University's new Chancellor Natalie Campbell MBE announces new network to bring students and business together

The installation event was attended by colleagues, students, governors, alumni and members of the local community who saw a series of speeches given by Lynne Berry, the Chair of the Court of Governors and Dr Peter Bonfield, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Westminster. In her inaugural address, Natalie Campbell MBE announced the formation of the Chancellor’s Circle, a network of employer partners across many sectors who are committed to creating new opportunities for University of Westminster students, offering them valuable career experience, insight and skills. The founding members of the Chancellor’s Circle are: 

•    The Association of British Insurers (ABI)
•    Belu Water
•    Cognizant 
•    The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities 
•    The Howard De Walden Estate
•    International Professional Security Association 
•    Ocean Bottle 
•    Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
•    PWC 
•    The Royal Foundation 
•    Stonehage Fleming 
•    VOLA  

Natalie was joined on stage by the CEOs of two of the founding member organisations; Mark Kildea, CEO of the Howard de Walden Estate, and Satia Rai, CEO of the International Professional Security Association (IPSA). Mark and Satia described their paths to success and explained why they joined the Chancellor’s Circle.

Satia Rai said: “IPSA joining the Chancellor’s Circle was a natural progression for us. We were part of the University’s award-winning mentoring programme last year, which was an incredible experience and wanted to continue and build on our partnership.

“We were thrilled to hear about the Chancellor’s Circle, this was the next step in continuing to support the students and graduates at the University. IPSA’s values are very much aligned with Westminster’s, the Security Industry is striving to become more diverse and more inclusive. Our membership will allow us to reach out to a younger and more diverse workforce and enable us to show the students that the security industry is a great and rewarding career choice.”

The event ended with a speech from Zahra Butt, the President of the University of Westminster Students’ Union, who spoke about her journey through Westminster and the inspiration she draws from seeing Natalie, as a young, woman of colour in such a successful position. 

Speaking about why they joined the Chancellor’s Circle, Ashley Cox, Head of Customer and Community, and Mark Kildea said: "We are proud to be founding members of the Chancellor’s Circle. This partnership will allow us to build on the strong relationship we already have with the University, enhancing the benefits we both receive by working together.”

Speaking about joining the University of Westminster, Natalie Campbell MBE said: “It was a huge opportunity and privilege to say yes to joining the University because there is so much alignment between how I’ve built my career and the priorities of the University itself. 

“The first thing I said was “how can I help?”. The things I heard were that students need opportunities, they need work experience placements, they’d like to listen to interesting people… and that’s why I created the Chancellor’s Circle.”  

You can watch Natalie talking about her experience and why she joined the University of Westminster below.