Working together across the UK, our members have a shared vision and are committed to acting as a collaborative ‘enabler’ for meaningful and sustainable skills and employment opportunities for all individuals.
We are comprised of some of the UK’s leading employers, training providers and awarding organisations, from across all sectors and levels of qualification, making us representative of the UK’s delivery infrastructure.
Managing Director at QA
CEO at Lifetime Training
Head of Talent Management at Royal Mail
CEO of NCFE
National Programme Manager - Apprenticeships Workforce, Training and Education, NHS England
Public Affairs, Partnership & Engagement Director at City and Guilds UK
Head of Apprenticeships, Graduates and Industry Development at Network Rail
Global Early Careers and Apprenticeships Lead at Costa Coffee
UK Graduate, Apprenticeship and Student Programme Leader at IBM
Senior Manager, Apprenticeships and Critical Skills, BT
CEO of Corndel
Group Commercial Director at Learning Curve Group
Director of Apprenticeships, Teesside University
VP Employer Engagement at Pearson TQ, Pearson PLC
CEO of Knovia
Managing Director, Best Practice Network
CEO, Babington
Apprentice Market Lead, Nestlé UK & Ireland
CEO, Inspiro Learning
Head of Learning and Development, Salutem Care & Education
Early Careers Lead, Marks and Spencer
CEO, Impact Futures
COO, Cambridge Spark
CEO/Co-Founder, Accelerate People
Policy Director, First Intuition
Managing Director, EAL
VP of Corporate Affairs at Multiverse
Group Skills Development Manager, Barratt Redrow
Jo joined QA in 2021 as Director of Education, responsible for the delivery organisation across Learning and Apprenticeships before taking on an expanded role as Senior Vice President of Education across the Group to include QA, Cloud Academy and Circus Street. In November 2023, Jo was appointed Managing Director, responsible for the Groups government-funded apprenticeships business unit which delivers a variety of tech disciplines, across numerous levels, up to degree apprenticeships, to more than 5,000 learners a year.
Jo is a well-established and authentic leader with over 20 years’ experience in the education sector, having started her career as a teacher. Following several years as a teacher and school leader in the UK, Jo embarked on a career, working across all aspects of the learning space – from strategic direction setting and teacher training to delivering digital and cultural transformation programmes – which also gave her experience in international education with both public and private sector organisations.
Prior to joining QA, Jo held a number of senior positions with PA Consulting and Capgemini where most of her time was spent in the university/TVET sectors supporting organisations to deliver an excellent learning.
As a respected leader in education, skills, and vocational assessment, Charlotte brings over 30 years of experience combined with a clear vision for innovation and growth.
Before becoming CEO of Lifetime Group, Charlotte spent eight years as Managing Director of Innovate Awarding, driving a fresh, quality-focused approach to assessment. Her extensive career also includes senior leadership roles at OCR, where she contributed to significant qualification and assessment reforms.
Charlotte is Chair of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, a board member of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, and Vice Chair of Walsall College. She also serves as a Trustee of a secondary school trust and has held board positions at the David Nieper Education Trust and the Learning and Work Institute.
A strong advocate for vocational education and apprenticeships, Charlotte is dedicated to supporting individual development and delivering sustainable, learner-centred growth for employers and learners alike.
James is responsible for talent management, early careers and future talent for Royal Mail which fundamentally is about ensuring the organisation has the right people in the right place at the right time for now and the future. His remit covers the recruitment of new apprentices into the company as well as using apprenticeships to support the development of the existing workforce. James joined Royal Mail January 2024, his career previously being in HR consultancy where he was heavily involved in a range of early careers and talent initiatives across different industries.
David is Chief Executive Officer at NCFE, a leading not-for-profit provider of educational services and one of the UK’s biggest exam boards. He has enjoyed a successful career in employment and skills for more than 18 years, spanning frontline delivery in some of the most deprived communities in the country, to his current role as CEO of the NCFE. David is a Non Executive Board Member at the Federation of Awarding Bodies and Together for Children.
