CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING

LAUREN EDWARDS
Cabinet Member for Economic and Social Regeneration & Inward Investment, Medway Council

Lauren Edwards is the Cabinet Member for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward investment in the Labour and Co-operative administration on Medway Council elected in May 2023. She is also a councillor for Rochester East and Warren Wood ward and was first elected in 2021.

In her Cabinet role, she is responsible for regenerating the Medway towns, supporting local businesses, labour market planning and strategic skills development, and inward investment. She also sits on the boards of outside bodies focused on regional economic regeneration, such as the Kent and Medway Business Fund, the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership, and the Kent and Medway Employment Taskforce.

Her academic background is in international relations and social sciences, and she holds a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a former manager at the Bank of England, responsible for regulating large financial companies. She has also worked for MPs in Parliament, at HM Treasury, and for a trade union.

In mid-2023 Lauren became the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Rochester and Strood at the next General Election.

DEREK MURPHY
Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Kent County Council

Derek was born in Folkestone in March 1958 and is married to Alison where they are currently living in Walmer.

His education was at St Edmunds RC Secondary School Dover, and studied at the University of Kent at Canterbury (MBA in 1997).

Derek retired in 2015 (after 30 years) from British Telecommunications Plc as a Senior Manager Global Programmes.

Commissioned Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 1985, Officer Territorial Army(V) Royal Signals. In 2015, Derek was elected to Dover District Council and in 2017, he was additionally elected to Kent County Council and was successfully re-elected to DDC in May 2019, and to KCC in May 2021.

As well as representing Walmer & Deal, Derek holds the position as Cabinet Member for Economic Development for Kent at Kent County Council.

LUCY DRUESNE
Chief Contracts and Policy Officer, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce

Lucy is the Chief Contracts and Policy Officer and the Kent & Medway Locals Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) strategic lead at Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce. The Kent & Medway LSIP works with employers and employer representative groups to identify the local skills needs and solutions to address them in our key sectors, in collaboration with the local education providers. 

Lucy grew up in France and came to the UK to work on a European project for Kent Invicta Chamber after which she moved to roles in Higher Education and has spent the last 20 years at the interface of education and business in her roles, in particular as Deputy Director of Innovation at the University of Kent and as Manager of GOETEC, a partnership of Kent & Medway Higher and Further Education and public sector organisations.

CELINE McGEOWN
Customer Engagement Manager, CITB

Celine is the Customer Engagement Manager for CITB in Southeast covering Kent, Sussex, and Essex.

She works at a local and regional level with major project groups, key stakeholders, and construction employers to ensure the industry has the skills it needs.

She has worked in construction since 2006, starting in Further Education. Achievements include setting up a construction training centre and successfully managing apprenticeship provision. She joined CITB in 2018 and her current focus is to support major projects in the region to access grants, funding and support to attract, train and retain talent in the construction industry.

KERRI-ANNE MRUK
Membership Manager, Make UK

Make UK is the leading voice for the manufacturing industry in the UK and has the close ear of regional and national Government.

Kerri-Anne is the Membership Manager for Make UK, championing the manufacturing and engineering sector across the South East, London and South West of England.  She plays a vital role in supporting and advancing the commercial, business, and economic interests of Make UK members.

A key part of her role is to represent members views, engaging with stakeholders, including media, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Combined Authorities, sector-specific trade associations, industrial cluster networks and educational providers.  Enabling continuous collaboration to provide solutions to the challenges faced by Make UK members and UK manufacturers.

Kerri-Anne is passionate to influence UK policy makers to focus on the supply of more skilled workers, including apprenticeship schemes, support for researchers and the supply of skilled managers. She feels it imperative for companies to act now, improve existing workforce skills and to focus on building multidisciplinary teams which will be capable of developing increasingly complex products.  “It’s not about the labour but more about the skills”!

