Members

Rachel joined the College in 2015 in the role of Vice Principal before becoming Deputy Principal in 2019. Prior to her appointment as Principal, Rachel was the strategic lead for the College’s ambitious £140m estates transformation project which successfully completed in 2022, delivering industry standard facilities. Rachel started her career at the FE Funding Council (FEFC) where she spent 9 years, including leading investigations into underperforming colleges and overseeing the smooth transition from the FEFC to the Learning and Skills Council for all 13 Lancashire colleges. She then moved to Blackburn College, where she progressed to become Deputy Principal.

A Mancunian by birth, Dame Ann describes herself these days as a ‘philanthropist, mover & Quaker’, trying to navigate her way through life by doing least harm to people and planet.

Ann’s teaching career in Further Education began at Wythenshawe College in 1976, whilst she was undertaking her PhD at the University of Liverpool. She enjoyed a successful career in the sector in Manchester and Derbyshire before becoming a Principal & CEO – of Milton Keynes College in 1986 and then Cambridge Regional College in 1996. In 2001, Ann joined the civil service where she was responsible for the UK government’s flagship digital learning initiatives, learndirect, UK online and gov.uk.

Ann is currently Pro Chancellor of the University of Surrey, Chair of the City & Guilds of London Institute and from 2015-2021 and was Chair of The Scouts, the UK’s largest youth engagement charity. She is the first openly gay woman to hold these roles. Ann is also Chair of the UK Innovation Corridor, the country’s leading sci-tech region story from London to Cambridge, Chair of The Lloyds Bank Foundation, the charity arm in England & Wales of the Lloyds Banking Group, Deputy Chair of The Prince’s Foundation, a heritage-led regeneration charity founded by HM The King, and Vice President of the FE sector’s social justice charity, the Helena Kennedy Foundation which Ann herself set up in 1998,

In 2019, Ann was named #1 LGBTQ+ public sector role model in the OUTstanding List and one of the 50 most influential women born in the North of England in the Northern Power Women Power List. In the 2011 Birthday Honours, Ann was awarded the OBE for services to education, in 2015 ‘upgraded’ to CBE for public service, and in Jubilee Honours 2022 ‘elevated’ to the rank of Dame Commander of the British Empire, DBE for services to young people, philanthropy and charity.

Garry is Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council and Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People. In his time as Executive Member of Manchester’s Children’s Services, Manchester has been recognised as “Good” by OFSTED for the first ever time and Garry’s political leadership was highlighted by successive OFSTED inspections as a key strength of the service.

Garry sits on the Greater Manchester Children’s Board, contributing to work looking at the response to the challenges posed by missed learning opportunities from the pandemic which he has raised with local MPs and with Government Ministers. On the back of this lobbying, he is now leading a project to provide additional investment in educational psychology and speech and language therapy for those schools who have seen the biggest impact for children post-pandemic.

As well as work in Manchester, Garry attends the Local Government Association Children’s Board and has contributed and spoken on policy issues for a range of organisations. He is also an LGA Peer Mentor for Cabinet Members for several local authorities across the country.

Garry previously worked for the late Tony Lloyd MP in Manchester Central before working for his successor Lucy Powell MP, running her office in Manchester which he has done since 2012.

Justice has held senior Marketing positions in private and public sectors across Sport, Media and Entertainment. Justice joined Liverpool Football Club, initially in a senior Marketing role and is now a Director for Strategy. Here, he also sits on a variety of committees including the Club's Diversity and Inclusion, as well as the Digital, Media and Marketing Leadership Team - a division that is responsible for all the Club's global digital media platforms, Social channels and Marketing output.

Prior to Liverpool FC, as Head of Marketing for Manchester City FC, he was an integral member of the Senior Leadership Team, responsible for all UK and Global Brand Strategy and Marketing Leadership. Before Sport, he held Marketing roles at the BBC, as well as credible radio network Xfm (as it was known then), as part of the launch team when it came to Manchester.

Justice was born, and studied, in Manchester - graduating from the University of Manchester with a Bachelors in Multimedia Journalism.

Mark Fletcher is the Chief Executive Officer at Manchester Pride, one of the UK’s largest LGBTQ+ charities. Since his appointment in 2014 Mark has been responsible for spearheading a programme of change within the LGBTQ+ charity which has springboarded its profile and positioned the Manchester Pride Festival as one of the world’s most recognisable pride celebrations.

Mark chairs a specialist panel of experts on the LGBTQ+ Advisory Panel to Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, the first of its kind in the UK. Mark also sits on the Editorial Advisory Panel for British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher, Reach Plc, representing LGBTQ+ communities

Catherine is the former Deputy Principal of Blackpool & The Fylde College. The college was designated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2013, was awarded Foundation degree awarding powers in 2015 and TEF Gold in 2017.

Catherine has worked in the further education sector for over 30 years; initially as a lecturer in science and maths, progressing to executive roles. She has worked in a number of North West colleges and has been involved in national level work such as Best Practice networks, National Challenge Initiative and Study Programme review.

As a former Ofsted associate inspector and a reviewer for the QAA, Catherine's work has always focused on high quality learning and teaching to help bring about life changing opportunities for all students.

Catherine is involved in a range of work involving both education and community work. Catherine was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s honours of 2016 for services to further education.

Philip was previously a senior partner in the Deloitte UK firm, having retired in 2007 after being a partner for 30 years, specialising in audit, mergers and acquisitions. He was an elected member of the Deloitte UK Board of Partners and the first chairman of the firm’s Audit Committee.

In 2002, Philip had primary responsibility for integrating the clients, partners and staff of Arthur Andersen UK into Deloitte. From 2003 he was head of Quality and Risk Management for the UK audit practice of Deloitte until his retirement from the firm.

Philip was the President of Accountancy Europe (formerly the Federation of European Accountants (FEE)) during 2011 and 2012. He was also a member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board Consultative Advisory Group (IAASB CAG) and the International Ethics Standards Board Consultative Advisory Group (IESBA CAG). From 2013 until 2019, Philip was a member of the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in the US.

From May 2007 to April 2015, Philip was a non-executive director of Yorkshire Building Society, where he also chaired the Audit Committee. He was a seconded member of the Audit Committee of Wellcome Trust for 9 years from 2008 and is a non-executive director of Lakeland Limited, a retail kitchenware company based in the Lake District.

He also chairs the board of governors of Cheadle Hulme School, a large independent day school in Cheshire, is a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, a trustee of the Rugby Football Foundation, the charitable arm of the Rugby Football Union, and a member of the RFU Audit Committee.

Philip has recently been appointed as chairman of the Audit Quality Board at Grant Thornton.