Governance

Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and is recently retired as the Director of Finance at a local University.

Throughout his career Andrew has had a commitment to education, taking governance roles at schools, colleges and a university in the local area.

Andrew is also a Board member of the Education and Training Foundation which is responsible for workforce development in the FE sector (and chairs its Finance Committee); he is a Board member of Wakefield and District Housing Ltd (and chairs its Finance and Investment Committee); and he is a Board member of the Higher Education Statistics Agency Ltd (and chairs its Audit Committee).

Andrew was invited to become a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute in 2017 and he was awarded an OBE for services to accounting and the community in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2015.

Sam’s vision for the College is to be an outstanding institution that serves the needs of all of Wakefield’s communities and is leading the development of strong partnerships to meet these needs, and to provide excellent lifelong learning opportunities for young people, adults and employers alike.

Having worked in the further education sector for more than twenty years, Sam was delighted to become Principal of Wakefield College in March 2011.

She feels that Wakefield College is a very special college, committed to ‘transforming lives through learning’ and is passionate about the College’s values, where the learner is very much at the heart of everything it does.

Richard is the Chair of the Corporation, and also a part of the Finance, Remuneration and Search Committees. Richard retired as Chief Executive of Angus Council in Scotland in 2017.

Prior to Angus he enjoyed a long career in English local government, mainly in education and children’s services departments holding senior posts with North Lincolnshire, Leeds and Dudley councils.

He now works part-time as a public sector consultant, is Chair of the Board of a local authority-owned company and a non-executive director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

Born and raised near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, Richard and his wife now live near Selby. He has two grown-up sons and two grandchildren. Away from work, his interests include local club cricket, Ipswich Town FC, being outside and motorcycles. He is a four month War Graves Commission volunteer.

Dmitry’s experience in the youth work sector has taken him throughout most of South and West Yorkshire. He works for The Youth Association – the UK’s oldest youth work charity with a proud history of developing some of the most innovative work in its field.

As Operations Director, Dmitry manages the organisation’s people and projects, including its community-based provision across seven local authority areas in Yorkshire. Dmitry is also responsible for building and maintaining strategic partnerships with the larger grant funds providers and local businesses.

David followed his father, a Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design, into FE, starting as a part-time hourly paid lecturer in Travel and Tourism at Stafford College of Further Education in 1986.

He moved into senior management and then, via staff development, into teacher education in 2005 when he became a Lecturer in Teacher Education at Craven College.

David joined the University of Huddersfield as a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education in 2009 and until April 2020 was the Director of the Education and Training Consortium, an initial teacher education (ITE) partnership between the University of Huddersfield and over 20 FE colleges.

I am both Selby District Council’s Chief Executive and Assistant Chief Executive at North Yorkshire County Council. This joint role supports the two councils' Better Together programme, which is designed to support efficiencies and improved services through effective partnership working. Previously to this, I was Chief Executive of Ryedale District Council for over 10 years and have worked within Local Government in various capacities since 1987.

My responsibilities include the delivery of quality services for residents and businesses of the Selby district, working alongside councillors. I passionately wish to champion the opportunities for residents in the area and this includes links between education, skills and business growth.

Martyn is the Executive Director of Technical Services at Wakefield District Housing and a Chartered Construction Manager. He is responsible for leading a large workforce across a full range of trades, ensuring his teams work within regulatory frameworks, such as those relating to Health and Safety, Gas, Electrical and those specific to the Housing sector. As part of the Executive Team, Martyn takes a lead on the Compliance and Assurance Committee, and is involved in business continuity, ensuring WDH is prepared for largescale, unforeseen events.

Prior to working at WDH, Martyn’s early career was in the energy industry which gave him extensive project and programme management experience.

He then went onto working in a national role as the Operations Director at Eon Property Services, as well as running his own local business for a period of time before joining WDH. As well as this, Martyn has also undertaken voluntary roles, as a Magistrate and as Director of the Gas Industry Safety Group.

Throughout his career, Martyn has had a passion for developing people and their skills, as demonstrated by his commitment to supporting apprentices working within the trades to complete their training and progress their careers. Martyn has also been involved in a project to encourage more females to consider working within the trades to break down gender stereotypes and to promote diversity within the workforce.

Vijay has worked in a variety of educational settings and joins us with experience of the HE sector. As a lecturer of Applied Mathematics, she provides support to students within the STEM subjects at university but also takes part in the Royal Institute’s programme of Masterclasses which aims to encourage school pupils to study mathematics.

Initially, after completing her PhD, Vijay settled into providing Maths Support at a leading university in Yorkshire, here she was able to provide support to students from non-traditional backgrounds. Her commitment to providing the best educational experience possible motivated her to undertake a MA Maths Education and has allowed her to remain abreast of current issues in teaching and lecturing.

She enjoys several activities which include cooking, travelling and horticulture.

Claire Corneille is the Head of HR at Sheffield City Council, where she is responsible for the implementation of the Council’s people vision and strategies, through leading a range of strategic and operational HR services.

Prior to her role in the Council, Claire worked for over 20 years in the healthcare system. Initially working on the development and implementation a range of NHS Workforce policies, whilst working in the Department of Health and Social Care, and more recently in a range of HR roles, where she has developed and embedded HR Business Partnering, managed large scale organisational change and led a range of HR functions.

Claire is a values driven individual who is passionate about people, ensuring that they have a voice which is heard, and understood, and that everyone has an opportunity to be the best they can be.

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Yasmin is part of the Student Experience staff at Wakefield College and oversees the Tackling Inactivity Project developed by Sport England. Her main aim is to provide sport and physical activity opportunities to all students in a bid to reduce inactivity and improve students’ overall health and wellbeing.

Yasmin has worked in sport and physical activity primarily in Further Education for over 13 years and has been a member of staff at Wakefield College for eight of these.

With a passion for creating inclusive opportunities both in and outside of sport and physical activity, Yasmin also oversees the student Equality and Diversity group and is also an active member of the staff Equality and Inclusion group.

Ben has been a member of the academic staff team at Wakefield College since 2017 and in this time has gained experience of both FE and HE teaching. Ben has also undertaken various roles including programme leader and union representative and has been involved in various working groups such as the Digital Steering Group and the eLearning Project Group.

Through his roles as a lecturer and academic staff governor, Ben hopes to help the organisation grow, thrive, and succeed and continue to provide opportunities to and meet the needs of the College’s students, staff and community.

My role in college is co-ordinating additional learning support for students following both FE and HE courses to ensure they are able to succeed. Working with a dedicated team we aim to ensure students receive appropriate support to achieve their full potential. We provide both personal support and curriculum support.

Prior to working at Selby College I worked in primary education both as a class teacher and as a head teacher. I worked closely with school governors on all aspects of leadership, management and governance