Leadership Team

Rod Doyle
Managing Director
Rod Doyle is a modern leader who believes in creating winning ways and habits through a mixture of theory and common practices. Rod is a fundamental part of the rise of one of the biggest businesses in the United Kingdom that has arisen from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Rod Doyle and the Senior Leadership Team have built a business that nods at Richard Branson’s Virgin approach but has blended this with a 21st Century spin on branding by creating a ‘community of businesses’ that all interact and interconnect to the betterment of each.
Lisa O'Reilly
Commercial Director
Lisa has been at the Tess Group for 6 years & sits on the board of directors. Lisa is at her best when working with Rod to create fresh business solutions and shares the same determined vision to offer high quality value to our clients. She has a vast array of skills to lead teams and create, plan and implement strategies for achieving business goals and as a result tends to lead the dialogue between operations and the board. Lisa has a large amount of experience in dealing with bluechip companies supporting their business needs, and excels in all aspects of Leadership, Sales and Management. Lisa leads with passion, intelligence, energy and the ability to motivate and get the best out of others. Lisa loves high fiving successful people and her favourite holiday destination is Las Vegas.
Steve Laws
Director
Steve is an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the events services industry. Skilled in Crisis Management, Training Programme Design, Operations Management, Coaching, and Training Needs Analysis. Strong professional with a Bachelor's Degree focused in Crowd Safety Management from Buckinghamshire New University. Steve started The Tess Group in 2009 with Rod and Clive Doyle. Steve loves the way we have grown as a company and how we retain our family values. A passion outside of work is music and Steve has played guitar since he was 9! Steve was also in the Lead singer in a 60's covers band until recently and misses the gigs!
Faye Moore
Head of Business Development & Partnerships
Faye has been with The Tess Group for over 2 and a half years. Originally joining us as a BDM, through her hard work and dedication she has progressed into the role of Head of Business Development and Partnerships. Faye shows her passion to find the right training solutions for any client that she engages with to ensure their business goals are not only met but exceeded. She manages a team of Partnership Managers, Telephone Account Managers, Bids and Marketings Executives, bringing together a wealth of knowledge and skills from her team to make sure we stay relevant to the market and ensuring the variety of learning solutions that we provide are tailored to our client's needs. Faye loves to relax after a successful week at work, with a day at the spa, ready for whatever challenges await her the following week!
Briéd Bradshaw
Head of Finance
Briéd is an experienced accounts professional and certified FMAAT. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to The TESS Group having worked in all 3 major sectors: Private, Charity and Local Government. With a reputation for building effective relationships, Briéd is highly personable - a trait not often associated with accounts! She is passionate about providing financials that are relevant and meaningful to support business growth and protect profits. Briéd believes people are the key to driving success, valuing collaboration and teamwork above everything she does. Her demand for exacting standards and high expectations of her team are valued equally without exception.
Lauren Doyle
Head of Data and MIS
Lauren has over ten years of experience working in Further Education having started working in Administration and Audits for DWP contracts in Leicestershire. Since then, Lauren has developed a niche in understanding paperwork and ensuring learners are enrolled correctly. She understands many facets of the company, and therefore the overall learner journey. Aware of the need for accuracy, in their department, to ensure learners achieve successfully and timely, Lauren leads her team to ensure The Tess Group help 1000's of learners to achieve qualifications, every year. Lauren is degree educated having gained a BSc Degree from the University of Leicester. She is currently the Head of Data and MIS for The Tess Group, where she has been a key member since the beginning in 2009. She enjoys being part of a successful team, knowing that they can be relied on, to get a good job done!
Martin Parnham
Head of Delivery
Martin has been with The Tess Group for over 3 years now, and is our Head of Delivery. He is responsible for overseeing the management of a variety of our contracts by maintaining excellent links with our funders, clients, employers and learners. He leads a team of trainers ensuring delivery is of the highest quality with qualified trainers that cover the length and breadth of the country with subject knowledge in a vast range of standards and frameworks. Martin enjoys problem solving, helping both learners and employers to achieve their learning and business goals
Vicky Gale
Head of ESF & Special Projects

