COURSE FINDER

Robson Davison - Chairman

Dr Davison was a senior civil servant from 1994 until his retirement in 2010. Prior to this period he was a member of the Education and Training Inspectorate for 10 years and for 12 years was a teacher in Ballyclare High School and Belfast Royal Academy. He is currently a Member of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Northern Ireland Liaison Committee and is also Treasurer of a church-based voluntary group working with adults and children with learning disabilities. Dr Davison lives in Ballyclare. He has carried out no political activity in the last five years and does not currently hold any other public appointments.

Ken Webb Principal and Chief Executive

Ken has a wide and varied professional background, including working in Central Government, Local Government and the Private Sector.  His extensive roles have included leading and managing diverse areas from PPP/PFI projects, through national advertising campaigns to international sales in Agri-food industry and IT consultancy.  Ken is a former student of the FE College in Lisburn, a qualified teacher, and Chartered Accountant.  He holds a number of further qualifications from Queen’s University Belfast, University of Ulster and Warwick University Business School.

Samuel Gallaher

Mr Gallaher is Executive Director of Skills for Health, the Sector Skills Council covering the entire UK health sector. Originally from a background in construction Mr Gallagher has worked in and around the health sector for almost 30 years. A significant part of his recent career was spent with CHKS, an independent provider of healthcare intelligence, hospital benchmarking and quality improvement services, mainly in the area of capital/capacity planning and health economics. As Regional Director he worked closely with health organisations across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Mr Gallaher lives in Helen's Bay and outside of work is involved in youth work. He has carried out no political activity in the last five years and does not currently hold any other public appointments.

Russell Andrews

Russell Andrews is a lecturer in Computing at the Lisburn campus, where he has worked for the past 13 years.  Previous to this he worked as a training officer for the Training and Employment Agency.  He is a trade union representative currently holding the post of Branch Secretary and representing lecturers across all college campuses.  He is a member of the Lecturers’ Negotiating Committee and has been involved in the Teachers’ Independent Appeals Body, under the auspices of the Labour Relations Agency.   He is the elected Lecturing staff representative to the Governing Body, speaking on behalf of lecturers in all campuses.

Beth Porter OBE

Beth Porter was formerly Chief Librarian for the South Eastern Education & Library Board, a post she has held from 1997 until her retirement in 2009.  As one of the 4 Strategic Managers of the SEELB she had responsibility for overall board policy, planning and budgeting.  Beth was a member of the Staff Commission for the Education & Library Boards and sat on the NILA (Northern Ireland Library Authority) HR Forum. She was a member of the Project Board for the major PFI development of electronic service for libraries in Northern Ireland and sat on the Contract Executive Board for the service.

James Hunt

Mr. James Hunt is a Chartered Accountant. He is recently retired as a partner in Hill Vellacott – Chartered Accountants. He is currently a member of the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board and of the SME committee of the Auditing Practices Board. James is currently a director of several companies including Progressive Building Society and Golf Holdings Ltd. He has been involved extensively in voluntary work including 13 years as Chairman and Trustee of Grand Opera House Trust. He is currently a member of Audit Committee of South Eastern Education and Library Board.

Heather Farley

Mrs Farley lives in Ballyclare.  She joined the University of Ulster in 1992, having previously worked in Research and Development within the food industry.  Her current role is as Head of the Department of Management, within the Ulster Business School.  She has not carried out any political activity in the last five  years.

Linda Martin

Linda Martin was formerly Health Club Manager at the Elysium Spa before taking up her position of Sports Technician in SERC.  Linda is the Corporate Services staff representative on the Governing Body.

Ed Jackson

For the last 20 years Mr Jackson has been the Financial Director/Company Secretary/HR and IT manager of a local construction company of which he is part owner following a management buyout in 1989. Prior to 1989 he worked in the company as a Management Accountant for seven years.  Mr Jackson’s main responsibility is as Finance Director of the company; however he is also responsible for all matters concerning human resources and Company Law. Mr Jackson does not hold any other public appointments.

Neil Bodger

Mr Bodger is currently a Trustee Member of the Audit Committee and Member of the Capital Development Committee of National Museums, Northern Ireland. He does not receive any remuneration for this position. He is also Chair of the Audit Committee of Stranmillis University College, for which he also receives no remuneration. He is a member of the NI Social Care Council for which he receives £6242 per annum. He has held various Board positions during the last 10 years including Chair of the Appeals Tribunals for the Southern Education & Library Board. Mr Bodger is retired and lives outside Rathfriland. He has carried out no political activity in the last five years.

David Lamb

Mr Lamb has been the Assistant Director of Finance at the NI Housing Executive since 1997; he previously held accountancy and finance posts in the private sector, with Bombardier Shorts, Harland and Wolff and Northern Publishing Office among others, and has extensive experience of financial management at both operational and strategic levels. He lives in Crossgar and is actively involved in work within the church. He has been a member of the Governing Body of the South Eastern Regional College since 2007 and is currently chair of the Audit Committee. He has carried out no political activity in the last five years and does not currently hold any other public appointments. 

Steven Pollard

Mr Pollard is currently an Associate Lecturer in the Business Institute of the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, and Managing Director of Janus Training & Development which provides consultancy in NI, ROI and the EU on local economic development, especially in enterprise development and skills. He is a Director of Creative Exchange Ltd. He is a Board Member of the Belfast Harbour Commission, for which he receives £12750 per annum. During the period September 2002 to September 2006 he was Projects Director of Conexus Ltd, a social enterprise formed by the then Castlereagh College of Further & Higher Education to generate full cost recovery revenue. Mr Pollard has an active interest in the promotion of a charity called FIT Northern Ireland – an industry-lead initiative that seeks to address long term unemployment. Mr Pollard lives in Bangor and has carried out no political activity in the last five years.

Heather Reid

Mrs Reid qualified as a teacher in 1984 and worked in a large urban secondary school. During a period of 9 years she held the position of Head of Year, Head of Department, Head of Junior School and Teacher Governor. In 1995 she was appointed Vice Principal of a rural comprehensive school. She was appointed Vice Principal of a Post Primary School from February 1998 – September 2004 and Principal of a Post Primary School from September 2004 – August 2009. She has also been a member of the South Belfast Area Learning Community and was appointed Chair in 2007. In this role she was involved in activities to encourage a more collaborative approach between schools and Further Education Colleges, to provide a more relevant curriculum and make better use of available resources. Mrs Reid lives in Jordanstown. She has carried out no political activity in the last five years and does not currently hold any other public appointments.

Mark Graham

Mr Graham has held the position of Assistant Director for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) since 2002. He was previously an IT Manager in NIHE. His main responsibilities in this role are Business Improvement, Programme Management and Facilities Management. He has led the NIHE through a number of business change programmes. Mr Graham lives in Belfast. He has carried out no political activity in the last five years and does not currently hold any other public appointments.

Alan Henry

Mr Henry was Head of Human Resources of Royal Mail from 1988 to 2004. He has carried out various statutory roles including Commissioner for the Equality Commission and Commissioner for the Civil Service Commission.  His current public appointments include Member of the Industrial and Fair Employment Tribunals, for which he is remunerated £185 per day, and non-executive director of the Northern Ireland Practice & Education Council for Nursing and Midwifery, for which he is not remunerated.  Mr Henry lives in Killinchy, Co. Down.

Sami Ali - Student Governor

Sami is an international student studying a BA Business Management degree at SERC. Originally from Pakistan Sami first came to study at SERC in 2009 when she enrolled on a Foundation Degree in Creative Media. Upon completion of that qualification Sami returned to the college in September 2011 to study the BA Business Management degree.