Lowell was Principal of Dudley College of Technology from 10th March 2008 until 31st December 2019, leading the college through three successful Ofsted inspections, culminating in the award of ‘outstanding provider’ in 2017. Lowell was previously, Principal of South Leicestershire College, which also achieved Ofsted ‘outstanding provider’ status. Lowell is a National Leader of Further Education. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Black Country Living Museum, Chair of the West Midlands Further Education Skills and Productivity Group and is a Fellow of the Institute of Innovation & Knowledge Exchange. In January 2020, he was appointed Non-executive Director at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.
Lowell led the creation of the multi-million pound Dudley Learning Quarter. This inspirational new town centre campus includes Dudley Evolve, a state of the art vocational centre, Dudley Sixth, a dedicated A level centre, Dudley Advance, centre for advanced manufacturing and engineering technologies and most recently Dudley Advance II, centre for building technologies, which opened to students in Autumn 2017.
Valerie’s background is as a Public Health Specialist. She has served as a Board Executive Director of health authorities for 18 years, latterly as Director of Public Health in Dudley from 2002 to 2014. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust. Valerie holds a BSc (Hons) from Bristol University, a DipSocAdmin from London School of Economics, a MSocSci and MPH from Birmingham University. She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Faculty of Public Health. Valerie was born and went to school in Dudley and currently lives in the Borough.
Professor Paul Noon OBE is the Chair of the Corporation at Dudley College.
Paul is the founder of The Professor-AI, a consultancy that helps businesses and professionals adopt AI safely, responsibly and effectively. His work focuses on practical AI governance, fact-checking and building confidence in AI tools without the hype. He provides consulting, training and coaching to organisations looking to get real value from AI while managing its risks.
Paul is Emeritus Professor of AI and Innovation at Coventry University, where he previously served for ten years as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Enterprise and Innovation. Before that, he had a distinguished career with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, focused on developing the economic prosperity of the UK. He went on to serve as Regional Director of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) West Midlands, supporting local businesses to grow their export markets and attracting inward investment to the region.
Paul is a champion of devolution and continues to work collaboratively with partners across the West Midlands to drive growth and prosperity in the region.
Tom is Chairman of Westley Group Ltd (a foundry group of companies) and Chairman of Westley Plastics Ltd (a specialist nylon casting business).
He graduated from Imperial College with a degree in Metallurgy and is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of The Institute of Cast Metals Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Tom sits on the board of the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and is a board member of The Cast Metals Federation, which is the trade association for the UK foundry industry. Tom is a liveryman within The Worshipful Company of Founders and was Chairman of Castings Technology International Ltd. He is also on the board of the West Midlands Combined Authority Growth Company Ltd and was recently appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands.
Tom is Chair of the Local Advisory Committee of St James Academy.
As the sponsor, Dudley College of Technology is a corporate member of the Trust