National Career Guidance Show (NCGS) London 2024 - Speakers

Harrison Bartlett, Employer Brand Assistant, Kier Group

Harrison started his career at Kier through an apprenticeship, joining the business as a recruitment marketing apprentice as part of Kier’s employer brand team. After completing a Level 3 digital marketing qualification in the summer of 2023, Harrison moved into his current role as an employer brand assistant, working with the team to promote Kier as an employer of choice within the industry. With a passion for promoting apprenticeships as a post-school route, Harrison was part of the Young Inspirers Roadshow in March 2023, and supported a session at his old school, sharing his experience of his career so far.

Jenny Connick, CEO and Founder, Talentino

Jenny is the Founder and CEO of Talentino, an early career development company specialising in working with young people with SEND. Working with over 400 special schools; schools and Colleges in England and as the strategic partner nationally for SEND for the government’s Careers and Enterprise Company, Talentino has great visibility of the challenges and enablers to positive career/life outcomes for young people with SEND. Jenny has a background as an HR Director and approaches the achievement of outcomes from ‘increasing the possibility and probability of paid work’. Talentino trains staff in special schools to run their specialist careers programme; trains employers to understand and become committed to improving the lives of these young people as well as publishing research and models including the latest ‘Little SEND Careers Handbook – do it like you mean it!’ Jenny is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art, is a mum of four boys and lives in Hampshire.

Monet Durieux, Economist, GLA Economics

Monet Durieux is an Economist working on skills and labour market analysis at the Greater London Authority (GLA). She has 14 years of experience as an Economist in the public sector as well as a labour market statistician. Monet’s work has focused on using labour market data to inform policy and understand the pathways which support employment creation for young people.

Dr Mark Frederick, Project Leader, UK & Europe Citizenship Team, Barclays LifeSkills

Mark joined Barclays in 2012 and Barclays LifeSkills in 2015. He was first responsible for programme operations, and over the years assumed a variety of roles within the team, including strategy and content development for resources aimed at adults, reporting and assurance. He has also led an intensive intervention initiative working with local organisations to build skills and confidence in young people and adults across different locations within the UK. Mark is passionate about helping others and the importance of transferable skills for employment, he has also previously worked as an engineer, pianist and as an English teacher in Spain for one and a half years.

Caroline Green, Founder, The Talent Cycle

Caroline is a Career Development Expert, RCDP, Learning and Development professional and the CDI Private Sector Career Coach/Consultant of the Year 2023. In her role as Founder of The Talent Cycle she acts as a Careers Sector Evangelist to help raise awareness and engagement with the sector, through speaking, writing and appearing in national media. Having been used as an example of best practice by the NfER for her work in schools, she advises individuals, organisations, and educational establishments on how to raise the profile of the all-important careers work they do.

Mandy Green, Hub Lead, South East Midlands Careers Hub

Mandy’s professional background is in employability & education. She has previously worked for the DWP, training providers, in FE, for Connexions and more recently as irector of aspiration in a secondary school. With main strengths being innovation and creativity, she is always happy to try something new with some amazing successes and failures along the way! A RCDP, and Experience Careers Leader, one of the first in England to fully meet the Gatsby Benchmarks and revised Quality in Careers standard, winning both a national best practice award and the CEC School of the year award along the way. She has also featured in a BBC Teach video and contributed to Bitesize and CEC articles.

Rachel Green, Education Manager, The Careers and Enterprise Company

Rachel has spent 30 years in the education sector, including work as a Primary School headteacher, and as a Careers Leader in a secondary Multi-Academy Trust before joining The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) in 2019, as an Education Manager. As Programme Delivery Manager for Talking Futures, a major parental engagement project, funded by The Gatsby Foundation, Rachel has a wealth of practical examples, guidance and support, to help all settings engage their parent community in careers education, with increased impact. Rachel also volunteers as a Careers Link Governor and as an Enterprise Adviser for local secondary schools.

Kathryn Lusk, Group Head of Business Development, The Bedford College Group

Kathryn has spent almost ten years working within the business development department at The Bedford College Group and is now group head of business development having previously held roles working as an apprenticeship recruitment advisor, supporting apprentices obtain apprenticeships and also as a business development account manager, supporting employers hiring apprentices and furthermore supporting them with any other training needs and requirements. Kathryn is a passionate advocate for vocational routes in education, having personally completed an apprenticeship after leaving school and has continued to particularly champion alternative routes available in FE and beyond.

Kim Newman, Technical Education Programme Manager, Career Development Institute

Kim joined the Career Development Institute (CDI) in November 2023 as their technical education programme manager, leading on a three year project funded by the Gatsby Foundation which seeks to raise awareness of technical education pathways. With over 25 years’ experience as a careers professional, Kim has worked in schools, colleges and universities and more recently in supporting teachers and careers staff to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks. Kim is passionate about supporting careers professionals to keep up to date with the ever-changing world of education.

Luca Perkins, Business Development Executive, The Bedford College Group

Luca was previously an apprentice coming through the ranks at The Bedford College Group working within the Business Development department. Over the course of 3 years he has progressed from a Business Administration Apprentice to being a Business Development Executive. Assisting organisations to find and reach the correct pathways and needs that benefit them. Luca is a massive advocate for all routes in the FE sector and as an example himself, is committed to telling his story to aspiring apprentices and those unsure of what can be achieved outside of an academic route.

More speakers to be announced soon!