Prof John Raftery

Vice-Chancellor, University of Wolverhampton

In February 2023 Professor Raftery joined the University of Wolverhampton from Massachusetts, following senior appointments at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Oxford Brookes and London Metropolitan University, where he was Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive and successfully led a complex turnaround and cultural transformation. One of the pioneers of the use of simulation in project price forecasting and risk analysis now routinely implemented in industry in Europe, the US and Asia, his recent writings are on adaptive leadership and challenges in higher education in the US and the UK.

He has worked on assignments on risk in major public infrastructure projects valued at more than US$20bn, and on cartels and restrictive practices in Hong Kong, Finland and the UK. He served as an advisor to the UK Prime Minister’s Initiative Research schemes for UK-India and UK-India-US. Board appointments in the UK include, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, the Open University National Role Advisory Board, Access HE, and the Council of Ruskin College Oxford.