - a great and distinctive student experience, high quality research and ever deepening international partnerships - we shall more than rise to those challenges and set Warwick on course for its second successful half century."

About David

David began his first term of office as a trustee at the University in August 2011. He is Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council to July 2022.

David was a civil servant for 37 years, working in the fields of employment, education and criminal justice. He was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2005, at a time when the Department was responsible for further and higher education and skills in addition to its responsibilities for children and schools. From 2006 to 2010 he was Permanent Secretary at the Home Office leading a department with over 30,000 staff and responsibility for controversial issues like immigration and law and order. He worked with five Home Secretaries over his five year term as Permanent Secretary and led a major transformation programme to rebuild the Home Office’s capability. After retiring from the Civil Service he was for five years until 2016 the First Civil Service Commissioner and the Commissioner for Public Appointments regulating appointments to the civil service and public bodies, seeking to ensure that they were on merit after fair and open competition.

He received a KCB in 2005 and was appointed GCB in the 2011 New Year’s Honours list. He has an M.A. (Oxon) in Modern History and is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development. David is also a Trustee of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

About the Council

Find out more about how the Council works, and other new members this year on our governance pages.