Speakers

Mehjabeen Patrick is a senior business executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in finance and investment. She is currently the Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), where she has played a pivotal role in strengthening the university’s financial position and driving a culture of strategic and operational discipline and entrepreneurism. Her work continues as part of AUB’s broader transformation agenda, focused on achieving long-term sustainability and growth.

Mehjabeen brings a distinctive external perspective to higher education, shaped by her extensive experience in bringing growth mindset, stabilising organisations facing challenge, reshaping business models, and creating the conditions for enduring success.

Before joining AUB, Mehjabeen served as Chief Financial Officer of EIT Culture & Creativity, a European Union–backed organisation dedicated to investing in and supporting the creative sector across Europe, including creative education. Prior to that, she was Chief Finance Officer and later Chief Investment Officer at Creative UK, where she helped scale the organisation from a regional body to a trusted national institution - the UK’s only specialist investor in creative businesses from early-stage to scale-up.

Earlier in her career, Mehjabeen worked as Director of Finance for the United Nations Association and Stakeholder Forum, international environmental NGOs where she gained valuable experience working with multilateral and multi-government organisations around the world. She began her career in banking as a senior banker at  First Women Bank, the world’s first and only bank dedicated to serving women customers, where she led regional teams and contributed to the bank’s early growth.

Mehjabeen holds an MBA from the University of Exeter, specialising in Corporate Finance and Financial Management, and an MSc in Defence and Strategic Studies.

Alongside her executive role, Mehjabeen serves on several boards and investment committees, including the Social Tech Trust, Social Tech Ventures, the British Design Fund Investment Committee, and as Chair of the Bristol & Bath Regional Capital City Funds Investment Advisory Committee and Chair of Boys Impact CIC.