Governing Body

Jenny has worked in the further education and skills sector for more than 30 years in colleges and training centres, both teaching and managing. She has worked with a range of different award bodies, focusing on quality assurance. In the past, Jenny has been a part time Ofsted inspector and managed at a senior level in colleges, including here at Sutton College.

In the past 5 years she has worked within adult education in a variety of roles, including interim management of different curriculum areas, observing teaching and looking at how quality assurance and quality improvement work together.

Jenny is heavily involved with schools in Sutton as a governor, as well as working with Community Action Sutton on the Board of Trustees.

Charlotte has lived in Sutton since 1999 and her five children all attended schools in Sutton.

Charlotte grew up in Edinburgh and graduated from King’s College, London with a degree in Mathematics and Chemistry.

After working for three years in corporate finance for an international bank, Charlotte retrained as a solicitor, specialising in corporate tax. Charlotte is a chartered tax advisor and is a partner in the London office of a US law firm.

In addition to advising on tax, Charlotte is the pro bono chair of the firm’s London office and is a member of the steering committee of the firm’s Women’s Leadership Forum which supports the advancement of women lawyers at the firm through mentoring and career development programmes.

Charlotte has always had a keen interest in adult education and values the importance of accessibility to learning for adults of all ages. In addition to being a governor at Sutton College, Charlotte is a member of the governing body of a local school.

Manas has lived in Sutton since 2019 and has been working in management consulting, operations management, and organisational development for global organisations. Over his 22-year career, he has supported leading global companies in their digital transformation initiatives, driving complex business and digital changes across various industries, with a strong focus on strategic decision-making and organisational change management.

Manas is a Certified SAFe Agile Practitioner, PRINCE2 Practitioner, and a Certified Change Management professional. He is passionate about education, inclusion, and community engagement.

Manas is married and enjoys reading, watching cricket, and spending time with friends and family.

Kate was born and educated in Sutton and continues to live in the borough with her own family.

Kate has worked in academic publishing for 25 years and is currently the Director of Global Journals and UK books at a global academic publishing company. In this role Kate has gained experience in large scale change and project management, strategic planning, and empathetic, cross-cultural team leadership.

Kate is committed to lifelong learning in her professional and personal life and is passionate about increasing opportunity and access to adult learning for all.

Colin is an experienced higher education professional with over 15 years in academic administration. He brings extensive expertise in student recruitment, programme management, and stakeholder engagement. Previously, Colin managed multiple programmes at esteemed universities in Hong Kong, overseeing international student recruitment initiatives. His background includes leadership roles at several higher education institutions, where he focused on developing data-driven strategies and streamlining administrative processes.

Colin and his family relocated to London in 2024 and are actively integrating into the local community.

Liz has lived in Sutton for over 30 years. working in Further and Higher Education Colleges both as a Teacher and Manager of courses in Health and Social Care.  The role included Curriculum Development and the delivery of professional qualifications such as BTEC Diplomas, Foundation Degrees, and Post Graduate Teaching Certificates.   Also, as an Advanced Practitioner, she was involved in ensuring the highest standards of classroom practice, enabling students to achieve their highest potential.

She has always had a strong commitment to Education and Training and as an active member of her local WI, Liz participated in a scheme to teach basic cooking skills to parents in Children’s Centres. In her spare time, Liz also enjoys learning and has previously enrolled on courses at Sutton College in Pottery, Stained Glass and Flamenco Dancing.

Since retiring she enjoys various interests including any craft activity, reading and travel.  Most weekends Liz can be found on her allotment growing a variety of vegetables, fruit and flowers with varying amounts of success!

Catherine has lived in Sutton for twelve years and has been a member of the Sutton College governing board since 2013/4. After a career in brand and communications which took her round the country and abroad, Catherine has retired from full time work. She was previously marketing & communications director for an insurance company and is a judge for the Financial Services Forum Marketing Awards.

She has completed a Level 3 Diploma course at Sutton College and has seen the top-quality teaching and support for herself. “I am a great believer in adult education to build a better future for yourself,” she says.

Catherine is married with an adult son, loves reading, dog-walking and coffee with friends.

Raywen started her career as a secondary school art teacher, and following a pottery course at Sutton College with Brian Starkey, she taught pottery at a Merton high school. She then became the Merton Borough Advisor for Art Craft and Design running courses for teachers across the borough and working in classrooms with children from 4 to 18.

As the size of LEA’s was reduced in the 1980’s, she left Merton and became Head of Art Education at, the then, Roehampton Institute (RI) training both primary and secondary student teachers in Art, Craft and Design.

Following 6 years in that role she was appointed Deputy Principal of Froebel College (one of the 4 constituent colleges of RI) a post she held for 13 years. This role not only involved college management, but also the welfare of the 2,000 students assigned to the college. Raywen became Director of Student Services in 2005, responsible for the welfare of the 10,000 students across a range of university services at Roehampton University, a post she held until she retired in 2011.

During her working life, Raywen was a governor of a Sutton primary school for 6 years, a Sutton secondary school for 6 years and a member of Council, the governing body of the university. She has been a member of the Sutton College governing body since March 2018 with a special interest in diversity issues and equality.

In retirement Raywen has returned to her first love of art, craft and design, visiting museums and galleries, sewing quilts and travelling following course at Sutton College in Italian and quilting. She is married with 3 children and 9 grandchildren – who keep her busy.

Ed is a councillor for Beddington South Ward of the London Borough of Sutton, where he has been a councillor since 2010. He is also a member of the People Committee of LBS, which deals with education.

Ed is a secondary PGCE qualified state school teacher and has taught in two local schools, Wallington County Grammar School and Cheam High School. He was a teacher of Computer Science and Economics.

Ed has been running an 11+ tuition facility, Learner League, since 2017.

John has been a student at Sutton College and its predecessor SCOLA for many years studying and attending courses as diverse as Guitar Playing, Keep Fit Classes, Creative Writing and Italian.

He’s a great believer in lifelong learning particularly in what used to be called Evening Classes as a means of not only offering opportunities to learn new skills and develop new interests but also to potentially gain qualifications alongside the chance to meet a wide range of people from varied backgrounds and interests.

He became a Governor to better represent the Student experience to the College Board.

He’s lived locally for over 30 years and is currently employed as a Director at a large Multi-National Hospitality Business.