Jan Large

Name: Jan Large

Member from: 1 September 2024

Biography: Founding Member. More information to follow for the 2024/25 academic year.

David Morran

Name: David Morran

Member from: 1 September 2024

Biography: Founding Member. More information to follow for the 2024/25 academic year.

Ian Wilson

Name: Ian Wilson

Member from: 1 September 2024

Biography: Founding Member. Originally a History graduate from Oxford University, Ian has a lifetime career background in education. He was Principal at Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth College, Leicester, from 2002 to 2012. From 2013, Ian was appointed as the Corporation Chair, and Independent Governor at Long Road Sixth Form College in 2013, until came to the end of his term in 2021. He continued to support the Corporation as an adviser from 2021 to 2023.

Alex Wong

Name: Alex Wong

Member from: 1 September 2024

Biography: Founding Member. Alex is the CEO and co-founder of a company that solves challenging asset tracking problems by providing a secure, global and cloud-based asset tracking software. Alex graduated with BA, MEng and an engineering PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Formerly (from March 2022) an independent Governor at Long Road Sixth Form College, and now as Member of The Sixth Form Colleges Trust, Alex contributes to strategic governance, ensuring the Trust delivers quality education while fostering innovation and collaboration. With experience in technology, entrepreneurship, and education governance, I support initiatives that enhance learning outcomes and operational efficiency

Mike Atherton

Name: Mike Atherton

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 27 January 2027

Member of: Trust Board (Chair)

Biography: Originally from the north west of England, before retiring Mike spent 40 years in the financial sector gaining experience in all forms of banking, capital markets, project and trade financing. After having been a Governor from January 2019, and latterly Corporation Chair at The Sixth Form College, Colchester, Mike is now bringing his skills as a Governor and wealth of experience in business to the Trust.

Gerry Bolton

Name: Gerry Bolton

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 18 May 2028

Member of: Trust Board (Vice Chair), Audit & Risk Committee

Biography: Gerry spent more than 40 years in technical industries including, payments, IT provision, logistics and power engineering. He is a commercial and finance professional who has operated at both FD/Commercial Director levels. After retiring, he took on his first Governor role at Long Road Sixth Form College in May 2020, becoming Corporation Chair in 2022, and then Trust Board Vice Chair upon establishment of The Sixth Form Colleges Trust, in September 2024.

Yolanda Botham

Name: Yolanda Botham

Term of office: 1 September 2024 ex officio

Member of: Trust Board

Biography: Prior to becoming the CEO of The Sixth Form Colleges Trust on 1 September 2024, Yolanda worked in Colleges for over 35 years, 22+ as a senior leader, 14+ as a Principal/CEO. Ensuring excellent financial health has always been an important strand of Yolanda’s leadership to enable essential investment in estate and infrastructure. Yolanda enjoys seeing students grow into confident adults and supporting colleagues to flourish and develop the careers they want.

Gary Bourton

Name: Gary Bourton

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 15 May 2027

Member of: Trust Board, Remuneration Committee (Chair)

Biography: Gary has extensive leadership and practical experience from multiple sectors, including IT services, building services, building energy management and most recently in the data centre and Industrial sector, also comes from operating in SMEs, enterprises and start-up companies. Gary became an Independent Governor at Long Road Sixth Form College in May 2023, and became a Trustee in September 2024.

Susan Codling

Name: Susan Codling

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 14 December 2028

Member of: Trust Board, Audit & Risk Committee (Chair)

Biography: Susan is a partner at a big accounting organisation having worked there for over 15 years. She trained in public sector accounting and was an external auditor until moving into internal audit, governance, risk management and controls. For many years her work was spread across the broader public sector: government (local and central), NHS and charities; she now focuses on central government, private healthcare and transport. Susan became a Governor at The Sixth Form College, Colchester in December 2020, and became a Trustee at establishment on 1 September 2024.

Kevin Finnigan

Name: Kevin Finnigan

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2027

Member of: Trust Board, Remuneration Committee, Colchester LGB

Biography: After originally going into teaching, and after doing an MBA, Kevin became the Principal of a general further education College.

Kevin joined The Sixth Form College, Colchester as a Governor in September 2015, and then on establishment became a Trustee at The Sixth Form Colleges Trust in September 2024

Gemma Long

Name: Gemma Long

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 8 February 2026

Member of: Trust Board, Audit & Risk Committee, Remuneration Committee, Long Road LGB

Biography: Gemma is the Head of Quality and Head of Transnational Education (TNE) at the Office for Students (OfS). She leads the quality assessment function for providers seeking registration, and runs one of OfS’s six core regulatory teams. She was previously the Head of Education Quality and Policy at the University of Cambridge. Gemma became a Governor at the Long Road Sixth Form College Corporation in February 2022 and a Trustee at establishment on 1 September 2024.

Hugo Macey

Name: Hugo Macey

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 30 August 2025

Member of: Trust Board, Audit & Risk Committee, Long Road LGB (Chair)

Biography: Originally trained as an accountant Hugo worked for nearly 20 years for a London based asset manager, working in Japan and London. He became Group Financial Controller and led a change programme re-organising the finance function across Schroder’s network of 25 or so international offices. In 2012, Hugo obtained a PGCE at Bedford University and then taught mathematics to years 7-11 for three years. Hugo joined the Long Road SFC Corporation in 2021 and became a Trustee and Long Road LGB Chair at establishment on 1 September 2024.

Ian Vipond

Name: Ian Vipond

Term of office: 1 September 2024 to 1 March 2026

Member of: Trust Board, Colchester LGB (Chair)

Biography: Ian’s working life involved strategic forward thinking particularly about the future for Colchester in terms of employment, skills and population growth and delivery of ‘place’. He brought technical skills in relation to planning, construction and project management. Ian joined The Sixth Form College, Colchester as a Governor in March 2014, and became a Trustee and Colchester LGB Chair at establishment on 1 September 2024.