Campaign leadership

• Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE

  Principal and Vice-Chancellor

  

  Professor Dame Sally Mapstone is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. She is the University’s second female Principal and Vice-Chancellor and was installed in 2016. In 2025, Dame Sally accepted an invitation from the University Court to extend her contract until 2028.

  Dame Sally has safeguarded and enhanced St Andrews' international excellence in teaching and research through the creation and implementation of the University Strategy for 2018 to 2023, and the refreshed Strategy for 2022 to 2027.

  She has repositioned social responsibility at the heart of University life, including through a commitment to becoming net zero by 2035 and a prioritisation of diversity and inclusivity across the community.

  Dame Sally is a recognised leader in the higher education sector and fulfils several external leadership roles. She currently serves as Chair of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) Board, and a trustee of the Europaeum, and until 2025 held the position of President of Universities UK.

  She has previously served as Convenor of Universities Scotland, Vice-Chair of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Chair of Universities Scotland’s Admissions Policy Group, and as a trustee of UCAS.

  Read the Principal and Vice-Chancellor’s full profile.

• Tim Allan CBE FRSE (MA 1988)

  Campaign Chair

  

  Tim Allan is an entrepreneur and philanthropist and is Chair of the Making Waves Campaign committee. A founder director of MFG, the largest forecourt retailer in the UK, Tim is also a diversified investor with more than 20 investments in early stage Scottish companies, many through Tricorn Capital, his private investment company. He is Chair of V&A Dundee, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, deputy lieutenant for Clackmannanshire and holds Patronages of the National Trust for Scotland, the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Army Museum.

  Tim graduated from the University of St Andrews in 1988 with a degree in History. He and his wife Kim (née Cowan, BSc 1988) met as undergraduates at the University and have remained connected to St Andrews.

  Tim said: "I am honoured to have been asked to chair the Campaign Committee. My wife, Kim, and I owe this place – and this institution – so much and have enjoyed being able to support many projects at the University as major donors. We have also been able to offer a practical contribution by earmarking land on our farm for the St Andrews Forest, providing an opportunity for the University to pave the way in carbon sequestration.

  "Philanthropy at St Andrews is not just about a profound sense of connection with the University and our happy times studying here. It is about making serious investments in impactful and world-leading research that may change the world. It is about return on investment.

  "We have set a deliberately ambitious target of £300 million with the Making Waves Campaign that will enable a wholly new dimension to the University: the first of its kind in three centuries. That is a deserving and historic cause."

• Robert Fleming

  Director of Development

  

  Robert Fleming has been Director of Development at the University of St Andrews since 2012, and is responsible for philanthropy, alumni relations, and the Family Programme. The University publicly launched Making Waves: The Campaign for St Andrews in September 2024, following a quiet phase since the completion of the £100 million 600th Anniversary Campaign in 2018. The ambitious Making Waves Campaign aims to raise £300m to position St Andrews at the forefront of societal innovation and change through four key projects: ‘New College’, the Digital Nexus building, postgraduate and undergraduate scholarships, and endowed chairs.

  Prior to St Andrews, Robert was a Vice President for GG+A (management consultants in philanthropy, based in Chicago), held Director of Development positions at the University of Edinburgh and Trinity College of Music, and was Head of Sponsorship Development at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he was also co-chair of Arts & Business London Development Forum.

  He is currently a Scotland Committee member of the UK charity Action for Children and is chairman of the Caledonian Group of higher education development directors in Scotland. Robert served on the CASE Commission for Philanthropy from 2014 to 2017, and previously served on the boards of Scottish Ensemble, Mendelssohn on Mull Festival, and Making Music.