English UK boards, advisory groups and rules
English UK rules
Our rules cover categories of membership, the code of practice, board powers and duties and the procedure for elections, subscriptions and general meetings.
English UK boards and advisory groups
We have a board of trustees that meets at least four times a year, the Enterprises Board which meets at last three times per year, plus a finance panal and two advisory groups.
The English UK Board of Trustees
The English UK board of trustees and the chief executive are responsible for the conduct of the association's business outside the Annual General Meeting.
The board has 12 seats including a chair and vice-chair. Members serve for a maximum of three years and are eligible for re-election for a further period of three years. A rotation system retires at least one-third of the serving members each year. Elections take place at the AGM, which is usually in May.
Interested in becoming a trustee or joining a sub-board or advisory group and sharing your expertise? Get in touch with our chief executive, Jodie Gray.
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Chair
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Steve Phillips is a managing director of the British Study Centres Group looking after Transnational Education and University Pathways. Steve has worked in the ELT industry for over 25 years as a school owner, in private higher education, and in the not-for-profit sector. He is TEFLQ (Cambridge Delta) and is a Fellow at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
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Vice Chair
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Mark Rendell is the chief executive of International House London. He is the vice chair of English UK London, a member of Accreditation UK's Executive Board and has an MSc in ELT Management. |
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Jose Brinkmann is managing director and owner of Country Cousins, the school he studied at for many years as a child. He studied at university in York whist working as an activity leader. After eight years working for Ford Motor Company in London he decided he liked Country Cousins so much he bought it!
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Jane Dancaster is the principal and managing director of Wimbledon School of English and has been in ELT first as a teacher, then a manager, since 1983. She has been a director of English UK since it was formed in 2004, and was a member of Arels General Council before that.
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Fraser Davis is senior operations director of EF International Language Centres, UK and Ireland. He has 20 years' industry experience in large and small institutions throughout the UK including as academic director at EF London. He also spent time as an EFL teacher in Germany and modern languages teacher in a state secondary.
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Shoko Doherty is CEO of Celtic English Academy. She has worked in the industry for 15 years, having first come to the UK as an international student. She has been an active committee member of English UK Wales for the past four years.
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Sarah Etchells taught in Greece for five years before setting up her own summer language school for children and teenagers, English Country Schools. She is the joint chair of Young Learners English UK and has special responsibility for welfare.
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Nigel Paramor has worked with international students for nearly 30 years, including stints in Hong Kong and in senior management positions in three different further education colleges. He has been the principal of English in Chester since 2007. |
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Ella Tyler is managing director and owner of Hello! Exmouth. She studied French and Politics and started her career in PR and marketing in the corporate world. She bought Mountlands as a failing business and took the school from 60 students a year to over 2000 student weeks in 2016.
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Catrin Diamantino is the CEO of Bell English. She helped build EC into a global brand. Catrin says she wanted to join the Board to bring her expertise in global markets and sales at an important time for the industry "when we need to join together and speak with one voice to be heard and taken seriously." |
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Chris Moonie founded the Mackenzie School of English in Edinburgh in 2008, and is now its director. Mackenzie ran young learners' programmes only until 2018, when it moved into larger premises and expanded to include adult classes. Chris began his career in youth work before moving into ELT and used his specialist knowledge to create innovative young learners' programmes.
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Spencer Fordham worked in marketing and advertising in national newspapers for a decade before moving into ELT. He founded the Capital School of English in Bournemouth in 2003 with his wife Paulina, and is now managing director. He has recently created Future Success, a pioneering two-week programme during which English students collaborate with local businesses and school students on real-world projects.
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The English UK Enterprises Board
The English UK enterprises board...
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Chair
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Andrew Fisher founded EAC in 1991, and the company grew to become one of the largest accredited ELT providers in the UK. Andrew developed and lead the company though to the sale to TUI Travel PLC in 2009. He then founded OSCARS International, developing it and leading it through to sale in 2015. Throughout this time Andrew also operated OSCARS Childcare, an Edinburgh based company running after school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday activity camp provision. Andrew founded OSCARS Childcare in 1992 and finialised the sale of the business in 2019.
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Jay Buckham is head of business development at Fettes Enterprises Limited, Fettes College in Edinburgh, where he has worked for the last 14 years. Jay is a committee member of English UK Scotland and in his spare time works as a business development consultant, specialising in company re-branding.
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Mick Davies is the director of Mick Davies Education, which provides education and training to higher education institutions around the world. Mick specialises in English for academic purposes programmes, teacher training and development, and specialist language courses for global companies.
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Jodie Gray is chief executive of English UK. Jodie has a Chinese and Hindi degree from Cambridge University and is widely travelled, having visited nearly 40 countries during her 14 year career in international education. In January 2017, Jodie was seconded to the Department for International Trade's education sector team as the specialist for English language training.
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Paul Murray is the director of Foyle International which he founded in 1990. He has been in the EFL industry for the past 27 years and is currently the vice chairman of English UK Northern Ireland.
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Michael Quinn has been working in the ELT business for over 15 years with Centre of English Studies (CES). He is an owner and director of CES and has worked in nearly every role involved in the running of an ELT centre.
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Shelan Rodger is Regional Director EMEA at Kings Education. She joined teh Enterprises Board in June 2020 and has over 30 years' experience in international education and learning & development. Shelan has two published novels and is training as a drama therapist, with an interest in the creative application of arts therapies within the international education sector.
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The English UK Finance Panel
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The English UK Professional Development Advisory Group
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Beverley Simon |
Head of operations on campus at Cambridge Education Group and Stafford House International |
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Chris Farrell (Chair) |
Head of teacher development at the Centre of English Studies |
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Sian Matos |
Principal at Tti School of English |
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Will Nash |
Academic director at the English Language Teaching Centre, the University of Sheffield |
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Nigel Paramor |
Principal at English in Chester |
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Anna Thatcher |
Principal at the Loxdale English Centre |
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The English UK External Relations Advisory Group
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Wimbledon School of English
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Nigel Paramor |
English in Chester |
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Kate Hargreaves |
Living Learning English |
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Val Hennessy |
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Margie Barker |
Sue Edwards
Mark Allen
Sian Matos
Nicole Kennedy
Sarah Gore
Neil McLoughlin
Richard Simpson
Paul Murray
Shoko Doherty
Jodie Gray
Naadiya Rawat
Susan Young
Huan Japes (Chair)
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