David’s diverse career has shaped his perspectives on education, skills and employment. His experience includes working in the public sector for the Learning and Skills Council (now ESFA) where he was heavily involved in qualification reform policy and the introduction of the QCF. He has also worked with several leading national employment and skills providers, including Working Links and Ingeus during periods of significant market shift such as the introduction of ‘payment by results’. Prior to joining NCFE, David was Group Commercial Director at Babington.
Kirsty has led work on apprenticeships in the NHS and social care for over 8 years. Her role involves supporting all health and care employers to maximise the Growth and Skills levy, which funds apprenticeships. She also advises around accessing other NHS and skills funding. She liaises weekly with DHSC, DfE and other relevant government departments, on national policy development.
As part of her role, Kirsty leads the national Skills for Life portfolio. Skills for Life in the NHS is defined as support for fundamental numeracy, literacy and digital skills. The portfolio supports all types of sector employers from small care homes to large multi-site trusts, as they develop and lead their own suites of staff support. Thousands of staff in health and care need targeted support with these skills to feel more confident at work and to progress their career. Kirsty sits on numerous national panels for skills and the NHS, including the gender taskforce for maths.
Patrick has over 30 years experience in the field of accreditation, assessment design and educational technology. From the design of educational resources with MESU/NCET and BECTa to running of post-sales technology support departments with Apple Computer, his career has always addressed the fusion of education, skills development and assessment technologies.
For the last 20 years this work has focussed on the specific field of learning and assessment research and development linked to Government Policy and national accreditation programmes. This spanned work with the RSA Examinations Board, OCR Examinations, Cambridge Assessment Group and now he leads on Strategic Partnerships, Stakeholder Policy and Research work for City & Guilds.
The role considers the growing impact of Policy and new technologies on the education and skills industry. It also identifies initiatives to enable City & Guilds to develop and extend the range and quality of learning and assessment products and services they offer. Helping people to get work, develop on the job and progress in their careers. Helping employers, regions and the UK economy overall to prosper.
Throughout his career he has remained committed to the notion of ‘fit for purpose’ assessment and learning solutions based on evidence-based research. Patrick currently sits on the UK eAssessment Advisory Group, Joint Council for Qualifications, West Midlands BITC Leadership Board and is an advisory member of the Federation of Awarding Bodies Board and eAssessment Association. He sits on the planning committee for the European Association of Test Publishers Conference, is a Trustee of the Mitchell City of London Education Foundation and a member of the Society of Leadership Fellows.
Richard is Head of Apprenticeships, Graduates, and Industry Development at Network Rail, overseeing the national approach to skills and early careers in the rail sector. He is the former Head of Apprenticeships at BT, a top-3 apprentice employer at the time, and a former HR Director in the Higher Education sector. Overall, he has overseen thousands of apprentices through their employment as well as being an early Trailblazer lead in multiple engineering standards. He is based in Yorkshire, and attends offices in London, Birmingham, and Manchester also.
Ruth joined Costa Coffee in September 2021 and leads the Global Early Careers and Apprenticeships area. Ruth drives Costa’s talent strategy for graduates, apprentices and early careers, creating opportunities to enable the business to grow their leaders of the future. She is passionate about continuous talent development, diversity and inclusion across all stages of career and changing perceptions of apprenticeships.
Prior to joining Costa, Ruth led the early and emerging talent area at Capgemini, developing award winning apprenticeship programmes across a range of specialisms.
Jenny is Leader of IBM UK’s multi-award winning Early Professional Programmes with responsibility for all aspects of the schemes, including recruitment, career management, development of education programmes and financial management.
Jenny was at the forefront of developing Degree Apprenticeships in 2015 and is Chair of the Digital and Technology Solutions Level 6 Trailblazer. She was leader of IBM’s Girls’ Schools’ and Dare2BDifferent outreach programmes which were recognised in the Opportunity Now Work Inspiration awards 2011 and 2014.
Jenny is currently Chair of the Digital Degree Apprenticeship Trailblazer. She is a member of the TechSkills Board and a Commissioner for the Princess Royal Training Awards. Jenny was a finalist in the Everywomen in Technology Inspiration of the Year award 2015 and was named Apprenticeship Champion of the Year 2020 in the National Apprenticeship Service awards.
Nicola has over 30 years’ experience leading next generation programmes and apprenticeships across both public and private sector organisations. She joined BT in September 2025 as Senior Manager for Apprenticeships and Next Generation Strategy, with responsibility for programmes supporting both new entrants and the upskilling of existing employees.
She is a strong advocate for employer led skills development, working closely with industry, providers, and government to shape high quality apprenticeship/career pathways aligned to future workforce needs.
Prior to joining BT, Nicola led L&D and early careers strategies within large, complex organisations across banking, technology and the Civil Service, including Hewlett Packard, DEFRA and DWP. She has also run her own consultancy, delivering skills and early careers programmes for organisations such as Centrica/British Gas, Vodafone and O2, always with a focus on unlocking potential and building sustainable talent pipelines.
Co-Founded Corndel in 2016 to focus on delivering the highest quality professional training and apprenticeship programmes. Passionate about workplace development, education, and skills. 20 years’ experience in professional service consulting with PwC, IBM and Deloitte. Leads on strategy, culture, and corporate growth. Career interest in public policy, the importance of work and empowering people to seize opportunities to maximise their professional potential.
Steve Morris is the Group Commercial Director at Learning Curve Group and Chair of the Employment Advisory Board at HMP Moorland. With over 25 years’ experience gained in the world’s largest and most successful recruitment, training and HR consultancies, he has acquired a deep expertise within the world of work and learning. He is an avid supporter of Apprenticeships and understands the value that they can add to businesses and individuals alike.
Jo Burgess joined Teesside University as Director of Apprenticeships in April 2022. Teesside University already had a strong reputation as an Ofsted Outstanding Apprenticeship provider. Under Jo’s recent leadership the university has launched a new Professional Apprenticeship strategy setting out the vision and mission to support an apprenticeship system that delivers for high-level skills, social mobility and contributes to sustainable economic growth.
Prior to joining Teesside, Jo held a pivotal role at Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, where she was Head of Innovation Talent and Skills. In that role she was responsible for directing public investment, shaping policy and leading cross Government talent and skills initiatives to enable the UK to deliver on its innovation capabilities.
Jo is passionate about apprenticeships and the benefits they bring. As a CIPD professional specialising in learning and development, Jo has held a range of early talent and learning and development roles within public and private sector, before taking on a strategic LEP role delivering first Apprenticeship Hubs and talent brokerage services across North Yorkshire.
She has had the privilege of supporting a range of apprenticeship developments including leading the roll out of the first-degree apprenticeship in Data Science and a member of the Research Scientist apprenticeship trailblazer, to most recently joining the Social Research Apprenticeship Trailblazer with Teesside University.
Martyn joined Pearson straight after leaving the British Army in 2012, taking over as the Vice President in Pearson responsible for the Pearson TQ Education & Training delivery business in 2013. Since that time, he has focused on growing its learning provision to both public and private sector clients. Pearson TQ now works with utilities providers, the NHS and UK Defence Industry employers, UK Civil Service as well as the UK MOD on apprenticeship provision and other workplace learning and skills delivery.
His current role within Pearson’s Enterprise Learning & Skills Division encompasses leading the Pearson TQ learning delivery business, co-lead on Growth and Go to Market for Vocational Qualifications, Learning and Skills Delivery and UK lead on Employer Engagement.
