Marion Plant OBE (Chair)
Marion Plant OBE is Principal and Chief Executive of NWSLC and Chief Executive of the Midland Academies Trust which is responsible for four secondary schools. Marion also served a three-year term as a Non-executive Director at the Department for Education. In March 2018 Marion was awarded the ‘Business Woman of the Year Award’ by the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce.
Brian Doran
Brian has been Principal and Chief Executive at Southern Regional College since the formation of the college in 2008. He previously held the position of Deputy Director for Teaching and Learning at the Newry and Kilkeel Institute. Brian has taught in both the post primary and further education sectors and is a past graduate of Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University and has recently completed a senior leadership programme at the University of Oxford.
Dame Dawn Childs (Deputy Chair)
Dawn Childs DBE is the Chief Executive Officer Operations at Pure Data Centres Group. She has held several previous roles across various industries, including the Change Director for National Grid, Group Engineering Director for Merlin Entertainments and the Head of Engineering at Gatwick Airport. Dawn joined Gatwick Airport in 2012 after serving for 23 years as an Engineering Officer in the Royal Air Force. Dawn is also President of the Women’s Engineering Society.
Mark Dawe
Mark is the Chief Executive of The Skills Network. He is on a range of government boards such as the ESFA Advisory Board and the FE Reform Advisory Group. Previously, Mark Dawe was the Chief Executive of OCR, the exam board, for 5 years. He has been a governor of primary and secondary schools and a further education college.
Mike James
Mike James is an engineer by background and now Chief Executive of Cardiff and Vale College Group. He has over 23 years of experience in the FE sector, including holding senior posts in both Bristol and a major London College prior to Cardiff.
Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE
Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE joined WorldSkills UK as CEO in 2015, overseeing all WorldSkills UK’s activities, working closely with the rest of our board across the UK and internationally – in governments, employers and education. Under Neil’s tenure as CEO, the organisation has grown and developed to focus on how international benchmarking from the global WorldSkills network in over 80 countries can be harnessed to drive up standards in skills development across the UK
