Chris Humphries took on the role of Pro Chancellor of the University in January 2019. He was previously appointed as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the University of West London (formally Thames Valley University) on 1 January 2010.
Chris Humphries' previous career included a wide range of high profile roles in the world of skills and tertiary education, of which his final full-time position, from 2008 to 2011, was as founding Chief Executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the principal advisory body in these fields to the four UK Governments in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Chris served from 2001 to the end of 2007 as Director General of the City and Guilds of London Institute, the UK's oldest and leading awarding body for Vocational Qualifications, and Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce between 1998 and 2001. He was Chief Executive of the Hertfordshire Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) and subsequently the TEC National Council, between 1991 and 1998. Prior to that, he worked at the Council for Educational Technology rising to the level of Assistant Director, followed by a period in the private sector with ICL and Acorn Computers working in the field of computer based education and training.
For almost 30 years, Chris worked with successive Governments as an adviser on a wide variety of innovative education and training projects, including the Microelectronics Education Project and successive Computers in Schools programmes in the 1980s; the Open Tech Project, Training Access Points system and the Prospects careers guidance system in the 1990s; and a variety of other public projects to develop the potential of new technologies for education and training.
From 1998 to 2000, whilst working for the British Chambers of Commerce, Chris also served as Chairman of the UK’s Skills Task Force. Appointed by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to advise on changes to the English further education and training system to better serve the future skills needs of UK employers and the UK economy, the Task Force produced four major reports, and over 20 research and sectoral analysis reports, as part of the most substantial review of skills and training for many decades. He was then appointed as a founder member of the national Learning and Skills Council and member of the national Adult Learning Committee. He served as a member of the national Skills Strategy Steering Group from December 2002 to 2005, as well as to the Board of the NHSU from 2003-05, and the FE Review Advisory Group in 2005.
Chris was Chairman of UK Skills/WorldSkills UK from 2000 to 2012 and led the UK hosting of the biennial WorldSkills Competitions in London in 2011. That highly successful event was the largest skills event ever held in the world, and attracted 200,000 participants and visitors over four days in October 2011, at which the UK team achieved fifth place overall. From March 2012 to 2015, Chris became founding Chairman of National Numeracy, a new independent charity, unique in its commitment to transforming attitudes and achievement in numeracy across all ages.
An Australian by birth, Chris moved to London in 1974 where he still lives with his wife, Hazel and daughters Samantha and Kate. He was awarded the CBE for services to training and enterprise in June 1998.