Rachel Nicol

Rachel is the Group Director of Governance for The Bedford College Group (since 2015), company secretary to 3 subsidiary companies and supports governors, non-executive directors and management team. As a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and with qualifications and experience as a Solicitor (now non-practising) and Chartered Accountant, Rachel brings a unique perspective to governance leadership and is able to address issues from a wider strategic and business perspective.

Rachel has led governance reviews and implemented change to support the adaptation of the Group through single, multi-academy trust and UTC sponsorship, merger, inspection, accreditation, structural and strategic reviews. She has also worked collaboratively with other governance professionals on wider structural reviews and other board projects including board leadership on EDI. Rachel provides support and coaching to other governance professionals.

Rachel is the Vice Chair of the AoC Governance Professionals Eastern Region network and as an AoC consultant in 2021 wrote an online module on Curriculum and Quality Improvement for the Education Training Foundation’s Governance training programme. Rachel’s passion is for enhancing board dynamics, inclusivity and cognitive diversity in decision making, and in getting boards to think about their current focus, as well as their long term vision.