Before moving across to concentrate on managing HR and Management qualifications Kate was, for 10 years, an HR manager and then HR Director for a local business. She has over 20 years experience delivering professional qualifications and has built up a reputation for delivering quality programmes with an exceptional pass rate. Kate is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), has a BA (Hons) degree in Humanities/Social Studies, and also a PGCE teaching qualification. She is also a qualified Assessor/IQA as well as being an EQA for CIPD.

Beth started her career as a Retail Manager before moving into training and development and qualifying as an assessor of NVQs. She has experience of learning and development in organisations in both the Middle East and the UK, and has lectured in Business at City College Norwich. Beth has been involved with the delivery of professional qualifications since 1995 when she began working with Kate. She has a Certificate in Education and Assessor qualifications.

Having previously worked with Kate and Beth she joined Blue Sky at the beginning, gradually increasing her responsibility and indispensability over the years.  She has worked in administration for over 20 years in a variety of roles and for a number of those years as an experienced PA within the training environment, moving on only to develop her own small business. Nikki’s role is to manage the administration function including student evaluation, and the day to day accounts.  She has an NVQ level 3 in Business Administration. She was also a Regional PA of the year winner.

Caren joined the team in 2018 after a long-standing career in Retail Banking. She worked in numerous branches during her career and worked through significant change in the Banking Sector. At the height of her career, she was an Area Manager looking after a team of Mortgage Advisers in the East Anglia area, with responsibility for their training & development and sales performance. Caren has specific responsibility for Blue Sky’s student database and its upkeep, she also coordinates the distribution of learning materials to students, monitors feedback for evaluation purposes, supports our Office Manager and has become an integral part of the Blue Sky team.

Jen has worked in education and organisational learning and development for over 20 years and is an experienced HR Practitioner. Jen's first experience in education was as a riding instructor, and later working in further education supporting apprentices, along with delivering basic skills and employability sessions to students who had been unable to complete their compulsory education. A move into organisational learning and development saw her develop a real passion for supporting people, and her role expanded to cover all elements of HR. Jen is CIPD qualified in Human Resources and Human Resource Development. She has also completed the Advanced Certificate in Employment Law and has her Cert-Ed. Jen has experience in the charity and not-for-profit sectors as well as with commercial operations. She has worked extensively in employee relations and case management, as well as supporting the development of inclusive working cultures. Jen is currently the Head of HR for the Good Law Project and believes that people are an organisation’s most valuable asset. Jen joined Blue Sky in 2023 as a part-time tutor and is excited about being able to go right back to her educational roots and support the development of others in the field of HR.

Stella is an experienced senior HR professional and project manager and is a director of BlueStar HR.  With almost 20 years’ experience across the full range of HR activities, she has managed major change programmes in both the public and private sector and has contributed to HR strategy and plans on a pan European basis and has expertise with local authority clients. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and has a Certificate in Teaching in the Life long Learning Sector, a Certificate in Counselling Skills and is a qualified MBTI practitioner. Stella is also a Professional Coach for Colchester Institute’s HR Apprenticeship Programme, and is a school governor at two local schools. Stella works as a tutor and assessor for Blue Sky Professional Development delivering CIPD programmes at all levels as well as bespoke HR training.

Andrea is a diverse people professional with over 25 years’ experience of delivering HR, OD, transformation and wellbeing programmes. She has worked across a range of sectors to include research and clinical, charity, CIC and local government. Andrea has operated at Director/board level for over 14 years successfully delivering strategic and operational functions with significant experience of working on commercialisation, efficiency and change management projects while using her wellbeing skills and experience to advise on workplace resilience and wellbeing capacity. In 2020 Andrea established her consultancy service Big Sky People and has been operating as an independent consultant and interim people specialist since then. Andrea is a chartered MCIPD with a Masters in Employment Law, a qualified counsellor, Mental Health First Aid England instructor and long-standing Samaritan volunteer. Andrea tutors on Blue Sky’s CIPD Foundation and Associate programmes.

John is a Leadership Development Specialist and Executive Coach with over 15 years’ experience supporting the development and success of high performing leaders and teams. John spent a large part of his career leading operational teams formed of IT and satellite communications specialists within the British Army, which included a tour of Afghanistan and other global operations. He moved into leadership development, leading an academic faculty delivering leadership programmes, up to masters level, along with being an award-winning Head Coach responsible for elite athlete development programmes and international competition. Following his passion, John moved into the commercial arena in order to establish himself as an executive coach and has worked with clients across various sectors, focussing on people development and cultural transformation. John joined Blue Sky in 2022 as an ILM Tutor / Assessor looking after a range of leadership, management, and coaching programmes.

Tanya has over 15 years HR experience within public and private sector roles. She started her HR career with Suffolk police in a role focussed on diversity and was able to undertake her CIPD qualification during this time. Tanya’s early career was as an agency recruiter, where she experienced many sectors - Driving & Warehouse, IT/Technology, Catering, Healthcare and Admin. She still has a passion for good recruitment processes and candidate experience. Tanya is passionate about developing strong people managers, employee engagement and the whole colleague life cycle. With people being the main asset of any organisation, their experience is critical to the success of the business. Tanya is currently the Lead HRBP at Haringey Council, managing a team of Business Partners and partnering children’s services. She joined Blue Sky in 2022, specialising in Employment Relationship Management at Associate level.

Rachel has broad generalist knowledge across all areas of HR gained from multiple HR and management roles. She currently works as HR Manager for a manufacturing business, where she has full responsibility for all areas of the employee lifecycle and HR strategy. Prior to this Rachel worked as HR Manager and Head of HR for an online retailer where she built the HR department from scratch and helped support the company’s growth from 20 to 120 employees. Rachel also has experience as a HR Consultant, advising multiple businesses on any people related query, in addition to implementing employee engagement initiatives and projects for clients. Rachel has a law degree and went on to complete her Level 5 Diploma in HR Management with Blue Sky when she started her HR career. Since then, she has also completed two Level 7 CIPD Awards; Leading, Managing and Developing People and Employment Law. She is particularly interested in learning and development, employee engagement and culture, and is also qualified to deliver Insights Discovery behavioural psychometric training.

Jane is a senior HR practitioner with over 30 years’ experience. In addition to the UK, she has worked extensively in the US, China, and Japan, has substantial experience in the biotechnology sector as well as having worked in a wide range of other sectors. Jane completed an MSc in People and Organisational Development in 2018 with a thesis focusing on founders, their personal values and organisational culture. In addition to her Batchelors degree in Social Policy and CIPD qualifications, Jane holds a City and Guilds qualification in adult education and is an MBTI practitioner. Throughout her career, Jane has been passionate about developing people, building teams, and enabling organisations to fulfil their corporate ambitions. Jane is excited to work with Blue Sky Professional Development as it is an opportunity to support new and developing HR professionals on their career journeys. Outside of Blue Sky, Jane continues to work as a coach, and HR & Organisational Development consultant.

Gillian started a career in Human Resources helping her mum run a Payroll Bureau at the kitchen table. Since then, with another 35 years of experience, she has worked in a number of Human Resources roles, including that of HR Director, HR Consultant and as a Trainer across a number of industry sectors, including technology, food processing, logistics, health care and hospitality. For twenty years she was the Managing Director of a HR software company, supplying UK businesses. She has a Master’s degree in Human Resources Management, a PGCE from the University of Suffolk and a post-graduate diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Gillian is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. Gillian now works independently as a HR Consultant and as a Tutor for Blue Sky Professional Development, delivering CIPD programmes at all levels. She also works as a Human Resources Lecturer at the University of Hatfield and at Hertfordshire International College.