staff at centra

Meet The Team

	Mike Frain Chief Executive
Alan Fairey Finance Manager	Sue Claridge Education & Training Manager Caroline Shaw ABC Awards Quality Manager	Catherine Goodwin CET Business Development Manager

Cathryn Atkinson ABC Awards Partnerships Manager	Michaela Bailey ABC Awards Business Development Manager	Mike Coyle Professional Development Manager
Bernadette Done ABC Awards Marketing Manager	Helen Foster Choice Advisers Network Support Manager	Karen Grimshaw Office Manager
Sean Hanratty ICT Manager	Paul Howarth Training Manager	Ros Hynes Dyslexia Centre Co-ordinator
Sue Langton ABC Awards Qualifications Development	Sue Prynn Choice Advisers Information Manager	Colin Taylor ABC Awards Finance Manager

Mike Frain

Mike was appointed as Chief Executive of CENTRA in 2005; he brings wide ranging experience of many sectors of the education and training world.

He started his career as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language and at the age of 27 was appointed Principal of a private Vocational Training College for international students.

He then spent three years in Singapore, supporting and training new lecturers in language, communication and teaching skills, at a newly-opened Polytechnic. On his return to England, he was offered the post of Director of Lansdowne College in London - a unique Anglo-American higher education institution offering British and American university business qualifications.

In 1989, Mike took up the post of Marketing Manager at Edge Hill University (then College of HE) and subsequently became Managing Director of Edge Hill Enterprises, which looked after all Edge Hill's funded projects, international projects / partnerships and all income generating activities - including establishing an American MBA supported by Merseyside European funding, a media and arts training centre in Liverpool and a Cyber Centre in West Lancashire and delivering projects in several overseas countries

His most recent post was as Business Development Manager for Nord Anglia plc, where he had responsibility for bid-management and developing and managing post-16 projects - including e-learning, vocational training, child care training, all military contracts and LSC / European funding - most notably managing the bid and establishing the highly successful Army Foundation College at Harrogate.

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Sue Claridge

Sue has 30 years of experience within the education and training sectors. She joined CENTRA in September 2005 from Nord Anglia Education plc where she was responsible for the operational management of vocational education and sports services at the Army Foundation College under a 28 year PFI contract. Additionally, she was a consultant for the company's work on the tri-service Defence Training Review focusing on Trainer Training and Accreditation.

Sue initially trained as an Early Years' teacher and started her career in primary education then moved on to be a lecturer in Primary Science at Edge Hill College. Later she joined Edge Hill's commercial company, Edge Hill Enterprises, responsible for conferences and events and later, as International Manager, responsible for recruiting students from the USA. This involved managing the College's semester abroad programmes on which students joined undergraduate programmes or took their final teaching practice in a British school. Additionally, Sue was responsible for an International MBA programme delivered by Oklahoma City University for students in Merseyside, supported by European Social Funding.

At CENTRA, Sue is responsible for our Education & Training Programmes and IT support services for schools, colleges and businesses and is Project Manager for the DfES Choice Advisers Support and Quality Assurance Network contract.

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Alan Fairey

Alan has a background in Finance - but has been trying, with varying degrees of success, to avoid being labelled as an accountant - he has also managed Customer Services, IT, Quality, Administration, Sales Administration as well as working in a number of Staff/Project roles.

Alan has a business degree covering a wide spectrum from Accounts through Engineering to Ergonomics. He previously worked in the motor industry for 15 years, initially in the Midlands at Guy Motors and subsequently for Leyland Trucks and then as Financial Controller at Multipart based in Chorley. Moved on to the LPG industry with Calor Gas for 15 years - as Regional Controller at Ellesmere Port and following re-organisation in a staff role in the new Head Office at Leamington Spa.

He has been actively involved in implementing a Total Quality system as a trainer as well as providing internal training for managers on Finance. Over the years has been involved in all aspects of systems implementation from a user perspective, most recently in the area of management information. He is also a community governor of his local primary school.

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Catherine Goodwin

Catherine has 20 years experience within the education and training sectors. She joined Centra/ABC in April 2006 from the Vocational College, where she was Head of Department for a wide range of vocational qualifications including Management, Administration and Skills for Life. Catherine has also worked as a Quality Manager for a leading training organisation, this involved managing the quality process, and liasing with all the external agencies, including Awarding Bodies, QCA, and the DFES.

