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Iain Wright

Iain Wright

College Governor

Sub Committees: Audit and Risk (Chair); Remuneration; Search and Governance

Iain was appointed on the 14 December 2017.

Iain is Managing Director of Reputation & Influence at the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England & Wales.  He is also on the board of the Prompt Payment Code, working with government and the Small Business Commissioner to improve payment terms for small businesses. He co-chairs the Importance of Place Group of the Professional and Business Services Council, charged with working with the sector and government on regional policy and the levelling-up agenda. He is Policy Chair of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. He was Chief Executive of NEPIC, the North East Process Industry Cluster between 2017 and 2018.

Iain was Labour MP for Hartlepool from 2004 until 2017, when he announced his decision not to stand again in the General Election.

Most recently in Parliament, Iain was the Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, which undertook high-profile inquiries into working conditions at Sports Direct and the collapse of BHS.

Iain was Minister for Housing and Planning between 2007 and 2009 and Minister for Schools and Apprenticeships in 2009-10 and also served as Shadow Minister for Industry between 2011 and 2015.

Prior to being elected to Parliament, Iain worked at the regional development agency One NorthEast and started his career as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte. He obtained an MBA with Distinction at Durham University in 2019.

Iain therefore has considerable experience chairing and being a member of boards at the senior level in both public and private sectors. In his current role he is responsible for the best excellence thought leadership in audit and governance that I hope to bring that to Middlesbrough College.

Iain’s experiences give him knowledge about asking the right questions, scrutinising in order to ensure compliance – in both his role as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, but also in terms of the wider professional and governing body.

Iain cares passionately about the area, the people of the area and economy and just wants to make it better and play a little part in doing that by being a governor of Middlesbrough College.