Matt Ferguson joined Warwick in 2018 and is building a culture of philanthropy that will enable the university to triple its philanthropic income in support of the Vice Chancellor’s 2030 strategy. Principal gifts, and the data analytics and donor relations on which they rely, is a central pillar of this strategy. In 2019, Warwick Business School created The Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology thanks to a £3.5 million gift.

Matt was previously at King's College London for 10 years, latterly as Chief Development Officer. He has significant principal gifts experience in Asia: during his time at KCL, he secured the £20 million gift from Hong Kong-based philanthropist Dickson Poon to create the eponymous School of Law at King's; £7 million to create the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy, and Law; and £6 million to create the Lau China Institute. He led the development of the University's Principal Gift Strategy and provided strategic advice to the World questions King's answers campaign board, chaired by the Rt. Hon Sir John Major. He is a Fellow of King’s College London, a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and a past trustee of the Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital Charity (2016-19). He began his career in Development at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta.