Driving busines forward
04/02/2010
John Peel OBE
The College is joining in the celebrations for this year's National Apprenticeship Week (1-5 Feb); today's national theme is 'driving business forward'.
Our very own Chair of Corporation John Peel OBE, who was the Managing Director at Varian Medical Systems UK from 1995 to 2004 started his professional life as a machine tool apprentice with Wickman of Coventry, later becoming a student apprentice who Wickman put through a Mechanical Engineering degree at the Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) and then a masters degree in Operational Research at the University of Birmingham where he met his wife Pam. During this six year period John studied and also received practical training in almost every part of Wickman ranging from heat treatment to strategic planning; progress chasing to asset management.
John has been Chair of Central Sussex College's Corporation since its inception in 2005 and was re-elected for a further three-year term in July 2009. He was previously a member of the Corporation of Crawley College from 1999 and Chair for its final two years. In 2005 he also completed a five-year stint on the Council of Sussex University and remains on its Court. He is a member of the Steering Group (led by the University of Brighton) determined to set up a University Centre in Crawley.
John was awarded an OBE in June 2005 for his services to export while working at Varian Medical Systems UK in Crawley. During the 18 years he spent as Managing Director with the radiotherapy manufacturer he took the business from a loss-making £3 million turnover to a highly profitable £60+ million turnover. He retired from Varian in September 2005.
John was a member of the Board of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA, the RDA for the South East) from December 2002 until December 2008 and Chairman of Sussex Enterprise from October 1999 until June 2003, elected to the board of the British Chambers of Commerce in 2000 and to the post of Deputy President in 2004, retiring from both positions in June 2005. He has been a Director of the West Sussex Economic Partnership from its inception in 2002 and took up the position of Chairman of West Sussex County Council's Economic, Skills and Enterprise Board in October 2008.
Following his engineering training, every company with which he has been associated since 1961 has been a member of the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF). John became Chair of EEF South for 2002-4 and again for 2005-8 being elected to the Council of the EEF and a Deputy President in 2002 until 2008 helping to merge all its regions and create EEF Ltd. when he sat on this new board for its first year, retiring in 2009.
John has a passion for excellence in workforce training, communication & empowerment and growing small businesses. To that end he was Business Champion of Crawley's Diamond Enterprise Hub for four years - turning a dream into a physical reality for 75 companies in that period. He was a member of the Gatwick Diamond Steering Committee and took on the mantle of leading its education and training sub group for three years.
He now chairs Sussex Community Foundation whose strapline "local giving for local needs" describes its purpose exactly. John says that this and chairing the College is an opportunity for him to give back to Sussex and the Gatwick Diamond just a little of what the area has given him over the last 25 years. He also said that it is a real pleasure to visit Varian from time-to-time and meet up with some of the 20 ex-apprentices who he helped put through the company and the College, and to see how successful they have been in their chosen careers. "All they needed was a steer in the right direction," he said.
For more information on becoming an apprentice, or if you are an employer considering apprenticeships to recruit new or train existing staff contact our Apprenticeship team on 01293 453512, email employers@centralsussex.ac.uk or visit our Apprenticeships page.