Tess Family

Kaila Brown
Partnership Manager
Laura Baker
Partnership Manager
Courteney Wilson
Telephone Account Manager
Shannon Morgan
Senior Team Leader
Now in her fourth year of working at The Tess Group, Shannon brings a wide knowledge of paperwork and contracts to her team, in her role as Business Support Manager and is an essential part of the team. She leads by example and will always go the extra mile to ensure learners are enrolled successfully on to their chosen programme. She monitors the relevant paperwork throughout a learners' journey and is able to build great relationships with learners and employers alike. After completing 3 apprenticeships with The Tess Group in Business Administration, Customer Service and Management, she has progressed from a business support co-ordinator, to project leader, team leader and now Manager. She is hugely qualified which has helped tune her skills and in fact win a number of company and national awards including Apprentice of the Year in 2016. She maintains excellent contact with our funders, learners, employers and cross-company staff to ensure a smooth learning journey for all. She enthuses persistence until a task is achieved and enjoys nothing more than meeting and surpassing targets and driving the team to success.
Catherine Hood
Contracts Compliance Officer
Catherine has been with The Tess Group for almost 3 years now and has worked in a number of departments from Recruitment (being The Tess Group's first ever successful Recruitment Apprentice) to Management Assistant to her current role of Contracts Compliance Officer. As a result of her varied roles, Catherine has a vast skill set that enables her to interact well with clients, employers, funders and learners. She is part of a vibrant and busy Business Support Team, helping to process learner data and paperwork to ensure we have clear, consistent audit trails and accurate information, helping to ensure that learners are completed timely for their relevant qualification. Whilst being a key member of the team with a good eye for details, she was recently voted the Clumsiest employee of the year, at The Tess Group's annual Christmas awards event!
Tazmin Pidgeley
Business Support Co-ordinator
Taz has been with The Tess Group for over 2 years now. Joining us when she had just completed her GCSE's, Taz took her first step on the career ladder as a trainee recruiter. Placing several candidates in her time as a recruiter, Taz has refined her skills and progressed to the Business Support Team, where her attention to detail and dedication to her role are an asset to the team. She always has a smile for everyone and likes to work in a tidy environment to ensure all learner data is processed accurately and safely. She brings a great quality to the team with her bubbly personality and enjoys a sing-song with her teammates to keep up the vibrant atmosphere that Tess are proud of.
John Khan
Regional Contracts Manager
Jermayne Bartley
Partnership Executive
Emma Kelleher
Accounts Assistant
Amanda Twinning
Bid & Tender Project Manager
I have worked for the TESS Group for over 4 and a half years. I am the Bid & Tender Project Manager. I love that my role can be so different, from one day to the next, which keeps it interesting and means I'm constantly developing new skills. I have a degree in European Business with French and lived in France for a year, as part of my degree. I love going back to visit, although I don't get the chance very often. One day a week, after work, I teach French to pre-schoolers at a local nursery.
Annie Laws
Advanced Learner Loan & Compliance Course Manager
Annie has worked for the TESS Group since 2010 and manages the Advanced Learner Loan contract and Compliance courses. Annie has extensive administrative and managerial experience in both the public and private sectors. Out of work time Annie is studying for a degree with the Open University and is researching into her family tree. Annie once appeared on The Weakest Link and won an IPOD in a quiz on Radio 2. Don’t ask her about 80s music!
Ben Gernon
Customer Liaison Officer and Recruiter
Ben has been with The Tess Group family for almost a year now. He has a number of talents and has a cross-team role here at Tess. He is a Customer Liaison Officer and Recruiter. He has an excellent natural rapport with clients, customers, learners and employers. He is able to source vacancies, find ideal candidates, arrange interviews and provide telephone support for both the learner and employer whilst on their chosen qualification. He is always a friendly voice on the end of the phone to ensure our employers and learners are matched well, and that they are progressing a doing well on their courses, completing with accredited qualifications that can help take them on to the next step in their career ladder. Ben's idol is the Arsenal legend Ian Wright and he likes to work hard for his team mates just like his hero!
Jo Collyer
Senior IQA
Jo’s background is predominately retail previously working as a Store Manager. Using this experience, Jo qualified as an Assessor in 2008 and has been working in the Education sector for just over 10 years. Jo started working with The Tess Group just over 4 years ago as an Apprenticeship Assessor, she has advanced her profession by completing her Internal Quality Assurance Level 4 qualification with The Tess Group and is now a Senior Internal Quality Assurer. Jo’s main hobby is cake decorating, which always goes down well in the office.
Amy Worrallo
Lead IQA
Amy has been with The Tess Group for 6 months now, as our lead IQA. She is responsible for ensuring the quality assurance process for all learner delivery and streamlining best practice to enable our learners to achieve high quality qualifications across a range of subjects and sectors. She leads a team of qualified internal verifiers that work together to approve learner work, claim certificates and check that learners are progressing timely and in line with national standards. Amy enjoys travelling and seeing the world.
Jenna Thorson
Trainer
I have worked for The Tess Group as an Assessor working in the West Midlands area for around 15 months. My favourite thing about working for The Tess Group is the support and encouragement provided by Management So a little bit about me, I recently got married and I enjoy traveling, the perks of being Married to an American is all the free holidays to the USA and the home-cooked "Biscuits and Gravy" (you may have to Google that one).
Kavita Jabbal
Trainer
Ive been with Tess a year now as a trainer/coach and I've have had such a wonderful experience. Every day is different, the support provided from Tess is amazing and I feel like I've been part of the Tess team for years. I enjoy keeping fit, health and tattoos.
Gemma Elton
Trainer
I have developed my passion for training over the last 15 years and became a qualified assessor in 2008. My role with Tess began 3 years ago, assessing Business Admin, Customer Service, Team Leading, Management and ICT. I also love to learn new things myself so have recently achieved qualifications in Lean Organisation Management and am currently working towards my IQA award. My assessing has taken me to many different places from recording studios, to air traffic control and I would say the most interesting place I have ever conducted an assessment was in a cemetery using a 19th century mortuary slab as a desk!

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