Advisory Board

Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben

Founder and Chairman

Sancroft International

The Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, is the founder and Chairman of Sancroft International, a consultancy that advises both businesses and investors on all areas of Sustainability and ESG. Between 2012 and 2023 he was Chairman of the UK’s Independent Climate Change Committee. Lord Deben was also the UK’s longest serving Secretary of State for the Environment (1993-97) having previously been Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. His sixteen years of top-level ministerial experience also include Minister for London, Employment Minister, and Paymaster General in HM Treasury. Lord Deben is currently Chairman of Valpak Ltd and of PIMFA, the trade body representing financial advisers and wealth managers. Throughout his political, business, and personal life Lord Deben has consistently championed an accord between sustainability and business sense.

Ifti Majid

Chief Executive, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Chair of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Network, and Co-Chair of their BME Leadership Network

Ifti took up his position as Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare on Thursday 1 December 2022.

He joined the Trust from Derbyshire Healthcare where he had held the position of Chief Executive for over five years, with an additional two years preceding this as Acting Chief Executive.

A mental health nurse by background, Ifti qualified in 1988 after training at St George’s Hospital in London.  He has held a range of clinical posts in adult mental health services, both in acute inpatient and community settings.

Ifti also has significant experience of effective leadership holding several nursing management roles before being promoted through senior management and executive roles.

He also holds a number of national positions, including Chair of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Network, and Co-Chair of their BME Leadership Network.

Dr Heather Melville, OBE CMgr CCMI

CEO & Founder

Clarke Smith Advisory Senior Advisor of Teneo Chancellor of York University

Dr Heather Melville, OBE CMgr CCMI CEO & Founder, Clarke Smith Advisory Senior Advisor of Teneo Chancellor of York University Heather’s career spans over 40 years across financial, professional & technology services, with a specific focus on international trade, entrepreneurship and corporate banking. Heather is a business thought-leader and an innovator with a notable track record of building high performing diverse teams.

Heather has acted in an advisory capacity to FTSE CEOs across a multitude of industries and sectors. She is a highly respected and sought after public speaker, having addressed C-Suite leaders, senates, royalty, and global business audiences worldwide.

Heather has won many accolades, including being listed on the Black Powerlist, as one of the 100 most influential black people in the UK. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), whose purpose is to open channels of opportunity for black executives to positively impact business and communities, and the CFO’s Diversity Forum for Business in the Community (FTSE100).

Heather has worked in partnership with HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh as part of her role as the Chair CMI Women. Heather also provided special advisory assistance to Queen Maximus of the Netherlands for her women in entrepreneurship programme.

Heather received her OBE for services to business in 2017 and has recently been appointed as the Chancellor of the University of York. Heather is also the Patron of Women in Banking and Finance.

Heather is a Senior Advisor to Teneo, a Global Consultancy, as well as a Trustee on the Board of Enfield Enterprise and until recently (following a 7-year tenure) was a Trustee on the Board for the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). She now sits on the committee for Companions and has recently been elected to join the Everyone Economy Committee.

Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP

Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North

Caroline is the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North and the current Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee in Parliament. Since her election in 2010 she has served as a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, the Cabinet Office and was Minister of State for Immigration in Theresa May’s Cabinet.

Immediately prior to becoming an MP she was the Chief Executive of an animal welfare charity.

Caroline is currently the co-chair of the APPG for Muslim Women, Vice Chair of “Show Racism the Red Card”.

As Chair of the Select Committee Caroline has headed up inquiries into the gendered economic impact of covid, menopause in the work place and reform of the Gender Recognition Act. The current focus of the Committee is on the cultures underpinning misogyny and abuse against

women and girls, tackling so called honour based abuse, and discrimination in the UK asylum process.

Mark Vickers MBE

Chief Executive Officer, Olive Academies

Chair, National MAT CEO Network for Alternative Provision and SEND

Mark’s work in education is rooted in his belief that schools have the potential to break historic cycles of social disadvantage and to prevent the marginalisation of vulnerable young people. Mark has been a headteacher of a secondary school, an Ofsted inspector, a school leadership consultant and was a founding trustee of the PSHE Association. He continues to support numerous mainstream schools, PRUs and alternative providers across the country, offering strategic advice to help them secure rapid and sustained improvement.

Mark is Chair of The National MAT CEO Network for Alternative Provision and SEND. He is also one of the founding members of the Suffolk CEO Network. Both these forums were established with Mark’s support to help the sharing of ideas, innovations and best practice. Mark’s determined approach to improving alternative provision for vulnerable young people in England is linked to this partnership work – successfully bringing together alternative provision with mainstream schools and engaging local authority, DfE and voluntary sector leaders to improve the life chances of some of the most vulnerable children in our country’s education system.

In 2021 Mark was awarded an MBE in The Queen’s New Year Honours List for his services to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.