Our Commissioners

The Commission is a Non Departmental Public Body and also a company limited by guarantee. The Commissioners are Directors of the Company.

Commissioners are appointed by the Secretary of State and represent the interests of large, small and medium enterprise; the public, private and voluntary sectors. The Ministers of each of the Devolved Administrations of the United Kingdom are also entitled to appoint a Commissioner. 

Our Chairman is:

• Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership

Our Commissioners are:

• Dr Bill McGinnis CBE, Northern Ireland Adviser on Employment and Skills

• Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC

• Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON

• David Fairhurst, Chief People Officer, McDonald’s Europe

• Dr Deirdre Hughes, OBE, Lead Consultant, European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network

• Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary (AGS), Unite the Union

• Grahame Smith, General Secretary, Scottish Trades Union Congress

• James Wates, CBE, Deputy Chairman, Wates Construction Limited

• Jeremy Anderson, CBE, Chairman, Global Financial Services, KPMG Europe LLP

• Professor John Coyne, Vice-Chancellor, University of Derby

• John Cridland, CBE, Director-General of the CBI

• Julie A Kenny, CBE, DL, Managing Director, Pyronix Limited of Rotherham, South Yorkshire

• Liz Sayce, OBE, Chief Executive, Disability Rights UK

• Lucy Adams, Director of Business Operations, BBC

• Neil McLean, Consultant, DLA Piper, and Chair of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership

• Nigel Whitehead, Group Managing Director Programmes & Support, BAE Systems

• Scott Johnson, Chief Executive, Chas Smith Shopfitters Ltd 

• Scott Waddington, Chief Executive, SA Brain

• Sean Taggart, Owner and Chief Executive of The Albatross Group

• Seyi Obakin, Chief Executive of Centrepoint

• Toby Peyton-Jones, Director of HR, Siemens UK & North West Europe

• Tony Lau-Walker, Chief Executive Officer, Eastleigh College

• Trevor Matthews, Executive Director, Developed Markets, Aviva

• Valerie Todd, Director of Talent and Resources at Crossrail Ltd

• Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive of Turning Point

Please find the register of commissioner interests (PDF, 78 Kb) here

For further information or if you have a question for one of our Commissioners please email secretariat@ukces.org.uk