Amanda Burnside is Principal and Chief Executive of Wiltshire College, a Further Education college with 4 campuses (including a specialist landbased campus) located across Wiltshire on sites in Chippenham, Trowbridge, Salisbury and on the Lackham estate near Lacock, where the College operates on 1600 acres incorporating four farms. The College also has 3 outreach centres located across Wiltshire and a specialist motorsport engineering centre at Castle Combe race track. The College serves 12,000 students studying on a range of courses from entry level through to degree programmes and has a rapidly growing number of apprentices in wide range of professions reflective of Wiltshire’s economic mix.
Amanda is active in promoting the skills agenda regionally and nationally and is a board member of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP) and chair of the SWLEP Skills and Talent sub group, a board member of Landex and a board member of Inspire, the Wessex Chambers of Commerce. She is also chair of the board of The Colleges’ Partnership which specialises in military apprenticeships.
Prior to joining the College in 2014, Amanda worked in a number of senior positions in the education and skills and private sectors.
Beverly is Group HR Director at G’s. Since graduating from Newcastle University with a BSc in Agriculture, she has worked as an HR professional throughout the food supply chain and has created an extensive training framework to develop skills for people working in agriculture as part of the ASF. Beverly is actively involved in developing managers for the future through an in-house international graduate and apprentice training scheme and accredited leadership programmes. She is a Director of MDS Ltd and a visiting lecturer at London’s CASS Business School, delivering leadership and team training to post-graduate students. She champions sound ethical working practices throughout the supply chain, securing a reliable supply of seasonal labour. She is also a trustee of Rural Cambridgeshire Citizens Advice Bureau and Ely Cathedral Business Group.
Charles Matts is a partner on the family arable and sheep farm at Creaton, Northamptonshire and Managing Director of Brixworth Farming, a joint venture arable contracting business, owned by T C Matts & Sons and four other farms, which manages 2,200 ha for its clients. He was the founding chairman of the Joint Venture Farming Group, a past chairman of both the NFU and NFU Mutual Regional Boards. He served on the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Board until March 2016 and is a trustee of the Farm Safety Foundation.
Chris Moody has been Chief Executive of Landex since February 2011. Prior to that, he was Principal of Moulton College in Northamptonshire: a post that he held from 1992 until 2011. Moulton College was Ofsted “Outstanding” and a Beacon College from 2004.
Chris is a graduate of Aston, Bath and Bristol Universities and holds a master’s degree in Education Management. After a short time in industry he taught, and was then Head of a Science Department and Housemaster, in a Secondary School before holding posts as Senior Warden, Development Manager, and Vice-Principal in Land based Colleges. He has a particular interest in the application of business principles to the management of colleges. He was awarded an OBE in the 2007 New Year honours list for services to further education and training.
He was Chairman of Landex – ‘Colleges Aspiring to Excellence’ from its formation in 2006 until 2008, having previously been Chairman of Napaeo, its predecessor organisation. Chris is a former member of the Boards of the Association of Colleges, Principals’ Professional Council, and EMFEC.
Chris is a governor of Hartpury College in Gloucestershire and the Grange School in Daventry, a member of the AgriSkills Forum and the Further Education Trust for Leadership (FETL) Grants Panel. Besides representing the land-based sector on a wide range of committees and external organisations, he is a trustee of the Agrifood Charities Partnership (AFCP).
Apart from his family, his principal leisure interests are his Morgan sports car, and watching as much rugby and cricket as possible!
Jane joined the AHDB in February 2015 as CEO and has led a restructuring of the organisation and a revised strategy to drive improved value and competitiveness for the industry. The AHDB’s purpose to is inspire farmers, growers and the industry to succeed in a rapidly changing world through innovative approaches to knowledge exchange, research, intelligence and market development. The new three- year strategy for six sectors is focussed on accelerating innovation productivity growth and resilience.
Jane is an award winning former Editor and Editorial Director of the Farmers Weekly Group where she oversaw a complete repositioning of the title, revitalising its products, developing new services and leading organisational change within the business. As a senior executive at Reed Elsevier for over 30 years, Jane also had significant experience providing information and services to a range of industries as diverse as retail, health, social care, employment law and hospitality.
