New Chair for One Awards
24th November 2014 Date of publication
David Hall has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board of Trustees for One Awards and takes up his post this month from outgoing Chair, Ray Snowdon who has been a Trustee since 2006 and led the board from 2011.
Ray Snowdon, Business Development Consultant at PDS; a division of Global Knowledge, has taken the decision to step down as Chair of One Awards as a result of the success of PDS expanding their corporate apprenticeship activities.This has led to increased travel and reduced time – a mixed blessing!
On stepping down as Chair Ray said “It’s been an extremely enjoyable 8 years on the Board, and a privilege to be Chair, especially during our 20th anniversary celebrations which showcased our rich heritage and legacy of learning and achievement. Recently we have seen significant transition for the business. Being part of a significant rebrand from OCN North East Region to One Awards, further development and enhancement of an established partnership with NOCN, a leading national awarding organisation, and expansion into new office space as a result of growth of the organisation has been challenging but really enjoyable. The Board, outstanding leadership team and fantastic staff have embraced change head-on and as a result we are well placed to prosper.”
Louise Morritt, Chief Executive of One Awards said “Ray has provided consistent support to me throughout his time at One Awards and has been a resounding success with all of the staff. Despite his own work commitments he made an effort to get to know the staff team and become a very valued member. His contribution over 8 years has been impressive, leading with enthusiasm, passion and importantly a sense of humour. He will be missed by all at One Awards.”
David Hall, Head of Leisure, Strategy and Transformation at the Northumbrian Water Group, holds an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters Degree in Leadership & Management. He is particularly interested in education and has held a number of governance roles, particularly as a leader for schools in Ofsted categories and special measures, having been appointed to lead the first Interim Executive Board in Northumberland. His leadership was highlighted by Ofsted in 2012 in a best practice report: “Governance - Learning from the best”.
David is deeply passionate about the impact that improving education has in changing the economic and social prospects of communities, families and individuals, and believes that it is necessary to achieve this in a variety of different ways according to people’s skills.
He says: “I’m delighted to be appointed as Chairman of One Awards - a fantastic organisation that guides and accredits hundreds of vocational courses in a huge variety of subjects every year and offers people practical and useful qualifications that set people of all ages on the road to learning, in many cases leading to a new found confidence, skills and a worthwhile job.
We are all born with a variety of strengths and everyone has different educational needs. Some of us are creative, some are more practical, while others are academic. My own journey wasn’t 100% straightforward but I got there in the end. We need more good vocational teaching, along with excellent, respected qualifications that take into account everyone’s individual strengths in order to achieve balanced communities.
One Awards do a fantastic job of helping people of all ages and stages in their lives to achieve good training and qualifications that will be useful in the workplace and community. It’s a great organisation with a team who are totally committed to ensuring everyone achieves their true potential.I’m very proud to be involved with them.”
Louise Morritt, Chief Executive of One Awards says: “David Hall is a very inspiring leader with passionate ideals and beliefs in education that closely match our own, along with a wonderful, can-do attitude. We are immensely pleased to have him as our New Chair.”
