Business, Management and Digital Employer Industry Board

Director (Ah Ha! Consulting Limited)
Vice President – Policy, Products & Services (Franklin Apprenticeships)
Trustee (City & Guilds)
Councilor (City & Guilds)

Andy spent 14 years in the leisure travel industry working for TUI and led on their Early Talent and Apprenticeships. This included managing external partnerships which also formed part of the broader People Development offer. TUI began their apprenticeship journey in the late 1980’s and went on to cover high street Travel Services, Outdoor Activity Leadership, Business Administration, Customer Service, Childcare, Finance & Accounting, IT, Airline Operations and ILM Leadership & Management.

Whilst at TUI achievement rates of more than 90% were regularly reported and candidates progressed very quickly through the business ranks. Andy worked closely with the Skills Funding Agency, Department for Education and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education in order to support policy development, and the sharing of best practice.

Before he joined TUI Andy spent 18 years in the logistics industry, working in operational and management roles before moving into the Learning and Development team. Over the last seven-year period he worked on various new business implementations setting strategic learning and development plans, designing solutions and delivering development from the top of each business.

Andy believes that working as a part of the Business, Management and Digital Employer Industry Board will enable him to share his learning from his years in large industry and working with smaller businesses. This will, in turn, enable him to learn from the other board members to update his experience and understand the many challenges that they are facing in their own organisations.

Over many decades, UK Industrial Productivity reports have cited weaknesses in business leadership and management as a key factor. Andy feels that our collective efforts will help to address this issue. We will help to create a robust development system that provides learners with clear pathways to careers in the business, management and digital spaces, which will greatly improve business performance across all industries in the future.

As Director of Ah Ha!, Andy is responsible for all aspects of running a small business, and acts as the prime consultant for our partner organisations.

As VP – Policy, Products & Services of Franklin; Andy works closely with the CEO & COO to shape the business strategy. He is responsible for customer and stakeholder insight, working with government and state departments to focus on the skills interventions that the business can support; development of new programs; delivery systems; and quality processes.

For more information about Franklin Apprenticeships visit the dedicated website

Chloe has worked in leading roles across further education for many years, specialising in apprenticeships, T Levels and adult education, in both public and private sectors. She has a wealth of experience within business growth in the UK and Europe from her previous strategic roles within the travel, media and rail industry.

Having an abundance of energy and knowledge of education, marketing, business development and management, Chloe combines all of this into her current role at Redstone Training. She focuses on education and partnerships across the UK, bringing together schools, colleges, businesses and local authorities, to support young people and adults and their careers. Chloe particularly focuses on supporting people that are classed as high needs, by aiming to level the playing field and improve social mobility across the regions.

Redstone are the experts in the development of talent in the Rail Sector. Redstone provide extensive training and courses across the UK and are on a mission to shape the rail industry and support the skills gaps we have as a country within the sector.

Visit the dedicated website for more information

Claire originally trained and qualified as a Mental Health Nurse working within both hospital and community settings. As part of the role, there was a requirement to support and train other members of the team, which piqued her interest in teaching, learning and assessment.

Using her expertise as an NVQ assessor, Claire gained the position of lecturer within a further education college and then completed a teaching qualification. She further developed her leadership qualities and became a member of the senior leadership team within the further education sector.

Claire gained a MEd with a dissertation focussing on the changing role of the assessor in response to the Apprenticeship Reform.

Claire is currently the Head of the Skills and Employability Service at Entrust.

Claire also has an active role working with sector skills councils, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Skills Advisory Panels, Local Training Partnerships, Apprentice Ambassador Networks and more recently with the Employer Industry Board with City & Guilds. She is a board member for the Staffordshire Partnership for Employability and Skills and a board member for the Skills Advisory Panel for the Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire LEP.

Entrust is an education and skills support services business. Driven by its purpose: to create better outcomes – for employees, clients and customers, suppliers and partners, and society. Entrust has worked with schools and academies from over 50 Local Authority areas, offering a vast range of education services from school improvement to skills and employability, finance, property, and IT.

By building on its reputation for excellence and delivering what it promises, Entrust wants to help make every school a good school, ensuring every child and young person gets the education they deserve. For more information visit the dedicated website.

From the commencement of her career, Debbie has always been keen to work to improve the lives of people, firstly as a front-line practitioner working with children and young people and then as an adult teacher supporting the development of the workforce supporting children. Debbie has worked on many projects with the Children’s Workforce Development Council and engaged with many national initiatives on diverse topics related to workforce development.

