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Meet our Skills Specialists

Whatever you want to achieve in L&D, our Skills Specialists can help make it happen. Experts in workforce development, they collaborate with employer organisations across every industry and sector.

By partnering with City & Guilds, you can be confident that we’ll take the time to understand your organisation in detail and develop bespoke solutions aligned to your goals. And your dedicated Skills Specialist will support you at every stage.

Talk to our Specialists

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Joe Bell

How long have you worked in skills development?

I’ve been part of City & Guilds for 18 years, working across FE and HE before specialising in working with employer organisations. Prior to moving into the world of vocational skills, I had a career as a teacher, which developed my understanding of impactful delivery and assessment.

What can clients expect when working with you? 

I always provide a responsive, professional and friendly service to my clients. I see myself as your ‘way in’ to all the expertise and experience that City & Guilds has to offer. I take time to understand what you’re looking to achieve and then put together a plan for how we’ll work together.

What project are you particularly proud of?

A recent project that I found really rewarding was partnering with a leading global organisation to design assessments for one of their advanced training programmes. Working in collaboration with their team, we created everything from assessment tasks and guidance to marking criteria and training for their assessors.

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Gemma Edwards

How long have you worked in skills development?

I’ve been working in skills development for over 15 years, since joining City & Guilds in 2011. For the past seven years, my focus has been working closely with large UK and global employers. I help them make sense of evolving workforce challenges, identify skills gaps and provide tailored solutions that support their future talent needs.

What can clients expect when working with you? 

Clients can expect a genuine partnership when working with me. I take the time to understand their organisation so I can help them achieve their goals and deliver measurable impact from their skills projects. I also bring valuable insights from my sector experience. Above all, I aim to be proactive, collaborative and easy to work with.

What project are you particularly proud of?

I was proud to support a major global employer in strengthening the quality and impact of their leadership development programme. Achieving City & Guilds Assured status raised the programme’s profile, increased engagement and gave leaders the structure and confidence they needed to grow. Knowing that our work helped build a more capable, future‑ready leadership community made the partnership especially rewarding.

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Sarah Turner

How long have you worked in skills development?

I’ve worked in vocational skills for 18 years. When I first joined City & Guilds in 2014, I was supporting colleges with delivering funded qualifications and apprenticeships. I now work with large UK and global employers, helping them to strengthen their skills strategies and maximise the impact of their training budgets.

What can clients expect when working with you? 

Clients can expect a friendly, collaborative and solutions-driven approach. I take time to understand each organisation’s goals, challenges and priorities, and I’m proactive in bringing ideas, insights and practical next steps. My aim is to make working with City & Guilds feel easy, efficient and genuinely valuable.

What project are you particularly proud of?

A project I’m particularly proud of involved supporting a large UK employer to take full ownership of their skills development by establishing an in‑house training academy. It was a diverse and rewarding piece of work, covering everything from leadership and technical skills to accessing funding and designing bespoke training solutions. Helping them build a sustainable, tailored approach to developing their workforce was a real milestone.



Join our free Employer Community events

Hear from guest speakers about their workforce development initiatives and connect with HR/L&D professionals from across industries. We run free online and in-person events throughout the year.

See our upcoming events