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Rt Hon Baroness Morris
Pro Vice-Chancellor Sunderland University and Chief of the Strategy Board at the Institute of Effective Education, University of York.
Estelle Morris was elected to Parliament as Member for Birmingham Yardley in 1992. Formerly a teacher in the West Midlands, Baroness Morris taught for 18 years in an inner-city comprehensive school in Coventry. She also served as a Councillor on Warwick District Council for 12 years, for eight of these as Labour Group Leader.
She moved to the Whips Office in 1994, where she served for one year, before moving to Labour’s Frontbench Education Team as Shadow Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools and Early Years.
After the 1997 election, she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards in the new Labour Government and in July 1998 she was appointed Minister of State for Education and Employment and she became a Privy Councillor in 1999.
She was Secretary of State for Education and & Skills from June 2001 to October 2002, and then after a brief period in the back benches she became Minister for the Arts from February 2003 until the 2005 election when she stood down as an MP.
In the summer of 2005 she was elevated to the Lords and became Baroness Morris of Yardley. She became chair of the e-Learning Foundation in January 2003 and stood down in September 2006 but remained as a Trustee until April 2008 when she became Patron of the charity. |
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| Chair |
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Lord Mitchell
Chair of the e-Learning Foundation
Born in 1943, and married with three children, Lord Mitchell has supported the e-Learning Foundation as a Trustee from its inception. He was Chairman of Syscap plc, an IT service provider until August 2006. Elevated to the peerage in 2000, he has sat on the Science and Technology Select Committee and campaigns on technology in education and foetal alcohol syndrome.
"Access to ICT in education for young people should be a right, not a privilege and the e-Learning Foundation is determined that every child in the UK has the same opportunities to succeed in their studies". Lord Mitchell |
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Mike Butler, Mike
Chief Executive of Djanogly City Academy
The Djanogly City Academy, in Nottingham, is an award-winning school and a leader in the use of ICT in education. Mike is also Chairman of the Independent Academies Association.
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David Butler OBE
Chief Executive of the National Confederation of PTAs
David was born and educated in Newcastle upon Tyne, studied statistics and mathematics at the University of Bath and took a postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies at what is now Northumbria University. Prior to taking up his role at NCPTA, he was Director of Marketing and Development at a FE college.
David’s involvement with PTAs began when his wife was Chair of the PTA at the Primary School attended by their children. He was recruited by NCPTA in 1998 to restructure the charity and increase the focus on services to its then 11,000 (now some 13,500) member associations.
In 2001 David was invited to become a Trustee of the e-Learning Foundation; he has also chaired the Finance Committee for most of his tenure as a Trustee. David is also a member of the National Judging Panel for the Teaching Awards Trust, a member of the School Meals Review Panel set up by DfES, a member of the Administrative Council of the European Parents Association (EPA) and a past member of the General Teaching Council for England.
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Alisdair Cameron
ACA, Finance Director, British Gas Residential
Alisdair Cameron is a leading Chartered Accountant and Finance Director for British Gas, part of Centrica plc, a FTSE 100 company. He is also a non-executive director of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals.
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Dame Wendy Davies
Wendy’s teaching career is based in Birmingham schools, where she progressed from Deputy Head of a large mixed school before taking the Headship of Selly Park School in 1986. The school gained Technology College Status in 1995 and is now called Selly Park Technology College. Under Wendy’s leadership the school results rose from 5% 5A*-Cs in 1989 to 70% 5A*-C grades in 2002.
Wendy retired as a Head in December 2003 and is continuing to work as a DfES consultant and as an Associate Director for the Specialist Schools Trust.
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Bill Donoghue
Managing Director, TSL.
Bill has 25 years experience in business with extensive executive experience. Following an early career in retail operations he made the transition to IT rising to Head of IT at Tesco Ireland. He joined Ramesys as managing director in 2001 where he is credited with transforming the education business over six years to become a leading player in the UK Schools market and was appointed CEO in 2005. He was also managing director of Ramesys Retail from 2003 to 2005. |
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John Nicholson
Principal, JN Associates
John Nicholson has been involved in the Information Technology Industry since 1983. John’s experience and expertise is used by Venture Capital Funds and Investors to advise and assist Companies, Boards and Management teams. He is an experienced Non-Executive Director, serving on the Boards of a number of Companies.
John has extensive executive experience encompassing Chief Executive, General Management and Sales Management roles, working and living in various parts of the world. He has also served as a Vice President of Compaq Computer Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation in the past.
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Phil Willis MP
Phil Willis is the Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee and the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough. Phil became the first Liberal Democrat leader of Harrogate District Council in 1990, two years after joining it. He also served on North Yorkshire County Council from 1993 to 1997. In 1997, he became the first Liberal MP for Harrogate since 1906. He was a member of the Education and Employment Select Committee until November 2000, and is a vice-chairman of All-Party Groups on pluralism in education and further and adult education. He chairs the group on mobile communications and is treasurer of the All-Party Group on medical research.
A former Leeds headmaster, Phil Willis was principal Education and Employment spokesman in Charles Kennedy's "Shadow Cabinet", from 1999 to 2005, after being Further and Higher Education spokesman as deputy to Don Foster. His special interests include special education needs and inclusion in education. He is a keen supporter of Leeds United FC.
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| Chief Executive |
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Valerie Thompson
Chief Executive, e-Learning Foundation
Born in Yorkshire, she was educated through the state school system leading to Cardiff University and a degree in Animal Behaviour. Armed with this useful qualification, and an MBA from City University, she worked for a number of companies in senior marketing roles including BT, Price Waterhouse, Redland Bricks and Reed Exhibitions. In 1995 she set up the central London Business Link and ran that until March 2001 when she was invited to get the e-Learning Foundation operational. Now in its ninth year, it is chaired by Lord Mitchell and focussed on the digital divide and out of school access to ICT for disadvantaged children. Valerie is also the Chair of the Retail Academy, a social enterprise that provides affordable training for small retailers.
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