Meet the Senior Leadership Team
Not all training providers are created equal. At Aspire, our priority is for your studies to be an enjoyable and successful learning experience.
Every team member works together to deliver support for our students. Each individual has a different quality and skill they bring to the business. We combine these skills with our friendly and proactive approach so our students have the right components to achieve their qualifications. Find out more about each of our Senior Leadership Team members below.
Mark Parker
Director
Mark is the founder and Director of Aspire Procurement Training Ltd and has developed the company into one of the leading CIPS training providers in the UK. Prior to this, Mark worked as a procurement and supply chain consultant across a range of sectors delivering cost-saving and supply chain efficiency improvement projects.
Richard Slater
Director
Currently responsible for Aspire's sales strategy, Richard brings a focus to the range and depth of training offered by Aspire, whilst ensuring that the whole team at Aspire is driven by providing a fantastic learner experience. Richard holds an MBA in Strategy and Procurement and has held multiple board level positions in Top 250 companies. Richard is also CEO of Slater Austin, a supply chain consultancy company he set up in 2015. He has a passion for continuous improvement and is an advocate of lifelong learning.
Rachelle quinton
Head of Centre
Rachelle is responsible for overseeing the operations within Aspire. Rachelle provides inspired leadership for Aspire along with developing, implementing and reviewing operational policies and procedures within the business. Having worked in procurement from the start of career, Rachelle is also a member of Aspire's tutor team!
Cheryl Head
Quality Manager
Cheryl is Aspire’s Quality Manager bringing over 12 years of experience in apprenticeship delivery and quality assurance.
With a background in paediatrics and child development, Cheryl is passionate about safeguarding and supporting learners. She has held roles such as assessor, IQA, and Head of Learning and Development. At Aspire, Cheryl focuses on maintaining high standards through Observations of Teaching, Learning and Assessment (OTLAs) and staff development.
Committed to delivering engaging learning experiences, Cheryl ensures our programmes meet the needs of learners, employers and regulatory bodies like Ofsted.
Aspire Tutors
All members of our tutor team are MCIPS qualified and are recognised figures within industry. Many are current Procurement and Supply Chain practitioners working across public and private sectors. They bring with them years of industry experience and knowledge, manifesting itself in the training we deliver, combining up-to-date thinking with best practice techniques. Find out more about our team of tutors below!
Rachelle quinton
Rachelle has worked in procurement since the start of her career, starting out for a plastics manufacturer and then moving into engineering. Rachelle enjoys tutoring and breaking learning down into manageable pieces and making it relatable to support students understanding. She loves to get students involved and thinking about real life relevant situations in the procurement function!
Mark Blanchard
BSc (Hons), MCIPS
Mark Blanchard is an MCIPS procurement practitioner, with over 25 years of accumulated commercial and procurement wisdom gained through building and managing complex supply chains in complex global organisations within regulated sectors, predominantly Life Sciences. Mark has extensive experience of delivering sourcing, outsourcing and projects in the highly regulated Life Science sector and now spends his time being an Aspire Tutor and providing training and consultancy services to businesses.
Paul Jackson
BSc, FCIPS
Paul Jackson has extensive experience within many global companies across a multitude of manufacturing and technological sectors. Paul has worked around the globe and is also the author of notable CIPS material such as ‘The Sustainable Business’ and ‘102 Models of Procurement and Supply Chain Management’. When we asked Paul about his teaching style, he commented: “My aim is to make procurement and supply chain real and draw parallels with diverse elements of everyday life that students can relate with – ‘if you relate you remember.’”
Mike Ludbrook
MCIPS
After spending 10 years in various management positions in the PPE industry, Mike turned his skills more specifically to procurement, learning and development in 2012. Describing himself as a ‘pracademic’, Mike takes the latest academic theories and helps individuals and organisations to put those into practice.
Lorna OBrien
Skills Coach
Lorna boasts an extensive career as a lecturer, spanning over twenty years in the realm of Business Studies. Fuelled by a profound enthusiasm for education and growth, she has devoted her professional journey to moulding the intellects of upcoming business trailblazers.
Kicking off her professional voyage in the Travel Industry, Lorna engaged with corporate clientele, skilfully sourcing and negotiating optimal travel arrangements. Progressing into a managerial role, she undertook the intricate task of amalgamating five modest business travel divisions into a singular, expansive call centre. Her zest for training new recruits, steering their development, and offering unwavering support led Lorna to a pivotal juncture. Here, she reoriented her path, pursuing educational training to become a college lecturer.
As a firm believer in continuous learning Lorna remains at the forefront of industry trends to ensure her students receive the most up-to-date and relevant training possible. She has also dedicated time to improving her instructional aptitude by working in a specialized education setting teaching individuals with learning and communication challenges.
Lorna's pedagogical approach transcends the confines of textbooks. She integrates real-world instances and students' personal encounters to construct bridges between theoretical concepts and practical applications, fostering a holistic educational experience.
Neil Fuller
MCIPS
Neil has over 40 years’ experience in procurement and supply both at a practical and academic level. He has a BSc and MSc in Economics and is MCIPS qualified. Neil is a published author with several books on economics published and also had numerous articles published in Supply Management.
Neil's practical experience in Procurement was as a commodity buyer on the commodity market and in more general procurement in the biscuit industry.
Neil was for any years a CIPS Chief Examiner and assisted in the development of CIPS courses at the Professional Level. He was also a member of the Lead Body for the development of Purchasing NVQ standards and was an external moderator for a major university.
From 1998 to 2017 Neil managed Neil Fuller Associates a training organisation, offering courses for CIPS examinations and training/consultancy in procurement and supply, before joining Aspire in 2021.
Winston Kobylka
MBA MCIPS
Winston has both public and private sector experience as Head of Procurement for Government Office for London and as Programme Director CIPS courses at National School for Government Sunningdale Park, lecturing across all departments. Formerly an emergency planner at Cabinet Office, in the heart of Whitehall, today Winston is a supply chain professional in his rope and canvas manufacturing business, with a focus on sourcing sustainable and ethical produced materials at the forefront of this trade.
Terri Hudson
MCIPS FHEA
Terri has multiple years of experience in public, private & third sector organisations. Currently leading procurement transformation projects, she has particular expertise in category management, risk management, sustainability and spend reduction. Terri lectures evenings and weekends as her passion is to help the CIPS community grow and strive to achieve a global standard.
KIERAN MCGREGOR
BA, MBA, MCIPS
Kieran McGregor has been a CIPS member for 30 years. For many years he worked as a procurement practitioner in various roles across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. He then moved into academia where he was Senior Lecturer in Procurement and Supply at the London Metropolitan University. As well as delivering on CIPS courses, Kieran has also taught on Undergraduate and MBA programmes. He is now a freelance consultant and an examiner for CIPS, delivering Supply Chain Management in more than 30 countries worldwide.