Finance & Treasury Committee member - voluntary

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Job description

FINANCE AND TREASURY INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE MEMBER 
Salary: Non remunerated, volunteer 
Location: United Kingdom 
 
Jisc are seeking to appoint an independent member with expertise in investment management to join our Finance and Treasury Committee, working with us on a part time and voluntary basis. 
 
Jisc is the UK tertiary education, research and innovation not-for-profit organisation for data, digital services and solutions. Our vision is for the UK to be a world leader in technology for education, research, and innovation. We launched our three year strategy in 2022 which builds on our core strengths and leverages the collective power of the sectors to allow us to maximise our impact. Our strategy encompasses delivering the right solutions to enable digital transformation, empowering communities and driving change as a force for good. 
 

Our purpose is to improve lives through the digital transformation of education and research.  This will be achieved by focusing on the needs of our customers, especially our members, their staff and students. We will deliver a targeted range of managed services. Our products and services will be delivered at pace, at scale and to a defined standard. Jisc engages with emerging technologies and future infrastructure, seeing IT as an enabler, to ensure that we can address member needs in a complex environment. 

 
We provide managed and brokered products and services, enhanced with expertise and intelligence to provide sector leadership and enable digital transformation. Some of our key activities are the provision of the Janet Network which is the National Research and Education Network (NREN). This is used by 18 million people and uses sector specific intelligence to build in cyber security.  Jisc is the designated data body for higher education following a merger with HESA. 
 
Jisc is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. 
Website: https://www.jisc.ac.uk 
 
Role of the committee 
The finance and treasury committee is a sub committee of the Jisc board. The committee is responsible for scrutinising Jisc's financial performance, budget, and investment and property activities. 

 
The new member would join other independent members, trustees and the Jisc CEO on the committee. Areas of expertise represented on the committee encompass further education, higher education, the commercial sector and financial roles in different contexts. 
 

The committee meets 5 times a year and is currently holding one of these in person in London with the remaining meetings taking place via Zoom. Meetings last for approximately 3 hours with papers being shared the week prior for reading and preparation. The member would also attend quarterly meeting with Jisc’s investment managers.  Committee members are invited to join the first day of the annual board away day which takes place in Bristol each Spring.   
 
Role specification 
All committee members would contribute to the scrutiny and challenge provided by the committee across financial strategy, investment and property.  

In order to support a balance of skills and experience across the committee, Jisc are seeking an individual with particular experience of managing or making investments to join the committee. 

 
The independent committee member would have the expertise in investment management to be able to guide the committee by providing robust challenge and support in the decision-making process. This would, in turn, guide the Board on the strategy for the charity’s reserves so that its long-term objectives and financial stability could be achieved. 
Jisc invests its reserves with support from third party advisors, who are overseen by the CFO, as well as in projects to grow Jisc's infrastructure to support HE / FE institutions in providing a more digital offering to students. 
 

Given the potential challenges to income from government and the education sector, and the need to support members facing an ever-changing technological and cyber-security landscape, prudent management of Jisc's investments is more important than ever. This Independent Member will provide guidance to the Committee on how Jisc's investments can be used to both provide excellent services to members going forward while also securing a strong financial footing in the years ahead. 
 

In relation to investments the terms of reference confirm that the committee’s remit includes recommending the investment objectives and strategy to the board, overseeing these investments including providing guidance for fund managers, monitoring the performance of the investment strategy and informing the board of any material changes. 
 
Person specification 
Based on their own professional experience of directly investing or managing funds, this individual will be able to advise on Jisc's investment strategy, instilling confidence in other members of the Committee that the funds are being appropriately managed. They will act as a trusted advisor, providing constructive challenge and scrutiny of third parties who manage investments on Jisc's behalf.

The successful candidate will also be able to evaluate the investment strategy in light of Jisc's risk appetite and its ethical guidelines, ensuring that its investments are managed in a way which reflects the values of its members and various stakeholders. 

Diversity and inclusion
Jisc has a number of guiding principles which are active across the company, including ‘Always Inclusive’ acknowledging that we are a culture made up of diverse minds, identities and backgrounds, choosing to be actively inclusive and anti-racist.  
 
To work alongside Jisc’s approach to inclusion and anti-racism within the company, the board have agreed a diversity policy for the board and committee members. This sets out a number of monitoring and reporting responsibilities for our Nominations and Governance committee which will support the board in its intention for both board and committees to become more diverse. 
 
 
How we use your personal information 
When you apply for a position with Jisc we need to collect and process some of your personal information. We’ll use it, as described in our recruitment privacy notice and overarching Jisc privacy notice. 
 

This information is collected in line with our board and committee diversity policy which sets out how we at Jisc avoid discriminating against people and how we create a safe and inclusive atmosphere. 
 

Our lawful basis for processing this Diversity Information is your explicit consent and answering the questions is completely voluntary.  You can choose not to provide this information when you make your application by ticking the ‘prefer not to say’ option. If you change your mind and wish to withdraw your consent for us to process this Diversity Information you can contact us at any time. 

 
Once we receive your application, we will separate the application data and Diversity Information to be used for reporting against the Trustee role, which will be stored separately in an anonymous format. Whilst we will make every effort to store Diversity Information anonymously, due to the small number of applicants there is a risk that the Diversity Information will enable you to be identified. 
 
Please do let us know what reasonable adjustments you need made to the application or selection process so you can do your best. We will be happy to help you. 
Closing date for applications is 5th December 2023.