Senior Leadership

Mr. Terry A. Leighton
 

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
 
 

 

Mr. Terry Leighton has been appointed chief financial officer and treasurer for KAUST. He will work with the KAUST management team and international experts to promote the financial well being of the University by overseeing the financial planning, budgeting, cash flow, and investment activities of the University. He will also be responsible for ensuring alignment with the academic and research mission of the University by working with finance, assuring development and implementation of effective business processes and technology solutions, implementing effective internal controls to safeguard financial assets, and supervising compliance with laws and regulations.

A native of Australia, Mr. Leighton has more than 20 years of experience in strategic financial management and development, with a strong emphasis on outcomes, financial performance, and profit generation. For the past nine years, he served as the Director of Corporate Finance at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), a large teaching/research-based university with nearly 40,000 students. During his time at QUT, Mr. Leighton was instrumental in increasing profit levels considerably, and in doubling revenue in a very competitive tertiary education market.

Previously, he spent 11 years in increasingly responsible positions within the Departments of the Treasury and the Premier and Cabinet in Brisbane, where he started as finance officer in the Budget Division, progressively moving to Executive Director in the Government Infrastructure and Coordination and the Policy Coordination Divisions. In these roles he has focused on providing strong leadership in the development of financial strategy, and financial management policy, while maintaining the highest standards of accountability and probity.

Mr. Leighton dealt with state infrastructure planning and development, strategic planning, government policy development, and financial management.

Mr. Leighton earned a Bachelor of Business from North Brisbane College of Advanced Education. He is also a Fellow of the CPA Australia, one of the world's largest accounting bodies.