Barry Hunter

BA Hons in Accountancy and Finance, 1995

Why did you choose to study a BA in Accountancy and Finance at Heriot-Watt?
From a very early age I wanted to work in finance. I went to look at all the universities in Scotland and Heriot-Watt was impressive. The Riccarton Campus felt modern and forward thinking when compared to other city centre universities in older buildings that were far more spread out. Even today, students can walk from their halls of residence to the library or lecture theatres and then across the campus to world class sports facilities. It's even more impressive today than it was when I went to university.

What's your favourite memory of your time at Heriot-Watt?
It's very difficult to pick out a single favourite memory from my four years at Heriot-Watt. I can still remember very vividly some of the more amusing lectures we had, and I can remember (slightly less vividly!) some of our great nights out in Edinburgh. I can remember Saturday afternoons on the football pitches and long evenings in the library. My overarching memory is of four years at a great university and in a great city.

You have clearly had an impressive career in the finance sector and held several senior positions. Congratulations on your appointment as Chief Financial Officer at AWE. Based on this success, what advice would you give to a new graduate embarking on their career?
A degree from Heriot-Watt will stand you in excellent stead as you embark on your career. You can be very confident that you are starting from a good place. From this point onwards, work hard, be diligent and be kind to those around you. No matter what level of an organisation you work in, most people simply want to work with nice people who help solve problems.

Can you tell us how your Heriot-Watt University education and experience has contributed to your overall success?
The academic education I received at Heriot-Watt was excellent and contributed significantly to me passing my Chartered Accountancy exams in 1998, three years after graduating. My entire career in finance has been based on that. But university isn't just about academic education – I went to Heriot-Watt University when I was 17 years old and graduated when I was 21 years old. The university, campus, lecturers, and tutors provided an excellent and safe environment in which to grow up. My experiences at university shaped me as a person as much as they shaped me academically.

What are your aspirations for the future?
My immediate priority is to accelerate the transformation that is already at AWE. Amongst other things, AWE is a world class science and engineering company and one of the aspects that we are transforming is the science and engineering outreach programme. We already work closely with Heriot-Watt University. After all these years, I've come back to where I started!