In her extensive career she has both developed and delivered qualifications, supported apprenticeship trailblazers, and established a qualifications and apprenticeships centre within Central Bedfordshire Council.

Three years ago, Debbie moved to a much broader role that has enabled her to grow a centralised model of workforce development across Central Bedfordshire Council, supporting the internal workforce and local communities, including delivery of learning activity, qualifications, and apprenticeships. Debbie has more recently commenced the development of a unit that is responsible for career pathways into the council – including work experience, student placements, apprenticeships, and the development of a graduate workforce programme.

Central Bedfordshire is a small unitary Council with around 2800 employees providing services to the communities we represent. We are ambitious for Central Bedfordshire to be a great place to live and work. For more information go to the dedicated website.

In 1987 I started my working career as a trainee secretary. In 1993 I moved into the health service where I supported qualified staff in obtaining their Assessors and Verifiers award, at the time known as D32/3/4. In 1997 I moved away from healthcare to broaden my teaching by joining our local FE college, again leading NVQs.

After being in education for 5 years I thought I would try undertaking a management role, again to broaden my knowledge. This I did for the following 6 years.

In 2004 an opportunity became available back in the health service to set up an assessment centre for the delivery of NVQs in non-clinical vocational qualifications. I knew my passion was in teaching so I applied for this position and was successful.

I have now been working in the health service for 21 years and during this time I have been involved with setting up many projects.

I myself hold a teaching and coaching qualification along with leadership and management. I have worked over the years with C&G’s and ILM either assessing or verifying training programmes.

Over the recent years I have worked very closely with our local FE college in setting up academies to support student progression and for them to experience first-hand what working in care looks like in order to give them an informed decision on their future career path. These academies will now be expended into T Level industrial placements.

I am passionate and proud of our association with Project Search which enables internships for students with learning disabilities. We’ve successfully enabled employment for over 80% of our Project Search students and received awards for this work.

Gaynor has spent over 20 years in the vocational education and training arena across the UK to help individuals gain confidence and improve their practice. She has been involved in the development of sector specific qualifications such as Level 3 Team Leading in Construction and Apprenticeship packages in Leadership & Management.

Gaynor is Head of Strategic Partnerships at the Institute where she develops collaborative opportunities with organisations to achieve the organisations mission.

Gaynor is also co-chair of the Leadership & Management – Special Interest Group (Task & Action) for Engage for Success, focusing on improving productivity in the UK through greater employee engagement.

The Institute of Leadership is an international professional body – ‘inspiring great leadership, everywhere'. For more information go to the dedicated website.

Holly is the Recruitment and Early Careers Lead at First Response Finance, responsible for all recruitment activity across the business, as well the Early talent programmes. Her role is to co-ordinate all recruitment and early careers activity in First Response and continually improve all of the mechanisms, ensuring that they are compliant, market leading, efficient and provide the candidate with the best possible experience.

Holly has worked in the finance industry for 8 years with First Response Finance, and 5 years previously with Santander in the Banking sector. At First Response, Holly has gained exposure to a customer facing role and a Compliance role, before moving into the Recruitment space in 2017.

Holly ensures that the early careers programmes on offer are robust and fit for purpose, looking to fulfil the businesses operational objectives and fill critical skill gaps. She is involved in employer and industry advisory boards at 2 colleges in the local community, to feedback on programme delivery and support students with critical skills and help them with their transition into employment. Most recently taking part in the Leaderships and Management trailblazer group.

Holly supports a number of local colleges, along with current and past apprentices to give back and provide insight to current students on how to compose CV’s, how to handle themselves in interviews, what employers are looking for and pathways that may be available to them.

Learning and Development Manager for the five business arms of Zarafa Group, across the UK for Engineering at Heights Solutions. Engineering Lecturer for 16 years until 2021, with course management of trailblazing the “Young Apprenticeship” pilot scheme. Managed T level pilot in 2019 with 80% job conversion.

I managed the a major trial of Maintenance Operations Engineering Technician (MOET) standard with one of the first EPA. Managed number 2 ATO of Apprenticeships in East Midlands (after Rolls Royce).

Kevin Streater is an expert in IT & Cyber Security skills development with over 20 years’ experience as a specialist in competency assessment, digital credentialing, and educational technology. Kevin is Vice President at ForgeRock, a leading provider of digital identity solutions, where he heads the global customer education business.

As Vice President, ForgeRock University Kevin leads the global customer education business for ForgeRock which develops and delivers high-quality, industry certification focused, hands-on technical curriculum for ForgeRock’s customers, partners, and staff globally. His responsibilities include management of a worldwide content and certification development team, and a global network of Authorised Education Delivery partners.

