The College is an independent Further Education (FE) Corporation, established by the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. This Act removed all further education colleges from local authority control on 1 April 1993. Such colleges are also established as charities but are exempt from the requirements of the Charities Act.
The powers of the Corporation may be summarised as:
provide further and higher education
supply goods or services in support of the provision of education
provide secondary education to 14–16 year olds in schools/academies
conduct an educational institution
subscribe for or acquire shares in or securities of a company
acquire and dispose of assets
borrow & invest money
The Corporation also has powers to enter into contracts and make other arrangements in support of its main powers.
The College is administered under the Instrument & Articles of Government which set out the rules for the constitution and operation of the Corporation. The Board has also approved Standing Orders which include the Policy on the Selection of Governors.
Our College receives funding directly from the Department for Education (DfE), which supports further education and skills training across England. This includes investment in 16–19 education, adult learning, and specialist programmes such as Skills Bootcamps and Free Courses for Jobs, designed to help learners gain valuable qualifications and progress into employment.
We also receive funding from the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator for higher education in England. The OfS provides financial support to help colleges and universities deliver high-quality teaching, promote fair access, and maintain excellence in specialist subjects.
The Board of Governors deals with the mission and strategic direction of the College, determines policy and oversees the management of the institution which is in the hands of the Principal. The minutes of Board and committee meetings can be accessed here.
To fulfil its functions, the Board aims to recruit and maintain a wide range of skills/experience amongst its members. If you would like further information please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0151 551 7674.
Our governors bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, ensuring the college continues to thrive and work towards our shared goals.
With a diverse background in industry, education and the community, these individuals play a vital role in shaping the future of our college, ensuring we offer the best possible learning environment for you.
Joanne has been the Chief Executive Officer at Nugent since early 2023, a registered charity based across the Merseyside region which focuses on supporting young people and vulnerable adults with access to education, healthcare and wider support through schools, care homes and social work services, where she has worked since 2019. She is an experienced senior leader and board member who has worked in a range of roles in the public, private and charitable sectors throughout her career whilst also leading services for Government relating to the criminal justice system and immigration. Prior to her appointment as the CEO Joanne held the roles of Chief Governance Officer and Deputy CEO.
She was awarded the Trusted Executive of the Year in 2022 and was the first female winner of this accolade since 2019.
Joanne currently holds a number of non-executive positions, including Chair of Governors for Kirkby High School and the Chair of Trustees for the homeless charity, Emmaus Merseyside; a role which also means she sits on the wider Trustee Board of Emmaus UK.
Penny is the Deputy Vice Chancellor & Provost at Liverpool Hope University. Through a number of senior leadership roles at LHU over the past 20 years, Penny has gained a great deal of experience as a strategic leader with a focus not just on the academic aspects of her role but also student support and experience.
Having begun her career in various academic posts in other universities across Merseyside, Penny was appointed as the Dean of Science & Social Sciences at Liverpool Hope in 2005 with responsibility for the strategic development of a range of subjects, reporting directly to the Vice Chancellor and playing a key role in the wider development of the institution. As Dean of Students and latterly, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Student Life & Learning, she has led the development and improvement of the student experience (pastoral and academic).
She is also responsible for external relations and corporate communications and led the redevelopment of the University’s quality assurance processes, achieving a TEF gold award.
Penny is a member of the University’s Council, Vice Chair of the University Senate and also sits on a range of other boards including estates and IT, operational leadership, academic committee. She is the founder and chair of the Voice for Student Support & Wellbeing Services Committee.
Externally Penny has been the Chair of Governors at a local community primary school, supporting them through two Ofsted inspections.
Karen is Chief Financial Officer at Maximus Minerals Ltd and Chief Financial Officer at Ensco 2308 Ltd. She is an experienced, qualified finance ICAEW professional, who also has expertise in risk management and fraud.
In her earlier career, Karen gained both domestic and international accounting experience with well-known organisations such as DHL and Johnson & Johnson before shifting her career focus into forensic accounting, fraud risk management and investigation. Through this work she gained experience of the education sector through her support of university and college clients.
Karen has since built a successful executive career over the last 13 years with a focus on internal audit as well as continuing the themes of fraud risk management and cyber security.
She is currently a non-executive member of the board of South Liverpool Homes and the University of Essex respectively, where she sits on the Audit & Risk Committees of both organisations.
Paul is the founder and chairman of Dalehurst Limited. He is an experienced & qualified CIMA finance professional and strategic leader, who has overseen the financial functions of a range of well-known organisations including Heinz, Wine Cellar and John West Foods as their finance director and/or CFO.
