The Executive Team

Kirstie Donnelly MBE – Chief Executive Officer

Kirstie is responsible for leading the Group Management Team and setting the strategic direction of the Group.

Previously she was Managing Director of our Skills Credentialing brands City & Guilds and ILM, working across colleges, training providers and a wide variety of stakeholders, as well as leadership and management qualifications and digital credentials, and played a major role in overseeing the City & Guilds apprenticeships offer.

In 2014 she set up the City & Guilds Group’s Industry Skills Board, bringing together a range of employers and sectors to inform the development of a quality model for apprenticeship reforms.

Joined the City & Guilds Group: 2011

Previous industries: E-learning, video arts, digital consultancy

Previous companies: Video Arts, learndirect, Manchester Training Education Council

Honours: Received an MBE in June 2011 for contributions to e-learning in the FE/adult learning sector

Jim Conybeare-Cross – Chief Financial Officer

As CFO, Jim is responsible for the financial management of the Group.

His primary role is ensuring business decisions are financially sound and providing insight and analysis to shape strategy.

Joined the City & Guilds Group: 2011

Previous industries: Publishing, information, advertising, real estate, oil

Previous companies: Reed Elsevier, Pearson, Jones Lang LaSalle, DMB&B, Elf

Relevant qualifications: ACA (Chartered Accountant)

Philip Ellaway – Group Strategy Director

Phil works with the Executive Team to help strengthen the Group’s impact and reach in the training and skills landscape. A key focus of his role is growing the Group’s portfolio of commercially successful businesses by partnership and acquisition.

Joined the City & Guilds Group: 2009

Previous industries: Publishing, education

Previous companies: Harcourt Education, Reed Elsevier

Relevant qualifications: MBA from London Business School

Tracy Blake – Chief Technology Officer

Tracy is responsible for leading our digital and technology strategy for the group.

Joined the City & Guilds Group: 2019

Previous companies: Flogas, McDonald’s

Relevant qualifications: MBA

Nicky Pattimore – Chief People and Customer Officer

Nicky leads the strategy across Employee Experience, Customer Experience, Change & Communications and Global Business Services for the Group.

This ranges from communication and engagement, recruitment and job evaluations to collaboration, talent, learning & development, reward & benefits, quality of life and community fit, wellbeing, equality diversity and inclusion, and the workplace itself.

Her focus is to create a dynamic, fresh approach to our people agenda, ensure we delivery an employee experience internally which aligns with our purpose and external customer experience.

Nicky joined the City & Guilds Group: February 2019

Previous industries: Finance, Insurance, Health, FinTech & Reg Tech, Business Process Outsourcing, Automotive

Previous companies: HMRC, The AA, Equiniti, Southern Cross Healthcare, Skandia (Old Mutual), Barclays

Andy Moss – Managing Director, Corporate Learning

Andy is Managing Director for our Corporate Learning Division, which has both Kineo and Oxford Group brands in it.

Joined the City & Guilds Group: 2018

Previous industries: Publishing, Professional Services

Previous companies: Pearson, KPMG

Relevant qualifications: MBA, ACA

David Phillips – Managing Director, City & Guilds and ILM

David is a Managing Director at City & Guilds Group, responsible for leading the City & Guilds and ILM brands. He also leads the Group’s growing End Point Assessment (EPA) business.

David has spent the majority of his career in education, working in companies that serve and partner with schools, colleges, and training providers. He is passionate about working in the education and training sector and gets a real kick out of helping others develop and grow.

Joined the City & Guilds Group: 2016

Previous industries: Education, publishing, ICT

Previous companies: Pearson, Emap Business Communications Ltd, RM plc

Martin Hottass – Managing Director, Technical Training

Martin is a Managing Director at City & Guilds Group, leading our Technical Training brands Gen2 and Intertrain.

He is also responsible for shaping the skills agenda to ensure we deliver the STEM skills and associated training products to meet the UK’s skills requirements.

Prior to taking up his current position Martin had been working for Siemens plc since 2006 and was responsible for the skills agenda at Siemens in the UK and the company’s apprenticeship provision in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.