Jacky Wright LVO installed as LSBU’s fifth Chancellor
Technology and business leader Jacky Wright LVO has been installed as the fifth Chancellor of London South Bank University (LSBU) and its first female Chancellor.
She was installed at a ceremony at Walworth Town Hall on Monday 9 November, succeeding the Rt Hon Sir Simon Hughes, who served as Chancellor for eight years. The Chancellor is the University’s ceremonial head, representing LSBU at official and ceremonial occasions and championing its work and ambitions.
Jacky has held senior leadership roles at Microsoft, HM Revenue & Customs, BP and GE. Most recently, she served as Chief Technology and Platform Officer at McKinsey & Company, where she led the firm’s technology strategy and AI transformation globally.
In her speech at the installation ceremony, Jacky called for a “new social contract” to ensure everyone shares in the benefits of AI.
A new social contract for the AI era
“AI is reshaping every aspect of how we learn, work and build careers, within months rather than years,” she told guests including staff, students and civic, business, community and education partners. “Every major technological shift has raised the same question, and we are called upon to answer it again today. Who will share in the progress it creates?”
She said the new contract rests on three commitments: that learning is available to everyone at every stage of life; that education leads to a fulfilling career; and that technology serves people, “augmenting and expanding human potential, strengthening our communities and benefiting all of society.”
“Underpinning all three is the simple principle that talent from every background and life experience must help shape this future and share in what it creates,” she said.
Setting out her priorities as Chancellor, Jacky said: “I have spent my entire career being a technology leader at the forefront of technological change, and championing tech for good. Now as Chancellor, I will continue to advocate but focusing on education where it is needed now more than ever...I will open new partnerships through the networks I have built across business, government and civic life. And I will be present for our students, so they can see that leadership in technology includes people like them.”
Addressing students directly, she said: “The future needs your talent, your perspective and your ambition. LSBU will prepare you to meet it, and I look forward to seeing what you build.”
The ceremony began with a welcome from Paul Kett, LSBU Group CEO and Vice-Chancellor, who explained that Jacky is LSBU’s fifth chancellor since becoming a university in 1992.
He added: “In Jacky, I believe we have truly found a Chancellor that both in her professional life and her personal advocacy embodies our institutional mission...I am thrilled that [she] has agreed to serve as LSBU’s next Chancellor.”
Dr Andreas Raffel, Chair of the LSBU Board and Pro Chancellor, then led Jacky through the affirmation of office and placed the Chancellor’s medal of office around her neck.
A path to opportunity
Jacky, who was raised in North London in a Jamaican family before moving to the US, spoke of her own route to opportunity. “As the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, I know firsthand how access to the right opportunities can change the trajectory of an individual, a family, and a community,” she said. “For many Londoners, that path to opportunity begins at London South Bank University.”
She highlighted LSBU’s record in turning opportunity into outcomes, with students supported by industry-ready curricula, employer links and strong academic and wellbeing support.
Jacky added LSBU has long worked with industry to equip people with the skills employers need and invited business partners to deepen that relationship through LSBU Group’s network of more than 2,000 employers. “Every placement, apprenticeship and mentoring relationship you offer is the social contract in action,” she said.
