Ian Mehrtens

After graduating in quantity surveying, Ian became a chartered surveyor and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1979. Ian taught in a number of universities becoming Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Built Environment in 1992. Following a successful teaching career, Ian returned to practising his craft as Director of Estates in 2000 and eventually Chief Operating Officer (COO) at London South Bank University (LSBU) in 2014 where he remained until he retired from full time work in 2019.

This extensive academic and executive career included being elected as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Regent’s University London in 2007. This University is one of the largest private not-for-profit universities in the UK.

In his last role as COO, Ian was one of a small group of executives who led on the merger of Lambeth College into the LSBU Group structure, retaining the College identity within the group. Working closely with stakeholders and government, this model of education is the first of its kind in the UK, sitting academies, further education and higher education alongside each other for the benefit of the learners. His specific role in this was to integrate the services across the group into a single delivery point.