World-class skills for a net zero economy

Emma is Head of External Affairs at WorldSkills UK with responsibility for diagnostic research, media, public affairs and policy events. Emma supported the Skills Taskforce for Global Britain, which recently reported on the importance of skills and inward investment and has produced a number of high profile reports such as ‘Disconnected: exploring the digital skills gap’. Previously Emma worked at the CBI for 12 years, leading policy development in a range of areas such as industrial strategy, climate change, enterprise and creative industries. Emma also held the role of Chief of Staff working closely with the Director General and President. Prior to the CBI Emma worked in policy development at Universities UK.

Emily Jones is head of research at L&W, responsible for leading research and development projects to ensure they make a positive difference to policy and practice. With over 14 years’ experience in designing and delivering research to inform lifelong learning and skills policy, Emily leads L&W’s apprenticeships and technical education programme. She also leads L&W’s flagship project, New Futures, aimed at supporting adults affected by the Coronavirus pandemic to reskill and change career.

Jane Pierce is the Deputy Director, Engineering Construction and Transport at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. Jane joined the Institute in 2018 and has worked in a number of education, policy and operational roles, most recently at Ofgem as Head of Policy and Communications for the Renewable Heat Incentive.

Emma is Research & Insight Manager at The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI).

Emma has been providing research and insight about and to the automotive sector at the IMI since 2019. As a senior research and insight professional she has over a decade of experience working in energy, public sector and education sectors.

Emma strongly believes that education, learning and skills is a core fundamental for an economically prosperous and socially just society. She has witnessed the impact of good policy decisions first hand whilst working in roles in local and central government.

At the IMI she is responsible for the delivery of the annual research programme which supplies regular research reports covering a range of subjects including labour market and sector analysis, sector and occupation skills demand and gap analysis, automotive education and learning take up including analysis apprenticeship take up.

Mark is Head of Membership Products and Services at The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI).

Mark has been in the Automotive sector since leaving school at 16, starting as an Apprentice Automotive Electrician, moving on to a regional troubleshooter role for a national company in 1998, before joining The RAC as a technical trainer in 2000, this lead to a training development role in 2003. Mark moved to Ford Motor Company in 2006 to lead the training development and delivery for the Ford Dealer Network. In 2013, Mark moved to an Apprenticeship Training Provider, leading training delivery across multiple sites and customer management for a number of manufacturer Apprenticeship programmes.

Mark joined The IMI in 2015, initially leading the UK business development team, before moving roles in 2017 to lead the external quality and assessment department, whilst also setting The IMI up as an Apprentice End Point Assessment Organisation. In 2019 the department joined with product development and eLearning, becoming the Membership Products and Services department, which Mark continues to lead.

Mark’s overall mission is to provide the best talent to the automotive industry and the highest quality support to training partners and the businesses they work with.

Always looking to innovate through the use of technology and business management data, whilst encouraging staff participation, by constantly exploiting the use of technology and communications to drive an increase in employee and member engagement, along with overall business growth.

Daily Mantra: The strongest, positive leaders, clear a path, by listening, then supporting strategies and tactics, based on everyone’s ongoing feedback and actions.

Julia Belgutay is senior policy manager for research and evidence at AoC, leading on projects like Research Further, which supports practitioners to do research, and Think Further, a new thought leadership platform for the sector. Prior to joining AoC, Julia was an FE and skills specialist journalist at Tes for over a decade, covering further education and apprenticeship policy and practice across the UK.