Catherine is a qualified teacher, assessor, and internal verifier, who has also: set up partnerships, worked as a lecturer in FE, written and developed qualifications for City & Guilds and Edexcel and managed in-house training programmes

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Caroline Shaw

Caroline is now seconded to ABC Awards as Quality Manager, having initially joined CENTRA / ABC as Regional Manager for the Chorley office. She is currently responsible for the team of moderators, verifiers and examiners and all areas of the Quality monitoring system which underpins ABC activities.

Caroline commenced her working life in the public sector, then decided on a change of career and moved into teaching. She worked in a number of large general F.E. colleges for 14 years and joined CENTRA in 2002 from Salford College where she was Head of Department for Business, Management and Professional courses. This role involved managing a large team of staff responsible for delivering a diverse range of vocational qualifications including Accounts, Law, Teacher Training and Management. Her work involved being point of contact during numerous inspections by FEFC, Ofsted, ALi and QAA.

Caroline is a qualified manager, teacher and assessor and is a member of the Institute of Educational Assessors as well as an active member of the Board of Governors at a local F.E. College.

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Cathryn Atkinson

Cathryn is employed as ABC Sector Partnerships Manager. Her main duties include being responsible for ABC's strategic external relationships:

co-ordinating the activities of other members of the ABC Directorate in their activities with Sector Skills Councils
responsibility for reporting and leading on key sector developments and other key initiatives e.g. Specialised Diplomas
responsibility for making recommendations for Qualifications Development in line with emerging Sector Qualification Strategies

Prior to this role Cathryn was the Qualifications Development Manager, her main role being to manage the development of new qualifications onto the NQF, extend and re-accredit existing qualifications as necessary and manage the Development Team.

Before joining CENTRA / ABC Cathryn worked for several training providers in a variety of roles from assessor, lead internal verifier, Training Consultant and Manager.

She has recently gained a Masters in Business Management from MMU and is an ISO internal auditor for CENTRA.

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Michaela Bailey

Seconded to ABC Awards as Business Development Manager

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Mike Coyle

Mike comes to us with a wide-ranging education background - especially in FE & HE, although for the previous 9 years he ran a business advice and management consultancy practice. Based in Blackpool, his work has taken him to India, Romania and Switzerland as well as across the UK. His recent projects have included, amongst others, Course Development, Training, Business Strategy & Improvement, Quality Management and Elimination of Fraud.

Mike's education and management credentials include an MSc in Management Sciences from UMIST, a DMS in Education Management and a collection of technical and managerial qualifications. His last job in education was Principal Lecturer at Blackpool and The Fylde College.

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Bernadette Done

Seconded to ABC Awards as Marketing Manager

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Helen Foster

Helen recently took over this key role managing the network events and providing support and advice for Choice Advisers nationwide.

Helen has over 27 years teaching experience (in middle, secondary, FE and adult) including teaching Modern Foreign Languages and acting as Head of a pastoral team - supporting young people, managing a team of tutors and liaising with parents/carers and external agencies including educational psychologists, special needs support services, social services and educational welfare teams.

Until she was seconded to the Choice Advisers Support and Quality Assurance Unit, Helen was Deputy Education Manager at CENTRA - during which time she managed and co-ordinated CENTRA Networks including:

Special Schools, Secondary Professional Development Managers, Internal Verifiers & Assessors and Post 16 Teacher Training
set up partnerships with Edge Hill University, DfES Standards Unit and GTCE
trained and acted as an online facilitator for the GTCE
worked as an HLTA Assessor and Moderator
produced materials and delivered mental health awareness training sessions for teachers and lecturers
managed the in-house programme including training days for schools, colleges and Governing bodies
organised and managed seminars and conferences
was a guest speaker for Edge Hill training sessions for ITT on pastoral issues and assessment

Helen is also a senior examiner and team leader for a major awarding body and is vice chair of governors in a primary school.

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Karen Grimshaw

Karen is employed as Office Manager at CENTRA and her main duties include:

Organising, providing and managing Office Services at all CENTRA sites
Building maintenance and cleaning at all CENTRA sites - including staff welfare and safety
Supporting CET and ABC Awards staff
Co-ordinating and/or supporting special CET projects

Prior to this role Karen has held various positions within the organisation the last being Office Supervisor.

