Leicester College Board of Governors

Jonathan is the Chief Executive and Diocesan Secretary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester. Previously he was a member of the national senior leadership team of the Methodist Church, having strategic responsibilities for a wide range of work, including education and training, children and young people, equalities and diversity, advocacy and outreach. He is Chair of local charity TwentyTwenty/Love4Life and a board member of the Leicester Comedy Festival, having previously served as a trustee of a publishing charity and an international development agency which promotes learning and literacy.

Danielle is an alumnus of De Montfort University and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants with significant experience working with a wide range of businesses from a large plc to niche professional services consultancies. As Managing Director of the EMB-Group, she helped build the business from start up to a +£10m group of companies selling market leading business consultancy. She is a keen supporter and promoter of education and learning, working with both FE and HE in a pro-bono capacity. Danielle was a founder member of the International Women’s Day Trust and the King Richard III Visitors Centre Trust and is a key member of the Leicestershire business community.

Verity joined Leicester College in January 2013 from the Skills Funding Agency where she was the Executive Director for Capacity and Infrastructure. Since gaining a law degree from New College, Oxford in 1988, Verity has pursued a career in further education and previously worked for the City and Guilds of London Institute, the Training and Enterprise Councils and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). She held a number of senior positions within the LSC including Regional Director, East Midlands and National Director of Funding, Planning and Performance and served on the governing bodies of schools and colleges in London and the East Midlands. She is a Board member of the Office for Students, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, The National Space Centre and the Skills and Education Group.

Chan Kataria, OBE is the Group Chief Executive of emh group, a housing and care group with a turnover of £125m, 1,100 employees and over 20,000 homes in management. The group is a major developer of affordable homes and provider of care and support services in the East Midlands.  Chan was given the CEO of the year award in 2019 and was a top 10 power player in 2018.

Chan has been in this role since 2004.  Prior to this he worked for various local, regional, and national housing organisations.  Chan is a Board member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) professional body and a Board member of Housemark.  He is also a Board member of a regional Hospice, member of the CBI Regional Council and Honorary Associate at De Montfort University.

Formerly, Chan was Chair of a National Housing Federation Chief Executive’s Forum in the East Midlands and also a Board member of the national PlaceShapers alliance.

Zubair is currently Financial Controller at De Montfort University with responsibility for treasury, tax, pension, insurance, financial accounting, financial systems and transactions.

Previously he worked with an independent accounting and audit practice in Leicester where his main role was to lead the audit service. He also provided general accounting, business and tax advice to a varied portfolio of private businesses and charities. Prior to that he was Audit Manager at KPMG in their Public Sector team predominantly working within the Higher and Further Education sector as well as Academies.

Zubair has significant external audit, internal audit and financial reporting experience, been involved with forensic audit work/investigations and has a keen interest in governance.

Specialising in the not-for-profit sector, Roger has been an audit partner for 25 years, working with PwC, BDO and Hacker Young.

After graduating from Bristol University, he trained with a global accountancy firm in London where he was promoted to partner and helped to set up a new branch in Poland, before moving to the East Midlands 23 years ago.

Caroline is currently Director of Children’s Social Care and Early Help in the Education and Children’s Services Department at Leicester City Council.  She is responsible for a range of services including Early Help, Youth Services, Looked After Children, Fostering and Adoption Services and Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit.

Prior to this she was Strategic Manager, Child in Need Services at Northamptonshire County Council and has wide career of experience across social work and children’s services.

Caroline has also chaired the Regional FE Safeguarding Forum.

Revd Dr Tom Wilson is Director of the St Philip’s Centre, an interfaith training and resourcing centre based in Leicester. The Centre works with people of all faiths and no faith to enable people to understand the impact faith makes on daily living and to encourage people to learn to live well together. He is married with two children and enjoys cycling, reading and hill walking.

Louisa qualified as a Chartered Accountant 20 years ago. After qualifying she went to work for KPMG in Australia and Leicester before moving into industry where she’s gained experience in several industries and in heavily regulated companies. Most recently she joined Spirit Health Group as Group Finance director.

Louisa is also a trustee at LOROS and when time allows enjoys a challenge. She’s successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and walked the West Highland Way.

Louisa enjoys travelling, spending time with friends, interior design and skiing holidays.

Anne was a senior civil servant until 2020. Her career included roles in the East Midlands Government Office and running a college for senior Fire Service personnel. She held a range of posts at the Department for Education, many of which involved support for disadvantaged pupils. Her most recent education role was as Director of Further Education.

