As a charitable company limited by guarantee, the Federation operates a representative governance structure.
The Directors (Trustees) of the charitable company, as set out in the articles of association, are drawn from member organisations, with the exception of the independent Chair of the Board. Directors are elected by full members of the charitable company. They serve a three-year term before going forward for re-election (if they so desire) at the following Annual General Meeting.
The Board meets four times a year and comprises up to twelve people.
Board members
Dame Julie Mellor – Chair of the Board
Passionate about how skills can unleash talent and increase productivity, Julie has focused on skills development for a large part of her career. As Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (1999 -2005), she worked with business and government to tackle occupational segregation and reduce skills shortages. As Director of Human Resources at British Gas she supported work to open up apprenticeships to a more diverse range of candidates. Having worked in human resources for twenty years Julie has also contributed as a board member to several organisations with a skills agenda: Nesta, the national innovation body, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Employers Forum on Disability. More recently Julie was Chair of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (2011-17). She is currently Chair of Demos and The Young Foundation and was appointed Chair of the Federation Board in May 2018.
Seetha Kumar – Director
Seetha is responsible for the strategic direction and overall leadership of ScreenSkills’ work. Her priority is to expand ScreenSkills’ engagement with industry, broaden its revenue streams and help future-proof screen sectors in a fast-changing and globally competitive skills market. Alongside her role as ScreenSkills’ CEO, Seetha is a member of the Creative Diversity Network board and the Royal Television Society Education Committee and was formerly on the Mayor of London’s Skills for Londoners Taskforce. Seetha was appointed in October 2017.
Marcus Potter – Director
Marcus Potter is the Chief Executive of Lantra, one of the UK’s leading Awarding Organisations and Sector Skills Councils for the land-based and environmental industries. Lantra also develop quality training courses and nationally recognised qualifications that are delivered through a national network of training Provider Partners. Marcus was appointed in October 2015.
John Rogers – Director
John Rogers is Chief Executive of the Workforce Development Trust (incorporating Skills for Health, Skills for Justice and People 1st). He has spent most of his career in workforce development leadership roles. Much of his work has focused on the health sector, including roles as Chief Executive of Skills for Health, Chief Executive of Healthwork UK, as a Director at the NHS Training Authority, and other senior roles in the Department of Health and within the NHS. John has also worked significantly across sectors including contributions as the Chair of the UK-wide Alliance of Sector Skills Councils and as a non-executive of the South West Learning and Skills Council. John was appointed to the Federation Board in March 2008.
Justine Fosh – Director
Justine Fosh moved from her role as Group CEO of The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink to the role of CEO of Cogent Skills in May 2020.
Previously she spent 15 years working in commercial positions in food and drink manufacturing companies including Sara Lee, Grolsch, McCain and Uniq before moving to LearnDirect business. She joined Improve and established their National Skills Academy for Food & Drink as a successful standalone commercial business before merging the organisations. As Group CEO she acquired Occupational Awards Limited and built it from a small awarding organisation into a significant player in both the awarding and the End Point Assessment markets.
Justine is a graduate in Industrial Relations and Marketing from Strathclyde University and was appointed to the Federation Board in October 2020.
Chris Claydon – Director
Chris Claydon is Chief Executive of ECITB – the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, a statutory skills body which works with governments and engineering companies to develop skills and improve productivity for the energy industry and other process industries. The role also includes a commercial business providing skills products and services overseas. Chris was co-opted to the Federation Board in October 2019 and became a full voting member in October 2020.
Rachel Thomas – Director
Rachel Thomas is Finance & Assurance Director at Energy & Utility Skills. She chairs the Finance and Risk Committee and has been attending Board meetings since July 2019. She became a Board member in October 2020.
Our company secretary role is undertaken by Dr Sally Oglesby who is employed by The Federation.
Governance Structure and Financial Control
Financial control is exercised by the Board with delegated authority to the Executive. The accounting service is provided by the Finance Team of the Federation.
The following governance structure is in place:
Federation Council: Composed of all Chairs or Chief Executives of the Member and has one meeting per annum (Each Member has one vote each).
Federation Board: Up to 12 elected trustees from Member Chairs/Chief Executives with an independent Chair (appointed by the Board) and meets at least 4 times per annum.
Federation Finance, Audit and Risk Committee: Composed of at least one Federation Board member with a quorum of two and meets at least once per annum.
The Chief Executive or other lead officer is appointed by the Directors to manage the day-to-day operations of the charity.