David Sproul

Career Success

Alumnus David Sproul is the Chair of Starling Bank. He says, ‘Starling is the leading personal and SME digital bank in the UK with big growth aspirations in the UK and globally. My role as Chair is to lead the Board in working with the CEO to support those growth aspirations whilst ensuring risk and reputation are appropriately managed.’

David also worked for Deloitte for nearly twenty years as Senior Partner and CEO. Of this experience, he says, ‘Being Senior Partner and Chief Executive of Deloitte was a privilege and gave me many opportunities. From a personal perspective, having my leadership of our drive to reset diversity and inclusion in our firm recognised by a UN award was a highlight. From a business perspective, leading the Deloitte business merger across much of Europe with the UK was significant.’

David has significant experience working with clients across many business sectors including consumer business, business services, private equity, and real estate, providing strategic, tax, and transaction services in many geographies.

As a champion of talent development, David ensured that Deloitte provided student placements, graduate and undergraduate schemes, and programmes through the University of Hertfordshire’s own Careers and Employment and Enterprise Service teams.

‘I am very honoured and excited to be featured on the alumni wall. Herts was an important part of my formative years and as I move to the non-executive stage of my business life I am thrilled to be a part of it again.’

Advice for other students

David's advice to both current and prospective students is to, ‘Be adaptable and learn to ‘look around corners’. The pace of change in business will only accelerate and the most successful businesses and individuals will be those that anticipate that change and adapt BEFORE it happens.’