Lord Ouseley - former Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality ***KEY NOTE SPEAKER***
Nirmal Borkhataria - Pro Vice Chancellor and Director of Finance at University of East London
Nick Brown - Principal of Oldham Sixth Form College
Peter Daley - Director of College Leadership Services of Protocol National
Sue Daley - Principal of Boston College
Gerry Davis - Chair of the Corporation of the College of North West London
Sally Dicketts - Chair of the Women’s Leadership Network and Principal and of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
Martin Doel OBE - Chief Executive, Association of Colleges
Gloria Dolan - Her Majesty’s Inspector
Sue Dutton - Interim Chief Executive of Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK)
Grace Haynes - HR Consultant, Network for Black Professionals
Derek Hooper - Consultant and Trainer on Equality and Diversity
Robin Landman - Chief Executive of the Network for Black Professionals
Nick Linford - Head of the Pearson Research Institute
Stella Mbubaegbu CBE - Principal and Chief Executive, Highbury College, Portsmouth
Maureen Mellor MBE - Principal of Liverpool Community College
Cathy Walsh - Principal and Chief Executive, Barking & Dagenham College

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Key Note Speaker

Lord Herman Ouseley, former Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality

Lord Ouseley is the former executive chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).   Before joining the CRE, he spent 30 years in local government, becoming director of education and chief executive of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and then in 1990 chief executive of the London Borough of Lambeth.   He was knighted in 1997 and then made a Lord four years later in 2001 for services to the community. A few months ago, Lord Ouseley carried out a review of the Workforce Race Advisory Group on behalf of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills which gave rise to a number of key outcomes and recommendations. 

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Nirmal Borkhataria, Pro Vice Chancellor and Director of Finance at UEL

Nirmal’s family came to the UK as immigrants in 1968. He graduated with an Economics degree at The London School of Economics and Political Science in 1982. He then went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant in 1985 and worked for large multi-national accountancy practices before moving on and working as the Group Finance Director for a USM quoted company in 1991. The company was involved in residential and commercial property development as well as leisure business interests. He then worked for 3 years with the Transport & General Workers Union during a time of significant reorganisation for the union. In 1996 he joined Hammersmith & West London College as the Director of Finance. Subsequently in 1997 he took over the estates function. In 2002, the college merged with Ealing Tertiary College to form the largest college in Greater London and one of the largest in the country. During the years 2003-2006 the college expanded its provision by 35%, core LSC income by 51%, undertook a £40 million redevelopment of 3 sites. Nirmal was a key player in this success story. Since 2007 Nirmal has been a member of the Vice Chancellors’ Group, and the Director of Finance at the University of East London. The university is expanding rapidly in an area that is experiencing significant regeneration and the home of a £9 billion Olympics project!

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Nick Brown OBE, Principal of Oldham Sixth Form College

Nick Brown opened Oldham Sixth Form College in 1992.  It is a high achieving inclusive college with a diverse population that reflects the community.  It has been judged outstanding in four full Ofsted inspections.  It is a beacon college, listed in the top 50 Best Companies Awards and described as a beacon of racial harmony during the Oldham riots.  He chairs Oldham Strategic Partnership which won the prize for Europe’s most innovative partnership in 2009, he chairs Oldham’s Public Service Board and the Local Learning Partnership.  His commitment to community cohesion stems from when he was a senior manager at Burnege High School at the time of the playground murder of Ahmed Ullah and the troubles that followed.  Later, as a consequence of this he was put into Breeze Hill High School when it experienced difficulties and organised the school’s evacuation and resettlement during the 1990 methane gas crisis.  He has worked as an archaeologist, local government inspector and in commerce and is currently writing a series of novels set in Ancient Greece.  He is married with three sons.

