Federation for Industry Sector Skills & Standards appoints new Chief Executive with radical brief to change direction and put Employers’ Skills Issues on the agenda

Federation appoints new Chief Executive with radical brief to change direction and put Employers’ Skills Issues on the agenda 

The Federation for Industry Sector Skills & Standards has appointed public affairs expert Matt Lambert as its new Chief Executive Officer with a brief to raise awareness of the Federation with Government, industry and the public and put the employer’s perspective on skills needs at the top of the political agenda. The Board of the Federation, which represent employers’ interests in skills in a wide range of industries, has asked Lambert to implement a major change in direction by ensuring that labour market intelligence and employers’ insights into skills needs is a key part of the Federation’s work from now on.

Lambert comes to the Federation with more than 30 years of experience in government relations, public affairs and corporate communications. Having worked at senior level in several major businesses, his experience includes seven years as Corporate Affairs Director at Microsoft UK heading up the skills team and creating skills and regeneration programmes to train hundreds of thousands of low skilled and unemployed people in basic IT skills.

The Chair of the Federation, Dame Julie Mellor said:

“I am absolutely delighted that Matt has agreed to join us as CEO to develop and lead the Federation to play a much bigger role in shaping the future of skills policy in the UK.    Matt has a very strong track record in raising the profile of important business issues across a range of sectors, including skills.

“Federation members represent over 118,000 employers covering diverse sectors such as science, social care, culture, construction, health and energy; and a skilled workforce is essential to every single one.”

Julie has focused on skill development for a large part of her career. As Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (1999 -2005), she worked with business and government to tackle occupational segregation and reduce skills shortages. As Director of Human Resources at British Gas she supported work to open up apprenticeships to a more diverse range of candidates. Julie has  worked in human resources for twenty years and contributed as a board member to several organisations with a skills agenda: Nesta, the national innovation body, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Employers Forum on Disability. More recently Julie was Chair of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (2011-17).  She was appointed Chair of the Federation Board in May 2018.

Matt has more than 30 years of experience in government relations, public affairs and corporate social responsibility.

A leading and highly-experienced practitioner in British and International public affairs and communications, Matt has a strong track-record in helping some of the world’s leading companies. His experience spans a range of sectors including technology, telecoms, energy, food, beverages and transport.

Matt Lambert said:

“I am hugely looking forward to joining the Federation team and working with Dame Julie and the members, who represent employers across virtually every industry sector, to achieve real change in skills policy in the UK based on our unrivalled insight into the labour market. 

“Skills policy across all industries and age groups is one of the most important issues of our day.  A national policy that is fit for purpose and ensures that we have enough trained workers to fill the growing skills gaps across many sectors and all the countries and regions in the UK is central to improving productivity and economic success.

“Whatever the result of the general election; I’m looking forward to working with the Federation team to make sure that skills issues and needs from the employer’s perspective are properly heard and understood at the highest levels in Government!”