NTI East Midlands

John White M.B.A, F.C.I.O.B, CCMI

Chairman

John is Group Non Executive Chairman of The Clegg Group, a privately owned construction, property and engineering group established since 1918 and based in Nottingham. John’s career in the construction industry spans over 40 years. Working at senior levels in the industry, he has taken the lead role on many high profile building and civil engineering projects. His public and private sector posts include Chairman and Non Executive Director of the Erewash Partnership, Chairman and Non Executive Director of Business Link Nottingham, Regional Chairman of The Institute of Directors, CBI Regional Council Member, Non Executive Director of Nottinghamshire Construction Forum and Non Executive Director of Connexions Nottinghamshire. John is a past Chairman and committee member of The Chartered Institute of Management. 

Professor Stephen Baskerville, De Montfort University

Deputy Chairman

Stephen was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor at De Montfort University in 2001. He came to De Montfort from Teesside University where he held successively the positions of Director of Law, Arts and Humanities (1996-1998) and Director of Computing and Mathematics (1998-2001). Professor Baskerville’s background is that of a historian and he holds a First Class Honours Degree, an MA and a DPhil from Oxford University. The title Professor was conferred upon him in 1996 by the University of Teesside and he is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. At De Montfort University, Professor Baskerville is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for International Strategy and Overseas Relations, having previously held portfolios focusing on Learning and Teaching, Widening Participation and the Student Experience, and most recently the Consolidation of DMU’s Bedford Campus. He also plays a lead role in developing the University’s widening participation agenda in collaboration with a range of regional and local partners, and has overall responsibility for DMU’s engagement with the health economy in the East Midlands. He is a member of the Boards of Leicester College of Further Education, the East Midlands Metropolitan Area Network (EMMAN) and Phoenix Arts, and recently joined the Board of the East Midlands NTI as Vice-Chair.

Tony Belmega, Learning & Skills Council

Tony has been involved in the development and management of education and skills policy for over 20 years. During that time he has held a number of senior positions in a variety of organisations including the then Department for Emplyment and Skills, here he worked on TVEI policy, the Further Education Funding Council Inspectorate, where he worked as an Inspector, the Leicestershire Training and Enterprise Council where he worked as the Director of Eduaction and Training and acting Chief Executive and more recently at the Learning and Skills Council where he is currently the Regional Skills Director - Sectors.

Educated in Nottingham and Sheffield, Tony has a first degree in Law and a Masters degree in Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development.

Married with two grown up children, Tony lists his major non work interest as wallowing in the glorious past of Nottingham Forest Football Club.

Martin Traynor, Leicester Chamber of Commerce

Martin has extensive experience in the hospitality industry having worked in hotel management for 22 years. Previously the President of Loughborough Chamber of Trade, he then became President of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce, which led, two years later in 2001, to his current role as Managing Director. Martin’s role with the Leicestershire Chamber means that he already works closely with the Leicestershire business community, and he is a Director of East Midlands Chambers of Commerce. As Chair of Connexions Leicester Shire he works with a Government organisation that provides confidential advice and support on issues such as learning, careers and health for 13-19 year olds. Martin has also recently joined the Board of the Princes Trust, Leicestershire. Martin has been appointed Chair of the East Midlands Regional Assembly Scrutiny Board, which has the statutory responsibility for scrutinising the work of the Regional Development Agency, emda. For the last three years, since the inception of the Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, Martin has been acting as Deputy Chair of the Board, and is very much involved in the regeneration of the City and County. Martin is also Chair of Governors for the Royal National Institute of the Blind Vocational College in Loughborough.

Geoffrey Hall, New College Nottingham

Geoff hails from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. He graduated in politics from Liverpool University. Geoff began his career as a lecturer at South Trafford College of Further Education, Manchester. He entered education administration with Northants County Council, was assistant chief education officer in Birmingham and then Director of Education for Bexley London Borough.

