Board and governance

Chair of AoC Sport and AoC Sport Welfare and Safeguarding Lead, Principal and Chief Executive of Walsall College. Born in the Midlands, Jat attended the local comprehensive school before going on to study Financial Management and was awarded his Masters Degree at the University of Dundee. Before entering into further education, Jat worked and qualified as an Accountant in Public Practice before joining the logistics sector. In 1996 Jat joined City of Wolverhampton College as the Head of Finance, then moved to Walsall College as Director of Finance in 2004. He then progressed to the post of Vice Principal - Planning & Resources and was appointed as Principal & Chief Executive in December 2011. Jat led the College through its Ofsted Inspection in February 2013, where the College was awarded Grade 1 ‘Outstanding’. This historic grading makes Walsall College the first ‘Outstanding’ general further education college in the Black Country and indeed the first under the new inspection framework in the UK. The journey beyond ‘Outstanding’ continues, where Walsall College was also awarded Investors In People – Gold Status in April 2013, together with the AoC Beacon Award for Outstanding Leadership of Improvement in November 2013, together with the AoC President’s Award and Times Education Supplement (TES) FE Provider of the Year Award in February 2014.

Director of Finance, Association of Colleges. Having trained as a Chartered Accountant, Peter worked in the private sector for 15 years, the final role being in a Group of 10 Companies, with a turnover in excess of £600 million. He has been appointed to all AoC Boards and specifically as Finance Director. Peter has also successfully passed the IoD Certificate in Company Direction.

Chief Executive, Association of Colleges. David became Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges in September 2016. Before that he was CEO at Learning and Work Institute, a leading think tank, research and policy organisation which was formed in 2016 from a merger he led between NIACE and Inclusion. From 2000 to 2011, David worked in senior roles at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). At the LSC and SFA David led the funding and improvement relationships with colleges and providers and successfully took on trouble-shooting roles to rescue crises in capital funding and Educational Maintenance Allowances. Prior to that, David worked in the voluntary sector across a wide range of roles and organisations in the UK and Australia, in social housing, co-operatives, welfare, regeneration and community development.
David has held many Board and Committee roles, including a few years as Vice-Chair of the East Midlands Regional Assembly in the 1990s. He played a leading role in establishing the new Education and Training Foundation in 2013 and has established and supported several third sector organisations.

Professor Jo Maher is Pro-Vice Chancellor for Sport at Loughborough University and Professor of Practice in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. She is a member of the FA Council and its National Game Board, Chair of the FA Development Committee and former Chair of the English Colleges Football Association. Jo is a current member of the DCMS Board for Women’s Sport and previously worked for the Department of Education serving the FE Commissioner on the Principal’ Reference group. After a 17-year career in Further Education, serving as a Principal and CEO for seven years at Boston College and Loughborough College respectively, she built on Loughborough’s sporting success securing a £12.5m world class sports hall and supporting 15 national sports governing body partnerships with over 2,000 elite athletes per year. Jo is a qualified teacher, assessor, former Chartered Scientist, and internationally published academic. Specialising in professional competence in sports psychology, Jo has presented her research at conferences both in the UK and abroad. Working in professional football Jo has spent time supporting high performance environments as well as supporting individual elite athletes including Olympic standard.

Principal and Chief Executive, Lincoln College Group. Mark was appointed as the Principal / Chief Executive Officer of the Lincoln College Group on 1 April 2022, having previously held the position of Managing Director and Deputy CEO for the previous 8 years. He also holds voluntary positions as Director of the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology, Director of Association of Colleges Sport, a member of the Lincoln University Technical College and Chairs the Federation of Lincolnshire Colleges Group.
Mark has underpinned his public and private sector experience spanning nearly 30 years with high quality education and training including postgraduate qualifications and leadership training from the likes of the SAID Business School at Oxford University, Loughborough University and the Institute of Directors. Time working in education and leadership has strengthened his view that people and talent are at the heart of an organisations’ success and an open and growth mindset to learning enhances the changes of success and happiness in life and the workplace. Leading the Group to be an “extraordinary employer-led organisation” that gives an extraordinary education experience and service to students and the local area is at the core of his leadership role.

Tim Masih holds over a decade of experience in sports development, corporate social responsibility, and social impact. his work in and around breaking down barriers in sport and society has led to innovative partnerships that promote equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), working with leading organisations such as Peloton, Sony PlayStation and GlaxoSmithKline. His expertise spans strategic programme management, stakeholder engagement, and income generation, with a proven track record of securing funding and developing impactful initiatives that create lasting change.

Zain brings a deep personal and professional belief in the power of sport to shape young people’s lives. A lifelong sports participant, he was a keen hockey player throughout secondary school and further education, experiences that helped form his belief that sport plays a vital role alongside academic and technical learning by building confidence, resilience, discipline and teamwork.

His career has spanned finance, technology and consulting; throughout it all sport and physical activity have remained a constant. Maintaining fitness during the early stages of his career led him into endurance sport, where he went on to become an Ironman athlete and qualify for two Ironman World Championships. In recent years, his focus has shifted towards marathon and ultra running, with 2026 marking his tenth London Marathon.

Zain sees sport and being active not only as a source of achievement, but as an invaluable tool for managing stress, supporting wellbeing and building habits that last a lifetime. This passion has also led him to become a triathlon coach, with a particular interest in helping young athletes develop a lasting love of movement and activity.

As a Board member of AoC Sport, Zain is passionate about bringing the benefit of his professional and sporting experience to support the incredible team as they help their members discover the value of sport, wellness and physical activity, and build a relationship with it that they can return to throughout their lives.

Paul is a real advocate for the power of sport and physical activity and brings significant experience of working in national governing bodies, charities, local authorities, active partnerships and the FE sector. He has a strong track record of working with funding partners such as Sport England and other key funders, and has experience of diversifying income to aid organisational sustainability. Having worked in, and with the FE sector in various roles Paul has a clear understanding of the challenges the sector faces, and also the opportunities ahead. Paul is the current Participation Director for British Fencing where he oversees the delivery of the organisations strategic priorities including growing and diversifying participation aligned to Sport England's Uniting the Movement strategy.

In his personal life Paul is part of an active sporting family. This includes playing cricket within Barnsley and being a member of his local club committee as well as having a love for walking with his dog.