Board of Trustees
Our Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for directing our affairs as a registered charity. This includes ensuring we"re well-run and that we deliver the charitable outcomes for public benefit for that we were set up to achieve.
The are also two committees of our Board:
Chris Hughes CBE – Chair
Between 1998 and 2004, Chris Hughes was the Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA). He was previously a college principal for 13 years and was appointed a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Education and Training Select Committee in 1997. Chris recently resumed that role with the current Committee. He also contributed to the Sir Andrew Foster Review of the role of further education (FE) colleges and recently completed a review of quality and performance of the vocational education system in Northern Ireland. Chris was awarded a CBE in the 2005 New Years Honours list in recognition of his services to FE.
Chris Blythe
Chris Blythe is the Chief Executive and Institute Secretary of the Chartered Institute of Building. He assumed this post upon joining in 2000. Chris has been involved in vocational education and training for the last 18 years. Between 1991 and 2000, he held senior posts at the Mid Cheshire Training and Enterprise Council, becoming its Chief Executive in 1994. Chris’s early career involved a number of financial roles in the private sector.
Kate Griffin
Kate was President of the International Confederation of Principals throughout 2007 and 2008 and is a director of its international training arm. She was President of ASCL 2002/3 and a board member of LSDA prior to the formation of LSN. Kate retired from the headship of Greenford High School in 2008 and is now an independent educational consultant delivering training both nationally and internationally. She also serves on the boards of the CESEW and WWV. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is married with two sons.
Bill Stokoe
25 years a non-exec in the FE sector, Bill led the board of a major West London College through incorporation and then a very successful merger. He is currently Deputy Chair at City Lit, London’s leading Adult Education Institute.
In 2005, he served on the Foster Review Advisory Group, bringing a chair’s perspective to its deliberations. He has been a member of the DfES/AoC Governance Advisory Group, and a council member of FEnto.
A banker by profession, Bill has extensive experience of international capital markets. In 1994 he moved into investor relations consultancy with FTSE and emerging market clients, helping a number list on US exchanges.
Bill is Chairman of Circa Circa Ltd, publisher of the board game, ‘About Time’. He is also Chairman of Guildford’s Abbot’s Hospital, a historic almshouse.
Christine Whatford CBE
Christine Whatford was Head teacher of a London comprehensive school and subsequently Director of Education, LBHammersmith and Fulham until 2002 when she was awarded a CBE for services to education.
Previous roles include:
- Chair, London Chief Education Officers Group,
- Adviser, Local Government Association and Association of London Government,
- National President, Society of Education Officers, (now the Association of Directors of Children’s Services).
- Trustee, NFER
- Vice Chair, UK National Commission for UNESCO.
Since retiring, as well as consultancy work, Christine was Interim Director of Education and then Children’s Services in Tower Hamlets and Greenwich and received the 2009 SOLACE Interim Manager of the Year Award. Current Trustee/ Directorships include:
- The New London Orchestra,
- Bromley My Time Leisure Trust,
- The Public Management and Policy Association.
Stella Mbubaegbu, CBE BA (Hons), MA, PGCE, MEd, FRSA
Stella Mbubaegbu has been Principal and Chief Executive of Highbury College, Portsmouth, since October 2001. This made her the first ethnic minority female Principal of an incorporated FE college in the UK. She was awarded a CBE in January 2008 for services to FE. Stella is currently:
- President, Association of College Managers (ACM)
- Board Member, Learning & Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)
- Member, Ministerial Expert Group 14-19 (Children"s Plan)
- Chair Lifelong Learning UK FE Constituency Panel
- World Skills UK Champion, South East Region
- Association of Colleges Workforce Development Champion
- Council Member, University of Sussex
- Member, Institute of Directors
- Chair, Portsmouth Economic Wellbeing Partnership
- Member, Children & Young People’s Executive Board
- Fellow, Royal Society of Arts
- Fellow, Institute for Learning
Kay Baldwin-Evans
Kay is a marketing and communications expert. She started her career in the FMCG/Retail sector, holding various product marketing roles in Trebor Bassett, ASDA and Tesco. In 1993 she moved to Accenture to lead the marketing and communications team responsible for the launch of Accenture’s outsourcing practice. Kay then moved into the learning and skills arena as Head of Marketing and Communications for the BBC’s Training and Development function. Following this, she joined the senior management team of the global e-learning company, SkillSoft, as the EMEA Marketing and Communications Director.
