FETL Vice Chair Mike Smith awarded OBE
The FETL Trustees and President sent their congratulations to Mike Smith who has received an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Mike is the Vice Chair of FETL and Chair of the Funding Committee. He is pictured announcing the first round of FETL grant funding at FETL's inaugural lecture in March 2015.
Mike Smith said,
“I’m very honoured and privileged to have been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. It’s not just recognition for me but for every one in Gen2 for their dedication and commitment to providing outstanding education and training for both our learners, as well as our employers”.
FETL President Dame Ruth Silver welcomed the award saying,
“Mike Smith’s honour is indeed very well deserved . His passion for top quality apprenticehips, his dedication to learning and his commitment to the skills sector as a whole system energises us all. He is not only a force for excellence, he is an inspiration to all who work with him.”
FETL Chair Jill Westerman CBE echoed this saying,
“I was thrilled to hear of Mike Smith’s honour. It is a privilege to serve alongside him on the FETL board. His relentless focus on ensuring our work has an enduring impact has been an inspiration both to me and our fellow Trustees.”
Mike Smith has over 25 years of experience working both in and with the FE sector and is currently the CEO of Gen2 Training and Vice Chair of FETL.
Prior to joining Gen2, Mike worked for 20 years in the nuclear industry in a variety of senior roles. His experience includes maintenance of chemical and active waste plants, the establishment of engineering standards, procedures and policies and the management of large multi-million pound capital plant and decommissioning projects.
Mike is a Chartered Engineer by profession, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), a Fellow of the City & Guilds Institute of London, and a member of the Institute of Directors. During his career he has had significant experience in the design and delivery of high quality training and educational programmes to support the engineering, nuclear and advanced manufacturing sectors.
During his time with Gen2, Mike has become deeply involved in education and training issues at both local and national level having been; a governor at two secondary schools/academies, a local FE College governor, as well as a past chair of the West Cumbria 14-19 Partnership. Mike now sits on the Programme Board of the Energy Coast Campus, a collaboration between local universities, the College, major employers and Gen2, and he is a Trustee of the Energy Coast University Technical College.
