Dame Joan Stringer

Cairney Advisor

As a seasoned CEO, Chair and Non-Executive Director, Dame Joan has led countless organisations through change and complexity.

She has held senior appointments in higher education for twenty five years, most recently as Principal & Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University and previously with Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh and Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. 

In addition to board appointments across the arts, not for profit and private sectors, Dame Joan undertakes advisory and consultancy work in change management, strategy development and governance. She is skilled at reshaping and streamlining organisations to meet new objectives and policy demands.

Dame Joan has considerable international and public policy experience, and has developed relationships with political, industry and financial stakeholders in the UK and beyond.

Passionate about the transformational power of education, Dame Joan is an active promoter of widening access and innovation in teaching.

What inspires Dame Joan to think big?

"We should never be constrained by others’ expectations of us or existing norms, innovation and change only happen when you push yourself outside your comfort zone."  In the words of Michelle Obama 'do what works for you as there will always be someone who thinks differently.'