Before joining the civil service, Anne was an officer in the Royal Air Force where she was stationed in both the UK and Hong Kong.

She is currently the Chair of Council for Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln and Chair of Trustees for a multi-academy trust in Melton Mowbray. She is also the lead education trustee for NACRO, a national social justice charity.

Anne gained an MBA from Nottingham Business School and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Zoë is an Associate Dean (Academic) at De Montfort University. As an academic leader awarded National Teaching Fellowship (2020) and Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2018) she is recognised nationally for her impact on the student learning experience in Higher Education. She drives change through inspirational leadership, improving the experience of students and colleagues with a philosophy underpinned by embedding mental wellbeing in the curriculum. Zoë is passionate about enhancing teaching and learning for students and colleagues, and continually seeks new opportunities to develop her own skillset to share with and empower others.

Jai is an experienced further education and skills practitioner. He has 14 years’ experience in FE, initially as a lecturer in social science, law and ESOL for several FE and HE institutions, followed by roles as head of department, quality manager and director of planning and quality in a large college in the Midlands. Jai has also taught at undergraduate level for the Open University and acted as an external moderator for Access to HE programmes. He joined the Adult Learning Inspectorate as a lead inspector in 2002 and moved over to Ofsted as an HMI from 2007 to 2019. Jai has led and assisted on inspections of FE colleges, community learning and skills, independent learning providers and prisons. Jai left Ofsted in 2019 and currently works as a freelance consultant to the further education and skills sector.

Nicola Gonsalves (MCIPD), was born, educated and has worked in Leicester throughout her working career. She is an alumnus of De Montfort University and a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and has strong roots in the Caribbean community of Leicester. She is currently a Director of One Building Solution Ltd, a building surveying consultancy based in Leicester, and also works professionally for the NHS Supply Chain where she is an enthusiastic and dedicated HR professional, responsible for delivering excellence in people management strategies. She has previously worked for a wide range of well-known organisations such as John Lewis, Currys and DHL. Nicola, her husband and her daughter are all former Leicester College (Charles Keene) students and know first-hand how further education and learning can lead to lifelong success.

Lee is originally from Leicester and trained in Catering at the former Southfields College. Lee retired from working at a strategic director level in the NHS, private sector and in Further and Higher education.

He was previously Director of Estates and Facilities for Canterbury Christ Church University. Lee was responsible for developing over £150 million of new University academic buildings in addition to managing professional facilities services with a budget of £19 Million and commercial income of £12 Million. During this time, he developed a “student focus” for the Estates and Facilities student services Involving students, staff and the local community in the planning and building including new Student Union facilities, student residential accommodation and other projects was a key feature of his work. Lee previously served as a Governor of South Devon College, Vice Chair of the board, member of the Finance and Resources Committee and designated Governor for Health and Safety.

He is looking forward to supporting the Executive team and Governing body in continuing the delivery of the huge challenging agenda for Leicester College students, staff, and the wider community.

Lisa is Director of Re-engagement, English and Maths at Leicester College. She has worked in the FE sector for over 20 years and has taught and managed in multiple settings across different funding streams. These include study programmes, adult and community, probation, school links, apprenticeships, high needs, and teacher education.

Lisa also spent several years at both the Learning and Skills Council and Leicestershire County Council working regionally and locally on education and skills funding and policy.

Shaun Curtis has been with the College since September 2017, being Director of Estates and Campus Services since July 2019. Shaun is passionate in providing Environments which facilitate exceptional learning and has had a varied career in property from heading up the Commercial Property Team at a Local Authority to working at a Motor Racing Circuit. Outside of College, Shaun is a keen sports enthusiast.

Sam Emery is Student Governor at Leicester College and has been at Leicester College for a year already, studying Level 2 Acting alongside doing The Student Union, being a LGBTQ+ officer. They’re now studying Level 3 Musical Theatre and have been elected by the students here at Leicester College to be this year’s Student Union Student Governor.

Sam strives to make student life easier and more fun while being educational at the same time. They’re happy to listen to students concerns regarding college and wants to help everyone the best they can.

Neil is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. His working experience includes leading engineering teams in manufacturing and consultancy across a number of industries including automotive, aerospace, defence and power generation. Most recently, Neil served on the Board of Frazer-Nash Consultancy as their Engineering Director (2005 - 2008) and Managing Director (2008 - 2021).

Neil is married with two grown-up children. He lives near Lutterworth and enjoys walking and watching rugby.