Imperial College London has appointed energy and telecommunications business specialist Edward Astle as Pro Rector for Commercial Development. As a member of the college management board, Astle will be charged with facilitating the development and delivery of technologies in the fields of science, medicine and education that emanate from Imperial-led collaborations with commercial partners around the world.
Astle is due to take up his post on 1 December 2008. he graduated from Oxford and holds an INSEAD MBA. His appointment follows a seven-year stint as a director of the National Grid, responsible among other things for business development. He has also served on the board of two other FTSE 100 companies and held two chairmanships in start-up companies.
Roy Anderson, Rector of Imperial College, said: “One of Imperial’s strategic goals is to reduce dependency as far as possible on any single source of income, so that we have the resources to sustain our mission of providing world-class research, teaching and translation of our activities. I am delighted that Edward will be leading our commercial development portfolio and that Imperial will be able to benefit from his broad experience in securing sustainable support for its academic mission.”
Astle said: “I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to apply my business experience to support one of the world’s greatest universities. Imperial has already been successful in translating its academic excellence commercially and I look forward to working with the whole team to take this forward.”
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