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Peter Daley, Director of College Leadership Services of Protocol National

Peter had over seven years’ experience as a college Principal before he became Director at the AoC in 1999. He established Tribal's College Leadership service in 2003, and in 2006 he moved to his current role with Protocol National. Peter’s track record in serving the FE sector is impressive and unrivalled, He is a very influential figure in this sector and has personally led and managed more successful senior appointments in the sector than all other recruiters put together.

Peter has helped to position Protocol National as a key partner for the Network for Black Professionals and is seen as an exemplary practitioner of leading edge equality and diversity practice. He has worked with the Network on a range of innovative projects including The High Fliers Programme and Talent Management Service, which are making a real difference to the pace of changing the landscape of leadership in the learning and skills sector, and he won the prestigious national award for Outstanding Contribution to Race Equality in FE in 2004. He was a keynote speaker at the 2009 Women’s Leadership Network conference.

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Sue Daley, Principal of Boston College

Sue has been Principal at Boston College in Lincolnshire for four years, having come from a Vice Principal’s post in a large inner-city college in Birmingham. Previously, she held senior management posts in FE and sixth form colleges in the East Midlands, Oldham and Bolton, and spent three years as a full-time FEFC Inspector, concentrating on Leadership, Governance and Quality. She also spent two years in the private sector, advising governing bodies and principals.

For several years, Sue has been a mentor for senior leaders through the Centre for Excellence in Leadership and the Black Leadership Initiative. She is currently an executive member of the East Midlands Hub for Equality and Diversity which is assembling the agenda for regional developments in the public sector.

Boston College was inspected by Ofsted in October 2008 and was judged ‘good’ for Equality of Opportunity with an ‘outstanding’ judgement for educational and social inclusion. Sue is heavily involved in local regeneration activity, being the Vice Chair of the Boston Area Regeneration Company, and is on the Executive Boards of three Local Strategic Partnerships, whose agendas feature community cohesion as a priority, given the context of the recent massive growth in the economic migrant communities.

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Gerry Davis, Chair of the Corporation of the College of North West London

Gerry Davis was elected as Chair of  the Corporation of the College of North West London  in January 2000 having been a governor since 1994.
He  had a career in education having taught in comprehensive schools in 3 London boroughs before becoming an inspector of schools and colleges in the London boroughs of Brent and Tower Hamlets[ ILEA] . During this period he was the professional advisor on all senior appointment panels in the local authorities.
 He was deputy director of education  and  then director of community development in London  Borough of Brent. Gerry  also set up, and was for 6 years Chief Executive of Harlesden City Challenge Ltd , a regeneration company.
For 3 years he ran his own education& management  consultancy company during which time he was general manager of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust..
Gerry has extensive experience of working on committees and boards. He is currently a trustee of the Global Education Trust  and member of the Corporate  Sustainability  Committee of a major bank.He is also a member of the London District Council of the Methodist church.
 He has 19years experience  as a governor in schools and of the College and extensive experience of recriuiting staff at all levels in education establishments.

Sally Dicketts, Chair of the Women’s Leadership and Principal and Chief Executive of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College

Sally Dicketts has been Principal and Chief Executive of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College since October 2003. She is Chair of the Women’s Leadership Network and serves on several other boards. She has been a Principal for over 12 years and has worked in a number of colleges of further education and in comprehensive schools, including in London and South Wales.

Sally chairs and sits on a number of local and national committees and boards. Among her interests are curriculum design, and the impact of emotional and social behaviour on learning.

Martin Doel OBE, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges

Martin took up post on 1 May 2008.  He is working alongside the AoC Board, President, staff and membership to champion and promote the work of Colleges, develop and promote an environment in which they can flourish and ensure that they are recognised as major contributors to the economic and social prosperity of the nation.

