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The University of Cambridge has appointed Emma Rampton as its new Registrary, the University's principal administrative officer.

Emma has a track record of considerable success in administrative leadership and broad experience of how a large and complex organisation operates. She will help strengthen our response to the challenges facing Cambridge, and enhance our ability to seize domestic and international opportunities in the coming years

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

She is the first woman to hold the role in the University’s 808-year-history.

Emma is only the 27th person to hold the office of Registrary, one of the longest continuously-held offices in UK higher education.

The Registrary is the principal administrative officer of the University and the head of the University’s administrative staff. 

The Registrary is also the Secretary to the Council, the principal executive and policy-making body of the University.

The Registrary is responsible for an annual budget of approximately £110 million and more than 1,000 staff.

Emma joined Cambridge in 2015 as its Academic Secretary.  Before that, Emma worked at the University of Oxford, latterly as Deputy University Secretary, a role in which she had responsibility for overseeing the University’s governance, compliance and assurance processes.

Emma graduated from St John’s College, Oxford, with a first class degree in Geography, after which she qualified as a lawyer.

She began her career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and later moved to Oxford where she then moved into university administration.

The University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Emma as our Registrary.

"Emma has a track record of considerable success in administrative leadership and broad experience of how a large and complex organisation operates. 

“She will help strengthen our response to the challenges facing Cambridge, and enhance our ability to seize domestic and international opportunities in the coming years.”

Emma said: “I feel deeply privileged, but thrilled, to be appointed to this role, particularly at this point in the University’s history.  

"We have an opportunity now to do something really exciting, to enhance what is so special about Cambridge. 

"I look forward to working with colleagues to ensure that Cambridge continues to make a considerable contribution to society.”

Emma joins a notable roll call of women who have held senior positions in the University administration, including Vice-Chancellors Dame Rosemary Murray (1975-1977) and Professor Alison Richard (2003-2010).

The office of Registrary was created in 1506, its first holder being Robert Hobys and the last before Emma being Jonathan Nicholls (2007-2017).

Other notable Registraries include John Neville Keynes, the father of the economist John Maynard Keynes and a distinguished logician.

The title is unique to the University of Cambridge. 

Published

29 June 2017

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Emma Rampton, Registrary of the University of Cambridge