Association of Colleges

Governors' Council Members

There are currently 15 Governors on the Governors’ Council. These are made up of one Governor elected from each of the nine English regions together with 5 co-opted members. The co-opted include Governors from a Sixth Form College, a land-based College and a specialist College. In recognition of the key relationship between Clerks to the Corporation and Governors, the Governors’ Council has also appointed a co-opted representative of the National Clerks’ Network.

Displaying biographies 1 - 15 of 15

Ann Height, Chair, South Leicestershire College, East Midland Region

Biography to follow.
Carole Stott, Governor,City Lit, London Region

Carole is Chair of Governors at City Lit in London. City Lit is the largest adult education centre in Europe and Carole joined the Board there following a long career in, and commitment to, adult and further education. She is a qualified teacher who has taught in further education as well as in schools and University. She then worked as a manager in regional and national roles focusing on provision for unemployed adults, and then on curriculum and qualification reform to provide improved opportunities, especially for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. She has worked as a CEO, including CEO of a national qualification awarding body. She is currently a consultant in the sector. Carole has developed a keen interest and commitment to supporting good governance across the sector and was co-opted to AoC's Governors Council in 2008.
Colin Daniels, Chair, Warrington College

Biography to follow
David O'Halloran, Governor, South Essex College

David has been a governor at South Essex College for 14 years. During this time he has witnessed the college grow into one of the major FE providers in the Eastern region through substantial growth in HE provision, a major capital project and a successful merger. David is a keen advocate of the FE sector having witnessed through his own son and daughter the benefits that an FE college education can deliver to students. Professionally David manages credit risk exposure to micro Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for one of the UK's main high street banks.
John Bingham, Chair, Thomas Rotherham College, Yorkshire and Humber Region

John Bingham was born in Yorkshire and attended Rotherham Grammar School before becoming a Telecommunications Engineer, studying at Sheffield University as well as at Further Education Colleges in Rotherham (Rotherham Technical College) and Sheffield (Granville College of FE, now part of The Sheffield College). His career has developed from Telecommunications Engineering through Senior Management to setting up and running a successful technical and managerial consultancy practice, specialising in telecommunications and IT. Having worked in a professional capacity in the telecommunications environment for some 38 years, John became Chairman of Thomas Rotherham Sixth Form College at its incorporation and was elected to the AoC Board in 2001, having been a founder member of AoC Yorkshire & Humberside during the mid-nineties.
John Short, Governor, York College, Yorkshire and Humber Region

John Short has been Chair of York College for the past 5 years; he was also Chair for 2 years in the late '90s. As Chair he's been directly involved in the merger with York VI Form College and a successful new build. John represents Yorkshire and Humberside governors on the Association of College's National Governor Council and is Chairman of AoC Create Ltd., the Association's recruitment, event management and consultancy business. John's professional background is 30 years in marketing, sales and general management roles at Rowntree Macintosh/Nestle UK; working at divisional board level for a number of years. He's also been a director of two vending 'industry owned' companies and held non-executive board roles in two UK and two EU Trade Associations. He now works, part time, as a personal and business mentor with SME owners/directors.
Mark White, Vice-Chair, Stockton Riverside College, Northern Region

Mark is Vice-Chair of Stockton Riverside College and Chair of the College Remuneration Committee; a Member of the Court of the University of Bradford; and a Board Member of the Friends of Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. Previously, he was Chair of Governors of Bede Sixth Form College, Billingham (until its merger with Stockton Riverside College). Mark also represents the Governors' Council on the main AoC Board. He chairs the AoC Governance Portfolio Group and is Vice-Chair of the AoC Finance and General Purposes Committee. Mark has acted as Head of the Vice-Chancellor's Office at Teesside University since 1999, previously holding other roles within the University (and formerly as a polytechnic) since 1982. Between 1979-80 and 1981-82, Mark was President of Teesside Polytechnic Students' Union (and Polytechnic Governor). Mark is also a member of the Association of University Administrators, a member of the Friends of NUS, a Companion of the Institute for Learning and a Fellow of the RSA.
Martin Doel , Chief Executive, AoC

Martin Doel took up his appointment as Chief Executive of AoC in 2008, after a successful career in the Royal Air Force. Martin's final appointment in his former career was as the Director of Training and Education for all 3 Armed Services, working in the Ministry of Defence; the MoD is the largest employer of apprentices in the UK. Prior to this he filled several operational support, personnel and training posts in the RAF, including service as the equivalent of a Director of Studies at the Joint Services Command and Staff College providing postgraduate level education to officers from across the world. He has published articles on military assistance in humanitarian aid operations and strategic planning. He was appointed OBE in 1998 for his work in support of operations in the Balkans and for his contribution to Anglo-German relations.
Mike Atkinson, Chair, Plumpton College, South East

