Meet the ColegauCymru Team
Staff
Chief Executive
David Hagendyk
About David Hagendyk
David.Hagendyk@colegaucymru.ac.uk
Director of Finance
Carolyn Thomas
About Carolyn Thomas
Carolyn.Thomas@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Carolyn has worked in the further education sector since 1991, having previously been an accountant for a small college. She has worked as CollegesWales Finance Director since 2004 and is a fellow of the ACCA.
Director of Development
Kelly Edwards
About Kelly Edwards
Kelly.Edwards@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Kelly leads the CollegesWales Development Programme which aims to enrich the learning experience and enhance learning outcomes for the further education sector. She works with the Principals’ Forum and the Board of Directors to ensure the Programme is aligned to the vision and mission of the charity.
Director of Policy and Public Affairs
Rachel Cable
About Rachel Cable
Rachel.Cable@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Rachel Cable leads the ColegauCymru Policy and Public Affairs Team, ensuring our work is in line with the organisation’s strategic objectives.
Prior to joining ColegauCymru, Rachel spent 15 years working in policy, campaigns and advocacy in Wales, including for Universities Wales, and coordinating campaigns for a Member of Parliament. Rachel also headed up Oxfam Cymru’s multi-disciplinary team across policy, advocacy, media, and education, including chairing the Disasters Emergency Committee Cymru.
Alongside these roles, Rachel is a school governor and has acted as a charity trustee for a students’ union.
Project Manager - European and International
Siân Holleran
About Siân Holleran
Sian.Holleran@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Siân joined CollegesWales as European and International Coordinator in November 2010. Her main areas of work include coordinating a programme of overseas training opportunities for staff, learners and apprentices, acting for the Welsh Government as the National Contact Point for EU initiatives and selling Wales to the world through working collaboratively with international partners.
Siân is fluent in French, Spanish and Welsh and previously worked for CILT Cymru, the national centre for languages, promoting the learning of modern languages as a valuable skill for young people in an increasingly globalised world. She continues to share her love of languages and the cultures of other countries by promoting the benefits to young people of spending periods of time studying or working overseas. Siân also represents the further education sector on the steering group of Routes into Languages Cymru.
Project Manager - Sport and Well-being
Rob Baynham
About Rob Baynham
Robert.Baynham@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
With over 20 years experience in the further education sector, Rob has been involved in a wide variety of regional and national initiatives and projects with the current focus moving towards well being and employability of FE students. As National Sports Coordinator for FE in Wales, Rob’s responsibilities include managing Welsh Colleges Sport and developing participation, volunteering and sporting pathways for FE students. Since Rob joined CollegesWales in 2014, an additional 3,000+ FE students have participated in different initiatives with over 100 new student leaders created to support college projects. New initiatives and developments in participation and employability opportunities have also continued to rise.
Project Officer
Nia Brodrick
About Nia Brodrick
Nia.Brodrick@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Nia has worked in the further sector since 2013. She is currently the CollegesWales Project Officer, a role which involves co-ordinating projects such as Work Welsh, Mental Health and the current EQAVET restricted call 3.
Finance Officer
Gill Barclay
About Gill Barclay
Gill.Barclay@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Gill works as CollegesWales' Finance Officer. Additional to this role, she leads on the IT support and facilities management of the organisation.
ALN Transformation Lead FE
Chris Denham
About Chris Denham
Chris.Denham@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Chris' career started working in the construction industry in Surrey before completing his Cert Ed at Huddersfield Polytechnic and then moving to Pontypool to take up a lecturing post at Pontypool College. Chris was instrumental in setting up the first special needs link courses with Crownbridge Special School in the late 1980s and after some retraining, he developed a new full-time special needs programme at Pontypool. As this provision grew, he recognised the need for support within mainstream and so took an additional qualification in specific learning difficulties and established a support centre at the college.
