SETsquared, the enterprise partnership between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton, and Surrey, has brought in Rosie Bennett as interim executive director.
Bennett succeeds Marty Reid, who is joining the University of Bristol as director of innovation, as we reported last month.
The move marks a return to SETsquared for Bennett, who was the centre director for SETsquared at the University of Bath from October 2017 to October 2019, before becoming an investment programme lead in the central office.
She left SETsquared in March 2022 to become chief operating officer at Mystic AI, and later rejoined her former SETsquared colleague Simon Bond at Bristol Innovations, where she was innovation lead from September 2024 to October 2025.
“I’m excited to be going back to SETsquared at such an important moment for the partnership. SETsquared plays a vital role in supporting ambitious founders and connecting universities, investors and industry.
“I’m really looking forward to working with the team and partners to build on the strong foundations already in place, and to help the emerging ventures from our university ecosystems scale and succeed.”
Rosie Bennett
As interim executive director, Bennett will be in charge of the partnership’s strategic direction and day-to-day operations, with responsibilities including maintaining focus across SETsquared’s programmes and advancing work on the investment fund being raised together with QantX.
Sources have told The Next Leap that SETsquared is targeting spring to advertise for a permanent executive director.
