We are pleased to introduce our senior management team who lead and drive LSIS activities and services.
Executive Director
Rob Wye, Chief Executive
Rob Wye became LSIS Chief Executive in January 2011. A Cambridge graduate, he moved to the Employment Department before taking a post at the Manpower Services Commission in Sheffield in the early 1980s where he focused on training and vocational education issues.
Rob joined the Finance Directorate of the Department for Education and Employment in London in 1997 and three years later went to the Learning and Skills Council working as a Director both locally and nationally. In 2010 he moved to the Young People’s Learning Agency.
Rob enjoys gardening, walking and cooking.
Executive Director
Chris Cherry, Executive Director: Strategy and Business Development
Chris is newly appointed and will take up his post in December 2011. He is a respected learning and skills practitioner with 18 years’ experience in both public and private sector organisations. Having started his career as a college lecturer and senior manager, Chris has most recently worked as an education adviser, consultant, business development director, and inspector.
“This is a critical time for the sector in terms of new and emerging agendas, and Chris’s knowledge, talent and vision will add a new dimension and perspective to developing our services for the future,” said Rob Wye, LSIS Chief Executive.
A professional level match official 1996-2003 Chris’s love of football, and most specifically Tottenham Hotspur, remains undiminished.
Chris succeeds Caroline Mager, Interim Executive Director: Strategy and Business Development, who retires in December.
More details on Chris and Caroline.
Executive Director
Helen Pettifor, Executive Director: Improvement Services
Helen leads the improvement services which LSIS designs, shapes and organises for the sector. Helen brings to this task a wealth of experience based on more than 25 years of teaching, management and leadership within colleges and national organisations, such as the Staff College and Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL).
Her particular expertise is leading vocational curriculum and understanding the transforming impact of technology on learners and learning. Well versed in translating policy into effective learning practice, Helen now leads on governance and leadership; teaching and learning; organisational effectiveness and efficiency; and learning/learner support.
When this work needs some light relief, Helen disappears into the kitchen to bake cakes for her family and friends, walks her younger daughter’s dog or visits the local independent cinema with her husband.
Executive Director
Judith Wilson, Executive Director: Finance and Resources
Judith joined LSIS in summer 2011 and has responsibility for finance, human resources, governance, information communication technology and facilities. She was previously Director of Finance and Corporate Services at Capacity Builders (UK) Limited, a former Cabinet Office non departmental public body which provided grant funding to the charitable and voluntary sector. After starting her career in a big firm accountancy practice, Judith moved into the further education sector from the early to mid-nineties, initially in a college and then at the Further Education Funding Council and the Learning and Skills Council until early 2009.
Company Secretary
Caroline Speller, Company Secretary
Heading LSIS’s governance function, Caroline works with the Chair of Board and Council to ensure that LSIS is governed correctly and in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.
She is a fully qualified chartered secretary and has a background in the private sector having worked with a variety of commercial organisations including listed companies; training and educational organisations; joint ventures; a brewery and a shipbuilder. Her areas of expertise include governance (corporate and charity) and insurance. She has a Master of Laws (LLM) in Commercial Law. In her spare time Caroline is a charity trustee.