Chair
Graham Badman CBE MA

Graham Badman was formerly Managing Director of the Children, Families and Education Directorate for Kent County Council. He has had over 40 years of experience in education and children's services as a teacher, headteacher, inspector and chief education officer.

Amongst his many roles and responsibilities. Graham was Specialist Adviser to the Education and Employment Parliamentary Select Committee (1997) and has also been Chair of a careers company (1993-1997). He was a member of the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families' 8-13 Expert Group (2007) and also a member of the Minister of State for Schools and Learners' Home Access Taskforce. 

He was appointed by the Secretary of State to the Board of Becta in April 2006 and to the position of Chair in May 2009. In December 2008 he was also appointed by the Secretary of State to the position of Independent Chair of the Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board.

John Roberts CBE

John Roberts joined the Board of the Post Office (now the Royal Mail Group plc) in 1985 and had Board responsibility, at different times, for Counter Services (the high street retail network) and group wide services such as IT, purchasing and management development and training. He became Chief Executive in 1995 and saw the organisation through major organisational and cultural changes related to the ending of monopoly, the emergence of competition and regulation and various mergers and acquisitions.

During this time he was also a member of the CBI's President's Committee; Chairman of the CBI's Education & Training Affairs Committee; Member of the Government's National Employment Panel; Governor of Henley Management College and President of the Institute of Employment Studies.

After retiring from Royal Mail in 2004, John worked as an Adviser to Deloitte for two years and now is a Board Member of Ofsted; member of the Royal Mail Stamp Advisory Board; and a member of the Home Office Risk Committee. He was made a CBE in 1991.

Stephen Gill

Stephen Gill is the Vice President and Managing Director of HP UK and Ireland. He is responsible for all country operations and oversees HP's four business divisions: Enterprise Systems, Imaging and Printing, Personal Systems and Services. After qualifying as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (London), Stephen joined Sony. He was headhunted by Digital Equipment in 1984, and played a fundamental role in its growth in the UK and at a global level.

After leaving Digital, Stephen joined Lotus as Chief Financial Officer for its international business. He left to join Ingram Micro Europe as Senior Vice President and CFO. Joining Compaq as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), he was responsible for leading major organisational change across 95 countries. Stephen holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Surrey in the UK and is a member of the CBI President's Committee, the Development and Technology Leadership Boards of the Prince of Wales' Trusts, the Technology Board of e-skills and City University's Technology Committee

Dugald Sandeman (DCSF)

Dugald Sandeman is the Director of School Resources Group at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).  Dugald joined the Department for Education & Skills (DfES) in 1988 after a career as a farmer and a County Councillor in Somerset. 

Over the next twelve years Dugald gained a wealth of experience across a variety of posts with six of these roles in financial positions. He returned to Somerset in 2000 as the Executive Director of Somerset Learning and Skills Council (LSC). 

After four years Dugald left the Learning and Skills Council to set up a new family business with his wife.  With the successful business established, he returned to Department for Education & Skills (DfES) in November 2005 as the Divisional Manager for School and LEA Funding with responsibility for implementation, and was promoted to Director of the School Resources Group in August 2006.

John Landeryou (DIUS Observer)

John Landeryou is the Director, Learning, Quality and Systems Directorate, Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS). Originally a teacher, John has been involved in post-16 work throughout his career. He has worked in most parts of the system including curriculum development, advisory services and planning and funding. He has held senior positions in local authorities, the Training Standards Council and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI).

Immediately prior to joining DIUS, John worked for Ofsted where he led their post-16 and learning and skills work. He acted as Project Director for ALI’s merger with Ofsted.

He has also chaired the governing body of a secondary school and served on a local education authority education committee. John's specific professional interests include skills and the labour market and equality and diversity.

Derek Wise

Derek Wise is Headteacher at Cramlington High School in Northumberland, which Ofsted twice rated as outstanding, in 2002 and 2006. His school was also re-designated as a Specialist Science College and achieved another designation for second specialism (vocational). Derek has a wide range of experience in teaching in secondary schools. 

His professional involvements include membership of the Northumberland Family and Children's Trust Leadership team and Executive group of Northumberland's Learning and Skills Council. He is also a member of the DEMOS working group set up by David Miliband and the Gilbert review group: Teaching and Learning in 2020.

Graham Moore OBE

Graham Moore is Principal and Chief Executive of Stoke on Trent College. He has considerable experience in further education, with sixteen years as a principal. He contributed to the Foster Review of Colleges and served on the LSC "Agenda for Change" Business Excellence Group. Currently he is Treasurer of the 157 Group, comprising 23 of the largest further education colleges in the country. He also chairs the West Midland E-learning company which was successful as a Learndirect hub. His knowledge and experience enable him to speak about the key importance of ICT skills to this country's future prosperity with authority. 

In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to further education.

Rosemary Luckin

Rosemary Luckin is currently Professor of Learner Centred Design at the London Knowledge Lab, part of the Institute of Education. Until recently she was Pro-Vice Chancellor Teaching and Learning at the University of Sussex and Director of the Human Centred Technology Research Group, one of the UK's leading, internationally renowned research centres in ICT in education. 

Rosemary brings with her a strong understanding and experience of the application of technology in education combined with her strategic leadership experience in her field. She has also acted as a consultant for various organisations including Becta, Pearson Broadband, Open Mind Ltd, DfES and the BBC. Within higher education, Rosemary has taught undergraduate and postgraduate Informatics courses. She has also taught business, IT and general studies courses in both secondary and further education.

Lopa Patel

Lopa Patel is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in building and developing successful business ventures, most recently in establishing Redhotcurry.com, Britain’s leading online South Asian lifestyle & shopping portal.

Following a Diploma in Computing and graduation from the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) with a joint honours degree in Biochemistry & Applied Molecular Biology, Lopa worked for ICI in a range of roles. She then worked with a partner to develop DMS DIRECT Ltd, a company providing direct marketing support and services for corporate clients.

Lopa is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Institute of Direct Marketing and the Royal Society of Arts. She has attained a Diploma in Marketing, a Diploma in Direct Marketing and is one of the few Chartered Marketers in the UK. Her other activities have included supporting the development of Asian women’s business activities, being a branch committee member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and setting up a networking group for women involved in the new media sector. She has received a number of awards from a wide range of sectors.

John Newbigin

John Newbigin is a freelance consultant and cultural entrepreneur. From 2000 until 2005 he was Head of Corporate Relations for Channel 4 Television. From 1997 until 2000 he was Special Advisor to the Rt Hon Chris Smith, MP, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. Prior to that, he worked as executive assistant to Lord Puttnam, then the Chairman of Enigma Productions Ltd and, from 1986 until 1992, was a policy advisor to the Rt Hon Neil Kinnock, MP, Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. He has also worked as a journalist and youth worker.

He is Chairman of Culture24 (previously the 24 Hour Museum) a Trustee of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, and a Board member of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Keen Students School, First Light Movies Ltd and the Cultural Industries Development Agency. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of East London.