Before ForgeRock, Kevin was Executive Director, Employer Engagement at The Open University after 19 years in various technical, education and management roles at Sun Microsystems.

Whilst at The Open University, Kevin contributed to the Richards Review of Apprenticeships, and chaired the employer trailblazer group for the development of the Cyber Security Technician standard. Kevin has been an advisor to City & Guilds Digital Industries team for several years, most recently working on the T Level Business and Administration.

Kevin is chair of CEdMA Europe, the IT vendor education management trade association, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security, Trustee and Chartered Fellow of BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT, Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute, Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and head judge for the UK IT Industry Awards. In addition, he has a degree in Computer Science from City University, London, and an MBA from The Open University.

ForgeRock is the leader in digital identity, delivering modern and comprehensive Identity and Access Management solutions for consumers, employees, and things to access the connected world simply and safely. Using ForgeRock, more than a thousand global customer organizations orchestrate, manage, and secure the complete lifecycle of identities in any cloud or hybrid environment. The company is privately held, and headquartered in San Francisco, California, with over 800 staff and offices around the world.

Laura started working in the Santander UK branch network in 2005 (which was still known as Abbey back then). A couple of years later she followed her passion for developing colleagues and moved into the HR Learning and Development team, where she has undertaken several roles including Learning Delivery, Design, Project Management and Relationship Management.

Throughout this time Laura has worked with every division within the UK bank, building development opportunities from induction training to technical qualifications, IT transformation support to management development.

Most notable among the projects Laura has led are those for the integration of Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester into the Santander UK family, focusing on the re-skilling of branch, contact centre and operations colleagues to become one effective UK entity.

Laura is currently a Product Owner with Santander’s Learning and Development team. She works across the Santander UK business divisions to identify opportunities for learning to support our people to develop their skills in support of our business aims. Laura manages a portfolio of learning products which covers many topics and areas from Financial Crime to Coaching Professionals.

Laura works closely with a range of suppliers across the Learning and Development landscape to source and craft the best possible experiences for staff, helping them continuously develop and contribute to the ongoing success of the organisation.

Laura currently works with both the ILM/City & Guilds and University College Quayside as an active member of their Employer Industry Boards and Panels.

For more information visit the dedicated website.

Liz Willis is a highly experienced leadership and development professional and a valued member of the senior team at Caring Homes.

Currently Director of Learning and Organisational Development for Caring Homes, where she has worked for 12 years. Liz is responsible for leading the team which manages the learning and development needs of 4,000 colleagues as well as the wider development of the organisation.

Liz is a strong leader with a breadth of experience encompassing all aspects of HR, characterised by strong business relationships, networking and achievement of results in the Retail and Social Care sectors.

Liz is a Fellow of The Institute of Leadership, a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development and an Alumni of the PRTA’s.

Caring Homes, which celebrated 25 years in the care industry in 2019, is one of the most highly respected providers of residential, nursing and dementia care, with 69 residential care homes for older people across the UK.

The company remains family run after being founded by mother and son Helena and Paul Jeffery in 1994. Both are still actively involved in the running of the business today.

Caring Homes employs more than 4,000 colleagues across its portfolio and cares for around 3,800 older people with residential, nursing or dementia care needs. Last year they cared for over 5,000 individuals including those usingthe short stay and respite offering.

For more information visit the dedicated website.

Mary is the Diversity and Inclusion Project Manager at Cadent Gas. She has worked in the utilities sector since 2007 and was part of the working group via Energy and Utilities skills for the initial trailblazer apprenticeship framework. She also engaged in working groups for other sector specific programmes in the gas and power sectors. Mary is currently studying for a professional doctorate in Security, Policing and Community safety looking specifically at youth engagement and the impact of education and exclusion on life chances.

Having started her career as a recruiter Mary realised the challenge within the utilities sector was the lack of new entrants within the contractors, due to uncertainty of work. In response to this she set up a gas apprentice programme within Enterprise which subsequently encompassed water, power, and highways. Many of the apprentices were not in education, employment, or training (NEET) and had not attained GCSE’s. The key skills requirements allowed Mary to see first-hand the struggle some students faced, which in many cases were due to neurodiversity.

Mary’s view is that technical competence is critical and academic requirements should be wherever possible aligned to these requirements. Frameworks need to reflect the needs of employers and learners but must be inclusive and consider differences in learning styles. She believes that T Levels will offer the opportunity for this blended learning and allow students to demonstrate practical competence along with academic learning which is linked to their subject. This will inspire confidence and allow them to access higher skills programmes in due course.

