Director of Finance receives OBE at Buckingham Palace
Director of Finance Andrew McConnell with his family at Buckingham Palace
Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:05:00 GMT
The University’s Finance Director Andrew McConnell received his award from HRH The Prince of Wales
THE University of Huddersfield’s Director of Finance, who has played a key role in making the University of Huddersfield one of the most financially secure in the UK, has received his OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to accounting and the community.
Chartered accountant Andrew McConnell attended the ceremony presided over by Prince Charles and is extremely proud to receive the prestigious award.
“Receiving the OBE was a wonderful experience,” said Mr McConnell. “However, this award is not purely a personal honour, but a tribute to the hard-work of all of the staff working at the University and particularly in the University’s Finance Department,” he said.
This latest honour is in addition to the team winning the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management award for Outstanding Finance Team in 2015.
Mirfield-born Andrew McConnell joined the University in 2001 as its Director of Finance. He began a long-term process of financial discipline that has enabled the University of Huddersfield to become one of the few Universities in the UK to have no debt whilst concurrently achieving multi-million investment surpluses.
This has enabled the University of Huddersfield to be able to invest millions in its campus without going into the red. More than £80 million has been spent over the past eight years and the University is now part of a £200 million ‘building-without-borrowing’ programme.
Working closely with University Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Cryan – who himself was made CBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours – Mr McConnell has helped to ensure that the University of Huddersfield is established at the top of the UK’s University Financial Security Index.
“Without any doubt, Andrew’s financial leadership has been outstanding and his achievements set him apart from other university finance directors,” said Professor Cryan.
In addition to his role at Huddersfield, Mr McConnell has held important external posts in the field of higher and further education. He was Chair of the British Universities Finance Directors’ Group at a time when the sector was facing major financial uncertainty and he ensured that the voice of University Finance Directors was heard. He is currently a board member of the Higher Education Statistics Agency, chairing its Audit Committee.
Mr McConnell attended Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School in Cleckheaton. He obtained a mathematics degree at the University of Manchester and went on to qualify as a chartered accountant with the Manchester office of Grant Thornton. In 1980, he joined the Huddersfield Office of Revell Ward, as Training Manager. He became their youngest partner in 1982, when he was 28. He became a managing partner before the firm merged with the large international practice of Mazars. He was elected to the Governance Council of its UK firm and was Deputy Managing Partner of the Northern Region when he left to join the University in 2001.
The move was a continuance of Mr McConnell’s career-long involvement with education, including voluntary governance roles at junior, secondary and sixth-form schools. And before joining the University of Huddersfield full time as Finance Director, he chaired its Audit Committee and was Vice-Chair of its Council from 1994 to 2000.
He has been President of the Huddersfield Society of Chartered Accountants and during his period of office he raised thousands of pounds for local charities, including the Forget-Me-Not children’s hospice.
