Meet Gemma Lyons
24 Sep 2024
Gemma Lyons is the Director of Faculty Finance. Here she tells us about how her role spans both the Faculty and Directorate of Finance and how she spends her spare time.
Can you tell me about your role and the teams that you work with?
I am a member of the Senior Leadership Team within the Finance Directorate. This means I have a strong connection with everything going on centrally in the world of finance and I stay connected to the other Directors of Faculty Finance so I’m aware of what's happening across the University. But that's just one aspect of my job. My main role in the Faculty is focussed on partnering the Leadership team in FSE and am embedded within the Faculty Leadership Team (FLT) and the Professional Services Leadership Team (PSLT). On a typical day, you’ll find me working closely with the Dean, Executive DoFO, the Heads of School, Planning, Compliance and Special Projects team, Directors of School Operations, the Research and Business Engagement Team as well as many other colleagues across the Faculty.
To sum it up, my role is to bring together the complete financial picture and present this consolidated view to the Leadership Team and advise on the financial aspects of decisions being made by the Faculty. It’s a dynamic role that keeps me on my toes, balancing the priorities of Finance and the specific needs of the Faculty can be challenging but is equally a really rewarding part of the role.
What are your priorities at the moment?
A big focus this year has been on improving cost recovery. We've established a cost recovery steering group that includes Stuart Holmes as the academic lead, one of the Faculty's most important strategic objectives is to enhance our cost recovery by improving what we recover from funders through grants, ensuring full utilisation of facilities and recording access properly so we can invoice for it, and making sure we spend grants fully so we don’t have to return unused funds. We're also focused on making sure technical staff are correctly costed onto grants so their costs can be recovered. This is a priority for FLT, especially as we navigate a challenging financial environment of the HE sector. With our goal to grow research, we need to grow our cost recovery alongside it.
What's your favourite thing about the role?
What I enjoy most is being embedded in the Faculty and working closely with both academics and professional services staff. It's very different from just being in a central finance role where you don’t really see the day-to-day operations of the University. Here, I’m right in the middle of the action, so to speak, and I get to see firsthand what's going on in the Faculty. The variety of tasks also keeps the role exciting. One minute I can be working on a £20 million business case and the next, I’m dealing with a £100 expense claim. No two days are the same, and that diversity keeps the role fresh and interesting. There's always something new to get involved with—right now, it’s cost recovery, but there are always different initiatives coming down the line, for example Future Foundations is a new project being scoped currently and I am involved in various conversations about the future of our Finance and HR systems.
The leadership team in FSE is fantastic and being part of such a strong, dynamic team is something I really appreciate.
How long have you worked at the University?
13 years.
What roles have you held previously?
I’ve had a variety of roles throughout my career, starting in the Faculty of Humanities, where I worked in a Research Finance role for about 18 months. From there, I transitioned to Central Finance to take on a systems implementation role which focused on upgrading the Oracle Financials system. After that, I moved into Medical Sciences where I became the Head of School Finance for Cancer Sciences.
After having my first child, I took a year off and when I returned I was promoted to Head of Financial Reporting for FBMH. During that time, we undertook a major restructure to merge the finance teams which was a challenging but rewarding experience. After having my second child, I came back and moved to FSE, where I initially worked under Ian Rodd as Head of Financial Reporting. When Ian retired, I applied for his position and have been in this current role for about three years now, managing the Faculty finances through the challenges of the pandemic and beyond.
What do you like to do outside of work?
My two children aged nine and five take up most of my time. Whether it's football, swimming, or dance, I'm often busy organising and shuttling them between their activities! I've recently started running and completed the Manchester 10K this year, which was a great personal achievement. I try to fit in running whenever I can.
I’m also currently working towards a postgraduate diploma in senior leadership through an apprenticeship program at AMBS. I am really enjoying the course and would strongly advocate for more staff to invest time in their development given the wide range of opportunities staff have access to at the University.
If you could only eat one meal, what would it be?
Mushrooms on toast!