OUR TEAM & BOARD

Robert Nitsch CBE

Rob Nitsch is a passionate advocate of skills-based training and technical education who assumed the Chief Executive role at the Federation of Awarding Bodies in August 2024.

He was previously the Director of Skills Delivery at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) where he was responsible for the development, approval and assurance of employer-led qualifications and apprenticeships in England. 

Tim Bennett-Hart

CHAIR

Chief Executive at RSL Awards

Tim Bennett-Hart is Chief Executive at RSL Awards, a specialist education body for the creative arts. RSL works across 50 countries offering Graded and Vocational qualifications. He is responsible for the RSL Awards along with their subsidiary businesses in Spain, India and China. He joined RSL in 2018 as Academic Director and was promoted to CEO in 2022.

Tim has had a diverse career as a commercial songwriter and an academic at the University of Sussex, before focusing on vocational creative education in FE and the HE sectors. He is a charity trustee of the Council for Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre as well as governor of a local state secondary school.

Kelle McQuade

VICE CHAIR

Chief Operating Officer at Training Qualifications UK

Kelle McQuade joined Training Qualifications UK in 2017 after spending 13 years overseeing everything from curriculum planning to quality assurance at a further education college. At TQUK, she leads EPA Delivery, Operational Services, Business Development & Marketing and People Services, driving efficiencies, whilst maintaining quality and helping us deliver exceptional service for all stakeholders.

Annette Allmark

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Executive Director (Awarding and Assessment) at BCS, The Chartered Institute of IT

Annette Allmark is Executive Director for Awarding and Assessment at BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. A passionate advocate for how learning digital skills can transform careers. She has over 20 years’ experience shaping apprenticeships across sectors and leading strong partnerships with employers, government, and training providers. At BCS, she oversees one of the UK’s largest digital end-point assessment organisations, supporting thousands of apprentices to achieve career success.

Sam Double

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Chief Executive Officer, Vet Skill Ltd

Sam Double is the Chief Executive Officer at Vet Skill Ltd, an awarding organisation, apprenticeship assessment organisation and professional regulatory body. Sam joined Vet Skill Ltd in 2017 having spent many years in the Further and Higher Education sectors and as the editor of an academic journal.

Terry Fennell

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Chief Executive at FDQ

FDQ is a niche awarding organisation owned by a dedicated food training charity offering over 200 qualifications for the food industry. As FDQ Chief Executive, Terry has responsibility for the efficient running of FDQs’ operations including strategic planning, financial accounting, reporting and target setting. He also has responsibility for keeping up to date with government and funding policy and disseminating related information to FDQ colleagues, board and centres.

Nicola Mellor

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Qualifications & Assessment Director at The Chartered Insurance Institute

Dr Nicola Mellor is Qualifications & Assessment Director at The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), an awarding organisation and professional body serving the needs of the insurance, financial planning and mortgage professions, where qualifications are part of a wider proposition for the development of practitioners. She is responsible for the design, delivery and quality of qualifications and membership assessments.

Al Parkes

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Managing Director at EAL Awards

Throughout her 30-year career in vocational education and training, Al has been a strong advocate for skills development as an enabler of personal progress, economic growth and real-world impact. This passion keeps EAL focused on helping people have the right engineering skills at the right time to keep up with changing industry needs and the net-zero transition.

Marianne Phillips

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Executive Director for Quality and Standards at Trinity College London (TCL)

In 2016 Marianne started working for Trinity College London (TCL) as their Executive Director for Quality and Standards and a member of the Executive Leadership Team.

TCL is one of the larger AOs, delivering c 800k qualifications worldwide across 67 countries in English Language, Music and the Performing Arts. Unlike many other larger AOs most of our qualifications do not attract government funding and we do not offer apprenticeships.

Jan Richardson-Wilde

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

CEO, Occupational Awards Limited

Jan has worked in apprenticeships, education, and training for over 35 years for training providers, colleges, and the charity sector before moving to OAL in 2019. She has extensive experience of education policy, apprenticeships, qualification and curriculum design and development, change management and business improvement.

David Russell

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Senior Director, Government Relations UK at Pearson

My role is to help Government get the best out of Pearson’s expertise and capability, and help Pearson understand and work optimally with Government for mutual benefit.

Steve Smith

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Managing Director at SIAS

Steve joined SIAS in January 2022 as Managing Director, under his stewardship SIAS has quickly become one of the fastest growing End-Point-Assessment and Awarding Organisations nationally – award winning, SIAS under Steve’s leadership has positively disrupted traditional models and markets through the introduction of a new and different approach to both awarding and assessment.

Kris Todd

TREASURER

Chief Financial Officer, NCFE

A Chartered Accountant, Kris began his career as an auditor with PwC, before moving into various corporate finance roles. He has extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions, business planning, investments, and negotiating and structuring deals to mitigate risk. A role with Newcastle College Group almost 20 years ago was Kris’ first experience of working in the education and not-for-profit sectors and allowed him to see first-hand how education can have a transformative impact on people’s lives.