BRAD LEVY
Strategic Careers Hub Lead, Kent & Medway Careers Hub

Brad is a professional youth worker, coach, a teacher of lifelong learning, and trainer with 20 years’ experience of working young people at risk of not entering education, employment, or training.   He has led teams throughout London and Kent to provide excellent outcomes for young people and has worked with care leavers, unaccompanied asylum seekers and young people in the youth offending system, to develop mindsets and skills aimed at identifying pathways to a brighter future.

As the Strategic Hub Lead for the Kent and Medway Careers Hub, he is committed to driving long lasting systemic change in the careers landscape and has seen significant changes in the way the education and employment gap is reducing since the Hub’s inception.

In his spare time, he enjoys dog walks and cooking for friends and family and is a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo.

DAVE KNOX
Principal Apprenticeship Lead, The Education People

Dave leads on their employer engagement project, which involves working with employers across Kent and Medway to increase the number of opportunities available to local young people and developing the apprenticeship offer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships to schools, young people, parents and businesses. His role is to create and develop county wide opportunities for apprenticeships and work experience through employer engagement, partnership working, within Kent County Council and other local authorities for the benefit of the local community.

Dave has also worked on several different trailblazer groups in the development of new apprenticeship standards. He is one of the directors of Kent Association of Training Organisations (KATO), working with the local training providers in Kent, to help support the development of the training available across the county. This is achieved by providing strategic overview and facilitating collaborative activities between education providers, training providers and employers to support the progression into the world of work.

GARY ALLEN
Director, Wire Belt Company Ltd

Wire Belt is a metal conveyor belt and conveyor manufacturing company founded in 1962 based in Sittingbourne.  Gary is passionate about working with local educational providers to promote apprenticeships in the workplace and offering hands on work experience to young students from the local community.

Wire Belt has been successfully recruiting apprentices since 1978 and continues its commitment to young people and apprenticeships today. The company prides itself on developing and nurturing the next generation of talent for the future. This commitment was rewarded in 2016, when Wire Belt won The Kent Excellence in Business ‘Apprenticeship of the Year Award.’

Gary’s hobbies and interests outside of the workplace include a passion for high board diving he is a trained Level 2 Coach, coaching both children & adults. It is also quite likely you will catch Gary at The Valley, watching his beloved Charlton Athletic on a Saturday afternoon!

JAMES SIMPSON
Training Lead, South - Knauf UK

Jim is the Training Lead for the southern region at Knauf UK. As part of his role, he is dedicated to delivering top tier training sessions focusing on the proficient utilization of their products and systems within the construction sector.  Their comprehensive services cater to a wide range of professionals within the industry, including: site managers, architects and contractors.

While prioritising on-site training, they also have a strong commitment to nurturing the emerging generation, equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skill sets for a successful future in construction.

Jim’s role involves providing practical training sessions, either conducted directly on-site, within schools and colleges, or hosted at their dedicated Training Facility located in Sittingbourne. These sessions encompass airless plastering courses, hands-on tape and jointing and constructing partitions.

In his spare time Jim enjoys painting, primarily animal portraits and enhancing the local community with public art for all to enjoy.

KIEREN BUSSEY
Sales Manager,  Richard Austin Alloys

Richard Austin Alloys has a national presence with 7 depots and are the biggest privately owned stockholder of Stainless Steel and Aluminium in the UK.

From their South East facility, which opened in 2015, they distribute thousands of tonnes of sheet metal and section a year into the construction, engineering, and manufacturing industries across the Home Counties and into London itself.

Richard Austin’s were introduced to the benefits of supported internships in 2022 through Forward 2 Employment who provide these opportunities for young people in the local area.

Impressed by their work and having experienced the benefits and successes of supported internships first hand, Kieren decided to join the F2E team last year and volunteers his time and experiences to support them in their continued development of an already flourishing provision.

LENA McGRATH
Head of Social Recruitment,  PeoplePlus

Lena is Head of Social Recruitment Framework at PeoplePlus with over 15 years’ experience in the Apprenticeship and Employability arena.

