Richard has been leading vocational training and development for over 20 years. At the NEOM project (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) he leads work to create workforce development policy and practise. Prior to this he was responsible for running one of the most successful apprenticeship programmes in the UK Financial Services sector. And worked for the UK Government, as a director of educational policy (apprenticeships) and before that at the Volkswagen Group. He is a member of several academic committees including ‘Young Lives, young futures’ group at Kings College London and the International Apprenticeship Network (INAP) at Bremen University. His work has been published extensively and he has spoken at conferences and events internationally for many years, primarily focusing on Apprenticeships for the new economy.