Dr Mark Bacon

Chief Operating Officer

Mark Bacon Jan 2020

Role: Chief Operating Officer
Phone: +44 (0)1782 733440
Email: m.bacon@keele.ac.uk
Email other: s.e.mason@keele.ac.uk
Location: Claus Moser CM2.14
Contacting me: Personal Assistant - Sue Mason - s.e.mason@keele.ac.uk

Biography

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) leads the professional services at Keele and is also responsible for strategy delivery to underpin institutional growth and efficiency across our educational, research and professional service portfolios. The COO has oversight of the professional services for: estates & development; human resources; global student recruitment & admissions; strategic communications & brand; academic services; information & digital services (including the Library); faculty operations; global partnerships; research strategy delivery; engagement & partnerships; policy, programme and strategy delivery; academic planning; executive support to the VC office; and legal, governance and compliance services (with the Secretary to Council).

Mark graduated with a BSc and PhD in Biological Sciences from Lancaster University, where he was a member of staff from 1997 to 2014. During his time at Lancaster Mark developed several major programmes of collaboration with business, including new capital investment to support university-business collaboration, a Centre for Global Eco-innovation in the Northwest of England and a major new international partnership with the Guangdong Department for Science & Technology. Mark moved to Keele University in 2014 initially as Director of Engagement & Partnerships and then as Director of Research, Innovation & Engagement. Over the last six years Mark has led teams to develop and deliver a number of major cross-institutional projects at Keele. These include new approaches to business and regional engagement; research and REF support; degree-level apprenticeship provision; employability & employer engagement; alumni & supporter engagement; and most recently, a financial sustainability plan and a series of strategic projects focusing on cost reduction, efficiency and growth. Mark has led university-wide collaborations across professional and academic teams to secure over £60m in external investment in research and business engagement infrastructure, including Europe's first Smart Energy Network Demonstrator & the Denise Coates Foundation Building: a new home for Keele Business School and new facilities for university-business collaboration.

Mark was part of the first cohort of those undertaking the Entrepreneurial University Leadership Programme at Oxford University in 2009 and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Mark became Chief Operating Officer at Keele University on 1 October 2019.