In 2008, Kay co-founded Tangled Oak Consulting to provide marketing and communications expertise to organisations with a learning and development remit. During this time she has worked with a number of organisations including: Skills for Health, the Sector Skills Council for the Health Sector; Element K, a global training and development company; and Intellego, a UK based e-learning company.
Ardi Kolah
Ardi has considerable global expertise in marketing, communications, sponsorship and new media and is CEO of training company Guru in a Bottle.
He has worked with some of the world’s leading organisations including the BBC, Andersen Consulting, WHO, Cranfield University, WPP plc, Defence Academy, Royal Navy, Disney and Speedo.
He is currently working on a ground breaking research and training project with Cambridge Judge Business School that aims to reveal how corporate social responsibility (CSR) in sport can deliver a return on investment for London 2012 and non-Olympic sponsors.
A prolific author and conference speaker, he has written some of the leading works in marketing, sponsorship and PR including Essential Law for Marketers that became the standard work on the subject.
Ardi is a Trustee of the House of Illustration and a judge of the National Business Awards.
Carla Stent
Carla is Chief Operating Officer for Virgin Management Limited and a director on a number of the group’s boards. She is responsible for delivering a value adding, branded professional services organisation.
Previously Carla held global board level positions in banking and retail industries including Barclays Bank plc, NatWest Equity Markets, ING Barings and the Thomas Cook Group. She has led corporate finance and post-merger integration, strategy, business operations, brand development and business transformation as well as managing operational risk, governance, group wide Anti Money Laundering and the Treating Customers Fairly / Customer Relations agendas.
Carla serves as a UK Ambassador to Schools where her role is to guide and inspire the next generation to excel and succeed. She is a frequent speaker on business, career planning and gender diversity and is strongly committed to the development of business opportunities for women today.
Carla is a chartered accountant, born and educated in South Africa.
Dr. Ann Limb
Dr Ann Limb is an educationalist, businesswoman and charity entrepreneur.
Non-Executive Directorships include DRS plc, Entrepreneurs in Action, Briteyellow Ltd, Skills2Learn and Institute of Directors. Public appointments include:
- Chair, Milton Keynes Partnership
- Non-Executive Director, HMGCC
- Non-Executive Director, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
- Ann has founded two national charities – the Network for Women Managers in further education (now the Women
- Leaders Network) and the Helena Kennedy Foundation, which she continues to chair. As Chair, Ann led the
- merger of the National Extension College with LSN.
A former college Principal, Ann is a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, Lucy Cavendish College and honorary Professor in Leadership at Thames Valley University.
Ann is currently:
- Chair, National Council of Faiths and Beliefs
- Chair, Anne Frank Trust
- Chair, MK 2018 (Milton Keynes campaign to become a host city for the FIFA World Cup)
- Chair, Destination: Milton Keynes
- Chair, Milton Keynes Arts for Health
- Governor, Milton Keynes Academy
- Trustee, Stables Theatre
David Marshall, External Member LSN Audit Committee
David is an experienced assessor, development coach, facilitator and a qualified accountant whose current interests focus upon leadership, financial and organisational development. Before becoming an independent consultant David enjoyed a long career with Royal Mail latterly as Finance Director for Parcel Force Worldwide (93-98) and then as Group Personnel Director (98-2003).
In addition to his executive and consultancy background David has held a significant number of non-executive Directorships and is currently:
- A Partner in AM consulting; advising on financial, leadership and organisational development
- An independent Member- the National Police Improvement Agency
- Governor - National Police College
- Chair – the Centre for Excellence in Leadership; an independent charity focused on leadership development in the Further Education sector
- Associate with Kiddy and Partners ; who specialise in sophisticated assessment and talent management solutions
- Associate with T-three; which specialises in leadership and management development in the public sector.