New chief executive and chairman announced at BCTG Group

Sarah Matthews, formerly the group’s operations manager, has been promoted to chief executive, and will have responsibility for BCTG Ltd, Eurosource, BCTG Skills Centre and The Apprenticeship Works.

Meanwhile, Chris Luty, the former chief executive, has been appointed to a new role as group chairman.

Rob Colbourne will continue to be responsible for Performance Through People as managing director, and Alan Phillips will continue as group finance director.

Ms Matthews, who has worked at Oldbury-based BCTG for nearly 15 years, serving as operations manager since 2016, said: “I am thrilled to be taking on this new position.

“I look forward to working closely with the strong executive team we have here at BCTG to achieve even more success in the training and apprenticeship sectors.”

Mr Luty, who had previously served as chief executive at BCTG since 1993, said: “We have built a very effective senior management team in recent years, and Sarah was more than ready to take over the reins after proving her abilities as operations director.

“My move to group chairman will now allow me to focus on maximising the collective potential of the whole group offer across all six businesses, and the other directors on the executive team will give the group continued strength and consistency.”

The BCTG Group now supports almost 10,000 young people and adults in training and apprenticeships each year across the whole Midlands region.

The group has 10 sites in Birmingham, the Black Country, Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and also includes Performance Through People, The Apprenticeship Works, BCTG Ltd, Eurosource Solutions and Further EPAO.

Overall, the group offers 166 different types of apprenticeship, 84 different adult training and reskilling courses and 27 pre-apprenticeship programmes for 16 to 18-year-olds.

These include everything from healthcare and early years care to construction, engineering, manufacturing and logistics, through to business skills in IT, management and team leading.