Governance
Meet the dedicated governors of Sandwell College, who provide leadership, guidance, and strategic direction to support our students and staff.
Governance at The Sandwell Colleges
The Sandwell Colleges is governed by a dedicated Corporation Board, responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and performance of the colleges. The Board ensures that the organisation operates in the best interests of students, staff, and the wider community, maintaining high standards in education, financial management, and college leadership.
What is the role of the Governing Body?
The Governing Body, formally referred to as the Corporation, operates under the Articles of Association, which outline its responsibilities and functions.
Its primary duties include:
- Defining the organisation’s strategy and approving its mission statement
- Monitoring the quality of education and services provided
- Ensuring the efficient use of resources and maintaining the institution’s financial stability
- Promoting a safe, secure, and inclusive learning environment.
While the Governing Body collaborates closely with the College’s executive leadership, the day-to-day management of the College rests with the CEO & Principal and the Senior Management Team.
External Governance Review
It is a Department for Education requirement that all Further Education Colleges commission an external review of governance at least every three years. Sandwell College commissioned the Association of Colleges to undertake such a review which was carried out by Martin McNeill during the period March to July 2024.The overall conclusion of the review was that “The review has found that the Board has in recent years had a significant impact on College strategy, effectiveness and outcomes and has the capacity to do so in the future, but to ensure this should seek to review and streamline some of its governance practice”.
Who we are
The Board is made up of experienced professionals from education, business, and public sectors, as well as staff and student representatives. This ensures a broad range of perspectives, supporting informed decision-making that benefits the College community:
- 12 Independent Members
- 2 Staff Members
- 2 Student Members
- 1 Principal
The Staff Members and the Student Members are elected by the staff and students respectively.
Get involved
We welcome interest from individuals who would like to contribute to the governance of The Sandwell Colleges.
If you are passionate about education and want to play a role in shaping the future of our colleges, please contact us for more information on becoming a governor.
For governance enquiries, please email enquiries@sandwell.ac.uk
Governor Profiles
Our governors bring a wealth of experience from various industries, ensuring the college continues to excel in education and student success.
John Tew
Chair of the Governing Board
John is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and retired Managing Director of a West Bromwich based insurance brokers. He has extensive commercial and financial expertise gained over many years on boards of various organisations including education and charities.
A past President of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce he now combines his outward facing time as a governor with work with a substantial local charity as a co-opted member focussing on governance and with Sandwell Local Authority as an Independent Person dealing with complaints.
John originally joined the Board of Governors in November 2007 and served as Chair from May 2008 until July 2017.
John rejoined the Board in March 2019.
Chair of the Search and Governance Committee
Member of the Audit Committee
Member of the Remuneration Committee
Lisa Capper MBE
Ex officio. Principal of Sandwell College
Lisa joins Sandwell from Stoke on Trent College where she was instrumental in transforming the quality of provision and financial health, securing significant partnerships and profile for its continued success. This included national awards for learner voice, £20m capital and an increase in enrolments and achievement. Its ‘Skills Ready Future Ready’ strategy, the sector-skills hubs, and dynamic partnerships meant that 96% of young people progressed to positive destinations. Prior to this she was Director and Principal of Nacro, the national social justice and education charity, turning it around to Ofsted Good in 2019, creating a respected voice and campaigns on issues relating to disadvantaged young people such as the ‘Learn Without Limits’, and a national youth-voice Knife Crime report. Prior to Nacro she was VP in an Ofsted Good Further Education (FE) College group and ED of a successful Academies Trust.
Lisa was a senior civil servant in FE in the Departments for Education and Business for over 10 years leading on the ‘Skills for Life’ campaign, National Skills Academies and CAVTL (commission on adult education), and the prestigious Worldskills London 2011. In 2024 she was a finalist for Woman of the Year Awards, putting FE in the spotlight.
In January 2021, she was awarded an MBE for Services to Young People.
Member of the Finance and Strategy Committee
Member of the Search and Governance Committee
Member of the Learners, Quality and Curriculum Committee
Neil Makin.
Vice Chair of the Governing Board.
Neil’s career has progressed mainly in the food manufacturing sector, much of it at board level in human resources, public affairs and corporate responsibility. His early training was with Pilkington Glass; he then moved to Kellogg’s, becoming HR Director. Neil joined Cadbury as Personnel Director at Bournville (1988-97), then External Affairs Director at Cadbury Schweppes until 2008, leading the Group’s engagement at Westminster, Brussels and Washington. In more recent years he was Chair of the Cadbury Foundation, and has extensive experience of Education from a range of public, voluntary, consultancy and trustee positions, with an emphasis on education and business links, including the Birmingham and Solihull Education and Business Partnership; Business in the Community; Young Enterprise; Teach First; and the Adult Learning Inspectorate. Neil was awarded the OBE for services to adult learning in 2005. Most recently he became a trustee of the charity Employability UK in 2020.
