19 June 2023 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
We are delighted to announce that our Executive Director, Karel, has been awarded an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours, for services to Higher Education.
Over two decades, Karel has made a substantial contribution to the efficiency with which UK universities operate, by transforming the quality and extent of support available to universities and the professional services staff that work in them.
Characteristically modest, Karel has said about this honour:
'I was amazed, slightly embarrassed, but very proud to be awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to Higher Education. It’s important to say that I would not have achieved a fraction of what the award represents without the support and collegiality of British Universities Finance Directors Group members, past and present, Chairs of the organisation over the past 20 years, and of a team of wonderful colleagues.
Improving things for a community is not always straightforward, and progress is only ever made with cooperation and compromise. US President Harry S Truman said, “It's amazing what you can accomplish when you do not care who gets the credit.” I believe this whole-heartedly, but it is a great honour and privilege to take some credit now. Thank you to everyone who has made it possible.'
When Karel joined BUFDG in 2003, it had one part-time member of staff, and the primary activity of organising a small number of networking events for the 120 Finance Directors of the organisation’s member universities.
Karel immediately recognised the value and savings that could be provided to universities should BUFDG develop to offer professional financial information, training, and expertise (at a fraction of the cost of corporate advisers). She also recognised this service should be expanded to all the finance staff who worked under Finance Directors too. By 2012, BUFDG had four members of staff, and supported over 3,000 staff working in finance in over 170 UK universities.
At that time, Karel saw the opportunity for the sector’s support organisations to be further professionalised, and for significant efficiencies to be made across the sector. This was done by creating a shared service called Professional HE Services Ltd (PHES) that would remove duplication and minimise the organisations’ common running costs. These costs include accounting and governance, websites and databases, IT support, risk management, procurement, and more. Other sector organisations have recognised the merit of this vision and, as of June 2023, the seven organisations now under the PHES umbrella support over 12,000 university staff across the areas of Finance and Procurement, Human Resources, Strategic Planning, Estates, Legal Services, Business/Commercial Services, and Internal Audit.
Under Karel’s direction, BUFDG itself has nine staff members and now supports over 9,000 finance staff at 183 universities. Its expanded remit sees it work across Higher Education to consult with, advocate for, connect, inform, train, and guide universities and the professional staff who work in them. The value is clear - universities pay BUFDG between £2,000 and £6,000 per year for this entire service, while corporate advisers may charge more than that amount for a single piece of advice. It is impossible to exactly quantify the financial benefit to universities of both the shared service model provided by PHES, and the breadth of services provided by BUFDG over the two decades that Karel has led the organisation. It is not unreasonable however to estimate that Karel’s vision and her sustained diligence in seeing it brought to life over the years has saved UK HE many millions of pounds.
Karel has carried out all this work with a warm, personal touch, and much of the success earned for the HE sector has come more easily because Karel has consistently rejected the need for any individual accolades or recognition. Regardless, Karel has an enviable reputation across the sector, and is held in extremely high regard by both her team and the many hundreds of Finance Directors she has supported, both past and present.
We are delighted, and more than a little proud, to see her receive this formal recognition for all her hard work.
