Under the terms of the NCS Charter, appointment of the Chair and members is made by HM The Queen on the advice of the Privy Council and on a recommendation from the Prime Minister.
Paul Cleal
Non-executive director and advisor to organisations including Kingston University where he is Vice-Chair. Paul acts as a board member and advisor to a diverse range of organisations, advising on strategy, leadership and change bringing experience of corporate finance, consulting, international development and human resources. His current portfolio includes non-executive positions at Kingston University (Vice-Chair of the Board), FA Premier League (equality standard assessment panel member), the Sainsbury’s Foundation (advisory board member) and the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College Oxford (advisory board member).
Over the past 30 years, Paul has worked in local and central government and, for 16 years, was a partner at PwC, the global professional services firm. There, he held a range of leadership positions, including at main board level, in both the UK and Africa practices. He led the Government and Public Sector practice and grew successful business within PwC, for example the Africa Business Group, which he founded.
Paul is passionate about social mobility and diversity and works with a variety of educational institutions and acts as a mentor to many young people. He was previously a board member of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
Dame Julia Cleverdon
Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for ‘connecting the unconnected’, inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good in the most challenged communities.
Chief Executive of Business in the Community 1991-2007,Chair Teach First 2007-2014, she co-produced an independent review for the Prime Minister in 2013 which led to the founding of Step Up To Serve and the #iwill campaign, an all party cross-sector campaign with the patronage of HRH, The Prince of Wales which aims to make meaningful social action a part of life for young people across the UK. Julia leads on Education for the #iwill campaign as co-founder of Step Up To Serve.
She has served on the National Citizen Service CIC board from 2014, on the Careers and Enterprise Company, is Deputy Chair of the Fair Education Alliance , and Chair of the National Literacy Trust. She led the Prince’s Charities Place initiative from 2006 to 2014 in Burnley,Burslem,Redcar, Middlesbrough and Tottenham which was independently evaluated by Cass Business School. She was made an Honorary Professor of Cass Business School in recognition of her Community work and is now working in support of Blackpool.
Dame Sally Coates
In September 2014 Dame Sally joined United Learning as Director of Academies South and has recently been appointed as Director of Secondary Education covering both North and South. United Learning is one of the biggest Multi Academy Trusts managing more than 50 academies.
Dame Sally was Principal of Burlington Danes Academy an 11 – 18 Ark Academy in Hammersmith and; Fulham from 2008 – 2014. The school has 67% pupil premium and mostly serves the very deprived White City Estate. Burlington Danes was graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in November 2013.
She acted as Executive Principal at Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton until July 2012 and was Executive Principal of Ark Putney and West London Free School until July 2014. Dame Sally was previously Head of Sacred Heart School an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ VA school in Camberwell, London Borough of Southwark. She has always worked in inner city schools in London and has been in teaching since 1976.
Dame Sally chaired The Review of the Teaching Standards in 2012 and also chaired the Teaching Skills Test Review in 2013.
Her book ‘Headstrong’ 11 lessons of school leadership was published in February 2015.
The Secretary of State for Justice, Michael Gove, asked Dame Sally to conduct an independent review into Prison Education in 2015. The Coates Review reported its findings in May 2016.
Sally was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2013 New Years Honours List.
Flick Drummond
Flick was the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South. She now chairs the Southeast region of the Veterans Advisory and Pension Committee (VAPC), is a Board Member of the Salterns Academy Trust and a trustee of Citizens Advice Portsmouth. She is also the voluntary director of the Conservative Policy Forum.
During her time in Parliament, she was a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Chair of the Women and Work All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and Cyber Security APPG both of which she set up. Publications include No More Blame Game, the Future of Children’s Social Workers.
Before entering politics she worked as an insurance broker and as a lay school inspector for Ofsted and has since been a school governor as well as being involved in many charities.
She is Chair of the SE Region of the VAPC is a public appointment by the Armed Forces Minister. It is unpaid but expenses are claimed for travel and hotels.
Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone is one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry. He co-founded iconic games company Games Workshop in 1975 with Steve Jackson, launching Dungeons and Dragons in Europe, and Warhammer.
He co-authored The Warlock of Firetop Mountain with Steve Jackson in 1982, the first title in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series which has sold 20 million copies worldwide. He has written 15 titles in the series, including international bestseller Deathtrap Dungeon.
In 1995 he co-led the merger that created Eidos plc where he served as Executive Chairman until 2002, and later as Creative Director. At Eidos he launched global video games franchises including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. From 2012-2017, he served as Chairman of Playdemic, developers of hit mobile game Golf Clash. He is currently a Director of Sumo Group plc.
He co-authored the Livingstone-Hope Next Gen review published by NESTA in 2011, recommending changes in ICT education policy to include computer science in the national curriculum. He was ranked the 16th most influential person in the UK’s digital economy in the Wired 100 list in 2012. He chaired the Next Gen Skills campaign, working with government to introduce the new Computing curriculum in schools in 2014. He co-authored Hacking The Curriculum in 2017, and is opening Livingstone Academies in association with Aspirations Academies Trust focussed on digital creativity.
