Professional managers in UK universities represent an increasingly diverse grouping of staff. As boundaries blur between academic activity and the contributory functions required to deliver that activity in mass higher education systems and markets, their roles have become more fluid. Quasi-academic territories are developing in which professional managers' activities converge and overlap with those of academic and other colleagues. As a result, existing definitions and descriptors, based on outmoded concepts of "administration" and "management", no longer provide clear understandings of professional identities and potentials. As the university is transformed from a community of scholars into a "community of professionals" (AUT 2001), the concept of knowledge management may assist in explaining the changes that are occurring, and in preparing professional staff for uncertain and complex futures. This paper describes the various roles that may be taken on by professional managers in a higher education environment, how they interact with their academic colleagues, and how the blending of management and academic roles has changed the university community. It is based on an interim report undertaken for the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE) in relation to a research project entitled "Professional Managers in UK Higher Education: Preparing for Complex Futures."