Foundation Team
The City & Guilds Foundation amplifies the activity we do across City & Guilds, through high impact social investment, recognition and advocacy programmes.
Meet our
Team
Meet our
Trustees
Each of the programmes we run act as a catalyst for us to make a difference to people, organisations and society through investing into helping everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, get opportunities to succeed.
Whether we’re looking at how we bring together other charitable organisations to address major societal challenges like reducing reoffending, whether we’re designing awards programmes that recognise exceptional staff training, or whether it’s designing a measurement tool that shows the genuinely transformative impact of skills on society – what flows through it all is our approach; our activity is about innovating, celebrating and evaluating.
We work collaboratively across all of our programmes, and we each bring a unique set of key strengths to the team. Hover over the images below to learn more or visit our team profiles.
Mike Adamson CBE (he/him)
Polly Rowe (she/her)
Mike Ormand (he/him)
Lan Che (she/her)
Barbara le Fleming (she/her)
Michael Osbaldeston (he/him)
Lauren Roberts (she/her)
Justine Procter (she/her)
Laura Mountain (she/her)
Stuart Tucker (he/him)
Natasha Kalinga (she/her)
Jo Najjar (she/her)
Trustees
Our Trustees provide strategic guidance and direction to make sure that the City & Guilds Foundation can make the most impact possible.
Dame Ann Limb DBE CBE DL FCG
Chair
Dame Ann Limb is Chair of the City & Guilds Foundation and a respected leader in education, skills and social impact. Over a 25-year career in Further Education, she served as Principal in both Milton Keynes and Cambridge, before moving into the civil service where she led the UK government’s pioneering digital programmes, including learndirect, UK online and gov.uk.
Ann serves as Chair of The King’s Foundation. As a passionate advocate for widening opportunity, she champions initiatives that support communities, skills development and positive social change.
Dick Palmer
Vice Chair
Dick Palmer is Deputy Chair of the City & Guilds Foundation and brings more than 30 years of experience in the education and skills sector, including his tenure as Principal of City College Norwich. He now serves as a Non-Executive Director across several independent training organisations and is known for his innovative approach to future-focused skills development.
Dick is the founder of SAIGE – the UK’s only regulated awarding organisation dedicated exclusively to AI qualifications. He is also the founder of Enigma Innovation and Development, where he supports senior leaders through coaching, strategic development and organisational transformation.
Ian Ailles
Trustee
Ian Ailles is an experienced executive and non-executive leader with a career spanning the commercial, charitable and public sectors. A Chartered Accountant by background, he has held senior roles across investment banking, travel, digital industries and private equity. Ian serves as the first Director General of the House of Commons.
With extensive experience, Ian has chaired major organisations and joint ventures, including the Thomas Cook/Co-op retail partnership and the Federation of Tour Operators. He is recognised for his strategic insight and strong commercial and financial acumen. A committed advocate for inclusion, Ian now holds a portfolio of non-executive and trustee roles focused on organisations with a clear social purpose.
Frank Douglas
Trustee
Frank Douglas is CEO of Caerus Executive and an influential leader in culture, inclusion and organisational change. He has held senior HR roles including Executive Vice President of HR at Misys and Group HR Director at TfL and BT.
Frank has been recognised widely for his contribution to the profession, including receiving an Honorary Doctorate for services to HR and diversity. He is also noted as the first Black male Group HR Director of a FTSE 100 company.
A respected international speaker, he continues to champion meaningful, lasting change across the sector.
Jane Gibbon
Trustee
Jane is Chief HR Officer at London Business School, bringing over 25 years of senior HR experience across global brands and fast-growth organisations. She has held HR Director roles at Just Eat and Starbucks EMEA, and earlier in her career held senior people leadership positions at Tesco, McDonald’s Europe and Yahoo.
A specialist in organisational transformation, talent development and inclusion, Jane has led people strategies through periods of significant change. Alongside her executive career, Jane is Co-Founder of Lift as You Climb UK and serves on the board of Amaechi Performance Systems Ltd. She is widely recognised for her commitment to developing people, organisations and communities.
Andy Marchant
Trustee
Andy’s executive career spans senior roles in banking, pensions and investment, and he now brings this depth of experience to a diverse portfolio of non-executive and trustee positions. He is Chair of the Scottish Book Trust, a Non-Executive Director at Lothian Pension Fund and Vice-Chair of the Scottish Firefighters Pension Fund. Andy became a Trustee of City & Guilds Limited in 2018, where he chaired the Investment Committee and Pensions Sub-Committee and sat on the Remuneration Committee.
Known for his strategic insight, Andy brings strong expertise in governance, pensions and investment strategy. His experience across financial services, education and the literary sector enables him to support effective leadership, planning and organisational development.
Stuart Russell
Trustee
Stuart has built an extensive career across the UK Civil Service, leading major programmes in AI, data, technology, cyber and national security. As former Director of Digital Transformation and more recently, Director of Future Technology, he has shaped and delivered complex change strategies focused on embedding cutting-edge technologies to strengthen organisational capability.
With extensive expertise in innovation, transformation and strategic technology adoption, Stuart is recognised for his ability to turn emerging tech into practical, scalable solutions. He joined City & Guilds Limited as a Councillor and Trustee in March 2024.
There is so much social need in the world and so many deserving of support. Unfortunately, we can’t help everyone directly. But what we can do is work with a selection of like-minded individuals, organisations and communities to explore new ways of doing things when it comes to skills development, in order to combat key societal issues where existing structures aren’t working.