St Hugh’s College has announced that Michele Acton, the Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), has been elected its new principal. She will adopt the role in September of this year.
Michele Acton commented: “I am delighted and honoured to have been elected as the next principal of St Hugh’s College and to join a community that combines academic excellence with such a friendly, welcoming, and inclusive environment. Reducing the barriers to an Oxford education was the principle upon which the college was founded and it is one I will work hard to uphold.”
Acton began her career in investment banking after studying PPE at Trinity College. She has been Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Medicine since 2019, prior to which she worked as Chief Executive of Fight for Sight – a charity leading research nationally into eye health – for twelve years.
Acton’s work at Fight for Sight oversaw the bringing together of two charities – Fight for Sight and the British Eye Research Foundation – together to form one national charity focused on addressing sight loss. By the end of her time there, Fight for Sight had an £8 million research commitment to scientists and healthcare professionals at over 40 universities and hospitals.
Acton guided the implementation of the RSM’s new strategy for 2021-2026, a response to the intensified pressure placed on healthcare professionals by the pandemic which set out to transform every aspect of RSM’s work and membership. The strategy aimed to widen access to healthcare education resources using easily accessible online collections.
St Hugh’s’ Senior Fellow and chair of the election process, Professor Adrian Moore FBA commented: “We are thrilled to have elected Michele Acton as our next Principal. Her successful leadership experience, her passion for education and research, and her combination of warmth and strategic vision are exactly the qualities St Hugh’s needs as it looks towards the 150th anniversary of its foundation in 2036.”
Current Principal Lady Elish Angioloni KC described Acton as “an outstanding leader in the charity and academic sector”, stating that she “brings strong finance, strategic and fundraising experience to St Hugh’s”. Speaking about Lady Angiolini, Professor More commented “Elish has made friends wherever she has gone: we look forward to maintaining our own friendship with her, and we wish her well for the future”.