Cadent gas is the largest UK gas distribution network with 5000+ employees. They bring gas to 11 million homes and businesses throughout the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, South Yorkshire, East of England and North London.

For more information visit the dedicated website.

I have worked in the private sector in the UK & USA before making the move into teaching in both Further & Higher Education.

Currently I am a Business Development Officer at The University of Lincoln. My role is to support businesses in accessing academic expertise and grant funding to enable SMEs to do things differently.

Prior to this I was the Curriculum Manager for FE/ HE Business, Tourism & Hospitality at The Grimsby Institute. This role saw me line managing 25 members of staff, 3 academic departments & responsible for over 350 students.

Previously, I managed the Student Enterprise Service at The University of Lincoln. As part of this role, I oversaw all of the student enterprise activities, including workshops, mentoring, coaching & resource generation. I was also the lead tutor on two enterprise modules as part of the BA Business & Enterprise Development degree.

For almost 4 years I programme led Business, Enterprise & Entrepreneurship courses at an Ofsted outstanding college in Grimsby. Seeing improvements in all areas from retention, value added and recruitment.

I am the Chair of Governors for a SEND academy in Grimsby, which has provisions from early years to post 16. I have also been involved with Young Enterprise over the past 5 years as a centre lead, judge & vice chair of the South Humber board.

I am passionate about supporting both students and future industry leaders using my own experience of management and leadership.

Robert Watts is the European Apprenticeship and Talent Programme Manager for Covance and is also actively involved with Embracing Future Potential which is a one-stop shop of information and guidance for providing opportunities to those who have fallen through the cracks in the economy.

It operates five bespoke information hubs, each one tailored to the five main sectors of the work force who are not fully supported by traditional employment channels. Its aim is to enable individuals to have access to easy-to-process information around their future options and then match these well-informed individuals to businesses to gain real experience and knowledge by meaningful connections.

Created by a team of experienced professionals and young graduates who understand the difficulties of hiring and getting hired in today’s economy, Embracing Future Potential is fixing the first step towards businesses and future employees reaching their full potential,' whilst also raising and supporting companies’ aspirations and efforts regarding diversity and inclusion.

Robert is an expert in education and development having a wide ranging knowledge, from educational assessment, through to curriculum creation, technical education development and policy creation. He is a passionate advocate for inclusion and diversity including having been involved in writing many articles and publications on the topic. He previously worked in both the private and public sector in fields as wide as Aerospace Engineering, Health Care and FMCG. This gives him a wide range of experiences from across different industries to draw upon and an understanding of the different impacts that education development and inclusion can have on businesses and society.

Robert has been instrumental in implementing Apprenticeship and education and inclusion development programmes within his various roles leading to multiple Princess Royal Awards, Highly Commended CIPD Awards, Top Student and Graduate recruitment awards, Top 100 Apprenticeships Employer and national Apprenticeship Awards success and EY Futures Young People Awards Employer Partner of the Year. Robert is passionate about raising the awareness and aspirations of people across the UK and Companies to engage in all forms of employee development and inclusion.

For more information visit the Covance website and Embracing future potential website.

Ruth is the Skills Development Programmes Manager at Sainsbury’s. Her role is to explore, design and develop strategic opportunities which support colleagues to grow their professional skills and qualifications. Her job role enables colleagues to deliver excellent customer service across all their brands which includes Argos, Nectar, Sainsbury’s Bank, and Habitat.

Since 2015 Ruth has been, and continues to be involved, with several trailblazer groups including Retail, Learning and development, Fish, Bakery, Butchery, and logistics. She is vice Chair of the Retail Skills Board, who look after the suite of Retail opportunities, and continue to work with the Commercial and supply chain trailblazer group and the Leaderships and Management trailblazer group.

Ruth is also a member of the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisor Board (Frameworks and Standards group) and chairs the Apprenticeship Advisor Group in Scotland, who are responsible for approving all Scottish apprenticeships. She also sits on the employer advisor board for IfATE.

Sainsbury’s is multi brand, multi-channel retail business that provides choice flexibility and convenience for our customers operating within the UK, with Argos stores operating in the Republic of Ireland. They have over 600 supermarkets and 800 convenience stores. As part of the Argos offer, they have over 550 stores and nearly 300 collection points within supermarkets. Across the business there are 172,000 colleagues.

For more information go to the dedicated website.