Matt Gijselman has been appointed CEO of the NUW Alliance, a first-of-its-kind partnership between the University of Newcastle, UNSW Sydney and the University of Wollongong.

Mr Gijselman comes to the role as an experienced external relations executive, including time as a government adviser and senior roles with the NRMA, Equifax and the Australian Retail Credit Association.

“The NUW Alliance provides a framework to effectively deal with some of the greatest challenges of our time – to drive innovation, and deliver practical benefits to our state,” said Professor Paul Wellings CBE, NUW Alliance Chair.

Mr Gijselman takes over from previous CEO Bran Black, who built the Alliance’s corporate infrastructure, which includes the Board of three vice‐chancellors, a Management Committee and several strategic project groups. Under his leadership, the NUW Alliance finalised its strategy and fostered critical relationships across industry and government, including working with the state government on the Western Sydney Aerotropolis development. Mr Black also oversaw the awarding of seed funding to diverse collaborative research projects across the three universities.

“The NUW Alliance is in a strong position to deliver on the aspirations of the three universities’ vice-chancellors to work to create new knowledge, grow new jobs, build new businesses and deliver the leaders of tomorrow for the workforce of the future,” said Mr Gijselman.

The NUW Alliance was launched in July 2017 and is dedicated to delivering solutions to the biggest challenges facing NSW and generating opportunities for its citizens.

Mr Black has now moved to a new position as Chief of Strategic Initiatives at UNSW, where he will continue to contribute to the success of the NUW Alliance.