College of Law, Chester

University of Liverpool

Director of Legacy at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games kicked off transformation in the city and region. The charity continues to work at scale with thousands of volunteers, young people, disabled people and an incredible network of charities and businesses. 

People still care about the legacy and don’t want to lose the civic pride and sense of unity that surged through the region in 2022.

United By 2022 is a place-based charity that does three things: 
- We engage communities, we know people and they talk to us. We have a unique profile, brand and reach across the West Midlands that can engage communities, build trust with groups that feel excluded or underserved. We use this to build skills, capacity and resilience in our third sector. We are currently delivering community engagement and capacity building services for the £9m Inclusive Communities Fund. 
-We run a unique volunteer workforce, where thousands of experienced volunteers from the Games joined our place-based events workforce and collectively delivered 10,000 hours for local events in the last six months. 
-We create social value case studies for businesses looking to win more work, stand out or start their ESG journey. We started ours at the Games and delivered a verified £300million in social value and offer to share our blueprint.
I run the charity and report to our Board. I am responsible for fundraising, strategy, leadership and governance, and everything else that a small charity needs to do.

United By 2022 Legacy Charity

Chief Executive Officer

Delivering an inclusive and lasting Games Legacy for people, places and partners in the West Midlands.

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Director of Legacy

Led three national policy areas in higher education: graduate employment and skills, access and participation, and equality, diversity & inclusion. My brief was to tackle inequalities at systems level, seek solutions to social and economic inequalities affecting communities, places and national skills gaps. 

I did this by advising Government and the HE sector on strategy and national policy, gathering and sharing effective practice, commissioning £70m worth of programmes.

International experience in India, sharing effective practice with Universities in Hyderabad and Delhi, with British Council.

I commissioned new ways of doing things; risk sharing with HE providers to trial new practice, such as the Local Graduates programme to improve outcomes for local and commuter students and BAME attainment through the Addressing Barriers to Student Success projects. I commissioned research to fill gaps in what we know, such as "Motivations of Degree Apprentices" and was the OfS Board member responsible for setting up the What Works Centre #TASO - Transforming Access and Student Outcomes.

Office for Students

National Lead for Diversity and Inclusion, Employability and Access and Participation

Led skills policy in England across higher education with strategic responsibility for graduate outcomes and skills. I established Degree Apprenticeships in England, advised on industrial strategy, the Augar Review and technical education reform. Commissioned and delivered multiple projects worth £70m+ with evidenced impact ranging from introducing degree apprenticeships, to improving employment outcomes for Local Grads, and lots on digital skills- launching bitesize CPD modules in Big data, cyber and cloud computing which have been taken up by 28,000 learners through the Institute of Coding.

National Head of Skills, Higher Education

National skills policy lead in Higher Education. Established Degree Apprenticeships in England, led on graduate outcomes and and employability. Expert on higher level skills gaps affecting UK productivity, in digital and STEM skills. I develop national policies that diversify and expand the skills pipeline.

National impact - I produced two influential independent reviews into graduate employability in computer science and STEM (Shadbolt and Wakeham). I won and delivered competitive funding rounds incl £10.5m Degree Apprenticeship Development Fund, £40m Institute of Coding, and the £3m AI and data science Postgrad Conversion Course. 

International speaking experience in USA. Part of a delegation sharing employability knowledge and experience with US Higher education sector, set up by the British Council. 

When HEFCE dissolved, I took the Exec lead managing smooth separation of OfS and Research England, managing senior stakeholders across UKRI, DfE and BEIS through the transition from HEFCE.

Higher Education Funding Council for England

Head of Skills

Aston has  a sector leading reputation for social mobility and graduate employability. My brief was to  energise employability strategy to maintain the position as a market leader and maximise graduate outcomes in the face of changing market competition. I introduced the UKs first degree apprenticeship with Cap Gemini. Responded to changing student expectations by introducing a unique employability promise to students through 100% placements goal. Worked with wide range of employers with social mobility goals that aligned with our student base and sought collaborative solutions to address their skills gaps and talent pipeline challenges.

Aston University

Director of Employability Strategy

Design and pilot a university-wide Business Partnerships strategy and review organisational structure. Develop a competitive step-change in how the university develops relationships with key partners. Develop and trial a new approach, recruiting and leading a team of 45 volunteers from across the institution.

Business Engagement Strategy (secondment)

Strategic lead at the University on student employability and graduate outcomes. Known for sector-leading employability services and chosen by students for our record on employability and graduate level employment. Award-winning placements service and strategic employer engagement with a specialism for local SME engagement. Sector leading performance for social mobility through employability. Exceptional services for students and employers delivered through high performing teams in Careers+Placements and Graduate Advantage.

Director of Employability

Led Graduate Advantage, specialists in graduate internships and placement opportunities in the West Midlands. Created internships for 4000+ graduates in SMEs. Sustained not for profit service as a fixture in the business growth strategy for the West Midlands since 2003. 

Employed by Aston, lead partner, led a collaboration of 12 universities. The scheme was highlighted as good practice in the Wilson Review and nominated for the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative in 2010. Nicola won the Recruitment and Training category of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (2005) and an Aston Excellence Award for Business and Community Engagement (2010).

Programme Director

Established the Birmingham Graduate Apprentice scheme and ran its recruitment for 4 years. Aimed to improve image of the city amongst young professionals and increase retention. Provided advice to the committee on graduate labour market, graduate skills, internships and enterprise projects. (Volunteer)

Birmingham Future

Talent, Retention and Development Committee member

Recruitment for surveyors and construction professionals. Ran graduate and school leaver campaigns for Balfour Beatty, Gallliford Try, Tarmac.

Now Careers UK

Recruitment Consultant

IT contract recruitment. Accounts included Hewlett Packard, Schroders, Flemings, JP Morgan, Manhattan Chase

Nicola Turner MBE