Professor Ann Priest

Lay Governor

A‌nn is a senior manager and academic in the UK Higher Education sector. She retired from full time employment after nine years as Pro-Vice Chancellor for student affairs and Head of College of Art & Design and the Built Environment for the Nottingham Trent University; Ann was previously Dean at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London for thirteen years.

Ann is passionate about the quality of student experience and a strong proponent of creative education and the importance and transformational opportunities afforded by art, design and culture in higher education. She has advised and supported numerous developing fashion colleges and universities in India, Brazil, Turkey and elsewhere internationally and was a Member and Chair of the International Advisory Group for the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts for 9 years to 2016. Ann is currently Consultant International Dean for Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology and spends several months each year in China.

Prior to joining Higher Education, Ann worked in the fashion industry as product designer and developer, and product selector and buyer for high street and designer brands including Wallis, Jeff Banks and Mulberry. She has advised and consulted for small businesses in fashion and the creative industries for over thirty years, and whilst at University of the Arts and at Nottingham Trent Universities led on several significant EU funded enterprise and business support projects.

Ann has been Trustee and Board member for Nottingham Contemporary since 2012, Trustee and Board member of Broadway Media since 2007, and Trustee of Young Creatives Nottingham since 2016. Until retirement, she was a Board member of the Nottingham Creative Quarter Company and the Nottingham Cultural Strategy Group. Ann is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Textile Institute. She was awarded a Silver medal by the Society of Dyers and Colourists and honoured with a City award for services to Nottingham. Ann is a Trustee and Board member for Glasgow Caledonian New York College.