Tessa previously held HE senior leadership and management in a career spanning over 30 years in five universities ranged across the sector mission groups. She held department and faculty roles at Anglia Polytechnic University before joining Lancaster University in a central university role. She was Academic Registrar & Clerk to the Board of Governors at the University of the West of England; Registrar of the University of Southampton and her last role was as Executive Director of Education & Students at King’s College London.
Between 2014 and 2016, she was Chair of the Association of University Administrators (AUA) following a number of years as a Trustee on the AUA Board. She also served as an appointed member of the Board of the Leadership Foundation for HE and as a School Governor, and Chair of the Standards Committee, at Appleby Grammar School.
She is a graduate of Liverpool Polytechnic with a PGDip from Anglia Polytechnic University, an Associate of King’s College London, and a graduate of the AOC accredited Meyler Campbell Business Coaching Programme.