BBSRC Finance Director
Zahir Sachak is the Finance Director for the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
Zahir is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Zahir has held various finance and management consultancy roles in both the private and public sectors where he developed his skills in the areas of financial strategy, organisational management, and business transformation.
Zahir worked in the private sector for 20 years and joined Department for Trade and Industry in 2003, which eventually became the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), through a machinery of government change.
Zahir joined BBSRC in 2011, from BEIS, where he has been part of senior teams overseeing the delivery of BBSRC’s research and innovation campus strategy and major infrastructure programmes.
These include:
- campus developments at:
- Babraham Research Campus
- Norwich Research Park
- Rothamsted
- Aberystwyth
- infrastructure developments at:
- The Pirbright Institute
- European Bioinformatics Institutes
- construction of the Quadram Institute facility at Norwich
Zahir’s experience and expertise have also helped in developing BBSRC financial policies and practices, ensuring the responsible allocation of public funds and supporting BBSRC in the delivery of its strategic objectives.
Recently, Zahir has also taken responsibility for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Finance Team who support the NERC Executive Team.
As BBSRC Finance Director, Zahir’s responsibilities include:
- overseeing and the management and allocation of financial resources, maintenance of strong financial controls and procedures, provision of funding assurance on institute core funding, and adherence to government financial rules and regulatory requirements, across all BBSRC activities
- providing financial oversight, advice, and guidance, on both finance and governance matters, across BBSRC strategically funded institutes and campuses and major BBSRC strategic programmes and projects
- overseeing UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) lease arrangements across the BBSRC supported institutes and campuses in line with UKRI regulatory and policy requirements and individual institute or campus strategies
Last updated: 14 December 2023