City & Guilds appoints Anthony Impey MBE as Chair of its Industry Skills Board

• Serial entrepreneur to lead influential board comprised of employers across a range of industries
• Business-led taskforce aims to collaborate with skills sector to support lifelong learning push 

City & Guilds has appointed Anthony Impey MBE as the new Chair of its Industry Skills Board (ISB).  The ISB aims to engage and amplify employer voice to inform the skills development and government policy agenda, and in doing so help the UK and its people develop the skills needed to prosper.

Anthony has a strong track-record in founding and growing businesses and not-for-profit organisations in the tech and skills sectors. He started his first business at school, selling stationery from his locker, and went on to build several successful businesses including Touchbase Network and Optimity.

He also founded TechCity Stars and Tech Up Nation; not-for-profit organisations that helped disadvantaged young Londoners kickstart their careers in the tech sector, and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours for Services to Apprenticeships and Small Business. He is Chair of the Federation of Small Business new policy think tank, the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board and the Mayor of London’s Apprenticeship Advisory Group.

Commenting on his new role, Anthony Impey MBE said:

“I’ve been a member of the ISB since its inception in 2014 and am excited to be taking on this new challenge at this pivotal time when we need to reskill the nation like never before to get people back into work and kickstart the economy. When educators, government and employers work together on a shared skills agenda, the positive impact on people and the businesses they power can be huge. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the ISB and at City & Guilds to champion the importance of skills and training.”  

David Phillips, Managing Director at City & Guilds, commented:

“We are delighted to welcome Anthony to the role of ISB Chair at this critical juncture for skills in the UK. Skills policy needs to be firmly rooted in the needs and experience of employers to be as effective as it can be. At a time when every industry will need to rethink the skills needed to fuel economic recovery, it’s absolutely vital that employers are more closely involved in skills and education policy development and implementation.”

The ISB was founded in 2014 by City & Guilds to provide an independent voice for employers in the skills system, highlighting their needs and perspective as well as current and future skills and recruitment needs. Its current membership includes representatives from BT, Natwest Group, Laing O’ Rourke, NHS Education, Marstons, Nestlé, the Public Sector, small businesses and the CIPD.

It acts as an independent advisor to City & Guilds and develops evidence-based thinking to support more effective skills policy implementation. In recent years the ISB has had a special focus on the vital role played by apprenticeships, influencing the implementation of the new employer-led apprenticeship system and the need to define consistent and valid quality outcomes.