Through such roles, Paul has gained a range of strategic expertise and been instrumental in the turnaround and organisational restructuring of the Wine Cellar organisation. He has first-hand experience of fostering new workplace cultures, having led the redesign of the organisational values and staff strategy of John West Foods.
After these senior commercial roles, Paul has established an affordable housing business based across Liverpool.
Paul has a range of board experience and led John West Foods Risk, Audit and ESG Committee, leading the organisation to become recognised for its sustainability efforts.
Philip is the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Student Experience), at Liverpool John Moores University, where he has held a number of senior roles since 2012. His subject background is sport, dance, physical and outdoor education.
Through his roles on the LJMU senior leadership team he has gained a wealth of strategic experience. Before being appointed as a Pro-Vice Chancellor he led the Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL), the School of Education, Leisure and Sport Studies and the Faculty of Education, Health and Community.
Philip’s first project as PVC related to strategic initiatives, where he oversaw a £180m estates strategy, established new faculties and led successful Quality Assurance Agency reviews before taking on responsibility for the student experience. Philip has since helped LJMU achieve a grading of ‘Good’ in its Ofsted inspection, which included ‘Outstanding’ for Degree Apprenticeships as well as a Teaching Excellence Framework Silver award (Gold for student outcomes).
Ali is a director of ILA Consultancy. He is an experienced audit and risk management professional who began his career in academia as a tutor and lecturer in Scotland and Stoke-on-Trent before moving into industry.
Over the last few decades, Ali has held senior, strategic roles for a range of commercial organisations, including Boots, Alliance Boots (owners of the Boots and Halfords brands) and the Very Group.
He has a range of strategic expertise and has been responsible for the design and implementation of financial contract and risk systems that are used in 1700 individual stores in the UK and across Europe. Ali’s experience with the Very Group included the oversight of risk management in a £1.4Bn revenue company, its e-commerce platforms and their outsourced delivery provision.
Following a career break, Ali now provides consultancy support to a number of clients with a focus on audit and risk assessment.
I have been in the Internal Audit profession for over 30 years primarily with MIAA and currently hold the position of Regional Assurance Director working from our Liverpool office.
MIAA provides Assurance and Advisory Services to the NHS across Cheshire and Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire and South Cumbria with over 60 core clients. MIAA also provides services to other public sector and third sector organisations, e.g. Charities, Local Authorities, Housing Associations etc.
Within my current role I am responsible for the overall delivery of audit plans to 17 NHS organisations supported by 4 Senior Audit Managers and a team of 14 directly employed auditors to whom I provide leadership and mentoring recognising that success can only be achieved with a strong team ethic. Our work culminates with the delivery of a Head of Internal Audit Opinion to each client to support the organisation’s statutory Annual Governance Statement which is a public facing declaration re: governance and control. I am also currently working with housing associations, social enterprises etc to provide assurance services. Whilst working within corporate policies and procedures my role is a senior leadership role which allows me to set the strategic direction of my region and via membership of the organisation’s Senior Leadership Team contribute positively to wider corporate direction.
I also directly deliver work to my clients and have developed a specialism in project assurance and supporting organisations in this role as they deliver major systems and infrastructure changes. Recent examples being supporting organisations in changes to key financial systems, patient administration systems and the delivery of major capital projects, e.g. new hospital builds etc.
I am an experienced senior manager in Children’s Services at Wirral Council. I currently have strategic and managerial responsibility for two key post 16 service areas, (a) 14-19 services (including Apprenticeships) and (b) Adult Learning.
I am also responsible for the delivery of two large key strategic employment and skills programmes funded by ESF and DWP.
In addition to my work in the borough I also have a cross Liverpool City Region employment and skills remit, including chairing the LCR Participation and Skills Strategy Group. This group feeds into the Employment and Skills Board and LEP.
In terms of skills that may lead lend themselves to role as governor with the college I have the following; budget management and planning, commissioning and procurement, quality assurance in the context of learning and skills, curriculum planning (adult learning), project management etc.
Outside of my working life I have also been a serving school governor. I have been a school governor for over 6 years and have responsibility for the Curriculum and Standards Committee.
I would really welcome the opportunity to join the college as it travels on its journey to outstanding.
I'm Louise Rhodes. I've joined Wirral Met from a career in legal services, including client-facing work and complaints investigation. I also spent several years as a manager for the Coroner's Service in Cheshire and was instrumental in adapting processes and procedures so that the service could keeping working to support bereaved families during the Covid-19 lockdowns. My most recent role was as Governance Professional for St Joseph Multi-Academy Trust in Liverpool, where I provided advice, guidance and support to the Trust Board as well as local governing bodies at ten schools across the Liverpool City Region.
I hold a first-class degree in Law from Liverpool John Moores University and a Level 3 certificate in the Clerking of School and Academy Governing Boards.
