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 [email protected]
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 and is Chair of the Search & Governance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and the Remuneration Committee.
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.
Deputy 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 has been working in the education sector for 12 years and has a wide range of teaching experiences from A Level and GCSE to BTEC. She has been part of Sandwell College for eight years, where she started as a lecturer and has progressed to different management roles across sites, ensuring that we provide a high-quality education and inclusion for all learners. Nisha has made valuable contributions to the EDI group and plays an important role in the pastoral support of both staff and students as a trained Senior Mental Health Lead. Nisha’s experience has given her the opportunity to work closely with Student Council at Cadbury Sixth Form College, and to strengthen the curriculum through direct involvement with Employer Board engagement activities.
Mark Ashford.
Independent Member.
Mark grew up in Yorkshire and came to the Midlands in the mid 80s to study at Aston University. He 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 ongoing education can bring to its staff at all stages of their career, and 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. This included the creation of a Financial Centre of Excellence in Slovakia which leveraged the best practice across the corporation and where education and training was a key to success. The organisation’s constant re-invention over those years strengthened Mark’s belief in the value of continual personal development through access to the best education resources.
Having retired from IBM in 2022 Mark was delighted to accept a seat on the Board in March 2023. Mark is a member of the Audit Committee.
Richard Bearman.
Independent Member.
Richard has 25 years’ experience in the banking sector and over that time has developed a real passion for working with and supporting entrepreneurs. Richard is Managing Director Small Business Lending at the British Business Bank and is responsible for a number of programmes including Start Up Loans. Working with a range of Delivery Partners across the UK to help start up businesses access funding, Richard is proud to play a part in helping people achieve their dream of being their own boss. Start Up Loans has just celebrated its 100,000th supported business. Richard also manages Bounce Back Loans, a scheme launched during Covid that ensured over 1.5m business received over £46b of funds.
Richard was previously UK Head of Small Business at HSBC, where he led and supported colleagues serving the UK SME market via face to face, telephony and digital channels. Richard set the strategic direction and led the business to evolve its channels and grow its customer base. Under Richard’s leadership, HSBC was voted Best Business Banking Provider in the Smart Money People British Bank Awards and Best Online Banking Provider in the Business Moneyfacts Awards.
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 22 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 Newman University Birmingham.
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 Newman University leadership team for 18 years. In his current role Tony has responsibility for Planning & Systems Development, 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.
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.
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 and is a 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 Russell Group universities. She maintains partnerships with local universities and utilises these connections to provide our student body with a range of work experience opportunities. Sheridan is Staff Governor for Cadbury College and joined the Board in December 2022.
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
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 the Clerk to the Corporation, Elise Scotford,
who will be pleased to assist you further.
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