Gillian Broadley

(Elected 2024)

Gillian first found Birkbeck and Birkbeck first found Gillian as a mature student, when she joined the College in 2005 to study for a Certificate of Further Education in Art History, which she completed in 2008.

Keen to continue to expand her knowledge and pursue one of her many passions, after further study at the Victoria and Albert Museum, she returned to do an MA in Art History, completing it in 2012.

What Gillian and Birkbeck didn't know at the time, was that this was only the beginning of her journey with the university. For ten years from 2014 she gave outstanding service to Birkbeck, first as an external member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, and then from 2016 to 2024, as an Independent Governor, chair of the Investment Committee, a valued member of the Remuneration Committee and concluding a critical four year stint as chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

It is not only Gillian's knowledge of Art History and understanding of what it is like being a student at Birkbeck that informed her approach to these roles; she also brought expertise and insights from a distinguished professional career in the financial sector to the role. As a result, she was able to provide a combination of leadership, challenge, and support at a critical juncture in the College's history.

Whenever the College's future direction and financial sustainability was debated with Governors, Gillian could be guaranteed to make two crucial points, both of which were rooted in her own experience. Firstly, she always stressed the importance of maintaining that academic breadth for which Birkbeck was celebrated, and to understand education in terms of opening up new horizons and understanding, and to keep Birkbeck differentiated, providing a full educational experience to all who could benefit. And secondly, Gillian was adamant that the critical challenge for the College was matching inspiring teaching with effective and modernised customer services and student support, so that as an organisation Birkbeck was accessible, navigable and focused on helping students to succeed. Looking at Gillian's own journey, it is easy to understand why she insisted on these points.

Gillian was brought up by her mother, alongside three siblings, in a council house in Ashford in Kent. Thanks to a great primary school she was able to progress onto Ashford Grammar School, and was encouraged to follow her agility in maths, leading to her moving on to Warwick University, where she was awarded a First in Maths in 1983.

Gillian then entered the world of corporate finance at Arthur Andersen, one of the world's largest accountancy firms, where she remained until 1989 while pursuing her accountancy qualifications, specialising in audit. Gillian candidly admits, she went to Arthur Andersen because they offered the best remuneration and their initial training took place in Geneva; she also enjoyed a year in Chicago where a project she led made the front page of the Wall Street Journal - for positive reasons.

Arthur Anderson was also important as it was there she met Philip, her husband. In line with the gender conventions of that time, the policy was that in this situation the woman should move on – however as Gillian was by now the most senior woman in her team, an exception was made.

Gillian eventually decided that (her words) 'she really hated audit' and so in 1989 she moved onwards to Kleinwort Benson, formerly one of the world's leading investment banks, where she carved out a distinguished career characterised by 12 hour plus days, first in corporate finance specialising in media and conglomerates, and then in equities research.

As she eventually moved into a new career phase, Gillian pursued her twin passions for art history and music – she is a leading light of one of London's best choral societies where, inevitably, she also serves as Treasurer, as well as learning the piano. Maths to finance to music to art may sound like a long and circuitous trip, but what unites it is a keen eye for observing and analysing deep patterns, whether they are articulated in music, in the numbers that drive financial markets, or in the stained glass that makes up the cathedral rose windows which were the subject of Gillian's Masters' thesis.

Crucially, Gillian also decided to take the opportunity to give back through securing educational ladders of opportunity for future generations. She took on a role as a Governor at her local primary school, where she was instrumental in a dramatic turnaround, as well as giving so much time and expertise to Birkbeck over the past decade. Giving back has also had a significant philantrophic dimension – Gillian was first asked to serve on our Finance Committee when she struck up a conversation with the Master of the College at a fundraising event and she has been generous in multiple ways in supporting Birkbeck's philantrophic activities in her time as a Governor.

Two organisations that defined Gillian's professional career, Arthur Andersen and Kleinwort Benson, no longer exist, thanks to waves of organisational change in the City. In spite of everything that policy turbulence has thrown at it, Birkbeck does, and it has changed and renewed: something that wouldn't have been possible without Gillian's contribution.