Your weekly guide to who’s new, and who’s leaving.
David Byrne has been announced as principal-designate for the proposed merger of Barnet and Southgate College with Waltham Forest College.
Byrne has been the principal and CEO of Barnet and Southgate college – itself the result of a previous merger – in North London since 2012.
In the new role, Mr Byrne will initially be responsible for leading the public consultation on the proposed merger, and gathering views from the communities and stakeholders served by the colleges.
As principal-designate, he says he has plans to “strengthen ties with neighbouring colleges”, alongside developing the college curriculum in order to “deliver more high quality courses that meet the needs of young people and businesses”.
He added: “FE colleges need to continue to adapt and respond proactively to meet the needs of young people and employers.
“The principal of Waltham Forest College [Penny Wycherley] has done an amazing job at leading her college through a period of significant improvement. She has helped shape this merger and I am proud to be working with her to make it happen.”
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The awarding body YMCA Awards has made two new appointments to its senior leadership team as it looks to become a global education brand, it has revealed.
It specialises in health, fitness and wellbeing qualifications and is monitored by exam regulator Ofqual. To date, it has awarded more than 500,000 qualifications.
Dr Fiona Summers has now been appointed as its head of quality and compliance.
In the role, she will work closely with learning providers and businesses to help deliver qualifications to those aspiring to a career in the active leisure sector. She will also oversee a range of new learning services including training days and webinars throughout 2017.
Before taking up her new role, Dr Summers worked at another awarding body, the charity Ascentis, and hopes to bring her experience in quality assurance with her.
Also joining YMCA Awards’ leadership team is Simon Titley, who will take up the position of head of centre support.
He joins from Pearson, where he has worked for three years as its senior delivery manager. Before this, he worked as its digital content manager for two years.
There he was responsible for designing customer experience initiatives, and supporting leaners and businesses throughout their training.
Rob May, the director of YMCA Awards, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Fiona and Simon to the team.”
He continued: “They will be instrumental in ensuring our qualifications and new digital learning tools meet the highest quality and usability standards, while we continue to maintain strong relationships with our new and existing customers.”
The new appointments establish a five-strong leadership team at the organisation, as it works on growing the brand, and working with an increased number of fitness centres throughout 2017.
If you want to let us know of any new faces at the top of your college, training provider or awarding organisation please let us know by emailing news@feweek.co.uk
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