The Pearson Education Limited board

Sir David Melville CBE

Chair, Pearson Education Limited

David Melville is a board member of Manchester Metropolitan University and the Network for Black and Asian Professionals. He's also patron of the 157 Group, Comprehensive Future, the Disabled Sailors Association, Faversham Creek Trust and the Thames Gateway Young Chamber.

He began his career as a lecturer and later a professor of physics and from 2001 to 2007 he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent. He was previously Chief Executive of the Further Education Funding Council and before that he was Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University. He was a member of the Tomlinson Review of 14-19 Curriculum and Qualifications, the Foundation Degree Task Force and the Foster Review of the Future of Further Education Colleges.

He has been a primary, secondary and academy chair or vice-chair of school governors; a board member of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, The Place and the Council for Industry and Higher Education; Chair of Health Education and the NHS Postgraduate Deanery for Kent, Surrey and Sussex, Lifelong Learning UK, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Learning and Skills Council in Kent and Medway, the University Vocational Awards Council and Higher Education South East.

Iain Mackinnon

Managing Director of the Mackinnon Partnership

Iain is Managing Director of The Mackinnon Partnership, a public policy consultancy specialising in the skills field, working with skills and economic development bodies throughout the UK. He is also Secretary to the Maritime Skills Alliance, a recognised Standards Setting Body which has developed an award-winning flexible suite of qualifications for the UK's maritime sector.

Iain was a governor of Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College (EHWLC) and a predecessor college for 14 years to 2013, including five years as Chairman. EHWLC is one of the largest further education colleges in Britain, with 23,000 students and £55m turnover.

On graduating from Cambridge University, Iain joined the Civil Service where his work included both national policy work and senior operations management, with a spell as Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Employment. He left to become chief executive of a training and job search charity, and then of a Training and Enterprise Council. He set up his own consultancy in 1999.

Iain has also been an NHS non-executive director, a school governor and a member of the Basic Skills Agency's Advisory Committee.

Stephen Grix

Principal and Chief Executive of MidKent College of Higher and Further Education

Stephen left school at age 15 with no qualifications. He subsequently achieved two degrees and a host of vocational qualifications, all through part-time study. He started his academic career at Bexley College, Kent, in 1977 and progressed through various posts before being appointed as Principal of Sir George Monoux College, London in 1996.

Stephen then joined Ofsted as a senior manager in 2000 before being appointed Corporate Director, Education for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 2002. Stephen has been Principal of MidKent College since March 2005.

Professor Roger John Lloyd Murphy

Professor of Education, University of Nottingham

Professor Roger Murphy is a specialist in the field of educational assessment. Over the last 35 years, he has undertaken a large number of national and international research projects, and has written over 100 books and articles about educational assessment. His interests span all phases of education and lifelong learning, and he has carried out research in primary and secondary education as well as further and higher education and work-based learning.

Professor Murphy is Director of Postgraduate Research in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham. He is a former Head of Department in the School of Education, and Dean of the Faculty of Education and, in 1995/6, he was the President of the British Educational Research Association. He is also a qualified schoolteacher and experienced university educator.

As well as his work with the main UK awarding bodies, Professor Murphy has worked with a number of government agencies and other assessment bodies both in the UK and internationally. He sits on two Ofqual committees and advises the General Dental Council and several other professional bodies on assessment matters.

Dr Margaret M Wilson

MBA, MSc, BEd, RSA

Margaret is an educational professional with over 30 years' experience of working in and leading a wide range of schools. She has been a Principal and Executive Principal in three large comprehensive schools and academies across the Thames gateway from inner London to Essex.

Between 2008 and 2010 she was an adviser to the academies division of the then DCSF, supporting a wide range of academies. She is a National Challenge Adviser and School Improvement Partner, and on behalf of the department supported schools which were failing or in challenging circumstances across the south east of England. She regularly provides keynote presentations to school leaders on raising standards across a range of national and international venues.

In 2009 she was asked to work in the Middle East to provide leadership training for principals as part of the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s strategy for school improvement. As a result, she is now the Education Adviser for a group of private international schools in Qatar.

She is a National Leader of Education and the Principal of the highly successful King John School in Essex. The school became an academy in April 2011, and as a designated national support school is sponsor to a new academy as well as lead partner in a National Challenge Trust school.

Margaret was recently awarded a doctorate by Anglia Ruskin University for her contribution to education.

Richard Price

Richard Price, a chartered accountant, was co-founder of the BPP group, which comprises BPP University and a range of publishing and professional training businesses.

Following his retirement as BPP's chairman in 2002, Richard's principal business role was as chairman of awarding body EDI plc until its acquisition in 2011 by Pearson.

Richard Price is chairman of the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM). He sings in, and is a former chairman of, The Bach Choir. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Music following his retirement as a council member. He is vice-president and a former chairman of Action Medical Research.

Richard and his wife Susan have two grown-up children and four grandchildren. Their shared interests include music, golf, walking and bridge. Although their principal home is in London, they are able to spend some leisure time in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Rod Bristow

President, UK and Core

Rod Bristow is President, Core Markets for Pearson. Core Markets include those 100+ countries with, in general, developed economies and education systems. In 2010, Rod became President for Pearson UK and was appointed to lead all other Core Markets for Pearson in January 2014.

Rod has worked in education, publishing and assessment for thirty years in universities, schools, colleges, professional training and learning technologies in the UK and internationally. He is a Trustee for the Education and Employers Taskforce, a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts and past President of the Publishers Association.

Rod is a graduate of University College London.

Catie Sheret

Associate General Counsel, Core Markets

Catie leads the team managing legal and regulatory risk for Pearson's Core markets and advises the Board on all major legal and governance matters.

She has a degree in English and French law from the London School of Economics and qualified as a solicitor in 1996 with Linklaters in London. She joined the Pearson legal team in 1999 and has worked with the international education businesses since then. She has been a community governor for a primary school and is currently trustee for a free school.

Sharon Hague

Senior Vice President, Pearson Qualification Services, and Senior Responsible Officer

Sharon was appointed Senior Vice President of Pearson Qualifications Services in February 2016. She is responsible for the development and delivery of Pearson UK's portfolio of qualifications and assessments including the National Curriculum Tests (NCT) contract.

Sharon graduated from Oxford and trained as a teacher. She taught in schools in Essex and Hertfordshire for 8 years working for Edexcel as an A level examiner. She joined Pearson in January 2000 and, over the past 14 years, has held a variety of posts including Qualification Development and Assessment Director, Head of General Qualifications Assessment and Quality Manager for the NCT programme.