Previous Governor positions include those at Bournville College of FE; Brooke House Sixth Form College, Hackney; and Chipping Campden School Academy Trust. He became a Governor of Cadbury Sixth Form College, and then on merger of Sandwell College in 2018. Neil is a member of the Learners, Quality and Curriculum Committee, and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. He is also Chair of the Cadbury Sixth Form College Advisory Forum.
Chair of the Remuneration Committee
Member of the Learners, Quality and Curriculum Committee
Nisha Anhu.
Staff Governor
Nisha was appointed to the Board in May 2022 and will be stepping down shortly.
Nisha has worked in the education sector for 12 years. Her interest in being a Staff Governor stems from the passion she has as an educator. Nisha has a wide range of teaching experiences from A-Level, GCSE and BTEC. Nisha started at Sandwell College 8 years ago, where she started as a lecturer and has moved to different roles in management. She has extensive experience of understanding the expectations of the different staff roles across college to ensure that we provide a high-quality education and inclusion for all learners.
Nisha is also part of the EDI group and has made valuable contributions to support the college progress.
Mark Ashford.
Independent Member.
Mark grew up in Yorkshire and came to the Midlands in the mid 80’s to study at Aston University and has lived here ever since. After graduation Mark initially worked in the Automotive industry for Unipart, a company that believed in the powerful benefits that on-going education can bring to its staff at all stages of their career, something that made a big impression on him. Mark studied for and gained his CIMA qualification whilst at Unipart but after 6 happy years, he was tempted into the high technology world of IBM, where he stayed for the next 27 years.
Mark worked in IBM’s IT Services business. Initially pursuing a financial career, over the years Mark moved to other disciplines and found he had skills in Project Management and Commercial Leadership. Mark worked primarily in customer facing roles, looking after major IT outsourcing contracts, as well as working on a number of strategic international projects aimed at transforming the way the organisation did business.
Having retired from IBM in 2022 Mark was delighted to accept a seat on the Board in March 2023.
Member of the Audit Committee.
Sonia Smalling.
Independent Member.
Sonia Smalling is a highly experienced business leader and dedicated advocate for education and skills development. Sonia is the HR Business Partner at hydraPower Dynamics, a leading manufacturer of hydraulic components and systems. Sonia brings a wealth of industry knowledge, strategic insight, and passion for nurturing future talent to her role as a Governor.
Sonia has played a pivotal role in supporting Sandwell College’s T Level Engineering programme, offering invaluable industry placements for students at hydraPower. Her commitment to bridging the gap between education and employment is helping to equip young people with real-world skills and experience, opening the door to meaningful careers in engineering and advanced manufacturing.
Tony Sharma.
Independent Member.
Tony believes strongly in the transformational impact of education, and is proud to have become a member of the Sandwell College community. He settled in the Midlands over 24 years ago, and is married with a school aged child. He is a student of Wolverhampton Polytechnic and Hull University, and is the Chief Financial Officer at Birmingham Newman University.
Tony is a qualified accountant with around 30 years’ experience in the education sector (including further and higher education), and has been part of the Birmingham Newman University leadership team for 20 years. In his current role Tony has responsibility for Finance, Estates & Campus Services, and Digital & IT Services.
In his leisure time he enjoys walking, watching too much TV, and being with his family. Tony was appointed an Independent Member on the Board of Governors in March 2022, and is also Chair of the Audit Committee.
Member of the Audit Committee
Jalal Uddin.
Independent Member.
Jalal was appointed to the Board of Governors with effect from July 2014, having previously served as an External Co-Opted Member of the Learners, Quality and Curriculum Committee. Jalal is a member of the Search and Governance Committee. He is currently employed as an Education, Health and Care Plan Officer (EHCP) within the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. He is also a governor of a local school and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
Member of the Search and Governance Committee
Shokat Lal.
Independent Member.
Shokat is currently the Chief Executive of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and has 34 years’ experience of working across the public sector, in local government and health at a senior level.
