Members of the corporation

David is a qualified chartered accountant who has worked for a number of leading international financial organisations. He joined the College as Principal in 2010, having previously occupied the same role at Bexley College for two years prior to joining North Kent College. He joined Bexley College as Director of Finance in 2001 and then became Deputy Principal in 2003 before becoming Principal in 2008. David was born in Dartford and educated at local schools before gaining an MA in Mathematics from Oxford University.

Until his ‘retirement’ in 2018, David was one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors for Further Education and Skills. He is a veteran of the further education and skills sector, three inspectorates, successive inspection cycles, and their frameworks. After a successful teaching and senior management career in four further education colleges, he was a full-time education and skills inspector for over 20 years, originally with the Further Education Funding Council, from its inception, the Adult Learning Inspectorate, and then with Ofsted.

He inspected all aspects of general further education and sixth-form colleges, workplace learning, including apprenticeships, and adult and community learning. He has particular expertise in leadership and management and in the quality of education and training. In addition to leading many inspections, David worked successfully with many providers to improve their performance and inspection grading. He also contributed significantly to the training and mentoring of newly appointed inspectors.

Prior to inspecting, David was a full-time teacher of business and management studies and social sciences in further and higher education for 27 years, latterly holding senior leadership roles, including deputy principal and principal. He has also held directorships of workplace learning companies.

David graduated in the social sciences. He also has post-graduate and professional qualifications in management, marketing and export, and tourism. In1972 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

David was born in Kent. After living and working in many other parts of the country he returned for Kent for work and remains there. He shares a love of food and travel with his wife, who is a longstanding chef-proprietor.

In addition to his Governor role, from late 2018 onwards, David provides occasional consultancy, especially to further education colleges, as part of their improvement strategies.

Louis joined Smiths Medical in March 2016 to head up the expanded GFS EMEA shared service center based in Ashford. In this role Louis is responsible for all Finance and accounting activity in the EMEA region for Smiths Medical.

Louis has over 25 years of Finance & Accounting experience in a range of Industries including, Automotive, building plastics, Telecommunications & for the past 20 years Pharmaceutical, including 14 years at Pfizer in a number of senior positions.

Prior to joining Smiths Medical Louis was Executive director of Finance, contracts and outsourcings for Daiichi Sankyo Development Ltd, the European development arm of this Japanese Pharmaceutical company.

Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 2003

Association of the Chartered Certified Accountants member since 1996

Teja Biring is a qualified architect and a partner working for calfordseaden out of their London office. The projects range from designing private houses, for one off clients, to large residential developments, care homes, offices, warehouses, Embassies and Gurdwaras (Sikh Temples). Currently working on tower blocks, removing flammable cladding and refurbishing a Grade 2 Embassy.

Suzanne started her career in finance advisory, first as an auditor with BDO and then in Corporate Finance with Smith & Williamson.  In 2009, Suzanne moved into the not-for- profit sector and became the Treasurer of a children’s nursery social enterprise (London Early Years Foundation) and Chair of Audit at the housing association, Origin Housing.  Suzanne developed her specialism with children by first acting as Finance Director to a charity for children’s education in India (Kusuma Trust) and then as Corporate Services Director for the national children’s reading charity, Beanstalk. In 2018, Suzanne joined the VSC as Finance and HR Director.

Mandeep is a qualified CIMA accountant with over 20 years’ experience of working in various finance roles across the media industry.  Currently working as Finance Director for FutureBrand, a global brand consulting business.  Previously, Mandeep worked with CNN International supporting the Global Sales team and International news bureaus.

Sarah is the Chief Executive Officer at leading South East law firm Thomson Snell & Passmore, and has over 25 years of experience within professional services. Her career has spanned marketing, business development, operational and general management roles with global and national practices across the legal and accountancy professions, in the UK, US and Asia. Sarah has held Board level positions in PLCs and has worked as the CEO of a major royal charity.

For many years a Kent resident, Jane has been working in the Further Education sector since 1992 in a range of roles which took her from West Kent College, to the Learning & Skills Council, to KAFEC and finally to MidKent College.  Since her retirement in 2016 Jane has been acting as a consultant to the FE sector at senior management level supporting College mergers and providing senior leadership support.  Currently she is undertaking an Open University degree course (English Literature and Creative Writing) with a view to being able to write that book that she is sure she has in her!

Jane's interests include ballet, theatre, books, gardening and enjoying time with her two granddaughters.  Jane is delighted to join the NKC Board of Governors!