Lena currently leads on connecting funded skills and employability training providers and employers to support skills and employment gaps across multiple sectors across the UK.

Lena leads a partnership network of 34 training providers and circa 200 employers who have pledged a commitment to support people who are furthest from the labour market promoting inclusive training and work practices to promote a fairer society.  

LINDSEY BIGGS
Chief Business Officer, East Kent Colleges Group

The East Kent Colleges Group delivers technical and vocational skills training for more than 13,000 learners every year, serving the whole of East Kent’s community.

Her role sees her leading the strategic development, relevance and quality of employer engagement activities across the area, ensuring that students have meaningful interactions with employers. She also takes the strategic lead for collaborations with businesses to help them innovate their own working practices; one recent project that she’s delivered will see the College Group working in partnership with Brompton bikes on research and development into manufacturing techniques that leverage industrial-grade robotic and automation solutions.

With 22 years’ experience of working across a variety of roles in further education Lindsey is passionate about working collaboratively with employers, enabling them to navigate the education landscape and understand how they can access the next generation of talent for their workforce, and realise the wider benefits of working alongside further education providers across Kent and Medway.

LIZ HALTON
Head, Forward2Employment

As Head of Forward2Employment, Liz works tirelessly to support young adults with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across Medway and Kent into employment. She firmly believes that by raising aspirations and giving these young people the helping hand they need, that they have many rich and diverse skills to bring to the workplace.

Liz is also Vice Principal at Bradfields Academy, which is part of Fortis Trust. Previously she has worked in mainstream provisions and also as a Psychologist. She brings all this experience to her current role to ensure that the provision for young people is the very best it can possibly be.

She takes a lead role at Forward2Employment and is always seeking ways to make this provision even better for the interns, be this by working with the job coaches and the support they give to the young people or searching out new and innovative employers who are eager to work with their interns. She enjoys nothing better than seeing the young people grow in confidence and develop their employability skills, then ultimately gain purposeful employment.

MARK ANDREWS
Deputy Executive Principal, Strategy & Curriculum, North Kent College

Mark is a qualified Electronics Engineer and Teacher, who joined North Kent College in 2012 and is now the Deputy Executive Principal, Strategy and Curriculum with a wide-ranging remit across all four campuses.

Before joining the FE Sector in 2005 as an Engineering and Manufacturing Lecturer, Mark worked for Nortel Networks, a global Telecommunications equipment manufacturer in various Product Development, Manufacturing, Engineering and Systems Engineering roles, working extensively on foreign assignments across European and North American manufacturing operations.

Mark’s lifelong passion has been the sport of motorcar Rallying, having previously competed internationally for many years as a Co-Driver, but now as a busy father of 2 children, focusses mainly on organising events and helping teams to develop competition vehicles.

MARK ROSE
Employment Lead, bemix

Mark is the Employer Engagement Lead at bemix, (a specialist post-16 education provider with charitable status), delivering Supported Internships with businesses and organisations across Kent and Medway.  He passionately promotes the value these young people provide as a sustainable employment solution, by accessing a largely untapped market of people who are dedicated and loyal and importantly, really want to work. 

With a rich background within various industry sectors, Mark is keen to engage with businesses with the ‘vision to see value in everyone’ and understand their specific employment needs.  Providing great outcomes by job-matching and supporting the right person and business for the role throughout the year.

RICHARD WILDE
Green Skills Project Manager, MidKent College

With over 20 years experience in the Further Education sector, Richard is the Green Skills Project Manager at MidKent College.  He started as a training deliverer at the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME), moving on to curriculum development and more recently, the Retrofit, Renewables and Sustainable construction training provision at the College.

Richard became involved in the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) through the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, and subsequently the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF).

He is proud to be part of an organisation that is taking significant steps towards addressing the LSIP priorities in construction and is passionate about making a difference on the road to Net Zero Carbon by 2050, and a strong believer in the collaborative effort needed to achieve global targets for a sustainable future.