Our Governors

Michael is the Board Chair and CEO of NatCen, the UK’s leading independent organisation for social research. NatCen partners with governments, charities, and other organisations to provide evidence-based insights on critical social issues. The organisation’s work spans health and well-being, education, crime and justice, social and political attitudes, and economic behaviour.

Prior to joining NatCen, Michael held senior leadership positions at Kantar, where he served as Chief Business Performance Officer, and Ecorys as UK Managing Director, an international policy research and consultancy firm. He also served as Chief Executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, where he led initiatives to improve vocational training and employment opportunities.

Michael is a strong advocate for further education. His commitment to vocational education was recognised by a Fellowship from the London City & Guilds Institute in 2016. Over the years Michael has held a number of non-executive and advisory roles in both the public and private sectors covering education, employment and small businesses; once Chairman of a photographic accessory manufacturer.

Michael’s first leadership role was as Managing Director of CFE, which over 10 years he led from a start-up from three local universities to a business providing research and programme services in public policy across the UK. Michael has recently returned as a non-executive Director.

Nicole works with the executive team of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) to develop and implement the organisation-wide strategy. Nicole is also responsible for internal governance, oversight of strategic risks and the portfolio management office. She is a Fellow of both the Chartered Management Institute and the RSC, with extensive experience in a broad range of leadership, management and governance roles.

Previously Nicole served on the Education Board of City and Islington College, and was a Chair of Governors at an outstanding first school in Hertfordshire. As well as this, she was a  PSRB specialist on the TEF Natural Sciences and Engineering Pilot Panels for the Office for Students.

In his current role, Toyin liaises with global transaction banking and corporate finance business lines. He provides advice and support on financial crime, manages high-risk cross-regional client relationships, and supports the development of protocols for business engagement. He has extensive expertise in conducting anti-money laundering and enhanced due diligence efforts on behalf of the banking industry.

Toyin was a Senior Consultant for Exiger’s where he supported the court-appointed and world’s largest corporate compliance monitor, overseeing a global financial institution’s implementation of the US Department of Justice deferred prosecution agreement.

Chris is currently the non-executive Chair of Wilson Partners a chartered accountancy firm based in Maidenhead. During his remunerated career, he was a Big 4 private equity partner, board advisor and divestment and acquisition specialist, an expert in challenging and implementing complex financial and business strategies for major PE and PE-owned organisations.

Chris was an accounting firm partner for over 15 years and advised private equity houses for over 20 years as they buy, optimise and sell companies. In recent years, alongside his extensive business acquisition and disposal experience, Chris has held multiple private equity leadership roles at UK, international and global levels. He is a chartered accountant and has a modern languages degree from Durham University; he has lived and worked in both New York and Paris.

Stephen is currently the Chief Procurement Officer for Kantar, an international market research agency based in London which has around 30,000 employees in over 90 countries, advising some of the largest global companies on advertising, brand strategy and customer experience. Stephen has worked for a number of other leading companies including Hewlett-Packard, Pearson PLC and Vodafone. Stephen is also a governor at St John Baptist Catholic Secondary School member.

Lars founded My Nametags in 2004, which sells name labels for children to over 150 countries around the world. The company won the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2018. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was a senior executive for a number of companies within the Corporate finance sector, including Australia Mutual Provident and Cavendish Corporate Finance. Amongst a number of non-executive roles, he is a master and board member at the Worshipful Company of World Traders and is a non-executive director at the Guild of Freemen.

Caroline is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Barb Audiences, which is the UK TV’s industry agency for analysing what people watch. She is responsible for the day-to-day delivery of key operations to ensure that the organisation’s strategic objectives are met. Before this, she held a number of senior positions at Kantar including Global Operations and Transformation Director, as well as the Head of Data Collection.

Tina is the Human Resources Director at the Houses of Parliament, where she is responsible for leading the Recruitment, Learning, Careers, Change and people strategy for over three thousand employees. Before this, she held a number of senior HR positions within City and Guilds including HR Director of Recruitment, Talent and Development and Group Head of HR Professional Services. Tina also brings are wealth of senior corporate HR experience having held positions with the BBC and BT Global Services.

Katherine is an experienced senior leader who is passionate about tackling poverty. In her current role as the Director of the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) she has been successful in accrediting over 15,000 employers who have committed to paying the living wage. Before leading the LWF, Katherine was the Assistant Director for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) a non-departmental public body which provided strategic leadership on skills and employment issues.

Nana is an experienced educational leader with fourteen years of teaching experience in primary, secondary, further, adult, and higher education. Nana has a proven track record of successfully managing curriculum and staff to improve learning experiences and outcomes for learners and strives to continuously improve learners’ experiences.

Nana’s role as a curriculum leader at CCC requires the ability to understand, communicate and implement the strategic aims of the college group, particularly the Sixth Form’s priorities and the day-to-day operations of their department and the impact on students.

