The Pearson Education Limited board
The Board of Pearson Education Limited is responsible for the governance of Pearson's UK education businesses, including the development and administration of qualifications for schools, colleges, higher education and work-based learning settings, plus educational publishing and technologies to support teaching and learning.
Non-executive Directors
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.
Valerie Todd CBE FCIPD
Valerie is a non-executive member of the Executive Committee of the Army Board. She has recently stepped down as the Talent & Resources Director at Crossrail Ltd where she was responsible for ensuring the project has the right people, in the right place at the right time. Prior to this Valerie was the managing director of group services at Transport for London.
Valerie chaired Investors in People from 2010 to 2018 and was instrumental in leading the UK’s premier brand for people management through a period of growth change and renewal.
She has also been a governor and board member at the University of West London and a trustee of the London transport Museum.
Between 2007 and 2016 she served as a government advisor on skills and employment as a Commissioner to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
Valerie has a BA (Hons) Degree, a MBA and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of the University of Derby.
Valerie was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to skills, employment and the development of young people.
Sally Dicketts CBE
Sally Dicketts has held senior posts in both secondary schools and further education. She became Principal at Milton Keynes College in 1996, and in 2003 became the first Principal of Oxford & Cherwell Valley College.
In 2010, Oxford and Cherwell Valley College took over the responsibility for running Reading College and in 2013 set up a UTC in Reading. In 2013 she became the first Chief Executive of Activate Learning, bringing together in one group, seven FE Colleges (Banbury & Bicester College, City of Oxford College and Reading College, Bracknell and Wokingham and Guildford College Group), four UTC’s (UTC Reading, UTC Oxfordshire, UTC Heathrow and UTC Swindon), two 11-18 secondary schools (Bicester and Theale Green), a studio school, a training provider delivering apprentices, training and consulting in the workplace and a specialist engineering training provider. We also work internationally and have four female colleges in Saudi Arabia, and work in China, India and Malaysia.
Sally is a tireless campaigner and advocate for the learning and skills sector. She is a board member of ETF, was a board member of AoC and AMiE. She chaired the Women’s leadership network and was the chair of the Employment committee of the AoC. Sally has chaired several other National committees, which have ranged from Communications to the National Open College Network. She is a member of the Oxfordshire Management Club, All Souls Group and was a leading thinker for the National Education Trust. She sat for many years on the Oxfordshire LEP, is now deputy chair of their skills board. Sally was appointed President of the Association of Colleges in August 2020. Sally was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Honours list in July 2013.
Her main area of interest is in how people learn, mindfulness and how to develop more entrepreneurial innovative individuals. She enjoys travel, cycling, Zumba and spending time with her partner and daughter.
John Laramy CBE
John Laramy is Principal and Chief Executive of Exeter College, an Ofsted Outstanding, Award-Winning Tertiary College with a turnover of £42m.
John was appointed as Principal and CEO at the beginning of 2016. Prior to this, he was Vice Principal. In total, John has been at Exeter College for over 10 years. John completed his Postgraduate Certificate of Education in Post-Compulsory Education in 1996. He proceeded to join what was then called North Devon College in 1997 as a Lecturer, progressing through various roles before joining the Senior Leadership Team in 2004.
John was a founding director of the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust. He was also a founding Chair of the Exeter Specialist Mathematics School. Both the Ted Wragg Trust and the Exeter Mathematics Schools are highly successful partnerships between the University of Exeter and Exeter College.
In 2018, John became a Non-Executive Director of Pearson Education Limited. John sits on a national steering group for executive education in Further Education, a collaborative between the Education and Training Foundation and the Oxford Said Business School. In 2019, John became a Director of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership.
John holds a BSc (Hons) in Construction Management from the University of the West of England and an MSc in Educational Leadership from the University of Leicester. He is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Building.
John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to education.
