Professor Gourley is the former Vice Chancellor and President of The Open University in the United Kingdom. She occupied that post for nearly eight years (until 2009) and for the nine years before that she held the same post at the University of KwaZulu- Natal in South Africa.
For the last ten years Gourley worked as a non-executive director for a South African listed company and, in addition to various advisory appointments in the education sector, worked as a member of boards and trusts, both in the public and private sectors, in the UK, Europe, the United States and South Africa.
She has been recognised for her achievements by awards, medals and prizes as well as fourteen honorary degrees and fellowships from institutions on four continents. In 2009 she was named as one of the UK’s most inspiring women in the Women in Public Life awards, receiving the International Public Servant of the Year and overall Outstanding Achiever awards. In 2014 she received the Outstanding Educator Calabash Award made by the University of South Africa.
She is widely published – addressing in particular the role of Higher Education in promoting social justice, civic engagement, good leadership, and the changing role of Higher Education in the digital world. Her latest publication (July 2019) is a chapter in a book entitled Gandhi @150 and is called “Be the change you want to see” – a phrase attributed to Gandhi and relevant to the subject of her chapter.
Gourley is a Chartered Accountant and Emeritus Professor of Finance and Accountancy at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is married to husband, James ( a retired architect), has four children (living on four different continents) and seven grandchildren. Professor Gourley lives in Brighton in the UK.