Christmas office closure: We’re closing for the Christmas break from 5pm on Monday 23 December 2024 until 8:30am on Thursday 2 January 2025. Learn more.
Philip Le Feuvre
OPERATIONS AND STRATEGY
Philip is NCFE’s Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for operations, group-wide strategy and innovation, communications and partnerships, and the organisation’s transformation.
Tell us a bit about you
I’m from Jersey, and still very proud of the island, but now live in London. Before moving back to London, I was lucky enough to live in Sydney for five years with work prior to joining NCFE in 2020. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, cycling, and climbing.
Tell us a bit about your career
When I left university, I became a primary school teacher on the Teach First programme. My first two years were in schools in Hackney, North London. It was a very steep learning curve, but the experience taught me a lot about the role education can play in transforming lives and tackling social inequality. I later moved over to management consulting, working in PwC’s Strategy team in London and Sydney to help clients across the schools, further education, higher education and employment sectors.
I joined NCFE in 2020 and the sense of purpose, commitment and passion of colleagues means I haven’t looked back.
Why NCFE?
As a primary school teacher, I felt very connected to the young people at my school and in my classes, but being unable to influence the system as a whole was frustrating at times. When I moved to PwC, I was able to work directly with government on education policy and qualification reform, which had significant implications for the system over there. I find working at NCFE incredibly motivating as our products and services have a direct impact on learners and we have the scale and reach to influence the system to improve it.
I find working at NCFE incredibly motivating as our products and services have a direct impact on learners and we have the scale and reach to influence the system to improve it.
Senior leaders in the Operations and Strategy team
Kim Taylor
DIRECTOR OF BRAND, PARTNERSHIPS AND COMMUNICATIONS
I joined NCFE in 2020 as Director of Marketing, PR & Communications, leading and developing its brand, marketing campaigns, and internal and external communications strategies. Since then, I’ve assumed responsibility for leading three further functions – strategic and third-party relationships, bid strategy, and endorsement and accreditation services. Adding these teams to the directorate further amplifies its remit in building our brand, networks and profile in the regulated and unregulated markets.
I’m a career-long marketing and communications professional with twenty years’ experience working in the employment and skills sector, where my passion for helping people achieve social mobility through learning and skills has found an outlet. Before NCFE, I was on the Senior Leadership Team within what was then Interserve Learning & Employment, becoming a director within its Citizen Services Division and a Trustee of the Interserve Employee Foundation and its Training Trust.
Away from work, I enjoy walking in the beautiful Peak District with my husband and our miniature Dachshund. I’m an avid traveller and am at my happiest heading to a new destination to explore.
Mary Pooley
T LEVEL PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
I first joined NCFE in February 2020 as Director of Strategy, Policy and Insight. This position very much built on my previous career as a Senior Civil Servant working primarily on education policy at the Department for Education (DfE). Following a recent restructure, my new role gives me a broad remit – from leading the T Level Programme team, through my old stomping grounds of research, policy and strategy, to the cutting-edge work of innovation and investments and Campaign for Learning. I also had some involvement with initial policy on T Levels when I worked at DfE, so it’s fascinating to be part of policy in practice.
I love working in NCFE because, whatever challenges we face, I know I am working with people who believe in the power of learning to change people’s lives for the better and are committed to bringing their very best.
When I am not at work, I like being outside in the lovely Norfolk countryside, reading, baking and, curiously, doing less attractive outside jobs such as clearing the gutters!
Lindsey Gibson
TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR
In May 2020, I was promoted to Transformation Director to lead NCFE's Transformation Programme. In this role, I lead a programme with multiple projects transforming our approach to finance, customer management and our assessment platforms.
I’ve been at NCFE for over 25 years and have spent most of that time as an IT professional in a variety of roles, from ‘hands-on’ and analysis to management. Over the years I've had the opportunity to provide IT leadership through several acquisitions, have launched new business streams and an IT apprenticeship hub, all while working with talented people. The fact that NCFE is helping to change education for the better, especially for the learner, provides the purpose as to why we do what we do every day and I find this very rewarding.
I live in Whitley Bay with my young son and partner; you can often find me down the coast enjoying the culinary delights offered by our seaside restaurants. I do love to travel beyond the North East and being out in the warm sunshine energises me most.
Janine Oliver
DIRECTOR OF SOLUTIONS
In 2023, I became NCFE’s Director of Solutions – a role which oversees the end-to-end development of our products from ideation through to implement; this includes the product and content development as well as assessment design and production. In my role, I’m accountable for maintaining a commercially viable, high-quality portfolio of products and solutions. This includes making sure our qualifications are fit for purpose, in line with industry standards, and meet regulatory compliance. It’s an exciting role that helps to deliver solutions that are learner focused.
Throughout my career, I’ve held roles delivering programmes of learning to the health sector, including apprenticeships, leadership, coaching and mentoring. I previously led the learning delivery team at Skills for Health, supporting some of the biggest NHS trusts and SMEs in the sector to develop, deliver and evaluate high-quality learning provision for workforces. I was also part of the EPA Plus management team, helping to establish the infrastructure to build and operationalise an EPA offer and develop a customer base, as well as leading NCFE’s Assessment Innovation function before my current role.
I live with my husband, three children and dog here in the North East. I love to travel and one of the most amazing places I have visited is the Inca Trail in Peru. I hope I get to take our girls to magical places like that when they’re older.
Sacha Finkle
DIRECTOR OF DELIVERY
As Director of Delivery at NCFE, I have strategic oversight of our end-point assessment (EPA) business and ensure that it operates with a customer focus and high-quality delivery at its forefront. I joined NCFE in 2018 as part of the EPA team and witnessed our very first apprentices cross the threshold into EPA in my first year – with the rapid evolution of the department supporting thousands of apprentices to success ever since.
I’ve worked in education for almost 20 years and have been employed by national and regional training providers, helping to deliver apprenticeships and traineeships. I’ve also worked for awarding organisations, providing external quality assurance services across multiple colleges and private training providers. At every stage of the apprenticeship journey of which I have been lucky enough to influence and provide support, I have felt a great reward.
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my husband and daughter. I’m also really fortunate to be a trustee for a local charity, LegaCare, which offers free legal advice and continued support to critically ill patients.
Dr Rebecca Conway
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
I joined NCFE in August 2024 as Director of Research and Innovation. It’s an exciting role, which builds upon my research background and the diverse experience that I’ve gained throughout my career in awarding and assessment organisations.
Since moving into this part of the education sector in 2012, I have held technical assessment roles at several organisations, including Cambridge University Press & Assessment where I worked in an innovative and fast-paced international education development team. I moved from there to the Federation of Awarding Bodies where I led on policy and strategy. I have a particular interest in building better assessment practices through practitioner research and professional development, which has led to a teaching role as Academic Supervisor on the University of Cambridge’s postgraduate assessment programme.
After living in Cambridge for a few years, I moved back to the North West in 2021 to be closer to my family in Greater Manchester. I love living close to the hills of the Peak District and try to spend as much time as possible exploring the local area when I’m not working or fixing-up my 200-year-old house. I’m a big music fan and enjoy going to gigs and discovering new artists.