Martin Dunford OBE

Chief Executive, Skills Training UK & Chairman, Association of Employment and Learning Providers

Martin is the Chairman of AELP and CEO of Skills Training UK. His company Skills Training UK is a national provider of bespoke Apprenticeship and Traineeship programmes, with a particular focus on individual and business improvement and has direct contracts with the Education and Skills Funding Agency for Apprenticeships, Traineeships, the Study Programme and ESF delivery.

After University, Martin began his career in international (Europe, Japan, USA) sales, marketing, product and business development of high value, scientific and medical instrumentation; a demanding, advanced engineering industrial market where competitive advantage is achieved via rapid continuous improvement. Whilst working in this market Martin qualified with an MBA. Business improvement, which demonstrates a real return on investment, is at the core of Skills Training UK’s approach to Apprenticeship delivery and work force development.

Martin is one of the original creators of AELP and has been elected as its Chairman for each of the last fourteen years. Starting with just a handful, AELP now has over 800 members. Martin works closely with AELP’s Chief Executive, Mark Dawe, particularly on policy developments and issues, affecting members, their learners and employer customers.

Other appointments held include, the advisory boards of the “End to End Review of Modern Apprenticeships”, and the “Foster Review of FE”, board membership of the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) and Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) where he was Chair of the Finance Committee. He was also a long standing member of both the Further Education & Skills Ministerial Advisory Panel and the Apprenticeship Ambassador’s Network.

Martin was awarded an OBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours list for services to skills training.

Emily Chapman

Vice President of Further Education, NUS

Recently re-elected into her second term, Emily is the Vice President (Further Education) at the National Union of Students (NUS). When she returned to education in September 2014, she got involved with Leeds City College Students’ Union. Helping its development before becoming its Students’ Union President for 2 years. Building it from its foundations to a thriving union, with learner voice imbedded into the heart of the college. Since becoming VPFE, she has continued in her belief of Student Voice launching the Learner Voice Framework to help its development at ANY educational institute. To campaign for fairer funding and better student support, specifically around Transport with the #myFEJourney campaign. An adopted Yorkshire Lass with passion and belief in the sector and the will to show the Government and everyone else what she sees.

Dr Neil Bentley

Chief Executive, WorldSkills UK

Dr Neil Bentley is Chief Executive of WorldSkills UK, which is a partnership between governments, employers and education to help accelerate young people's career development. We do this through experiential careers events and national and international skills competitions. We support the prestige of apprenticeships and technical careers by helping create successful young role models and we drive productivity by embedding world-class standards into education and training for individual and business success.

Neil was previously Deputy Director-General and Chief Operating Officer at the CBI, the UK's premier business lobby, working at the highest level of the business and government interface nationally and internationally and representing CBI to the media. Neil worked at the CBI for 12 years and led public policy campaigns ranging from apprenticeships, skills and employment to public service reform and energy and climate change. In particular, Neil previously led CBI work on vocational pathways in education, the marketisation of FE and demand-led training reforms on apprenticeships and higher technical skills.

Prior to CBI, Neil worked at global IT services provider EDS (now part of HP) advising on the employee relations implications of outsourcing, trade union relations, training and diversity across EMEA. Neil sits on the Council of Warwick University, advises the Science Council on diversity and inclusion in STEM skills and was the former deputy chair of Stonewall, the LGBT equality charity. Neil's PhD is in race equality in the workplace.

Mark Dawe

Chief Executive, Association of Employment and Learning Providers

Mark was appointed as the Chief Executive of AELP 2 years ago. He is on the Board of WorldSkills Uk and the UfI Trust as well as a range of government boards such as the ESFA Advisory Board, IfA Quality Alliance and the DfE’s Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board.

Most recently, Mark Dawe was the Chief Executive of OCR, the exam board, for 5 years. He has been a governor of primary schools, secondary and a further education college. Mark has a wealth of experience across a broad spectrum in the education field. Prior to his role at OCR, Mark was Principal of Oaklands FE College (and AELP Board Director) having been Deputy Director, FE Strategy at the Department of Education and Skills and before that as Deputy Director, Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit after joining the department in 2003.

Having read Economics at Cambridge University before qualifying as a chartered accountant at KPMG, Mark joined Canterbury College, becoming Head of Corporate Services in 1994. In 2000, he helped set up eGS, an e-procurement provider to the public sector. He gets his grit and resilience from supporting Plymouth Argyle and Boreham Wood, cycling and four school aged children.

Reeta Chakrabarti - Conference Chair

Reeta Chakrabarti is a BBC News presenter and correspondent. She presents the One, Six and Ten O'Clock News on BBC1 and also reports at home and abroad. She was previously Education and Social Affairs correspondent, and spent many years reporting politics from Westminster.