Kirstie Donnelly is the Managing Director of City & Guilds and joined in 2011. In her role she leads the qualifications and accreditation business which also operates internationally. Kirstie also has Group Management Board oversight for the recent acquisition of the DigitalMe credentialing business. Kirstie has worked at the forefront of the Skills, Learning & Technology sector for over 25 years; creating UK and global education training programmes for brands such as learndirect and Video Arts, as well as now City and Guilds. She has also worked on a number of National working parties including the David Blunkett Green Paper: Learning Age; and the Race on Line 2012 national initiative, as well as being a member of the government ICT review with the European Commission.
Kirstie was appointed last year as a Commissioner on the future of apprentieships (report to be launched in 2015). A commission co-chaired by Lord Glasman and Robert Halfon MP. She successfully established a National Employer Industry Skills Board focused on Apprenticeships reforms and implementation with employer membership across a diverse range of industries.
In June 2011 Kirstie was awarded an MBE in the Queens Honours for her services and innovation in the Skills FE/Adult sector.
Richard studied Agriculture at Nottingham University Sutton Bonington followed by a spell farming in Zambia prior to returning home to run the family arable farm. The farm now also runs an outdoor pig enterprise.
Immediate past Chairman of the National Pig Association, he also currently chairs the AgriSkills Forum and the employer group developing Trailblazer Apprenticeships for Agriculture and Horticulture. He is also a Trustee and Board Member of Lantra.
Outside of farming he is involved in a property development business specialising in holiday homes.
Away from work he is very involved with and a past president of his local Rotary Club.
Russell graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in agriculture and has spent 35 years in land-based education during which time he gained a CNAA Certificate in Higher and Further Education and an MBA. Russell joined Hartpury College in September 2012 as Chief Executive and Principal after having held a similar position for 12 years at Barony College, a land-based college in South West Scotland.
Tim is a graduate Applied Biologist who worked with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food before training to teach in Further Education. Tim has been the Principal at Sparsholt College since 1998 having been Vice Principal, Head of Faculty, and Course Tutor/Manager prior to that.
Tim is on the Board of Landex as one of the directors, having been a past Chairman. Tim currently chairs the Landex Quality and Curriculum Committee which is attended by Vice Principals/Heads of Curriculum from most Landex colleges. Tim is also the Chair of the Hampshire Principals’ Group, an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies, and a past President of New Forest Show.
Tim is a Board member of the Enterprise M3 Local Economic Partnership (LEP) and a member of the Test Valley Partnership Board. Tim is also a Member of the BIS/DFE convened ‘Joint EFA/SFA Advisory Forum’.
Jeremy is the serving Principal of Plumpton College, Sussex having taken over the reigns from Des Lambert in 2016.
Prior to leading Plumpton College Jeremy was the Head of Cannington College (part of Bridgwater and Taunton College), a successful land-based college in Somerset, and has previously worked at other land-based colleges, including Brinsbury and Hadlow. He has a Sussex background, having attended both The Forest School and The College of Richard Collyer in West Sussex before taking a degree in Animal Science at Reading University.
Jeremy is a member of the Landex board representing members as a National Director. Jeremy sits on the Education Group for the Royal Horticulture Society, and also Chairs the Education and Training group for WineGB, as well as being the Landex board representative on the board of LEAF.
Marcus is the Principal and Chief Executive of Reaseheath College and University Centre, appointed from 1st August 2018. Marcus previously spent nearly four years as Principal at Northumberland College, with another five years as Vice Principal and Head of the College’s land-based provision at Kirkley Hall. He is also a director of the College’s subsidiary company DART Limited. Marcus has a wealth of experience in further education, apprenticeships and higher education partnerships, much of it spent in land-based and rural education.
Marcus has represented land-based Colleges on a number of regional and national groups, and currently sits on the Landex board and Chairs the Land Based Learning board. Marcus is also the author of Horse Business Management.
