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LSDA NI Annual Conference 2007
Tuesday 24 April 2007, 9.00 am - 4.15 pm
Galgorm Resort and Spa
Speakers
Andrew Thomson
Andrew Thomson is Chief Executive of the Quality Improvement Agency and was previously the Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Development Agency.
Prior to taking up this post he had spent most of his career in teaching, having started out in residential social work.
In 1991, he was appointed vice-principal of Haywards Heath College.
In 1994, at the age of 36, he began ten years of principalship at East Norfolk Sixth Form College and moved to Long Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge in 1998.
During 2003, he was seconded as Acting Principal of Daventry Tertiary College as it went through a period of change.
Andrew was a member of the LSC Bureaucracy Task Force, Sixth Form Colleges' representative on the Association of Colleges Board, from 1998 to 2004, and has served on a variety of FEFC, DfES and LSC committees and working groups. Andrew holds a BSc first class honours degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia and a Masters Degree in Education from Brunel University. He is married with three school age children attending state schools.
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Lynne Sedgmore CBE
Lynne is Chief Executive of the Centre for Excellence in Leadership – the national leadership centre for the learning and skills sector.
She was Principal of Guildford College for six years until April 2004.
Previous roles include Vice Principal of Croydon College, Head of Croydon Business School, Head of Curriculum Services at Hackney College and Vice Chair of Croydon Health Authority. Lynne has held a range of Management, Marketing and Curriculum posts in Further and Higher Education.
She is passionate about leading learners and learning, and has worked also in higher education, the adult and community sector and secondary schools.
Lynne is a qualified teacher and has an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies. She is a Chartered Marketer, a member of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
She was awarded the CBE for services to education in 2004.
She has had several leadership and management articles published and co-authored a workbook on ‘Marketing for College Managers’. Her research interests are in Transformational Leadership and the Spiritual Dimension of Leadership.
She is married with three children and two grandchildren.
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John Stone
Chief Executive, Learning & Skills Network
Prior to joining LSN, John was Principal of Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College – one of the UK’s largest colleges as a result of a successful merger. John spent his earlier career in a variety of teaching, management and leadership roles in the learning and skills sector. He is also a recognised advocate for the effective use of technology in teaching.
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Mitch Benson
Mitch Benson is Worldwide Director, Education with Microsoft. In this role he is responsible for global education strategy in schools and higher education. As a member of the Worldwide Public Sector leadership team at Microsoft, he contributes to the ongoing work in product development, sales, services and marketing, and general citizenship.
Mitch comes to Microsoft from his most recent post as CTO for one of the United States' largest K-12 technology cooperatives, WSIPC. At WSIPC he oversaw the development and delivery of ERP services to Washington's K-12 schools where 150,000 employees are paid monthly, $6B in annual expenditures are managed, and the real-time data on 750,000 students is administered. In prior positions, Mitch served as a director with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and in technical leadership roles with both school districts and educational service agencies. He also has experience in operations, sales and technical management with one of the largest providers of legal and financial services in the United States, Corporation Service Company.
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David Hunter
Chief Executive, Lifelong Learning UK
David Hunter is Chief Executive of Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK). David had previously been Chief Executive of the Further Education National Training Organisation (FENTO) and the Association of Northern Ireland Colleges.
David was proactive in working towards the formation of a Lifelong Learning Sector Skills Council. Lifelong Learning UK came into effect as a Sector Skills Council (SSC) on 1 January 2005. It was established by the sector's employers to lead the professional development of all those who work in the field of lifelong learning.
David has been a manager in further education, in adult and community education, and in the voluntary sector. Much of his work in all these fields has been in relation to partnership working and social inclusion, the commitment to which has driven his career pathway.
David’s voluntary work as a past chairman of Skill Northern Ireland, and his involvement in the disability charity The Cedar Foundation have also been motivated by his commitment to social inclusion.
David is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Fellow of the Association of Teachers, a member of the Institute of Directors and has membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Chartered Institute of Management. He is a member of the All Souls Group, Black Leadership Initiative Steering Committee, the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) Advisory Group, the Children’s Workforce Development Council, Ministerial Standing Group for FE, National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) External Advisory Committee, Strand 1 Sector Qualifications Reform Programme Board and chairs meetings of the Joint Further Education/Skills for Business Network Working Group and Standards Learning & Qualifications Board.
David has a Certificate in Education, a BA in Social Sciences, an MSc in Education Management and is reading for a doctorate in education, specialising in partnership working.
Andy Westwood
Andy Westwood is a Director at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion. Previously he was Head of Policy Research at the Work Foundation (formerly the Industrial Society). Andy has also worked for the Department for Education and Employment, the Employment Policy Institute and in Further Education. His work mainly covers general employment policy, skills, workforce development and post compulsory education and on local and urban policy. He has published widely on each subject. He has also carried out research for numerous clients including DFES, DWP, ODPM, Core Cities, OECD and for private sector employers including Marks & Spencer, Asda, Tesco, McDonald’s and Reed.
Recent publications include Broad Work (with Max Nathan), Are We Being Served? Manchester: Ideopolis? and Is New Work Good Work? Andy is a regular commentator in the national press and on TV and radio with a regular spot on BBC Radio 5 Live.
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Marty Linsky
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Center for Public Leadership
Marty Linsky, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, has been full-time faculty since 1982, except from 1992 to 1995 when he was Chief Secretary/Counselor to Massachusetts Governor William Weld. He teaches exclusively in the school's executive programs and chairs several of them. He cofounded, with Ronald A. Heifetz, Cambridge Leadership Associates (www.cambridge-leadership.com), a leadership consulting, training, and coaching practice.
A graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School, Linsky has been Assistant Minority Leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, writer for the Boston Globe, and editor of The Real Paper. He is coauthor with Heifetz of Leadership on the Line, coauthor with Ed Grefe of The New Corporate Activism, and author of Impact: How the Press Affects Federal Policy Making.
He runs, enjoys good beer and Mexican food (rewards for running), and collects baseball cards (more than 25,000). He lives in New York with his wife Lynn Staley, Assistant Managing Editor (Design) of Newsweek Magazine.
Gavin Boyd
Gavin Boyd took up post as Chief Executive (Designate) of the Education and Skills Authority for Northern Ireland in February 2007.
Prior to this appointment he was Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA). He oversaw the transformation of CCEA into a role model organisation which gained widespread recognition for the excellence of its service both in examinations and also in curriculum and assessment development.
Mr Boyd has wide experience of business at senior level. During his time in the Cawoods Group he held a number of senior management posts. These included Group Personnel and Corporate Services Manager and Group Marketing Director. Prior to his appointment with CCEA, Mr Boyd was Managing Director of Cawoods Coal Division.
Notably, he was a member of the team of three executive directors who successfully raised £20 million to buy Cawoods from British Coal Corporate in 1995. The business was subsequently sold in 1999.
Mr Boyd was educated at St Malachy’s College, Belfast and Queen’s University, Belfast. At Queen’s he obtained a BSc honours degree and won the Sir William Crawford Memorial Prize, and was President of the Economics Society. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Outside the world of business his interests include tennis and golf.