Andrew Hargreaves, UCAS Director of Customer Experience & Marketing, will act as interim Chief Executive following Mary’s departure at the end of April.
Sir Steve Smith said: “On behalf of the Board of Trustees I am delighted to announce Clare’s appointment as UCAS’ next Chief Executive. She brings with her a wealth of senior leadership experience and an impressive track record in the successful delivery of technology enabled change in the public and private sectors. She is well-placed to lead UCAS as it presses ahead with the development and delivery of the next generation of information, admissions, and data services.”
Clare Marchant said: “I’m thrilled about the opportunity to serve as UCAS’ Chief Executive. UCAS is a unique organisation which fulfils a critical national role connecting people with education opportunities and helping over 700,000 people a year access higher education. I look forward to working with customers, staff, and stakeholders to enable UCAS to realise its goal of delivering outstanding digital services to students, advisers, and universities and colleges.”
Clare started her career in production management for Rank Hovis McDougall before joining Deloitte and leading IT-enabled change programmes for a number of government departments and well-known brands. For seven years she led the delivery and deployment of major IT implementations across the NHS before joining Worcestershire County Council in 2010, becoming its Chief Executive in 2014.
Clare is a graduate of both the University of Hull and the Open University and is an independent governor at the University of Wolverhampton.
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Notes to Editors
About UCAS
UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, is a charity and the UK’s shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications from around 700,000 applicants each year for full-time undergraduate courses at around 380 universities and colleges across the UK.
For more information please contact communications@ucas.ac.uk or call the External Relations Team on 01242 545 469.