Reeta started out as a producer on BBC Radio 4, working on the Today programme, the World at One and PM before becoming a reporter on 5 Live Breakfast, in which she covered the French presidential elections, and the Dunblane killings.

She later became a general news correspondent working in television as well as radio. In 1997, she became the BBC Community Affairs Correspondent, covering the Stephen Lawrence inquest, and subsequent public inquiry. She has also covered home affairs, including the Damilola Taylor murder trial; and Health.

During her time at Westminster from 1999, as Political Correspondent for the BBC, Reeta worked across a range of programmes in television and radio, reporting on political stories for BBC1, BBC2, BBC News Channel, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live. During this time, Reeta covered three general elections, and several changes of party leaders, with other notable stories including the cash for honours affair, MPs expenses, and fronting audience reaction pieces, known as the "Worm" after the election leaders' debates in 2010.

In 2011, Reeta became Education Correspondent, where she covered changes to university tuition fees; the introduction of free schools, growth in academies and changes to exams and the curriculum. She reported from South Korea on why East Asian pupils are further ahead than those in Britain in international league tables.

Rt Hon Robert Halfon, MP

Education Committee Chair, House of Commons

Profile to be published shortly

Rt Hon Anne Milton, MP

Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills

Anne Milton was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Education on 12 June 2017. She was elected as MP for Guildford (revised boundary) in 2010.

Anne was educated at Haywards Heath Grammar School (which became Haywards Heath Sixth Form College in 1980, then Central Sussex College Sixth Form Campus in 2005) on Harlands Road in West Sussex.

Anne was appointed to the Health Select Committee, serving until December 2006, following her appointment as Shadow Minister for Tourism. In summer 2007 David Cameron appointed her Shadow Minister for Health. Between 2010 and 2012 she served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Public Health), Department of Health and was appointed to the government as a whip with responsibility for HM Treasury and HM Household.

Anne trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and worked for the NHS for 25 years, as a district nurse and for people requiring palliative care.

Eileen Milner

Chief Executive, Education and Skills Funding Agency

Eileen is Chief Executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency which is an organisation that spans Funding, regulatory and delivery responsibilities across schools, further education, skills and adult education in England. The annual budget is some £63bn. Prior to this she was the COO of the Care Quality Commission - the regulator of health and adult social care in England, joining the organisation in 2013 at the point of radical reshaping and turnaround activity. Her earlier career can be split into two parts - a successful career in leading an advisory work for Grant Thornton and a time spent on the board of North gate Information Solutions, this being a decade in the commercial sector. The other part was spent in academia, specialising in public service reform and through this working extensively with the governments of Australia and Canada.

Maisey Woodland

Customer Service Administrator (Apprentice), Innovate Awarding

Maisey Woodland is a Customer Service Apprentice at Innovate Awarding. Maisey has embraced her apprenticeship with both hands and is keen to ensure that other young people are aware of the opportunities that an Apprenticeship provides. The AELP conference is Maiseys first official public speaking outing but her background in Drama stands her in good stead to be an Ambassador for Apprenticeships.

Sally Collier

Chief Regulator, Ofqual

Sally Collier is chief executive and chief regulator for the Office of qualifications and examinations regulation. Sally is an experienced leader of government bodies including being the first chief executive of the Crown Commercial Service, the UK's largest government buying organisation transacting £13 billion of government spend. She was also the managing director of the Government Procurement Service. Sally's career spans over 20 years in the civil service in a variety of senior roles, mostly commercial roles in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. She is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Julie Hyde

Director, CACHE

Julie has over 10 years’ experience of management in the childcare and education sector. Julie spent 12 years prior to this gaining commercial sales and training experience working in industry as a Regional then National Account Manager.

Julie joined CACHE in 2010 as Northern Regional Manager and in 2011 was appointed Senior National Development Manager. In 2013 she was promoted to Director of Business Development where she directed the development of high quality vocational qualifications in care, health and education for learners and employers; improving the skills level and professional standards of the childcare, adult care, education and health care workforce. Julie is now the Director of CACHE.

Paul Joyce HMI

Deputy Director, Further Education and Skills, Ofsted

Paul Joyce is one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and is the Deputy Director for Further Education & Skills. Paul joined Ofsted in 2005 as HMI having previously worked within the Further Education and Skills sector in both general and specialist further education colleges. Immediately prior to working for Ofsted, Paul was a consultant for the former Department for Education and Skills and worked on national initiatives supporting improvements to teaching and learning and in leadership and management. Paul has significant inspection experience in both the schools and further education & skills remits and prior to being appointed Deputy Director was a Senior HMI with responsibility for the college inspection programme nationally.

