Diane Heritage
Chair of the Board of Directors
View ProfileDiane has been a governor for ten years and became Chair of the New Collaborative Learning Trust in 2016. She brings extensive experience of educational leadership at school, regional and national level.
A former teacher and twice headteacher, Diane has developed expertise across all phases, working with schools, trusts and partnerships in the development of a school led system.
Previously, Lead Associate for the National College for School Leadership, Diane specialises in coaching, professional learning, policy development and school improvement. She is currently Independent Chair for East Riding School Improvement Partnership and for several strategic groups serving Teaching School Hubs. As Senior Associate with the Education Endowment Foundation she works with a range of partners to bring the use of evidence-based practice closer to schools.
Anthony Dee
NCLT Director and Chair of the NCP Advisory Group
View ProfileFor most of his career, Anthony has worked as a manager for bus and tourist companies. He has now retired, after spending the last four years as a part-time driver for Poppleton’s Coaches in Pontefract.
He is a member of the School Performance Review Board at Larks Hill and De Lacy Junior & Infants Schools, which are part of the Pontefract Academies Trust. In the past, he has been chairman of the Carleton High School Parent, Teacher and Friends Association, and chairman of the Wakefield Association of School Governors. He is the Co-ordinator for the Highways and Rail Groups of Pontefract Civic Society. His two daughters attended New College Pontefract and providing his time to support New College’s governance reflects his gratitude for their educational success at the college.
Phil Dixon
NCLT Director
View ProfilePhil was appointed as Chief Operating Officer at Leeds Trinity University in 2017, having previously held the post of Director of HR at Sheffield Hallam University. Phill is a Business Studies graduate who studied for his degree as a sponsored student with the electricity supply industry, where his career began at the age of 16.
During a career that spanned twelve years with Yorkshire Electricity Group plc, Phil worked on major business change initiatives, including the privatisation of the business as part of the government drive to float UK utilities on the stock exchange. It was whilst working for the electricity industry that Phill gained his first senior managerial position and at the same time undertook a postgraduate diploma in People Management. He has been a Chartered Member of the CIPD since 1992. Phill moved to join Portakabin Limited in 2002 with HR responsibility for the continental interests in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. As well as the European business, he also had HR responsibility for the international division which primarily involved projects in the Far East and South America. Phil’s remit also included business expansion, and he worked extensively with country managers to help expand the organisation throughout continental Europe and beyond.
Having worked as an HR professional for over 25 years, Phil has a strong interest in the people agenda within organisations and, in particular, the not-for-profit sector. He is a former Trustee of St Luke’s Hospice in Sheffield and a former Trustee of the Children’s Food Trust in Sheffield.
Bev Foster-Short
NCLT Director, Safeguarding & SEND Lead
View ProfileBev has worked in skills and business support for more than 20 years, developing and managing a number of complex programmes. For seven years she ran her own consultancy, working with stakeholders including universities, colleges and the private sector.
Her most recent role was with the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership leading the DIT NPH funded KAM programme, working with foreign owned businesses already invested in West Yorkshire. Her current role is Development Manager with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combine Authority’s Growth Hub supporting businesses in South Yorkshire.
Deborah Green
NCLT Director
View ProfileDeborah is Chief Executive of UCISA, a charitable company which represents the interests of Chief Information Officers in HE and FE and the teams they lead. Reporting to the Chair of the Board of Trustees, she is responsible for upholding the charitable object of UCISA, providing strategic, operational and personnel management for UCISA and its subsidiary companies.
Although a lawyer by profession, Deborah has a wealth of Higher Education experience. Prior to her appointment at UCISA, Deborah was Director of Student Recruitment at the University of Hull, and before that she served on the executive board at Leeds Beckett University, where she led the Marketing and Corporate Communications Directorate.
During her time there, Deborah led a major brand repositioning exercise, in preparation for the university’s name change from Leeds Metropolitan University to Leeds Beckett in September 2014. Deborah also revolutionised the university’s approach to recruitment and the enquirer and applicant experience, developing and launching the university’s first major integrated marketing and recruitment campaigns. These included a range of innovative digital outputs, in addition to their first television campaign.