Martin was formerly Director of Training and Education at the Ministry of Defence, responsible for training and education policy and strategy across all three armed forces, including close liaison with DIUS and DCSF on education initiatives for service personnel.  The Armed Forces are the largest single provider of apprenticeships in the UK. Prior to this he served in the RAF for 26 years in a variety of roles, including acting as the RAF’s diversity champion, in which role he oversaw the opening of all roles within RAF to women apart from the infantry role, and an increased emphasis on recruiting from ethnic minority populations.  He originally trained as a teacher before joining the RAF and has published articles on military assistance in humanitarian aid operations and on a comprehensive approach to military/civil operations, the latter as a result of work whilst working on secondment with King’s College London.  He was appointed OBE in 1998 in recognition of his work in support of operations in the Balkans and the Gulf, and in furtherance of Anglo-German relations.

Gloria Dolan, Her Majesty’s Inspector

Gloria initially trained and worked as a hairdresser and beauty therapist. She was a salon owner and also had experience of managing a very large hair and beauty salon in a department store. Gloria also ran a weekly NHS clinic for eight years, helping patients with facial disfigurements to use remedial cosmetic camouflage techniques.

She has 25 years experience of teaching and managing in further education colleges, ultimately having responsibility for seven curriculum areas. Gloria’s approach to quality improvement was highly successful at raising standards. After successfully completing an MBA, Gloria became the director of development at an awarding body with a particular focus on key skills. She joined the Adult Learning Inspectorate in 2002 as an inspector of work-based learning, adult and community education, New Deal and prisons.

In September 2003, Gloria joined Ofsted as an HMI. Her responsibilities include 14-19 inspections of consortia offering Diplomas in local authority areas and college inspections. She is a keen supporter of initiatives to promote equality. Gloria works closely with the Network for Black Professionals, the Black Leadership Initiative and the National College. On behalf of Ofsted, Gloria manages the well established school and college inspection shadowing programmes for BME professionals.

Sue Dutton, Interim Chief Executive of Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK)

Sue has worked in the HE/FE Sector for nearly 30 years as Principal Lecturer, Director of HR and OD, Chief Negotiator for FE Employers and Deputy Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges.

She has spent periods as Acting Chief Executive of three national organisations and retired in 2008.
                    
She is currently the Interim Chief Executive of Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK).

She runs her own consultancy business, enjoys foreign travel, is married and has one grown up son.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Royal Society of Arts. Sue attended Wycombe High School and is a graduate of UCL.

Grace Haynes, HR Consultant, Network for Black Professionals

Grace began her long association with Further Education when she took up a research post at Walsall College, gradually progressing to a full time lecturer in Health and Social Care at the college.

Grace developed her career to hold various management positions within a College in the West Midlands and in 2001 decided to change her career path to become a specialist in human resource management. To this end, Grace studied to become a graduate of the CIPD followed by a Masters Degree in HR Management, and a management position as Director of HR.

Over the years, Grace has played a key role in providing training and consultancy to public, voluntary and private sector organisations on issues relating to HR and equality and diversity. She has been commended for her exemplar work in this field by Ofsted and the Learning & Skills Council, and was instrumental in increasing the proportion of black and minority ethnic staff at her college from 5% to 18.5% over a three year period. Grace has provided input into a number of publications including the three Good Practice Guides commissioned by the Commission for Black Staff in FE and the Network for Black Professionals and the recent LSC Race Equality in Employment Standards (REES). Grace now works as an independent HR and Equality & Diversity consultant.

Derek Hooper, Consultant and Trainer on Equality and Diversity

Derek has 25 years experience as a consultant on equality and diversity, and has also been a senior manager in adult education. He’s worked in different organisations in the private and public sector in UK and India. At the moment he is adviser to Sangama, a human rights NGO in Bangalore. One of his current projects is with West Thames College where he is leading a skills-based programme on Equality and Diversity for senior managers and each of the curriculum and business services teams. This programme has a second strand called ‘Creative Excellence’ which takes the college values and ‘ways of working’, and brings them alive by linking them directly into day to day management practice.
Derek is also the Inclusive Design Advisor at CABE – the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

