Members of the Jesus College community came together today to bid a fond farewell to Stuart Woodard, Estates Bursar, who is retiring after eight years in the role.

College Principal Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Fellows and staff joined Stuart for a special leaving event in Hall. In a speech for the occasion, Sir Nigel said, “Stuart has worked tirelessly to ensure the College’s finances and endowment are well managed, and his efforts have contributed significantly to the success of the College over recent years. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with him; his professionalism, dedication and expertise has been invaluable. He has been a loyal friend to many of us, and we wish him all the best.”   

Stuart is a Fellow and alumnus of the College (1976, History) and not the only Jesubite in the Woodward family. He met his wife Susan (1976, Biochemistry) at Jesus, and son Jonathan was an Engineering undergraduate from 2009 – 2013. Susan (Sue) followed in the footsteps of her father, Tom Roberts, who read French (1948). On retirement, he now becomes an Emeritus Fellow.

Prior to his role as Estates Bursar, Stuart had a long and successful career as an audit partner at Deloitte. He retired formally from the firm in May 2016, but not before he had taken a call from the then Principal, Professor Lord John Krebs, inviting him to consider the Bursar position in College. Stuart says: “In the autumn of 2014, I’d agreed with Deloitte to go part-time, with a view to winding down towards retirement a few months later. About two weeks after that agreement had been made, John Krebs called me, and explained that the College was looking to recruit a finance professional to the College Officers team, and asked if I was interested. I shall be forever grateful to him for that phone call!”

In fact, Stuart was an obvious candidate for the Estates Bursar role. After graduating, and in the decades that followed, he had maintained close ties with the College. “I kept in touch with the late Dr John Walsh, who had been my History tutor” he explains; “One of my first positions at Deloitte was in graduate recruitment, so I would visit College to meet John, and do the ‘milkround’ of that year’s graduate cohort. In the early 1990s, when the College decided to create a Financial Advisory Panel, I was invited to join, and I was also deeply involved in the fundraising project to create and endow a second History Fellowship at Jesus when John Walsh retired. And of course I had lots of contact while my son was studying here.”

The phone call from the Principal proved effective, and Stuart commenced the role of Estates Bursar on a part-time basis in October 2015. Over the past eight years, he has provided invaluable oversight, support and advice on all aspects the College’s financial management, endowment management and served as Secretary on (or a member of) a range of College Committees. He has also managed both the Accounts Department and IT Department, and worked as advisor to the Director of Development on financial terms for major donations, legacies and more. So what will he miss most about working at Jesus?

“I will really miss the role” he says, “I’ve always enjoyed working; the intellectual challenge of it. The work is so varied and interesting, and the environment is truly collegiate. Everyone works together, and together we’ve achieved a lot, most obviously the development of the new Cheng Yu Tung Building, but there has been much else besides. Jesus College really is a wonderful place.”

Now, with retirement on the horizon (and the freedom to go on holiday outside of term time), Stuart and Sue plan to do some travelling, and to work on their home in Winchester. “Sue has supported me throughout my 40-year career” says Stuart “as well as having her own career, and it seems entirely appropriate now that she calls the shots.”

Whatever the future holds, we are indebted to Stuart for all the work he has done for the College, and also to Sue and the Woodward family more widely for their incredible support over many decades. As both an alumnus and our newest Emeritus Fellow, Stuart will remain a highly-regarded and valued member of the College community.