Neil Kaiper-Holmes
NCLT Director and Chair of the Audit Committee
View ProfileNeil is a multi-skilled doctor and businessman with a record of managing diverse businesses in the health and communications sectors. He has also had an interest in a beef and dairy farm in Estonia! He is an experienced Chairman of both business and not-for-profit organisations and is a respected communicator with wide media experience.
As a founder of a private primary school, a previous Adviser to NCP and a former Governor at Tadcaster Grammar School, he has a keen interest in, and knowledge of, education in the UK.
He is Vice-Chair of his Parish Council and is very involved with charitable work, being Chair of the Thackray Museum of Medicine, and past Chair and current Trustee of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, as well as being a lover of all sports.
He has four daughters and seven grandchildren, and his youngest daughter was a student at New College Pontefract.
He has 4 daughters and 7 grandchildren, and his youngest daughter was a student at NCP.
Jasbir Singh
NCLT Director
View ProfileThrough his professional career, Jasbir has developed extensive experience of working with volunteers and voluntary organisations. Within his roles in the Conservative Party, he has developed strong skills in establishing safe and robust safeguarding practices and has been instrumental in ensuring the continuing wellbeing of a wide range of volunteers.
He has been responsible for the constant review and delivery of robust risk management for associations and teams across the whole of the north of England. For more than 15 years, he has worked collaboratively and engaged with government bodies at every level – national, local, legal, administrative and voluntary. This experience has enabled him to share best practice, to develop stakeholder relations, and to deliver successful projects.
In his current role, he is required to ensure that strong governance is in place to improve the institutional performance of the organisation. He is responsible in supporting the understanding, implementation and interpretation of discipline and complaint policies. Through his work in disputes and conflict resolution, and as a trained mediator, he is required to adhere to the Nolan Principles of Public Life.
Michael Phagurey
NCLT Director
View ProfileMichael has eight years’ experience working in the public and charity sectors as a chartered accountant. In his current role (R&I Accountant, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) he is directly involved in contract review meetings with contract managers, commissioning managers, quality colleagues and providers, experience which has given him insight, for example, into how providers can be held to account through regular contract monitoring of KPIs.
He is regularly called upon to provide contracting, commissioning and financial advice, for example in the development of secondary care Service Level Agreements (SLAs), as well as overseeing financial reporting within parts of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. This requires him to employ deft oral and written communication skills when working with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
He is regularly involved in work-based extra-curricular activities, for example in volunteering at Covid clinics, and in being a member of the BAME Network and New Ways of Working group. His professional outlook has been shaped by the values of diversity and difference in the workplace, values which continue to fuel his enthusiasm for delivering high quality outcomes and improved ways of working at both a personal and organisational level.
Jo Twiby
NCLT Director
View ProfileJo has a passion for unlocking the potential in students, something that has been formed by her ten years’ experience as a system leader in two high-performing multi-academy trusts, where she has developed her knowledge and understanding of teacher development and the education landscape.
She has extensive experience as a leader, driving improvements and providing support and challenge to a range of stakeholders. Formerly Executive Director of English at Delta, she engaged and developed a high-performing team of nine subject directors and sixteen English departments, which ultimately raised student achievement and exceeded national averages in academies predominantly serving communities characterised by privation.
In June 2019, she began to lead the professional development across the Delta Trust and their Teaching School Alliance, from initial teacher training and active participation in the early rollout of the Early Career Framework, to delivery of the National Professional Qualifications. She is an NPQ Assessor, and in October 2020 led a successful application for two teaching school hubs.
In collaboration with the Research School Network and the Education Endowment Foundation, she is currently leading a cross-phase programme across 53 academies to continue narrowing gaps in outcomes. Her priority is always students, approaching all aspects of her role with their experience firmly in view. She encourages all the members of her team to consider the user experience in every interaction, whether that be with facilitators, schools, partners, or lead providers, thereby helping colleagues to understand and appreciate the challenges students, teachers and school leaders face.
