Hertford College names Will Hutton as new Principal

28 March 2011

Hertford College is delighted to announce that Will Hutton will take up the role of Principal in autumn 2011. Although this will necessitate a stepping down from the role of executive vice chair of The Work Foundation this summer, his association with the Foundation will continue as chair designate of a major new initiative on innovation.

Mr Hutton is an economist and leading public intellectual whose career began in the City, but who is best known for his work in journalism. He was editor-in-chief at The Observer from 1996-2000 (where he continues to write a column), when he joined The Work Foundation. His review ‘Fair Pay in the Public Sector’ has just been published, and he has also conducted a number of other independent reviews:  on Britain’s education and training compared to EU countries for the then DfES (2005), for the BBC’s charter renewal submission (2004) and led a team assessing the prospects for  the creative industries – “ Staying Ahead”- for the DCMS (2007). He is currently chairing the Ownership Commission, established by the outgoing Labour government, due to report in the autumn of this year. His many books include the best-selling The State We’re In (1995), The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the Twenty-First Century (2008), and, most recently, Them and Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need a Fair Society (2010). He is a governor of the London School of Economics and the Ditchley Foundation, and has received honorary degrees from many universities including Bristol, East Anglia, Kingston, and Glasgow Caledonian.

The College’s Senior Fellow, Dr Toby Barnard FBA, said: ‘Hertford is delighted to have Will Hutton as its next Principal. He promises to continue and enhance the college’s enviable reputation for innovation, open access, friendliness and intellectual distinction. We have all been excited by his energy and ideas, and look forward eagerly to his arrival. There is foul weather ahead for all universities, but particularly for Oxford colleges. Hertford is confident that, with Will Hutton’s dynamism and experience of public life, it will emerge from the impending storms much strengthened.'

Paul Wellings, the Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University (which acquired The Work Foundation in October last year) said, ‘Congratulations to Will Hutton on his appointment as Principal of Hertford College. We are very pleased for him, but also pleased that he will continue to stay in touch with The Work Foundation’s research and influencing work, notably in chairing its new venture on innovation.’

Of his new role, Mr Hutton said ‘I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve a great Oxford college at a pre-eminent world university. There is a genuine meeting of minds between the fellowship and myself  that is exhilarating, and I look forward to doing my very best to help the College and University through what Toby Barnard so accurately describes as foul weather. ‘

For further information please contact the University of Oxford Press Office on 01865 280528 or press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk