Photographs by Jeff Leyshon

Welwyn Hatfield is a Conservative stronghold, so Sarah hasn’t been elected, though she’s achieved some swing in the voting. It’s an intriguing insight into her character: “If I was elected, I think I’d have a real go at the education system. My son’s just emerged from secondary school, and I’ve been appalled by the approach of the teachers. I think it must be a generational thing, but that personal experience makes me want to reform it.”

 

Sarah’s desire to improve the education system is a marker of her awareness of the need to engage with different audiences, a marker which echoes throughout her career to date. An English and History of Art graduate, she started her professional life as a museum assistant at the Cleveland Gallery in Middlesbrough. “It was a really small museum, which managed to punch way above its weight. It had a fantastic collection of maps of north-east England, and while I was there we put on a huge exhibition of t kites that was international in scope.”

 

It was whilst working at the museum that Sarah recalls first thinking about the importance of communications. “I started considering how you can use what you’re doing at an organisation to talk to audiences. At the gallery we were trying to engage schoolchildren, teachers etc., which required different tones, styles of language, and so on.”

 

She soon moved on to a position at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton’s Art Gallery and Museums, riding out “the first really serious recession I’d encountered”, and taking on more fundraising duties before a move to the British Deaf Association. “I was learning all the time about the power of communicating,” she says. “Fundraising meant a lot of direct marketing: how do you get people to engage? How can you get them to take on a cause? I grew to realise that I loved campaigning and talking to people about issues.”

 

“There’s nothing wrong with considering everything from the viewpoint of: ‘Is it value for money?’ Higher education is a marketplace that is growing more competitive

by the day”

 

After a year’s maternity leave in 1995, Sarah took on the role of head of membership development at the British Museum. Although she hadn’t yet made a full switch over to a comms role, this new position included responsibility as head of the Friends organisation at the museum, and over the next seven years she transformed its approach to the membership scheme.

 

The aspect of her work at the British Museum that’s proved most resonant was the development of the Young Friends network. “It’s actually something that I never get the credit for, but the idea of the Sleepovers at the museum – which Boris Johnson listed as the third most interesting thing to do in London – was mine! They’re linked to the national curriculum, and provided a fantastic way into the collection for schoolkids.”

 

After a stint at the V&A, where she oversaw the rebranding of the Friends charitable organisation, Sarah stepped up to the position of chief executive at the music teaching charity Richmond Music Trust. A small charity, Sarah overhauled the Trust’s communications strategy and profile, working in partnership with local schools and politicians, and gained valuable experience of coping with budget constraints and dealing with a large staff.

 

This would come in useful for the next stage of her career. “Coincidentally, I had worked for my predecessor at the University of Westminster when we were both at the British Museum,” she recalls. “When the job came up, I’d only been at Richmond Music Trust for a year, but it seemed to bring together all the things I’d done in the past. But I thought: ‘I’ll never get it.’”

 

She did, of course, taking over a comms team that consisted of just two people in 2007. “The internal and external communications were the major issues of my first couple of months in the role. The university had at the time a low external profile, which we worked on intensively, and actually our PR has now been outsourced; but the internal comms were still an issue.”

 

It’s an organisation that poses quite a challenge for engaging internal audiences: the University of Westminster has around 2500 staff, spread over seven sites in London, as well as a student body numbering some 22000, and a quarter of a million alumni.

 

“My role now is mainly about speaking to our staff,” she says, though she also retains responsibility for fundraising and has brought in over £3m in the last four years. “I talk to audiences about events that we’re holding, about the university’s reputation and its profile in the UK; and through course-leaders and contacts at schools the university keeps up regular communication with potential new students.”

 

Sarah has also overseen a major shift in the university’s approach to digital comms. “There’s a £1.3m project to overhaul the website in place – and in general, digital media makes communicating much quicker and more flexible. We set up Blackboard, an intranet that contributes to each stage of a student’s journey through the university, and we’re very aware of the need to make the most of social media: it’s clearly the next big step in terms of communication.”

 

The single most important message that Sarah communicates concerns the excellence of the university. “We want to consistently emphasise that in terms of our research, our facilities, our standards and our location, the University of Westminster is positioned as a top academic institution.”