With over 20 years’ experience working in sales, marketing and operations for international brands such as Virgin Active, Premier Global and Fitness First, Mark was appointed Chief Executive at Paragon Skills in March 2015. He successfully led his team through a period of vast change, implementing a new values-driven culture that has resulted in learner success rates that have increased significantly year on year. Following this success, in 2023 the Knovia Group was established with the acquisition of Tempdent, to create a group of sector-focused, best in class, independent training businesses. As CEO, Mark has led the group through tremendous growth, including the forming of Shaping Lives, a specialist early years training provider, and the acquisition of Babington, covering the professional services sector. Mark is passionate about providing an outstanding teaching and learning experience and takes pride in helping individuals to meet their own professional goals and businesses to reach their strategic vision.
Simon joined Best Practice Network as Managing Director in 2019, already having 20+ years’ experience working in senior sales and operational leadership roles in; Telecommunications, Retail and Training.
Simon has successfully led significant growth in businesses across, Education and Early Years’ sectors, within the UK and Internationally.
Immediately prior to his role at Best Practice Network, Simon worked as CEO of a mid-sized learning disability charity, where he remains a Trustee.
Best Practice Network trains 30,000 teachers and early years professionals, annually across a range of government backed qualifications and Apprenticeships. As a business they are passionate about equality and ensuring that every child benefits from an excellent education, regardless of background or region.
Jen Bramley is Chief Executive Officer of Babington – one of the largest and longest-established apprenticeship providers in the UK.
Jen has more than 15 years’ experience in the education and training sector.
Prior to her appointment as CEO, Jen served as Executive Director of Customer Engagement, and latterly Chief Operating Officer where she was responsible for successfully building initiatives to drive service delivery, quality, compliance, customer operations and safeguarding across Babington’s extensive provision. Besides playing a critical role in shaping the strategic direction of the business in 2023, Jen led the Company’s engagement with Ofsted, resulting in a Grade 2 (‘Good’) outcome for Babington across all inspection categories.
Jen is a highly experienced, purpose-driven, and dynamic leader with a passion for people, and is a lifelong advocate for the place and potential of Skills and Education to transform lives and careers. Jen serves on the governing board of her local primary school and is delighted to represent Babington as an active member of Association of Apprentices (AoA), AELP and St Martin’s Group.
Ali leads the Early Careers and Apprenticeships team at Nestlé UK & Ireland, known as the Nestlé Academy. She is responsible for creating and driving the future talent strategy in the UK & Ireland and for contributing to the European strategy. This includes graduates and apprentices along with all aspects of future talent across the commercial, technical and support function teams across Nestlé. Ali also leads the lifelong learning strategy for multi-generational apprenticeships.
Prior to this role, Ali was the head of DEI, where Nestlé won several accolades in DEI for the first time and scored top results in the colleague survey for positive culture change. This, along with her previous role as Head of Talent, led to her current role where she is applying her passion and energy for creating growth opportunities for all, future proofing the business and enabling social impact. She is currently volunteering at a local high school.
Stuart is CEO of Inspiro, one of the UK’s largest independent providers of apprenticeships and technical training. He has led Inspiro since 2021, initially under ownership of Babcock Group and then as a standalone privately owned training provider from February 2023.
Stuart has been in senior roles in the apprenticeship and training sector since 2015, initially in a finance and commercial role before moving into leadership. Guiding Inspiro through the separation from Babcock gave Stuart a unique opportunity to shape the culture of a business bringing a deeply experienced team and supplementing them the freedom to embrace new ideas and work with talented new team members. The passion that they all have is reflected in Inspiro’s values of ‘Motivated People’, Exceptional Delivery’ and Happy Learners’.
Nigel Taylor is CareTech’s Group Head of Learning and Development. He represents CareTech on many Governmental departmental initiatives, working closely with many of their key departments, including the Department for Education.
Nigel is passionate about developing the workforce, as a key asset and supports the provision of developing resources to enable our workforce to thrive. He believes that learning is something we all do every day, and applying this learning effectively is key to providing our staff with opportunities so they feel supported in their roles and can, in turn, can support those in our services/homes/schools providing high quality care and support.
Caretech are committed to utilising apprenticeships where appropriate and have achieved the position of 54th in the top 100 employers for apprenticeships.