John Maltby
John has a portfolio of Non-Executive roles. In addition to his role as a Non-Executive Director at National Citizen Service Trust he is Chair of Good Energy Group plc, an AIM listed renewable energy company that generates and supplies 100% renewable electricity and carbon-neutral gas to the UK market. John is also Chair of Pepper Money and is a Non-Executive Director of Bank of Ireland UK and Simplyhealth plc.
His previous appointments include Chair of BlueStep Bank AS, CEO of Williams and Glyn and Group Director of the Commercial Bank of Lloyds Banking Group, the division specialising in lending to small businesses. He was also Group Chief Executive of Kensington Group plc for 7 years. His early career was as a Management Consultant for Andersen Consulting and Price Waterhouse.
Tristram Mayhew
Tristram was sponsored through Edinburgh University by the British Army. He served as a tank and infantry commander in the Royal Dragoon Guards, retiring as a captain in 1997. He spent 3 years with Coca-Cola and GE before founding Go Ape in 2002.
Go Ape is a multi-award winning forest adventure business operating in 33 locations across Britain and at 16 across America, employing a team of c.1000.
Go Ape ‘s vision is to ‘create adventures and encourage everyone to live life more adventurously’.
Go Ape has won the ‘Small to Medium Sized Business of the Year ‘in the UK National Business Awards. Tristram has twice been finalist ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’, UK National Business Awards, and was the 2014 Cranfield School of Management alumni Entrepreneur of the Year. Go Ape is listed in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for.
Tristram’s business card title is Chief Gorilla. He sees himself as an adventurepreneur or on-tree-preneur rather than a businessman.
He is responsible for youth sailing at Bosham Sailing Club, is an alumna of London Business School and is a member of the Young Presidents Organisation.
Lord Iain McNicol
Lord McNicol of West Kilbride is a British Labour politician and trade unionist. From 2011 to 2018 he was General Secretary of the Labour Party, the most senior employee of the Labour Party. Previously he was National Political Officer of the GMB Union, and has a long history of organising in both the Labour Party and the trade union movement.
As the Labour Party’s General Secretary, Iain radically improved the financial position, revitalised campaigning techniques and restructured the organisation in both 2012 and 2016. Legally responsible for the Party’s operations, compliance and governance. He developed a strong reputation as a professional, modernising General Secretary.
Iain began his involvement in political organising as president of the Student Union at Dundee Institute of Technology in 1991. He then progressed through both Scottish Labour Students and then NOLS (The National Organisation of Labour Students). Iain is a blackbelt in karate and plays the bagpipes. Iain is married with 2 children who have both been on the NCS summer programme.
Ndidi Okezie
Ndidi is a reputable executive who believes in pursuing big, hairy, audacious goals, that will disrupt the status quo and ensure all children can actualise their God given potential. She is an inspirational public speaker, passionate about social justice, youth voice and quality access to education for all.
A proud former teacher and school leader for ten years, she has spent the last six years as the Executive Director of the UK’s largest graduate recruiter, Teach First; overseeing delivery operations, alumni impact, school leadership programmes, employability and collective impact.
In October 2018 she joined Pearson PLC “the world’s learning company” to lead on Digital and Customer Voice Strategy.
Ndidi is a Board Director of; The Mulberry Schools Trust, CentrePoint UK and an Ambassador for Teach For Nigeria.
Ashley Summerfield
Ashley Summerfield leads Egon Zehnder’s global Board Consulting Practice. He is a trusted advisor to scores of prestigious clients around the world and he specializes in building boards and CEO succession. Ashley has deep experience across a range of sectors including financial services, commercial property, marketing services, sustainable technologies, commodities, and private equity. Ashley prizes diversity and lateral thinking when leading searches for CEOs, CFOs, and board chairs. He also conducts external board effectiveness reviews. Family-owned businesses, not-for-profits, and public sector organizations have come to rely on his insight and advice.
Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Ashley cofounded Central Europe Trust with Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, a corporate finance advisory business specializing in Central and Eastern Europe. His early career was with strategy consultants Booz Allen and Hamilton.
Ashley has an MA from Cambridge University and an MPPM from Yale University. In his spare time, he plays jazz double bass, dabbles in landscape painting, and volunteers as a biology teacher for TeachFirst/Teach for All.
These roles are not remunerated. The appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Paul, Dame Julia, Dame Sally, Ian, John, Tristram, Ndidi and Ashley have declared no such political activity. Flick declared that she was MP for Portsmouth South from 2015-2017 and stood in the 2017 General Election. She is voluntary director of the Conservative Policy Forum and has campaigned for the Conservative Party in local, national and by-elections. Lord McNicol declared that he is an appointed Lord, having previously served as General Secretary and National Treasurer for the Labour Party. He has also canvassed on behalf of the Labour Party and given speeches at Labour Party conferences for the last five years.
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