Prior to joining Sandwell Shokat was at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council where he was Executive Director of Core Services, Deputy Returning Officer and Senior Information Risk Owner. Overseeing a directorate of nearly 900 people, he is responsible for IT, Customer Services, Human Resources and Organisational Development, Legal, Elections, Governance Services, Finance, Revenues and Benefits, Audit, Commercial, Communications and Marketing – in addition to overseeing the council’s transformation programme.
Prior to that Shokat was Assistant Chief Executive at Rotherham Council where he was part of the senior leadership team responsible for bringing the council out of intervention and being part of one of the fastest improving councils’ in the country. Shokat’s professional background is in Human Resources and Organisational Development and is a Chartered Companion of the CIPD. Shokat also has extensive experience of working in the voluntary sector.
Harpinder Singh.
Independent Member.
Harpinder is a headteacher of Queensbridge School in Birmingham and has 20 years of experience in education. He has been a member of several governing bodies.
Harpinder was appointed in March 2024.
Member of the Learners Quality and Curriculum Committee.
Natalie Edwards-Yesufu.
Independent Member.
Sheridan Powell.
Staff Governor.
Sheridan has worked in the Further Education sector for 9 years and has been with the Sandwell College group for 5, occupying a variety of roles.
With an academic background in both English and Psychology she is the current head of Humanities where she fosters students’ pursuit of knowledge into the human experience through the expansion of curriculum into several new courses including Philosophy and Ancient History. Sheridan is part of working groups including AI, LGBTQ+ and EDI and is passionate about fostering an inclusive college community.
She has taken a leading role in the creation of the Honour’s programme to provide a super curricular programme designed to support gifted and talented students in their applications to Russel group universities. She maintains partnerships with local universities and utilises these connections to provide our student body with a range of work experience opportunities.
Dan Parrott
Independent Member.
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Dan Parrott is an accomplished operational leader with over twelve years of experience running technically complex businesses across three countries. As Vice President of Control Systems at Rolls-Royce, he has successfully led manufacturing value streams, significantly improving output and throughput while maintaining a strong focus on health, safety, and risk management for a workforce of approximately 900 employees.
Dan has held senior leadership roles, including Board Director and Chairman positions, demonstrating his governance expertise. His strategic acumen is evident through his involvement in numerous projects aimed at driving competitive advantage and transforming business operations within Rolls-Royce. He is currently enhancing his leadership skills through the Strategic Leadership Development Programme at the London Business School. Dan’s commitment to fostering future talent aligns with his passion for education and skills development. As a father of three and an advocate for STEM education, he actively engages with young people to inspire careers in engineering. Dan joined the Board in 2025.
Gareth Amison
Independent Member.
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Gareth is Director in the PwC Birmingham office. He is the engagement leader for Charity Bank and Stafford Building Society as signs audits for the HSBC and Goldman Sachs group entities. In addition, Gareth supports the signing Partner for the HSBC UK audit, having overall responsibility for leadership of the audit including strategy, risk assessment, delivery and reporting. Gareth lives in Staffordshire with his wife Louise and dog Jos. Gareth is a keen musician and has played in a number of bands over the years including 8 years as a member of the PwC Pantomime.
In addition to performing, he also wrote music and served 2 years as Assistant Musical Director. Gareth joined the Board in April 2025.
Johnny Shah
Staff Governor.
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Johnny is CEO of the independent charity of Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust, and is very familiar with the upcoming development of the Learning Campus, which will have over 1,200 learners a year, cementing an ‘anchor institution’ partnership of between Sandwell College and the NHS Trust. Striving for success and leading by example are his personal values. He has a significant track record of £50m+ income generation and new business development at very senior and director level roles in the charity, NHS and commercial sector.
Rachel Barlow
Independent Member.
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Rachel, who is a registered general nurse, recently led one of the largest government major infrastructure health projects in the last decade which includes significant clinical and workforce transformation and capital investment of over £800 million to set up the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital – the largest new hospital in the country, She now works as a NHS Executive Director, with over 13 years board level experience and has regularly deputised for the Chief Executive Officer – currently on the NHS Leadership Development Aspiring Chief Executive programme.
Outside of work, she enjoys visiting the theatre, gardening, visiting a health club and travelling. Rachel joined the Board in April 2025.
AnMouldeep Daulke
Sandwell College Sites Student Governor
Hossein Babajan
Cadbury College Student Governor
Useful Links
If you would like to apply to join the Board of Governors, please visit our Become a Governor section.
If you have any questions on Governance, please contact Jean Tracy, Interim Governance Professional who will be pleased to assist you further.
Get In Touch
Important Links
Find key resources, policies, and essential information to support your journey at Sandwell College.