Executive Directors
Rod Bristow
President, Pearson UK & Global Online Learning
Rod Bristow is President, global OBL, global OPM & UK 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 30 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, Governor of the BMAT Multi-Academy Trust, Governor of Harlow College and past President of the Publishers Association. He is also Chair of the judging panel for the National Teaching Awards and Honorary Group Captain RAuxAF. Rod is a graduate of University College London.
Dr Gary A Gates
Senior Vice President, Global Business (Pearson VUE) & UK Higher Education
Gary joined Pearson in 2011 to lead the Pearson VUE business outside North America by growing our customer base, establishing partnerships, recommending acquisitions, and collaborating with established Pearson businesses located in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, South Africa, India, China, Japan, Korea, and Australia. In January 2019, Gary extended his responsibilities at Pearson by also taking on the leadership of our UK Higher Education business.
Gary’s considerable experience launching international enterprises includes development, commercialisation, and internationalisation of innovative technology which transformed how governments and other constitutions source traffic information. He has also negotiated and established joint ventures and has won new business on a global scale. Prior to joining Pearson, he was a company director of ITIS Holdings plc and held management positions with British Nuclear Fuels Plc and British Energy.
Gary received his PhD in Computational Physics from the University of Liverpool and graduated with honors from the University of York with a BSc in Theoretical Physics.
Sharon Hague
Senior Vice President, UK Schools
Sharon is Senior Vice President at Pearson, where she has worked for over 20 years. She is responsible for the development and delivery of qualifications and assessments, together with providing primary and secondary with high-quality teaching and learning resources.
She has extensive experience of working closely with governments, schools and other partners to provide services that help children and young people make progress in their lives. Sharon is an advocate for inclusivity both in the workplace and within education.
Sharon graduated from Oxford and trained as a qualified teacher and taught in schools in Essex and Hertfordshire for eight years. She is a speaker for the charity, Speaker for Schools, and is a governor at a secondary and primary school.
Cindy Rampersaud
Senior Vice President, Pearson BTEC and Apprenticeships
Cindy joined Pearson in 2017 as is SVP - BTEC and Apprenticeships where she is responsible for Pearson UK's portfolio of technical, vocational and apprenticeship qualifications.
Cindy moved into the education sector in 2011 as Deputy Principal of City & Islington College and in 2016 was appointed a Deputy Further Education Commissioner by the DfE. Prior to moving into the education sector, Cindy held a number of senior roles within the entertainment media sector including EMI, Warner Brothers and Virgin.
Cindy is a trustee of the UK ASEAN British Council, The Speakers Trust and an Honorary Lifetime Member of The Children’s Society.
Derek Richardson
Vice President and Senior Responsible Officer, Pearson UK
Derek was appointed Vice President and Senior Responsible Officer of Pearson UK in September 2017.
He is accountable for the successful delivery of qualifications both in the UK and internationally. He is Pearson's designated Responsible Officer to Ofqual, CCEA, Qualification Wales and SQA in relation to compliance with our conditions of recognition as an awarding organisation.
Derek has degrees from Teesside and Sussex Universities and his background over the last 18 years has been in educational assessment.
He started work in Edexcel’s A level English team as the curriculum 2000 reforms were being introduced and also holds a post as school governor.
He has held various posts within Pearson, most recently as Director for Qualification Development, Assessment & Awarding across GCSEs, A levels, BTEC, Apprenticeships and International qualifications.
Anna Hope
VP Finance, Schools & BTEC, Pearson UK
Anna was appointed Vice President of Finance in January 2020 and is responsible for leading the UK Schools and BTEC and Apprenticeship finance teams providing financial, strategic and commercial support to SVP BTEC and Apprenticeship, UK Schools and their leadership teams.
Anna has over eight years of experience in Pearson across a variety of finance roles. Prior to Pearson, she spent time at Nuffield Health and PricewaterhouseCoopers in commercial finance, audit and transaction services working across Health, Retail and Consumer and Manufacturing industry sectors.
She studied Economics and Accountancy at Glasgow university and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
