Judges

Fiona is CEO at Skills Federation (aka FISSS), the voice of employer-led sector skills bodies and Non-Executive Director at Youth Futures Foundation, the What Works Centre for youth employment. She has more than 25 years’ experience of developing and implementing evidence-based policies and programmes across skills and employment.  

Prior to her current role, Fiona was Head of Insights and Intelligence at West Midlands Combined Authority, where she led the development of its Employment and Skills Strategy and on negotiations for the employment, skills and careers elements of the WMCA trailblazer devolution deal. She was previously Director of Research at Learning and Work Institute. 

Dr Mandy Crawford-Lee has considerable experience of leading and negotiating skills policy, strategic planning and performance management in economic development, vocational education and training reform. She is a sound and respected resource for those involved in the development and delivery of apprenticeships at the higher level having led national policy, managed the Coalition Government’s successful Higher Apprenticeship Fund and revised the Specification of Apprenticeship Standard in England (SASE) leading to the opening up of pathways in higher level learning for apprentices beyond Level 3 and into a work-based route through to professional, senior technical and managerial occupations and, where appropriate, professional accreditation. 

Having worked extensively with government departments, providers in further education, higher education institutions, awarding organisations, professional bodies and public and private sector employers, Mandy has developed effective business and commercial partnerships. Mandy specialises in research, leadership of strategic projects and in skills policy advice, development & implementation including advocacy and lobbying. Higher and degree apprenticeships and higher technical, professional education and skills are Mandy’s sphere of influence. A doctoral graduate from Middlesex University, UK, her professional field of interest is discursive shifts in apprenticeship reform in England and higher technical skills policy, recognising and reflecting the role of universities in delivery. 

Having worked with the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) since 2012, both inside and outside of Government, Mandy became its director of policy and operations in 2017 and, in October 2021, its first female chief executive. UVAC on behalf of its 85 university members, has been championing degree apprenticeships since their introduction, and the value of higher technical and professional education for over twenty years and is regarded as the most authoritative voice on all strategic and operational aspects of higher and degree apprenticeships in England. 

James Adeleke, a Nigerian-born, dyslexic social entrepreneur, is on a mission to change the world.

He is the CEO of Generation Success, an award-winning social enterprise that works with more than 70 employers in the UK and Ireland to tackle social inequalities in society and connect diverse talent to careers through mentoring, training, events and early career recruitment services.

He has been involved in a number of projects, reports and commissions centered around enterprise and employability. He has spoken in Parliament and City Hall on social mobility, diversity and employability. He is a Co-opted member of the Education board at City of London Corporation, a school governor at Newham Collegiate and independent member of the Student Association Board at Arden University.

He won the Entrepreneur of Excellence Award in the National Diversity Awards 2022, was announced as EY’s Accelerate Entrepreneur of the Year 2021, and named in the Diversity Powerlist 2023 by Inclusive Awards. Most recently he has been shortlisted for Most Inspiring Business Person of the Year at the 2024 National Entrepreneur Awards.

Having spent the last 10 years working in recruitment, training and careers education, Jess has worked across a broad range of roles within the apprenticeship and early careers sectors. From managing internal apprenticeship programmes to guiding young people on how to secure apprenticeship opportunities, Jess is a self-confessed careers geek with a passion for sharing the benefits of apprenticeships with employers and young people alike.

Having started her business, The Careers People, in 2019, Jess currently works with a range of schools, education companies and employers nationally to help support young people on their transition from education to the workplace.

Joanna is the founder and director of Joanna Hughes Solicitor Apprenticeships and her work in 2023 was recognized in the 2023 Government National Apprenticeship Awards with a highly commended award as a champion of apprenticeships in London. 

In her role as a member of the City of London Law Society training committee, she is working with the chair of that committee, Patrick McCann, to greatly increase the number of solicitor apprenticeship opportunities available in the City of London. ‘City Century’ is a collaboration of 50+ City of London law firms identifying, attracting, recruiting, onboarding, educating, networking, developing and qualifying significant numbers of talented solicitor apprentices. This work has been described by the chair of the City of London Law Society as one of the most innovative and game-changing initiatives in the legal profession we will see for some time. 

Joanna holds a number of patron, advisory and judging roles including being a patron of the Multicultural Apprenticeship Alliance, a member of the UCAS Apprenticeship Stakeholder Group and a judge in the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards. 

Laura-Jane is a passionate campaigner for youth employment and the rights for all young people to access employment and have their voices heard on the issues that affect them.  

Laura-Jane is a CEO & Board Member with more than 15+ years’ experience of leading both for profit and non-profit organisations. With personal experience of social inequality and poverty, Laura-Jane founded Youth Employment UK in 2012, believing that there was a need to put young people at the heart of youth employment policy and services on a local and national level. Youth Employment UK is an internationally regarded not-for-profit, social enterprise supporting young people, employers, educators, third sector organisations and policy colleagues. 

Recognised as a leading youth employment expert Laura-Jane provides support, insight and expertise to many groups Co-Founder & Chair of the Youth Employment Group, Secretariat and Advisor to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Youth Employment, a founding Board Member of the Youth Futures Foundation and most recently appointed as a Governor of The Bedford College Group and a Deputy Lieutenant for Northamptonshire. 