Mike has been a Governor at Plumpton (a Sussex land-based College) since 2002, including 5 years (2005-10) as Corporation Chair. He currently chairs the Audit Committee there. He has also been Vice-Chair of AoSEC since 2006. Outside FE, he is Vice-Chair of Governors at Chailey Heritage, a non-maintained special school, and non-executive director at a FTSE 250 mining company. He is a qualified accountant. His previous career was in the UK coal industry and the Civil Service, including the Treasury, Department of Energy, and DTI (now BIS). He was appointed a trustee of the Coal Industry Pension Funds 1995-2000, and Chair of British Coal Corporation (1997-2000).
Nick Moore, Chair, Somerset College of Arts & Technology

Nick Moore chairs the Board at Somerset College, a medium-sized general further education based in Taunton. He has worked in the public, voluntary and private sectors and served time in Birmingham Polytechnic. In the latter part of his career he led a research team at the Policy Studies Institute exploring the policy issues raised by the development of information-based societies. Now retired, he has spent the last six years as the chair of Dignity in Dying, campaigning for terminally ill people to have the right to choose an assisted death.
Rajinder Kaur Mann OBE, Governor, Burton and South Derbyshire College, West Midlands Region

Rajinder joined the Governing Body in October 2009 and is Vice Chair of the Audit committee and member of the Search and Governance Committee. She is Executive Director of, the award winning Black Leadership Initiative, which has become the training and development service of the Network for Black Professionals (NBP). Rajinder has over twenty five years experience in adult, youth and community education. She was Director of Community Education at Bilston Community College and then moved on to developing Lifelong Learning at the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. She has worked in policy development at NIACE, Birmingham City Council, Wolverhampton Borough Council and the Race Relations Council. She holds a Master of Social Sciences Degree in Race and Education as well as a Bachelor of Education from Birmingham University. The area of expertise in her Masters provides her with the theoretical knowledge for understanding race equality issues particularly in education field.
Roger Morris, Chair, Northampton College, East Midlands Region

Roger Morris became Chief Executive of the City of Durham in 1981, moving in 1986 to become Chief Executive and Town Clerk of Northampton Borough Council. He retired from there in July 2004. Roger Morris is now Chairman of the Corporation of Northampton [Further Education] College, and Chair of the Governors' Council of the Association of Colleges; a member of the Connexions Board for Northamptonshire and the Northamptonshire Pensions Committee; and a consultant for the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (ALACE).
Sandra Unsworth, Governor, King George V Sixth Form College, North West Region

Sandra Unsworth trained as a Speech and Language Therapist at City of Manchester College of Higher Education being awarded a degree affiliated to Manchester University. Since then she has worked with children and adults of all ages, including young deaf people at a college of further education. Sandra continues to work as a part-time Speech Therapist along with her parallel career as a Registered Intermediary for the criminal justice system (facilitating the communication of witnesses in giving evidence to the police and the courts). She has been a governor at King George V Sixth Form College in Southport since 1998 and is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board. Sandra was appointed to the AoC Governors' Council in 2009 as a co-opted member representing Sixth Form Colleges.
Tony Allen CBE, Chair, Newbury College, South East

Tony has been a Governor at Newbury College since 1997 and Chair from 2002-11. He has seen the College relocated in its entirety to a green field site and move from unsatisfactory to Good with outstanding Governance in the Ofsted rankings. Trained as a Lawyer, but more interested in efficient public administration, he became Chief Executive of the LB of Hammersmith & Fulham and then the Royal County of Berkshire for 20 years. In the latter he pioneered extensive outsourcing of service delivery making that Council the first "Enabling Council". He later was CE of NHBC providing 10 year insurance warranties for the New House building Industry before running his own Management Consultancy. This specialised in 'managing change' with Central and Local Government as Clients as well as the Police, Youth Justice Board and other public sector agencies. He has been a Special Adviser at the DTI, a Lay inspector of Constabulary and an Adviser at a Citizens Advice Bureau.
Vijith Randeniya OBE , Chair, Birmingham Metropolitan College, West Midlands

After graduating with a degree in Modern History, Vij Randeniya joined the London Fire Brigade and spent 15 years serving for the Brigade at some of the UK's busiest fire stations before moving to Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue as Head of Operations. Vij was appointed Chief Fire Officer of West Midlands Fire Service in March 2009 and he believes the Fire Service has a key role to play in making society safer and more prosperous. Vij was awarded an OBE in 2006 and an honorary Doctorate of Science by Aston University in July 2010. He has been a visiting lecturer at both the Defence Academy in Oxfordshire and the National Police Improvement Agency training centre in Warwickshire. Vij was elected to the Chief Fire Officers Association Presidential Team in August 2010, and will serve as President from September 2012-2013. Vij was appointed to the Board of Governors of Birmingham Metropolitan College in July 2010 and became Chairman of the Board in September 2010. Vij joined the Governors' Council in January 2012.