Since 2013 I have been Bursar and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, part of Cambridge University. Before that I spent 26 years in finance, predominantly in equity capital markets at Citigroup (where I led the ECM business for Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Schroders. Having moved to the Cambridge area it became increasingly difficult to sustain any quality of family life while giving the appropriate commitment to the business, so a second career beckoned, a generation after graduating in English from Queens’ College. As Bursar I look after the non-academic side of the college: investments, strategic and operational finance, our staff and the stewardship of our estate which has two campuses. Collectively the Bursars of the 31 colleges collaborate extensively to smooth interaction between the colleges (which are autonomous charities) and with the university. Corpus, founded in 1352, is one of the older and smaller colleges, with c.60 Fellows and 500 students. It has a more balanced mix between undergraduates and postgraduates than many others and is the only Oxbridge college founded by the guilds of its native town.