Dr Katerina Kolyva, CEO

Katerina is the Chief Executive Officer of the Education Training Foundation (ETF), the professional body for further education and skills in England. Katerina brings a wealth of experience from a career spanning education and research, healthcare regulation and membership sectors.

Prior to joining ETF, Katerina was the CEO of the Council of Deans of Health and held Executive Director roles in policy, registration and education with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK after spending a career in education strategy and evaluation in the European Commission and Parliament in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Having completed a PhD in European studies, Katerina has worked as a lecturer and researcher in universities across Europe and the Middle East. Katerina also has non-executive leadership experience as a charity trustee and college governor. She is currently a trustee of the Intellectual Property Regulatory Board and chairs the women CEO group at the Association of CEOs of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Leadership Fellow at St George’s House.

Patrick Murphy, Chief Financial & Digital Officer 

Chris Kirk, Chief Growth Officer 

As our Chief Growth Officer, Chris makes sure ETF delivers the needs of our customers and members as the professional body for further education and skills (interacting with over 130,000 professionals and 4,000+ providers), along with a wider remit across all of the Education Training Foundation for brand, marketing, communications, sales, and regional engagement. Supporting ETF customers to unlock the value of funded contract work, alongside accountability for the growth of our commercial offering for individuals and partners (colleges, training providers and employers) across our portfolio of professional development, statuses, training, and CPD.

Chris has worked across professional, technical, vocational, and higher education sectors for nearly 20 years. Including extensive international experience which has supported learning, student recruitment and assessment in France, USA, China, Southern Asia and Australia. Growing brands, customer value, and revenue through customer-first, product-led culture change and digital transformation.  He has previously held executive positions at City & Guilds, and most recently at UCAS, along with leading international business development at the French online EdTech start-up, OpenClassrooms.

Dr Gina Hobson, Director of Governance 

As Director of Governance, Gina leads on non-executive and executive, cross-organisation systems, which includes overseeing the design, implementation and review of systems to ensure the effective running of ETF.

In her role as Company Secretary, she works closely with ETF’s CEO, Chair, Board and Members, ensuring that the charity’s corporate governance is effective.

Previously, Gina was the Chief Executive of the British Accreditation Council, a small charity working with independent education and training providers in the UK and overseas, setting and improving standards within this sector.

Michael Lowe, Director of People & Workplace 

Michael Lowe is ETF’s Director of People & Workplace and a commercial, delivery focused HR leader committed to improving lives and helping organisations do HR well. 

He brings over 19 years’ senior management and HR experience across the education, government and charity sectors, including Haringey Education Business Partnership, Gladesmore Community School, The Goldsmiths’ Company and its subsidiary organisations, HM Prison & Probation Service and the Ministry of Justice.

Michael is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and a Chartered Manager, Michael has deep expertise in organisational culture, people strategy and people management. Michael also proactively champions inclusion, professional growth and wellbeing. 

Michael also holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and is a CMI Level 7 qualified Leadership Coach and Mentor. 

Lesley Frearson, Director of Finance & Procurement 

Lesley is ETF’s Director of Finance & Procurement, leading the organisation’s finance function and supporting strategic decision-making across the organisation. A Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), she brings more than 30 years of senior finance leadership experience spanning the charity, education, commercial and international sectors.

Before joining ETF, Lesley spent over two decades with the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD), where she held a number of senior leadership positions, including Joint CEO and Director of Finance and Business Support. During her time at RAD, she led major programmes of organisational transformation, financial sustainability and service development, working collaboratively to support growth, strengthen operational effectiveness and deliver positive outcomes for service users.

Earlier in her career, Lesley held senior finance roles with Coca-Cola and Schlumberger, bringing valuable commercial and international experience to her work. Alongside her executive leadership roles, she has also provided finance and advisory services to charities and small businesses for many years.

She is passionate about ensuring finance is an enabler of organisational success, providing insight, challenge and support to help deliver ETF’s strategic objectives.

Rich Hickin, Director of Growth

As Director of Growth, Rich leads the ETF's commercial growth strategy, with responsibility for sales, marketing, partnerships and customer engagement. He works across the organisation to grow ETF's reach and impact, helping colleges, training providers, employers and sector partners access high-quality professional development, membership and leadership programmes that support excellence across further education and skills.

Rich has more than 20 years' experience in commercial leadership, business development and strategic partnerships across the education, awarding and publishing sectors. Before joining ETF, he held senior leadership roles at City & Guilds, Pearson, Ark Curriculum Plus and Hodder Education, where he led commercial growth, product development and customer-focused transformation. His expertise spans sales leadership, go-to-market strategy, partnership development and building sustainable commercial models that deliver value for customers while supporting organisational growth.

Mel Ruxton, Director of Delivery Performance

As Director of Delivery Performance, Mel is responsible for driving delivery performance across a diverse portfolio of multimillion-pound government-funded programmes and strategic projects. Her expertise spans programme and contract management, governance, risk management, partnership development and organisational improvement.

Mel brings extensive experience across the further education and skills and higher education sectors. Before joining ETF, she held leadership roles at Advance HE, leading the operational delivery of national and international programmes and events. Her work included the implementation of Aurora, one of the UK's leading leadership development programmes for women in higher education, supporting the delivery of the flagship Top Management Programme, and leading the implementation of Changing the Learning Landscape, a sector-wide partnership initiative involving Jisc, NUS, ALT, HEA and HEFCE.

Throughout her career, Mel has strengthened strategic relationships, supported innovative approaches to professional development and leadership, and built strong partnerships with funders and sector organisations. An Associate Member of the Association for Project Management (APM), she is committed to upholding high standards in programme and project management. Her focus at ETF is to improve outcomes for learners and educators through effective collaboration, continuous improvement and high-quality programme delivery.

Dr Mark Hyde, Interim Director of Professional Practice and Research

Mark is the Interim Director of Professional Practice and Research at ETF, providing strategic leadership for the organisations professional recognition, research, evaluation and quality assurance functions. His work focuses on strengthening professional practice and supporting excellence across the further education and skills sector.

Mark brings extensive experience from across the further education and skills sector, having held teaching, practitioner and management roles with responsibilities spanning curriculum development, quality improvement, teacher development and the implementation of T Levels at Barking & Dagenham College. A former dual professional and holder of Advanced Teacher Status (ATS), he is passionate about the role of further education in transforming lives and creating opportunities for learners.

Having completed a PhD focused on literacy, curriculum and learner engagement in further education at the University of Sunderland, Mark remains an active researcher and contributor to national and international research communities. His work focuses on advancing sector-wide development through the generation, mobilisation and application of evidence to improve professional practice, inform policy and strengthen outcomes for learners, teachers and leaders across the education and skills sector.