Robin Landman, Chief Executive of the Network for Black Professionals

Robin’s family were political refugees from South Africa. A Politics graduate, Robin taught in London schools, including an exchange in Jamaica. In 1987 he moved into FE, first at Brixton College, then Southwark College. Following this, he worked in the FEFC. In 1997 he was appointed as Assistant Principal at Bilston Community College and then in 1999 as FE Adviser to the British Council, he was seconded to work as General Manager of the Colleges Collaboration Fund in South Africa until 2001. His most recent post in FE was as Deputy Principal at Hackney Community College. He is Chief Executive of the Network for Black Professionals (NBP), a social enterprise that promotes the benefits workforce diversity for the local, regional and national economies of the UK. A membership organisation with over 150 corporate members, it offers a range of services for corporate and individual clients, and delivers contracts for a range of organisations, including the Department for Work & Pensions, Department for Communities & Local Government, Learning & Skills Improvement Service and the National College for Leadership of Schools & Children’s Services. The NBP is an approved Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) centre delivering programmes from level 2 to 7 through its award-winning professional development arm, the Black Leadership Initiative®.

Nick Linford - Head of the Pearson Research Institute

Before joining Edexcel in September 2009 Nick spent six years as Director of Planning and Performance for Lewisham College. He is playing a leading role in capacity building on the use of funding and management information in the learning and skills sector, and is the author of The hands-on guide to post-16 funding (www.fundingguide.co.uk) and The hands-on guide to post-16 performance and data (www.dataguide.co.uk).

Nick regularly provides practical guidance on the management of funding, data and performance to a wide range of staff and organisations and in 2010 he will also become the Head of a new Pearson Think Tank.

Stella Mbubaegbu CBE, Principal and Chief Executive, Highbury College, Portsmouth

Stella Mbubaegbu has been principal and chief executive of Highbury College in Portsmouth since October 2001. She was the first ethnic minority female principal of an incorporated further education college in the UK, and in January 2008 was appointed CBE for services to further education.
Highbury is a college of further and higher education, proud of its applied academic, vocational and skills specialisms. An inclusive learning organisation with world-class facilities, the college shares its passion for learning with individuals and the local community, as underlined by the vision "to create a dynamic, innovative and high performing College which delivers world class education and training to meet the emerging needs of individuals, organisations and the local communities of Portsmouth and beyond".  The latest Institutional College Success rates have recently been published by the Learning & Skills Council and these show Highbury College as being the top College in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight area with 87% Success Rates overall and in the top 6% nationally.

Maureen Mellor MBE, Principal of Liverpool Community College

Maureen has been the Principal of Liverpool Community College since September 2008.  Liverpool Community College is a large general further education college and is the only FE sector college in Liverpool.  Maureen began her teaching career in the schools sector but she started work in further education in 1981 as a part-time lecturer in community and basic skills education.  She worked in a number of the former Liverpool colleges before being promoted to management roles in what was to become Liverpool Community College.  She managed a range of academic departments, before becoming the College Nominee and eventually the Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality and then the Deputy Principal.  She led the college accommodation strategy which over an eight year period resulted in 5 new purpose built vocational specialist centres.  The college is currently building its sixth new centre.  During her time as Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality the college went from being satisfactory to outstanding.  She has been awarded an MBE for services to further education.

Cathy Walsh, Principal and Chief Executive, Barking & Dagenham College

Cathy Walsh was educated in Scotland and has worked in primary and secondary schools in Scotland and Gibraltar before coming to London in the mid 80s.  Since then she has taught and / or led people in five further education (FE) colleges.  Apart from teaching, her leadership roles involved engaging communities, equality and diversity, transforming learning and teaching, and leadership & management roles within FE.  Currently she is Principal & Chief Executive at Barking & Dagenham College in East London where she has been in post for eighteen months and is focussed on leading the college from ‘good to great’, striving to lead her team to deliver learning experiences ‘good enough for our own’ and providing ‘real work’ opportunities within the curriculum for learners.