Dame Ruth Silver DBE

President, Further Education Trust for Leadership

Dame Ruth is the President of the Further Education Trust for Leadership, an independent think-tank dedicated to the leadership of thinking in the FE System: she was the founding chair of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service. Ruth chaired the government’s National Taskforce on the Future of the Careers Profession, was a Founding member of the London Skills and Employment Board, adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills and until January 2018 the co-chair of the all Parliamentary Skills Commission. Ruth was also the first chief assessor for the Qualifying Programme for Principals. In 2014, she worked with Glasgow’s colleges in the post-merger realignment of their curriculum offers. She chaired the Scottish Government’s Commission on Widening Access to Universities in 2015.

For 17 years Ruth was the Principal of Lewisham College, a large vocational further education London college serving a diverse and multicultural population. She has developed curriculum models throughout her career, has written and broadcast extensively on educational matters and is committed to economic and social inclusiveness.

A graduate in psychology and literature from Glasgow and Southampton universities as an NUM scholar, she trained at the Tavistock Clinic in Adolescence and Transition and worked in Child Guidance. She was awarded a CBE in 1996, and a damehood in 2006 for services to further education.

Dr Susan Pember OBE

Director of Policy and External Relations, HOLEX

Sue started her career in teaching. She was the Principal of Canterbury College for 10 years and, between 2010-2013, the lead senior civil servant working with Ministers on post 19 education and skills policies including, funding, apprenticeships, Skills for Life and ACL. Sue is now the Policy Director for HOLEX, which is the sector body for adult education providers, and runs her own consultancy business, concentrating on supporting and helping providers improve governance. Sue is a regular contributor to FE Week on governance issues, the Vice Chair of Bedfordshire University and has significant experience in all aspects of policy development and education excellence.

Sir Gerry Berragan

Chief Executive, Institute for Apprenticeships

Sir Gerry Berragan was a career soldier for 37 years, finishing as the Adjutant General, responsible for all Army personnel matters. Before this he was Director General for Personnel, and was the Director General Army Recruiting and Training for 3 years from 2008-11.

He has been involved in designing, delivering and evaluating training for most of his career and has always been passionate about gaining accreditation for the considerable skills training that soldiers undertake. He became the Army’s Apprentices Ambassador in 2008 to lead the effort that resulted in the Army becoming the largest apprenticeships provider in the country, offering more than 45 nationally-recognized training schemes. He brings this practical leadership experience of delivering high quality training and successful apprenticeships at scale to the appointment of Chief Executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships.

He is married to Karen and they have two adult sons. He is also Chairman of the Forces Pension Society, a not-for-profit membership organization providing advice and support to members of the Armed Forces Pension schemes.

Peter Marples

Group CEO, 3aaa Apprenticeships

Peter Marples is the Group CEO of 3aaa Apprenticeships which specialise in delivering Apprenticeship training in IT, Software, Digital Marketing, Accountancy, Financial Services, Business Administration, Customer Service and Management.

Peter left School and became an Apprentice at 16 – becoming a qualified accountant at 21 working in Local Government with a large County Council. He then spent 2 years in the Civil Service with the Audit Commission and joined KPMG in 1990, becoming an equity partner in 1996 and leading their education practice in both the UK and Europe, eventually taking over control of the Business Service line of business of the firm.

In 2002 he left KPMG and joined a small training provider in the North East. In the summer of 2003 Peter led a management buy-out and sold it successfully in 2005 when he briefly retired. The respite left Peter with time to reflect – and he bought a Football Club which he and 4 others took to the Premier League in less than 12 months – to be sold to an American Consortium shortly after.

With Di McEvoy-Robinson, Peter then set up 3aaa Apprenticeships in 2008 and in that time, he has seen a lot of change in the Education sector. He brings this wealth of experience with him as he talks on the national stage about the upcoming Apprenticeship and education market changes and policy developments.

Peter spends much of his time talking to clients, reviewing the market place and the emerging policy trends, positioning 3aaa Apprenticeships to respond to these challenges whilst supporting their clients and indeed Apprentices across their whole network of 36 training centres.

Jason Holt CBE

Chair, Apprenticeship Ambassador Network

Jason Holt is CEO of the Holts Group of Companies – a family of SME businesses with specialisms spanning augmented and virtual reality, AI, apprenticeships and jewellery manufacturing.

Jason is also founder of Holts Academy (now the British Academy of Jewellery following its acquisition in 2016). Whilst involved in the Academy, Jason created the only further education provider for the UK jewellery industry – pioneering a whole suite of new professional qualifications and apprenticeship frameworks – delivering to over 1000 learners each year.

Since 2012 and his Government Review on ‘Making Apprenticeships More Accessible to SME’s, he continues to champion the SME voice in apprenticeship policy. He helped Government set up the Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board - designed to influence Government policy for the better. In March 2018, Jason was appointed as Chair of the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network.

In addition, Jason advises a number of fast growth businesses in the tech-ed space.