Mr Thomas McDermott

He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of the Architects Registration Board and the Housing Finance Agency, bringing extensive Board and Audit and Risk Committee experience, including service as Chair. His previous Board and executive roles include Treasurer and Board Director of a major London housing association and board service with a state education regulator. Across these roles, he has contributed to strategic planning, financial oversight, regulatory reform, risk management and organisational change.

Thomas has also led a property development and management business, giving him direct experience of entrepreneurship, investment, financing, commercial negotiations and asset management. Earlier in his career, he worked with PwC and Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank and has undertaken consultancy assignments for major international financial institutions.

Alongside his professional career, Thomas has extensive higher education experience, teaching and examining accounting, finance and business at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional levels. He has held teaching roles at Queen Mary University of London, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Birkbeck University of London. His teaching focuses on connecting academic theory with professional practice and developing students’ analytical, commercial and professional skills.

Thomas is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Higher Education Academy. He holds postgraduate degrees in Sustainable Development and Economics, as well as a Master of Arts from Trinity College Dublin, and has completed executive education in governance and non-profit leadership at Harvard Business School.