Before joining CENTRA in 1983 Karen worked at Eaton Limited as a Secretary. She has gained various SecretarialWord Processing, Desk Top Publishing, Customer Service and Office Supervision qualifications in her 24 year career with CENTRA.

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Sean Hanratty

Sean is responsible for managing CENTRA's ICT support services to schools - including network management , website design etc. He also provides ICT training and the technical aspects of education and training bids.

Before joining CENTRA Sean worked for the BBC supporting many of their radio station attached Open Learning Centres. Prior to that he was senior network engineer at Granville Technology - his work included the design of and implementation of networks for both corporate and education clients.

He focused in particular on developing applications that assisted teachers and other staff in schools and he was the company's project leader for schools and small business installations.

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Paul Howarth

Paul has 16 years' experience within management roles in education and training. He joined CENTRA in September 2005 from Nord Anglia Education plc, where he was Business Development Executive working on the Defence Training Review project.

Paul has a strong background in instructional design, a comprehensive knowledge of adult learning theory; designing instructor-led and blended training programmes.

Prior to this he managed The Interactive College, a training company which developed innovative blended training solutions for businesses, schools and individuals. Paul's main expertise lies within vocational training where he has managed Training organisations that have offered European Social Fund, Learning Skills Council, Work Based Learning, ESF Co-Finance, Ministry Of Defence, National Health Service, Fire Service and Learn Direct training opportunities.

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Ros Hynes

Ros was appointed as Co-ordinator for CENTRA's first Dyslexia Centre, in Preston, in June 2007.

Ros worked for 10 years as a teacher in Primary Schools in the South East and North West of England. Teaching for 3 years in Further Education, at Southport College, her roles included: Curriculum Leader responsibility for the Essential Skills team, Pastoral Tutor and teaching Life Skills, Literacy and Drama to students with learning difficulties and disabilities, from 16 years to mature learners. She also trained and worked as a Note-taker for Deaf students at UCLAN.

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Sue Langton

Sue is seconded as ABC Awards Qualifications Development Co-ordinator. She works within the Business Development Directorate of ABC Awards. Her main duties include oversight of all ABC Awards qualification development work which is based at Centra's Chorley Offices. This involves liaising with Sector Skills Councils, employers, providers, and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Before joining CENTRA / ABC Awards, Sue worked as a Senior Manager in a Secondary School in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, having been a teacher for 25 years. In 2004, she made a career change when she joined Centra/ABC Awards at Chorley as a Qualifications Development Officer. It was a steep learning curve getting to grips with all the issues which impact on qualifications development and in May 2006 she took up her current position.

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Sue Prynn

Sue is responsible for ensuring that the Choice Advisers Support Unit, acting on behalf of DfES , is fully up-to-date with all issues in relation to Schools Admissions and the new Choice Advice Service and that our team can provide relevant and meaningful information and guidance to Choice Advisers. Sue leads on moderation and e-facilitation of our on-line collaborative environment for Choice Advisers.

Before joining CENTRA Sue had several years' experience of teaching - with particular emphasis on Special Needs. She holds a BSc (Hons) Psychology - including modules on child development - autistic spectrum disorders, ADHD, behaviour/temperament and a Post Graduate Diploma SpLD (Dyslexia). She was a SENCO and assessed PIPS and KS2 SATS - science, developed whole schools and nursery inclusion programme for primary school, developed links with external agencies and delivered staff training related to inclusion and new SEN procedures. She is also experienced in criterion referenced, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment (science and psychological diagnostic testing for Dyslexia).

Before she moved to CENTRA's Choice Advisers Team , Sue was CENTRA Education Manager and set up and managed the Teaching Assistant, Counsellors and Early Years Networks as well as the National training programmes, teacher placements, conferences, networks, consultancy, and in-house training focussing on generic inclusion issues to the more specific e.g. specialist training to support autistic children in mainstream settings.

In addition to negotiating and managing several partnerships including Edge Hill College and several LEAs, she delivered a number of workshops including: Dyslexia; Mental Health Awareness; Science in the early years and introduced and managed the CENTRA SEN training programme aimed at special schools and mainstream practitioners. She is also an HLTA assessor.

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Colin Taylor

Seconded to ABC Awards as Finance Manager

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