He is Chair of the Maritime Skills Commission, Chair of the Lancashire Innovation Board, Deputy Chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), the Treasurer of Million Plus, the Association for Modern Universities, and sits on the Board of the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust. He has extensive Board experience and sat as a member of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership as well as previously chairing the Board of Kendal College and the boards of various charities and companies with a range of functions from a dental clinic to scientific consulting.

He has a First Degree in Sport Studies from the Madeley School of Physical Education, a Master’s Degree in Sports Science from Loughborough University and a Doctorate in Exercise Physiology from the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Wales, Bangor. He is a qualified teacher of Physical Education with a PGCE from the University of Wales.

He is an Honorary Professor at Hebei University and a Visiting Professor at the National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing. In 2014 Hebei Province, China conferred on him the title of ‘Outstanding Foreign Expert’.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, Graham played rugby until injury forced him to retire and turn to the gentler pursuit of cycling, which he still does today.

Previously Mandy was associate editor of UVAC’s official journal, Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning (HESWBL) and has helped grow the journal from 3 issues a year to 5 and more than 40,000 downloads each year, as well as guest editing special issues on higher and degree apprenticeships.

Having worked with UVAC since 2012, both inside and outside of Government, Mandy became its director of policy and operations in 2017 and, in October 2021, its first female chief executive. UVAC, on behalf of its ~90 university members, has been championing degree apprenticeships since their introduction in 2015, and the value of technical and professional education for twenty five years in 2024 and is regarded as the most authoritative voice on all strategic and operational aspects of higher and degree apprenticeships in England. In 2023, Mandy achieved her DProf on the theme of ‘discursive shifts in apprenticeship reform 2011-2021’.

Members will know that Rebecca worked previously for the Skills Funding Agency. There, among other activities, she led the expansion of apprenticeships into higher education, establishing a new network of 40 Higher Education Institutions, chaired the HEI Operational Group and was responsible for all the SFA apprenticeship funding policy aspects of the apprenticeship reform programme. This included the development and implementation of the trailblazer apprenticeship funding model, the first co-investment model for apprenticeships, and accountability for setting the funding levels and caps for each apprenticeship standard. Rebecca leads on policy relating to quality and funding in apprenticeships and technical education.