 

This messaging is increasingly crucial as competition between universities for the best students and funding opportunities heats up. Sarah says that it’s crucial for universities to work well as businesses: “There’s nothing wrong with considering everything from the viewpoint of: ‘Is it value for money?’ Higher education is a marketplace that is growing more competitive by the day, and the pressure to be in locations such as China and India is also growing, because international students are a significant percentage of the student body at universities across Britain.

 

“The University of Westminster was actually one of the first UK universities to develop a presence in China, which we did in the 70s, so we already have lots of good connections there that make communicating easier.” The university is currently establishing ‘base camps’ in both India and China that will be able to talk directly with prospective students and function as both recruitment facilities and problem-solvers, due to open in March and October 2012 respectively.

 

As well as international communications, Sarah is currently facing the challenge of how to communicate with stakeholders at the university on the subject of the cuts to higher education funding currently being implemented by the government. “It’s kites that was international in scope.”

 

It was whilst working at the museum that Sarah recalls first thinking about the importance of communications. “I started considering how you can use what you’re doing at an organisation to talk to audiences. At the gallery we were trying to engage schoolchildren, teachers etc., which required different tones, styles of language, and so on.”

 

She soon moved on to a position at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton’s Art Gallery and Museums, riding out “the first really serious recession I’d encountered”, and taking on more fundraising duties before a move to the British Deaf Association. “I was learning all the time about the power of communicating,” she says. “Fundraising meant a lot of direct marketing: how do you get people to engage? How can you get them to take on a cause? I grew to realise that I loved campaigning and talking to people about issues.”

 

After a year’s maternity leave in 1995, Sarah took on the role of head of membership development at the British Museum. Although she hadn’t yet made a full switch over to a comms role, this new position included responsibility as head of the Friends organisation at the museum, and over the next seven years she transformed its approach to the membership scheme.

 

The aspect of her work at the British Museum that’s proved most resonant was the development of the Young Friends network. “It’s actually something that I never get the credit for, but the idea of the Sleepovers at the museum – which Boris Johnson listed as the third most interesting thing to do in London – was mine! They’re linked to the national curriculum, and provided a fantastic way into the collection for schoolkids.”

 

After a stint at the V&A, where she oversaw the rebranding of the Friends charitable organisation, Sarah stepped up to the position of chief executive at the music teaching charity Richmond Music Trust. A small charity, Sarah overhauled the Trust’s communications strategy and profile, working in partnership with local schools and politicians, and gained valuable experience of coping with budget constraints and dealing with a large staff.

 

This would come in useful for the next stage of her career. “Coincidentally, I had worked for my predecessor at the University of Westminster when we were both at the British Museum,” she recalls. “When the job came up, I’d only been at Richmond Music Trust for a year, but it seemed to bring together all the things I’d done in the past. But I thought: ‘I’ll never get it.’”

 

She did, of course, taking over a comms team that consisted of just two people in 2007. “The internal and external communications were the major issues of my first couple of months in the role. The university had at the time a low external profile, which we worked on intensively, and actually our PR has now been outsourced; but the internal comms were still an issue.”

 

It’s an organisation that poses quite a challenge for engaging internal audiences: the University of Westminster has around 2500 staff, spread over seven sites in London, as well as a student body numbering some 22000, and a quarter of a million alumni.

 

“My role now is mainly about speaking to our staff,” she says, though she also retains responsibility for fundraising and has brought in over £3m in the last four years. “I talk to audiences about events that we’re holding, about the university’s reputation and its profile in the UK; and through course-leaders and contacts at schools the university keeps up regular communication with potential new students.”

 

Sarah has also overseen a major shift in the university’s approach to digital comms. “There’s a £1.3m project to overhaul the website in place – and in general, digital media makes communicating much quicker and more flexible. We set up Blackboard, an intranet that contributes to each stage of a student’s journey through the university, and we’re very aware of the need to make the most of social media: it’s clearly the next big step in terms of communication.”

 

The single most important message that Sarah communicates concerns the excellence of the university. “We want to consistently emphasise that in terms of our research, our facilities, our standards and our location, the University of Westminster is positioned as a top academic institution.”