Ben is an experienced Early Careers professional with a decade of expertise in designing and delivering award-winning graduate and apprenticeship programmes. Having led initiatives at Capgemini, ASOS, and now Marks & Spencer, Ben has a proven track record of creating impactful early careers strategies that drive business success and provide meaningful opportunities for talent.
Simon is the Chief Executive Officer of the group of companies that includes apprenticeship providers Impact Futures and The Childcare Company – which provides apprenticeships and other skills programmes across childcare and early years, health and social care, and business skills to over 5000 learners.
Simon has nearly 30 years of experience leading and transforming businesses across financial services, business services and the adult skills sectors. His executive career has spanned Barclays, the NHS, Financial Ombudsman Service, Santander and Capita. Simon was also the Group MD of PeoplePlus Group, one of the UK’s largest Skills, Social Care and Employability providers to local and national government.
Simon is a Fellow of the Institute of Employability Professionals and a Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute. Simon is also the Chairman of the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority, overseeing fire and rescue services to over 800,000 people and which was recently judged one of the top 100 Apprenticeship Employers – the top Fire and Rescue Service in the country.
Tom joined Cambridge Spark in 2019, having previously trained as an accountant at one of the Big 4 firms. Since then, he has held a variety of roles within Cambridge Spark spanning operations, strategy and marketing. As Chief Operating Officer, Tom leads on business performance, process, systems and automation, including the AI strategy.
Sam is the CEO/Co-Founder of Accelerate People, an Apprenticeship End-point Assessment Organisation currently operating within the Digital Sector. As well as overseeing the day-to-day operations, Sam leads on the vision and strategic direction of the business within the Blenheim Chalcot portfolio.
Sam has worked in the BC portfolio for some 10 years as Director of Operations where she led a highly successful team and was responsible for delivering Ofsted Grade 1. Sam is a qualified External and Internal Verifier and tutor and prior to her BC career, she spent 12 years at a national training provider with over 5,000 apprenticeship starts per year, starting as Area Manager and working up to CEO.
A passionate advocate of Apprenticeships, Sam has helped numerous businesses in the sector to build their infrastructure to enable them to achieve and maintain quality provision as they grow.
Gareth John FCA is Policy Director of First Intuition, an award-winning national education provider of accounting and leadership & management programmes who offer online and classroom courses including apprenticeships. Gareth qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the 1990’s before moving into professional education for the main accountancy awarding bodies. He is a member of the ICAEW’s Education & Training Board and is involved in a number of other skills and apprenticeship groups.
Throughout her 30-year career in vocational education and training, Al has been a strong advocate for skills development as an enabler of personal progress, economic growth and real-world impact. This passion keeps EAL focused on helping people have the right engineering skills, at the right time, to keep up with changing industry needs and the net-zero transition. She strives for continuous improvement to products and services that are designed and supported by engineers for engineering success; while ensuring that decision-making is driven by what is in the best interests of our engineering and manufacturing sectors. Al is also part of the Executive Leadership Team of Enginuity; EAL’s surpluses are gift aided to the Enginuity Charity who use occupational and skills data to find new solutions to the skills gaps faced by engineering and manufacturing employers and sectors.
Chris is a senior workforce and skills leader with over a decade of experience in supporting apprenticeships and emerging talent. He has led employer-driven apprenticeship strategies within large, multi-site organisations, aligning programmes to funding policy, workforce planning and long-term business need.
His work focuses on maximising funding, strengthening employer engagement, and ensuring high-quality training routes that deliver both productivity and social value.
Chris’ career spans across industry and education. He began his professional journey as an aircraft engineering apprentice specialising in Radio & Radar systems, later progressing to a successful career in telecommunications engineering. He moved into a senior leadership role in secondary education before moving into national apprenticeship and early careers leadership since 2014.
Bringing experience from the shop floor to senior leadership, Chris offers a practical employer perspective on skills reform and champions a high-quality, employer led apprenticeship systems that drives opportunity, social mobility and sustainable workforce growth.