Sue did a BSc in Environmental Biology then trained as a science teacher and taught in schools for several years.  She returned to studying full time and did a degree and then a PhD in law at King’s College in London. Her work in education and law led her to a job in the House of Commons Research and Information Department where she has worked as a senior policy analyst in higher and further education for 20 years. This job involves working closely with MPs and their staff and providing them with accurate and impartial information to assist them in their parliamentary and constituency duties.

Martin is a civil servant who has been part of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 2010.  He’s worked in a variety of senior roles, primarily developing government policy related to farming.  Since 2019 he has led work to develop new subsidies to improve the health and welfare of farmed animals in England.

Heidi King is a marketing and engagement professional with over 25 years’ experience of working across Higher Education and various commercial sectors working with young people. Heidi is currently the Executive Director of Marketing and External Relations at the University of Greenwich which has campuses in Greenwich, Avery Hill in Southeast London and Medway in Kent.

Emma is a CIM-qualified marketing professional with over 25 years’ experience in various sectors from the travel and leisure industry to education and membership organisations. She also has worked as a teacher in FE and training, having taught Travel and Tourism and CIM Marketing qualifications. Recently worked for the Education and Training Foundation, driving teacher professional development opportunities, including the rollout of T Level teacher training for the DfE. She is currently Head of Marketing at the Chartered Governance Institute, a membership body for governance professionals.

Nikki’s background is in both theatre and ESOL teaching. She has worked in numerous countries as a language teacher and currently teaches part time as a Functional Skills Lecturer to native English speakers.

Her other pathway is in Theatre where for the last 28 years, on and off, she has been a part of the Miskin Theatre Company. She is currently the Theatre Business Manager overseeing the management of the commercial side of the Miskin Theatre. Nikki has fostered a great relationship with both curriculum and support staff across the Dartford campus during her time at North Kent College.

Rocksea has over 10 years' experience in financial services, with a focus on compliance. He serves as a Vice President and workstream lead at Crown Agents Bank (CAB) and is responsible for safeguarding the bank as it provides foreign exchange and cross border payment solutions to corporates and financial institutions around the world. Following his studies in International Relations at Queen Mary University, his early career included a brief stint as an Intelligence Analyst at Crisis24. In 2022 Rocksea was appointed to represent CAB at a Connecting Africa conference, and now regularly coordinates best practice seminars for Central and Commercial banks alike across frontier and emerging markets. Rocksea has returned to deliver talks to students at his Sixth Form College City & Islington, illustrating his recognition of the importance of good education. He is delighted to be appointed as an External Governor and member of the Audit Committee at North Kent College.”

Experienced client focused professional having worked in different geographies (France, USA, UK) and across a variety of areas in finance, ranging from Markets activities to Investment and Commercial Banking. Always covering clients directly and managing commercial strategies. Father of five boys and husband to Petra, Peter and his family live in Kent not far from Dartford.

Joanna has a wide-ranging background in both the NHS and the Independent sector. She has worked in schools, community nursing and Continuing Care. Joanna was a Chief Nurse in a large corporation providing homecare across the UK and now works as a consultant advisor to those working with children, young people and adults in the places they live and work, including hospices, residential homes/schools/colleges, assisted living, secure settings and family houses.

Joanna is passionate about supporting people to achieve their chosen goals whilst remaining in their preferred environment and supports nurse-led care, especially for those with complex needs. She is an advocate for those people who need care at home and for the nurses and carers that provide this.

Retired experienced corporate banking professional (ACIB qualified).  Keith had a 37 year career with Lloyds Banking Group until April 2016.  Whilst working for Lloyds Banking Group, Keith had a number of diverse roles but the last 13 years of his career focused on leading the Bank's national team dedicated to supporting the Higher and Further Education sector.  Keith's responsibilities included direct management of a portfolio of College and University clients, liaison with sector regulators, informing the Bank's strategy and risk appetite towards the sector and, at the time, its £2.5bn of sector lending exposure.

Yolanda joined North Kent College in 2011. She has over 15 years’ experience working in the FE & HE sector as Clerk to the Corporation and is qualified in FE & HE Corporate Governance. Prior to joining North Kent, she worked for Farnborough College of Technology and The Henley College. Her background before joining the FE sector was working with Hampshire Local Education Authority, Governor Services Department contracted to both primary and secondary schools. Yolanda was born and educated in Zimbabwe, Africa.