Following incorporation and the creation of Coleg Gwent, Chris occupied several management posts before taking on the role of ALN Manager for Coleg Gwent in 2014. During this time he also represented the college on the ColegauCymru ALN Network, performing the role of Chair from 2014.
Chris has worked closely with Welsh Government over the last four years to help shape the Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal (ALNET) Act and Code of Practice. He took up his current post with CollegesWales in January 2018 and continues to support colleges across Wales as they prepare for the implementation of ALNET.
Communications Manager
Lucy Hopkins
About Lucy Hopkins
Lucy.Hopkins@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Lucy manages our communications and marketing activities, in line with the organisation’s strategic objectives. She ensures our communications are both influential, informative and appropriate to our stakeholders.
Policy Officer
Amy Evans
About Amy Evans
Amy graduated from Swansea University in 2011 with a degree in Media and Communications. Following 5 years in the retail sector, she joined CollegesWales as a Receptionist. In May 2017, she took on the the role of Public Affairs Assistant and since March 2020 has been working as our Policy Officer. Amy is a fluent Welsh speaker.
Executive Administrative Assistant
Rachel Rimanti
About Rachel Rimanti
Rachel.Rimanti@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
With 10 years of administrative experience, Rachel is the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and provides administrative support to the organisation. She manages the delivery of key meetings including the Further Education Principals’ Forum.
Policy and Public Affairs Assistant
Jamie Adair
About Jamie Adair
Jamie.Adair@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Jamie joined the ColegauCymru Policy and Public Affairs team from the Welsh Sports Association in April 2022. Before this, he graduated from Swansea University with an MA in Politics and BA in History.
His role is to represent institutions of further education on the national stage, working closely with MSs in the Senedd and with Welsh Government officials, undertaking research and analysis to help develop public policy recommendations.
Jamie is Swansea City season ticket holder and a huge sports fan. He follows football, tennis, darts, golf, snooker and Formula 1.
Administrative Assistant
Vicky Thomas
About Vicky Thomas
Vicky.Thomas@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Vicky’s role as Administrative Assistant involves providing administrative support to the Development team across a variety of projects, including international projects, Sports and Wellbeing, Work-Based Learning and ALN
Strategic Advisor – WBL and Employability
Jeff Protheroe
About Jeff Protheroe
Jeff.Protheroe@ColegauCymru.ac.uk
Jeff is the key point of contact for Welsh Government and other relevant bodies in the sector. He supports the Organisation to formulate sector responses to policy proposals including changes to funding streams, qualification reform, and curriculum development and contribute to apprenticeship framework reviews. He undertakes research to shape and influence policy and develops close links with leaders in colleges to optimise collaboration and innovative solutions. Jeff also convenes working groups and lead on the development and submission of grant applications and other relevant bids for funding on behalf of the FE sector to enhance WBL and employability outcomes.
Administrative Assistant
Charley Green
About Charley Green
Charley joins ColegauCymru as an Administrative Assistant following her recent departure from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she completed her undergraduate degree in Music Performance.
Her role provides direct support to the Development Team and specifically to ColegauCymru Sport where she helps in the administration of events and projects throughout Welsh College Sports and Active Well-being.
Outside of the office, Charley enjoys playing music with the Regimental Band of the Royal Welsh, hiking Pen-y-fan to watch the sunrise and exploring new places.
Principle Human Resources Policy Officer
Kay Leigh
About Kay Leigh
Kay has an HR background spanning 30 years and brings with her experience and knowledge to support ColegauCymru in several HR related projects. Outside of work Kay keeps fit at the gym, supplemented with yoga and pilates classes. She is also learning Welsh and Spanish.
Communications and Marketing Officer
Owain Brodrick
About Owain Brodrick
Owain joined the ColegauCymru Policy and Public Affairs Team as a Communications and Marketing Officer at the end of 2022.
He is responsible for supporting the organisation to ensure that projects are promoted effectively.
Owain has several interests including the arts, sport and cooking. He is a season ticket holder for the Scarlets.
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