He joined the Further Education Funding Council in February 1993 as Director of Education Programmes. He was appointed Director of Funding and Strategy from 1 September 1997. Following a period as Interim Director of Operations, Geoff took up post as Director of Learning Programmes at the Learning and Skills Council.

In early February 2002, Geoff joined New College Nottingham as Deputy Chief Executive. Following national competition, Geoff succeeded Dame Pat Morgan-Webb as Principal and Chief Executive from January 2004.

David Walker, Group Construction Director, Bowmer & Kirkland

David first joined Bowmer & Kirkland in 1972 as a Site Engineer. Prior to attending UMIST in 1967 to read Civil Engineering (Hons), he had worked with; Higgs & Hill, GLC (District Surveyors’ Department), Nuttall and Bovis (A E Fair) as a surveyor, materials technician and junior engineer.

During his time at UMIST, David continued to work all vacations with Bovis (A E Farr) as a Site Engineer (Structures) on M3 and M5 Motorway Sections. After graduating from UMIST in 1970, he joined Allott & Lomax as a Design Engineer, during which period he gave the ICE Graduate Address to Sir Barnes Wallis.

From 1972 to 1980 with Bowmer & Kirkland, David progressed from Site Engineer to Contracts Manager on a variety of projects, including a £21 million process plant for The Boots Company as Contracts Manager.

In 1980 David left to join Lane Brothers (Mansfield) as Contracts Director, until that Company was taken over by Tilbury Douglas (Interserve) in 1982. In 1982 David re-joined Bowmer & Kirkland as Project Director on the £75 million re-development of Home Brewery (Nottingham), and thereafter as Project Director on international projects in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Peru and Kuwait.

In 1983 he, together with the Group Chairman (John Kirkland), established Kirkland Associates, Inc, as the Construction Management subsidiary of Bowmer & Kirkland, based first in Baltimore and then in Milwaukee, USA.

During the period 1983 to 1987, projects were undertaken in Baltimore (MD), Perry (GA), San Antonio (TX), Seattle (WA), Buffalo (NY), Frankenmouth (IL), Stevens Point (WI), Shorthills and Paramis (NJ) and Milwaukee (WI).

Appointed as a Main Board Director in 1987, David has worked closely with the Group Chairman and the Board to structure the company’s operational capability from a £6 million business in 1972 to a £608 million business in 2005.

He retains operational responsibility for Kirkland Associates, Inc, PFI/PPP projects, Health Sector and Medicinq Limited (NHS ProCure 21) and external pan-industry initiatives.

Jane Taylor, Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd

Jane trained as a microbiologist and has worked both in the NHS and in industry. She has a HNC in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Sheffield Polytechnic and a degree in Biological Sciences from Nottingham Trent University.

Ten years ago Jane made a career change to join her husband in his family business of 85 years, Owen Taylor & Sons Ltd. The business is a catering butchers who supply meat and meat products across the East Midlands predominantly. Her role is running the technical side of the business as Food Safety Manager and secondly supporting her husband in his role as Managing Director.   

Gordon Kenndy, Nottingham Trent University

In 1973 Gordon graduated as a three dimensional designer. He worked in the retail sector as a Designer and Design Manager becoming a Chartered Designer by portfolio assessment before returning to education to undertake postgraduate study in 1978.

It was through this research that Gordon became concerned with inclusive design, which is an approach to design that seeks to ensure that mainstream products, environments and services are accessible to the largest number of people irrespective of age or ability.

Gordon’s first teaching role was at Berkshire College of Art and Design. He then moved to what is now London Metropolitan University where he stayed for five years before becoming Head of the Department of Design and Professor of Design at Nottingham Trent University in 1989. This was to be the first of three roles he has undertaken at the institution, later becoming Associate Dean of the School of Art and Design and, in 2004, Dean of the new School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment.

