Heather J. McGregor is a Professor at Heriot-Watt University and currently the Executive Dean of the Edinburgh Business School, having held the post since 2016. She is also the Acting Head of Social Sciences at the University. Her earlier career was in investment banking and she then spent 17 years as an entrepreneur leading her own executive search firm prior to her move into higher education. She is a qualified chartered management accountant (CGMA).
Professor McGregor has a PhD from the University of Hong Kong in Structured Finance and an MBA from London Business School. Her undergraduate degree was a BSc in Agricultural Economics & Marketing from Newcastle University. Heather is an experienced writer and broadcaster, including writing for the Financial Times for 17 years. She is also the founder of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, which works to promote diversity in the communications industry, and a founding member of the steering committee of the 30% Club, which works to raise the representation of women at senior levels within the U.K.’s publicly listed companies. As well as IGT, Professor McGregor is a non-executive director of FEET plc (an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange) and Lowell UK (a private financial services company majority owned by Permira Advisers LLC).
In 2021 Professor McGregor was one of the first two people at Heriot-Watt University to be named a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; in 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Professor McGregor was awarded a CBE in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to business, especially diversity in the workplace.
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