Laura-Jane has also co-authored a number of reports, and provided content for published works. Reports include: Role of the Family in Social Mobility, Commission on Post 16 Education, Impact of place on youth employment – APPG Report, Making youth employment policy work – APPG Report. 

Lucy Hunte is the National Programme Manager of apprenticeships for NHS England, the largest public sector employer in England.

Lucy has worked in the training and education sector for over 20 years, with 10 years spent working in the apprenticeship arena. She first led the business development teams at two London further education colleges. For the past 6 years, Lucy has worked for Health Education England and now NHS England. As part of her role, Lucy offers strategic support to the NHS on all aspects of apprenticeship development, delivery, and implementation. She is very passionate about apprenticeships as a great tool to recruit new talent to the NHS but also as a way to upskill the existing workforce and offer career pathways and progression. She was Highly Commended – Apprentice Champion of the Year at the National Apprenticeship Awards 2022. 

For the past 10 years Mike has developed multiple award winning Recruitment, Apprenticeship and Diversity programmes in his role as Director for Early Careers at Barclays. 

His passions are social mobility ,diversity and mental health and during his time at Barclays he developed an Apprenticeship programme that supported over 3000 long term unemployed people into work across all areas of the Barclays business.  

His work earned him a place on the Governments Apprenticeship Delivery Board and his programmes have won 24 National Awards including from CIPD, BITC and Personnel today. 

For three years he chaired the financial services trailblazer group developing new Apprenticeship Standards for the financial services sector. 

For two years Mike was a route panel chair within the Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA) where he has responsibility for chairing the employer panel that approves  all new Apprenticeship Standards and T Levels for Legal, Accountancy and Financial Services 

He is passionate about wellbeing and mental health and has led research into mental health amongst apprentices and graduates as well as employer attitudes and strategies. He now runs his own business, Generation Healthy Minds working with a range of large and SME UK employers to help support their apprentices and graduates to stay well and thrive.

Patrick is the Director of Learning with Linklaters LLP.  His main responsibilities include devising and implementing the firm’s L&D strategy, managing a team of over 30 and overseeing the design and delivery of learning interventions for all populations.  He has a particular interest in capability development, in-room and virtual learning delivery, people aspects of business life and financial management.   Linklaters is the 2023 recipient of Legal Cheek’s Award for Best Training in a Law Firm (an award that is obtained through colleagues’ survey responses).

Before joining Linklaters, Patrick was Head of Learning and Development at three other law firms – Herbert Smith Freehills, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bird and Bird.  Previous to that, he worked for five years in commercial conferencing.  Patrick qualified as a commercial litigator in another City law firm, Denton Hall, in 1992.  Before that, he graduated with a LLB in Law and German Law from King’s College London.

Patrick is also Chair of the City of London Law Society Training Committee.  In that role, established #CityCentury, a more-than-50-firm collaboration expected to bring in more than 100 solicitor apprentices into the City of London each year – he is now CEO.

Alongside Jo Hughes, he is Co-CEO of City Century, a career-creation collaboration of now over 50 London-located law firms annually recruiting ca 150 solicitor apprentices into the City.  City Century has been shortlisted for nine industry awards, to date winning four, including The Lawyer 2024 Awards for Best Talent and Inclusion Initiative.

He also founded the Society’s Social Welfare Solicitor Qualification Fund which launched in December 2021 and now has funding for ca 100 candidates with £1 million raised.

Sharon has been in the business for more than 30 years in a variety of functions and roles. She joined the HR team 20 years ago, covering all elements of supply chain, and now heads up the early careers agenda for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) in Great Britain.

Having spent the majority of her career developing young talent at the start of their careers, her current remit fits perfectly with her passion to create opportunities to support the next generation of young leaders. As part of her commitment, Sharon strives to work with strategic partners who challenge organisations’ approach to under-representation of young people across all communities, and works to create a level playing field in the recruitment process that might unconsciously deselect these groups.

Sharon’s dedication and commitment to CCEP’s apprenticeship programme has been recognised by CCEP’s leadership team, as well as her peers and early career cohorts alike. She has received praise for her outstanding leadership of the programme, which has continued to grow and expand in line with the business’s early careers agenda. As well as internal recognition from the leadership team, 2021 saw Sharon win the Forward Ladies Corporate Leader and the London Regional National Apprenticeship Champion awards and recognition in the Queen’s 2022 New Years’ Honours List with an OBE for services to apprenticeships and skills. Outside of CCEP, she is an active board member for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and vice-chair of Youth Employment UK’s board and a Fellow of the 5% Club.

Siobhan is an experienced public speaker who specialises in creating greater awareness for apprenticeships.

Having worked most of her career supporting young people within education, Siobhan has developed a real passion for the early careers landscape and the unique skills and opportunities it can develop for an individual.

Now working for UCAS, she uses her position to advocate for apprenticeships.

Siobhan engages with a range of stakeholders within early careers, both with raising awareness in barriers that the UCAS audience face in accessing apprenticeships and in assisting organisations to have meaningful engagement with potential applicants across the country. Siobhan is dedicated to assisting UCAS with creating stronger parity between traditional full time HE routes and apprenticeships, so that the public can make more informed decisions about future pathways.