 

This messaging is increasingly crucial as competition between universities for the best students and funding opportunities heats up. Sarah says that it’s crucial for universities to work well as businesses: “There’s nothing wrong with considering everything from the viewpoint of: ‘Is it value for money?’ Higher education is a marketplace that is growing more competitive by the day, and the pressure to be in locations such as China and India is also growing, because international students are a significant percentage of the student body at universities across Britain.

 

“The University of Westminster was actually one of the first UK universities to develop a presence in China, which we did in the 70s, so we already have lots of good connections there that make communicating easier.” The university is currently establishing ‘base camps’ in both India and China that will be able to talk directly with prospective students and function as both recruitment facilities and problem-solvers, due to open in March and October 2012 respectively.

 

As well as international communications, Sarah is currently facing the challenge of how to communicate with stakeholders at the university on the subject of the cuts to higher education funding currently being implemented by the government. “It’s very, very difficult to get clear messages out, because it provokes such strong emotion in people,” she says. “We’ve held an open forum, and we’re trying to work out how to cut back on costs whilst remaining fit for purpose – but of course it’s affecting everyone’s jobs. It’s a quick change, though, and the university is working hard to mitigate the effects: talking about it without causing panic is difficult.”

 

The university is trying to make up the shortfall by upping its other sources of income, such as short course qualifications and language classes. “It sounds rather hard-nosed, I know, but that sort of cross-selling is getting more and more usual. A bit like supermarkets, but not!”

 

Sarah’s responsibilities, now at the head of a team that has increased to 41 personnel, include regular dealings with the senior management of the university. “I’ve learnt a lot about dealing with internal politics,” she says. “Getting buy-in from the university as a whole on new ideas has been challenging, but rewarding.”

 

The labyrinthine structures of higher education governance mean that the decision-making process at the University of Westminster sounds convoluted to outsiders, but Sarah reassures me that it works very well for her. As a corporate services director, she reports into the University Executive Board every three months, and is in regular contact with the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Geoff Petts.

 

“Making sure that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Westminster is recognised as carrying out world-leading research on the sustainable development of water projects is key to positioning the university as a centre of academic excellence,” she says. “I make sure he has the right profile and that he’s linked into the political process; it’s also up to me to ensure that he isn’t surprised by any questions or stories, because he’s the public face of the university in so many ways – he sits on various boards, and at the moment chairs Podium, the further and higher education unit for London 2012.”

 

Sarah’s role clearly encompasses a huge variety of tasks that range from requiring intensive attention to detail, such as briefing senior academics for media appearances, to the ability to grasp the macro implications of the university’s reputation, such as her work as brand champion for the recently redesigned organisational identity.

 

“I suppose I am motivated by control,” she admits – not exactly unusual for communicators at her level. She’s recently given up her position as chair of the Welwyn Hatfield Women’s Refuge, having overseen a £1m project to build a new location and brought her comms expertise to bear in convincing local politicians and residents of the necessity of the refuge; and her trusteeship at Gosling Sports Park – she played county-level tennis whilst at school – has coincided with the facility being recognised as a UK centre of excellence.

 

The reason for moving her previous charity commitments onto the back-burner is a new cause: Sarah is becoming a trustee of TACT Fostering & Adoption, which is currently the UK’s largest charity and voluntary agency providing fostering and adoption services. “As it happens, the finance director at Gosling chairs TACT, and he recommended me,” says Sarah. “My fundraising experiences will come in useful – and I do seriously believe in the importance of giving back to the community. My career has helped me develop all these skills, and it’s only right to use those to help others.”

 

As for her political ambitions, they’re not on the back-burner quite yet – after all, her communications ideal is Alastair Campbell, “at his best”. “When I took on the job at the University of Westminster, there were a couple of early crises – such as a fire on the Harrow campus – that threw me, because the university hadn’t really considered the necessity of tailoring its message for different audiences. Getting systems in place for those eventualities took time, but now if there’s an issue the team works through it systematically. It’s about controlling the information that’s being released, but at the same time striving to be as open and transparent as possible.”