Our People

In his last role as MOD Policy Head for Training, Education, Skills, Recruiting & Resettlement, he was an active member of the Wider Public Sector Strategic Leadership Group for Apprenticeships, the Apprentice Ambassadors Network and The 5% Club Steering Group. Having joined the Royal Navy aged 16 as a 5-year technical apprentice, Mark benefited from significant investment in his professional development, including a sponsored degree, graduate development scheme and executive MBA.

He is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Manager and Chartered FCIPD, and was awarded an OBE in 2017 for his services in transforming Naval recruitment. In advising The 5% Club, Mark is passionately committed to helping accelerate its work, so that similar opportunities become ever more widely available across the UK.

She was Director of Marketing, Press and Business Information at the British Retail Consortium and more recently was Head of Patron Membership at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Additionally, she headed up the membership and marketing divisions at the Fostering Network and the Booksellers Association.
Gill has also been a charity trustee for the charity Re-Solv and was Company Secretary for the charity World Book Day.
Having gained a BA from the University of London straight after leaving school, Gill was fortunate to be offered an ‘earn and learn’ opportunity to gain an MBA while working full time.

From a beginning in marketing, Victoria deliberately broadened her skills and experience through financial analysis, M&A, investor relations, corporate communications and operational management. She has been instrumental in two business start-ups, campaigns on environmental issues and writes unpublished novels as a hobby.

The originator of the concept for The 5% Club and now its Chair, Victoria is a passionate believer in the power of lifelong education as a driver of individual achievement – and the obligation on those who fulfil their ambitions, to help others share in the same opportunities.

Yvonne is a Chartered Chemical Engineer, with a background in manufacturing and management consultancy. Whilst working full-time, she studied for an MBA and moved into the STEM sector to establish the Science and Engineering (now STEM) Ambassadors volunteering programme in 2002. She moved to STEM Learning in 2010, and has been instrumental in the organisation’s earn and learn journey, including the introduction of apprenticeships across the business .

Yvonne retains a strong personal passion for engaging young people (particularly girls and those from disadvantaged backgrounds) in understanding the opportunities, enjoyment and excitement that STEM-related careers – particularly in the engineering and manufacturing sectors – can provide.

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David left BP in 2009 and joined Balfour Beatty in 2011 until retiring from full time employment in 2019 to pursue his passion for sailing. Since then, David has held a number of interim general counsel and company secretary roles at FTSE 250 companies.

David is happily married to Jane, has four “grown and flown” children and now lives in Marylebone, London. He enjoys sailing, golf, opera and natural wine.

Stephen’s most recent management role at KPMG was running the Large Corporates audit business in London – his part of the business had some 300 people under training contracts at any one time: both graduates and school leavers. He is now an independent consultant working with businesses in the UK and mainland Europe.