Mr Mike Keighley
Director of College Operations

Summary

I joined Brunel from the University of Reading, where I spent 5 years working at Henley Business School (one of Reading's 4 academic faculties), initially as the Faculty Resources Manager and more recently as the Head of Programme Administration. I also had a 12 month period as Programme Director for Henley's global Flexible MBA. Throughout that period I was responsible for leading and supporting teams involved in delivering the student experience, programme development and delivery, finance and data management, faculty-level support services and aspects of student recruitment.

Having studied at the University of Liverpool I went on to learn the ropes of university administration by working in their Institute of Public Administration and Management. Following a number of years serving in the British Army (in a variety of operational, training, recruitment and policy roles) I took time to adjust to civilian life by working for Northern Trust, a global custodian bank Canary Wharf. However, this was a passing phase and I re-joined the Higher Education environment reasonably quickly.

Despite my Yorkshire roots, my wife (Camilla) and I now live in Buckinghamshire where we have recently bought our first house. I expect my passion for football (as a Liverpool season ticket holder) to become a source of conversation / topic of boredom with some over the coming seasons. Beyond that, I remain involved in military service and continue to serve in the Army Reserve with Headquarters Field Army based in Andover, where I'm the principal reserve staff officer in the Personnel branch. In previous roles I've supported local authorities and emergency services' response to events such as flooding, adverse weather and incidents affecting critical national infrastructure, whilst also supporting the Army's Defence Engagement activities in South East Asia. In 2021 I temporarily left Brunel for a 6-month period of mobilised service with the British Army, supporting Covid-19 operations and the strategic response of local authority and other emergency response partners across Thames Valley.