City & Guilds’ chief executive Kirstie Donnelly and chief finance officer Abid Ismail will “be absent from work for a short period”, the awarding giant has told staff.
In an email this evening, seen by FE Week, employees were told that Andy Moss, chief customer officer of City & Guilds, and Konstantinos Andrikopoulos, vice president finance of new owner PeopleCert, will take over Donnelly and Ismail’s responsibilities.
The email did not give a reason for the sudden departure of the two executives and staff were asked not to “speculate or draw conclusions” about their absence.
Donnelly has served in senior leadership positions at City & Guilds for the last 14 years, first as managing director before being promoted to CEO in 2020. Ismail joined the organisation in 2023.
City & Guilds was sold by its charity owners, City & Guilds of London Institute to global certification company PeopleCert in October 2025.
The transaction has generated controversy in recent weeks, sparked after it was discovered new owners plan to reduce the staff headcount at City & Guilds, including moving some jobs to Greece, where PeopleCert is headquartered, where labour costs are lower.
Further scrutiny of the sale was triggered following reports just before Christmas of large post-sale bonuses being paid to Donnelly and Ismail.
Then, last Friday, the Charity Commission announced it had launched a statutory inquiry to investigate the information it had been given about the sale, which it was not required to approve, as well as the information trustees were provided with before signing it off.
Meanwhile, Dame Ann Limb, chair of the awarding giant’s charity, came under scrutiny having been found to have wrongly claimed to have held a PhD just after being appointed as a Labour peer by prime minister Keir Starmer.
Limb announced this week she will stand down as chair of the City & Guilds Foundation, the remaining charitable organisation, at the end of this month.
City and Guilds isn’t the organisation it once was, and isn’t the insisted certificate brand once held in high esteem by trades across the country, but to be sold and taken overseas before being embroiled in controversy is saddening, not least because of those who’ve previously influenced and made a positive impact in our sector.
A dignified, or forced silence isn’t always what’s needed and in this case I would argue the opposite is required
Just Saying!!