Nana has previously served as governor at Barnet and Southgate College, Jubilee Primary School, and Fernbank Children’s Centre and is committed to ensuring an anti-racist FE system and adopts the Black FE Leadership group’s 10-point plan to bring about real and sustainable change across the sector. Nana hopes to uphold her own and CCCG’s shared values of inclusivity, equality, and diversity.

Sharon is a highly experienced HR Director who has worked with trustees and on boards for over 25 years, transforming businesses to ensure they are sustainable and can deliver on their core purpose and strategy. Her experience is in complex and highly regulated sectors, such as education, aviation, professional services, environmental health and media. She has held senior positions in high-profile businesses including Walt Disney, Virgin Atlantic and the City & Guilds Group. She works with multiple stakeholders and is skilled at combining the culture and assets of organisations to achieve their goals.

Sharon is a qualified Executive Coach. She works with boards and individual executives on their leadership development. Her passion for coaching and developing people to achieve their full potential has also led to her taking up other roles, such as coaching young entrepreneurs as well as becoming a Commissioner for the Princess Royal Training Awards, which recognise the best standards of corporate training nationally.

Mary Stiasny has held a range of roles across the higher education sector, both with a UK and international focus. She began her career as a secondary school teacher, before taking up roles working for Schools of Education, where she trained school and FE College teachers at universities across the UK. She went on to hold a number of senior leadership positions, including Faculties of Education at Goldsmiths College, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Greenwich, becoming increasingly involved in the leadership of the Internationalisation of Higher Education.

Mary moved to the British Council as Director of Education for some years, and then returned to higher education as Pro-Director with responsibility for Learning, Teaching and International at UCL’s Institute of Education. Her last role has been as PVC International, Learning and Teaching at the University of London, overseeing the provision of higher education by distance and through TNE systems to around 40,000 students per annum in 190 countries around the world.

Her work in higher education has ensured Mary has been able to lead on her commitment to education and training, to international education and to act as an advocate for women in leadership roles within the sector.

Shehrebanu started her journey with an educational background in Business Administration and Human Resource Management, earning an MBA from The Faculty of Management Studies (MSU), India.

In her current role as a Liaison Officer at Capital City College, Shehrebanu fosters partnerships and business development activities to enhance recruitment processes and course sustainability goals. She manages extensive learner assessments across various locations, ensuring compliance with documentation standards.

Prior to this role, Shehrebanu contributed significantly to HR and strategic planning at TATA Consultancy Services, focusing on employee relations, engagement, training and development, and fostering an inclusive work culture. Deeply passionate about the impact of HR and people engagement, Shehrebanu believes in the principle that the heart of every successful organisation lies in its people and the creativity they bring.

Vincent qualified as an accountant in 2021 and is currently working as an Assistant Manager on Grant Thornton UK LLP’s Strategic Leadership Team. Vincent is passionate about diversity and inclusion leading to him co-found his firm’s Ethnicity Network, aiming to increase representation at the top level and reduce his firm’s ethnicity pay gap.

Alongside this, Vincent is the co-founder of The Open Private School, a charity which seeks to provide state school-educated students with the opportunity to learn from the best talent in their chosen career path and the former Director of the non-profit organisation, the Chartered Accountants Student Society for London, charged with the stewardship of 5000+ ICAEW students.

Weiye is an experienced Strategic Asset Allocation Strategist.

For five years she has worked in the economic consulting sector, with positions held in major financial advisory firms including KPMG. Weiye has worked with high-profile businesses in multiple sectors, such as retail, banking, real estate and asset management, to offer advice on international business structuring and the impact of the economy on their businesses.

She has worked as a macroeconomic risk specialist at an international investment bank, providing management advice and support for businesses, and regulatory and audit requirements for risk analysis.

Weiye has actively volunteered with multiple education organisations on international education and international student issues.

Maria Rosa is in her second year of a Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care. She is the Student Union President at the college’s Holloway centre.

Maria is passionate about helping others and being a voice that advocates for her fellow students. Her priority is to work hard and help students improve their college experience. Once she has completed her course, she hopes to train to become a lawyer.

Praful is an entrepreneur focused on using innovation and business to have a social impact. He campaigns to improve access to skills and training, particularly digital and green skills, and is a member of Labour’s Council of Skills Advisors alongside Lord David Blunkett. Praful is a Labour councillor in Islington.

Sarah-Jane is an experienced Director who has worked with Big 4 firms for almost 30 years. Following qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, she has worked with a range of Boards and Executive Committees across the public and private sectors. This included advising on the commercial and financial structuring of infrastructure and corporate projects worth over £1bn. She has developed and implemented stakeholder management strategy for businesses with UK and European government and regulatory consumer bodies.

In her current role, she has been involved in structuring and managing change programmes in response to market developments and technological change. Sarah-Jane enjoys coaching and developing people and is passionate about creating opportunities for everyone to achieve their potential.