Preston College has appointed Burnley College deputy principal Kate Wallace as its next principal and chief executive. Wallace will take up the post in late August, succeeding Simon Nixon, who is retiring after three years as principal and more than a decade at the college. Nixon joined Preston as executive director of resources in 2015 and spent a year as interim principal before taking on the permanent role in 2023. Wallace lands her first permanent principalship after serving as interim boss at Burnley during one of the most turbulent periods in the college’s recent history. She took over in March 2025 after long-serving principal Karen Buchanan stepped aside shortly before an Ofsted inspection. Buchanan was subsequently suspended pending an investigation, then quit in July. Wallace was leading Burnley when it was downgraded to ‘requires improvement’ after Ofsted found inaccurate learner records had inflated achievement rates for young people on level 3 vocational and A Level courses. Inspectors said the data had misled learners, parents and the local community and criticised leaders and governors for failing “for too long” to question exceptionally high achievement rates. Wallace remained interim principal until February this year, when Jason Faulkner took over the permanent role, before returning to her deputy principal post. She began her career as a lecturer at City of Liverpool College and went on to hold senior curriculum, apprenticeship and employer engagement roles at Accrington and Rossendale, Myerscough and Bolton colleges. Wallace joined Burnley in 2022 as assistant principal for apprenticeships, adult and commercial provision and was promoted to deputy principal the following year. She has also worked as a contracted Ofsted inspector since 2021. She will move between two sizeable Lancashire colleges, although their student populations differ significantly. Burnley was allocated funding for 3,770 16-to-19 students in 2024-25, compared with 2,107 at Preston, and reported 623 higher education learners against Preston’s 145. Preston had the larger adult education cohort, with 2,444 learners compared with Burnley’s 1,627. Their apprenticeship numbers were almost identical, at 1,186 for Preston and 1,181 for Burnley. Burnley was also the larger employer and institution financially. It employed the equivalent of 608 full-time staff and recorded income of £45.5 million, compared with 444 staff and £34.7 million at Preston. However, Preston recorded the larger annual surplus in 2024-25, at £2.4 million compared with Burnley’s £1.7 million. Wallace said it was a “real privilege” to join Preston and that she was “incredibly honoured” to have the opportunity to lead it into its next chapter. “While I still have a few busy weeks ahead at Burnley College, which I will be very sad to leave, I am already looking forward to this next chapter,” she added. Preston chair Jose Sedano-Martinez said Wallace had demonstrated a “clear vision for the future of the college” and the collaborative leadership style and strategic ambition needed for it to “continue to thrive”.