Gordon Kennedy is an elected member of the Executive of the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design. He is an experienced external examiner having examined at Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels and is an active PhD examiner with the number examined now into double figures. He has advised a number of institutions on senior academic and professorial appointments and was a QAA Specialist Subject Reviewer and is currently an Institutional Auditor with the QAA. Gordon continues his connection with inclusive design by working with the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art where he has acted as a mentor to a number of research associates across design disciplines supporting their concept development. As a result of this work, Gordon has recently been invited to join the Research Centre Advisory Board. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Professor Musa Mihsein, University of Derby

Musa began his academic career as a research fellow and lecturer before embarking upon a highly successful career in industrial research with British Gas. Musa has published widely in national and international academic journals in the fields of stress and the response of structures in hazardous loading. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

He then went on to become Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Widening Participation and Dean of the Faculty of Computing Sciences and Engineering at De Montfort University.

In September 2006 he joined the University of Derby as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Development where he is responsible for shaping the University's future academic profile as a flexible and innovative institution working with partners to deliver high quality programmes and novel learning solutions.

Jim Mutton, Loughborough College

Having obtained an Economics degree from the London School of Economics and worked in London for the (then) Midland Bank, Jim changed careers and moved in to further and higher education economics teaching.

Following lectureships in the west and east Midlands and a period as a college Director of Business Development, Jim took on the role of Principal at Loughborough College in 1993.

Jim has been a West Midlands County Councilor, a member of the East Midlands Regional Assembly and a non executive Board member of the Centre for Enterprise Ltd, EMFEC Ltd and Leicestershire Careers and Guidance Service Ltd. Currently, he is a member of the Council of Loughborough University, a Governor of the RNIB College, Loughborough, a member of the Association of Colleges Higher Education and East Midlands committees and a national FE representative on the FE/HE 2012 group.

Qualifications : M.Ed; B.Sc. (Economics); Cert. Ed.

David Nelson, Management Consultant

David has a strong interest in economic development, business and enterprise. With a BA Honours in Industrial Economics from Nottingham University, David first became a management consultant working with a range of American multinational clients in the pharmaceutical and oil industries. Thereafter, following a brief period as an economist at Avon County Council, David joined the Department of Trade and Industry and embarked on a Civil Service career that would span 3 separate Government departments and bring him back to the East Midlands as Head of Lord Young’s Regional Enterprise Unit.

In 1990, with the creation of the Training and Enterprise Councils, David became the Chief Executive of Leicestershire Training and Enterprise Council, successfully leading its development throughout its10 year existence. Subsequently, following national competition, David was appointed as the first Executive Director of the Leicestershire Learning and Skills Council, a position which he held until 2006. David now runs his own thriving management consultancy focused on economic development and regeneration. David is also a fellow at the University of Leicester, assisting with the development of their work with employers and on the wider economic agenda.

Jenny Rice, University of Leicester

Jenny is Project Director for the Skills for Sustainable Communities Lifelong Learning Network in the sub-region of the East Midlands covering Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland. This is a HEFCE funded project to create opportunities for vocational learners to progress to and achieve higher level qualifications.

During the 1980s Jenny taught in further education in Birmingham. In the late eighties she was seconded to TVEI as the South Birmingham Industrial Co-ordinator, setting up an Enterprise Centre at the car company Rover in Longbridge, Birmingham. She then moved to Leicester Polytechnic (which later became De Montfort University) in 1991. Her academic teaching has included English, Cultural Studies and Media. In 1998 she became Head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at De Montfort University and latterly Head of Quality Enhancement. Jenny’s most recent role was as Associate Dean in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton.

Jenny has a First Class Honours Degree in English and an MA in English.

John Rance, De Montfort University

Details to follow

Hilary Whaley

Executive Director

Hilary has enjoyed a successful and wide ranging business career prior to her work in the public sector. Senior management roles have included export sales, group training manager and commercial director to consultancy with Nottingham University and Training and Enterprise Councils. In 1998 Hilary moved into the public sector as Director, Derby City of Learning (consortium of Derby City Council, University of Derby, Wilmorton College, Mackworth College and Rolls-Royce plc). Three years later she became Head of Regional Enterprise and Development, University of Derby, with the specific remit to strengthen links between the University and the business community, particularly small and medium enterprises.