The Boston College Leadership Team is made up of experienced industry professionals who have many years of experience of working within Further Education.
Claire Foster
Principal and Chief Executive
Claire has devoted a 26-year career to working in further and higher education. She is passionate about improving people’s life chances through the transformational power of education, skills and training. Claire has worked in several successful colleges, initially as a teacher in the creative arts and part time arts technician. She has taught on many different programmes and levels including entry level programmes for students with physical and learning needs, full time further education, adult and community as well as higher education up to master’s level. She has written and developed new and innovative courses and qualifications including leading and developing more than a dozen degree courses. She has been a senior leader for 9 years and now honoured to be Principal and CEO of Boston College. She has developed many new and different approaches to educational challenges and embraces the chance to challenge the ‘norm.’ As a proud mother of three grown up children, she is particularly proud that Thomas, her son with Down’s Syndrome, role-models the usefulness of people with educational needs, working as he does in the East Coast family hospitality and retail business that she and her husband run.
Although she started her current college role in the midst of the difficulties of 2020, Claire has made it a priority to build strong, purposeful partnerships with communities and businesses in the region to secure exciting collaborative opportunities including the Towns Deal for Boston. Building a positive, innovative, thriving and supportive college culture has been one of the key drives for staff, learns and stakeholders. ‘Always happy but never satisfied’ is one of Claire's many maxims for life and therefore we have a college vision of ‘Brilliant Today, Better Tomorrow’ which encourages positive thinking and continuous improvement.
Claire is also committed to ensuring that Boston College is constantly attuned to its environmental responsibilities and continually seeking ways to ensure that the 'green thread’ is woven throughout everything it does and ‘is’ from curriculum design to our buildings and facilities.
Heather Marks
Deputy Principal
Heather has worked in Further Education and Skills, spanning over 22 years. She has taught on many different programmes and levels including entry level programmes for students with physical and learning needs, full time further education, adult and community as well as higher education. Her specialist areas of interest include: emotional intelligence, trauma informed learning, coaching and mentoring; enabling staff and learners alike, to reach their potential.
Heather holds a Master’s degree in Education and has extensive senior management experience working in very large general further education and specialist land-based colleges. Her responsibilities have included leading curriculum design and development, performance management, teaching and learning, digital transformation, and quality improvement. She has extensive experience across a wide range of aspect areas including study programmes, adult learning, learners with high needs and the apprenticeship provision. Heather has designed and developed qualifications with a particular focus on Horticulture and Floristry Level 1 Land based qualifications.
Heather is a member of the American Education and Research Association and has worked with overseas academics on trauma informed learning and the impact of social mobility, post Covid-19 recovery.
Heather’s current role involves overseeing and having responsibility for the leadership and effective management of performance for curriculum, quality and learner services. A key part of this work is working with colleagues across the College to secure outstanding teaching and learning and high levels of learner success, whilst also delivering an efficient curriculum offer that meets employers’ needs.
Outside of work, Heather enjoys skydiving and is working to achieve her skydiving license. She also enjoys spending time with her family outdoors in the open countryside.
Debbie Holland
Chief Operating Officer
Debbie is a CIPFA qualified Chartered Accountant with over 20 years working within a public sector finance function. Debbie joined Boston College in 2014 on secondment from Boston Borough Council as College Accountant whilst working between the two organisations. She moved to the College permanently from March 2018 as the Head of Finance, and more recently as Director of Finance.Â
Debbie’s role of Chief Operating Officer involves overseeing the finance function of the College. She is responsible for preparing annual financial forecasts for the financial strategy, preparing the annual accounts and providing financial advice to the principal, staff and governors. Other parts of her role include managing the internal and external audits, risk management and liaising with legal representatives.
Outside of work Debbie enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, going to the gym and running. Weekends are often spent at the side of a football pitch watching her son and socialising with friends and family.
Abid Hussain
Assistant Principal: Student Experience
Abid is a product of the Further Education Sector and has worked in colleges for over 20 years. He has taught on a variety of programmes and levels from Entry Level to Level 3, and in a variety of settings, including community settings. His interests and specialisms are in linguistics and languages and that led to teaching ESOL and communications. Later in his career he moved into managing student services support functions, where he used his curriculum experience to develop innovative student experience models. He has worked in colleges and universities on transformational projects focusing on harnessing student voice and student feedback to improve student experience. He is passionate about engaging learners in student leadership so that learners take ownership and help shape all aspects of college life.
Abid’s current role involves providing leadership and management to a variety of support areas including Student Services, Safeguarding, Marketing and Admissions, Careers and Student Voice. A key focus for this work is aligning key support functions to meet the needs of learners and the curriculum and delivering high levels of learner success.
Outside of work, Abid is kept busy by his three children and family life.
Tom Hughes
Assistant Principal: Quality, Performance and Standards
Tom is an experienced curriculum and quality leader in FE and HE with a passion for innovation in the classroom, empowering individuals with the use of digital technologies, and preparing learners for the jobs of tomorrow. Prior to joining the education sector, Tom worked in the media industry with organisations such as the BBC, Endemol and The National Trust. It was during this time that Tom worked on a project with Humberside Police to engage and train young people from disadvantaged communities in media production and communications that demonstrated the transformational power of education and ignited a passion to pursue this further. The opportunity to start teaching in FE whilst undertaking teaching qualifications alongside arose, and since then, there’s been no looking back. Tom has gone on to lead highly successful, award winning teams, travelled around the UK and Europe with groups of students for competitions and cultural exchanges, and is most proud to see his graduates going on to have flourishing careers in a wide range of industries.
Tom’s role at Boston is to be responsible and accountable for the quality, performance and standards at the college. This involves working with teams across the college to ensure that learners receive a high quality experience on their courses and progress on to excellent destinations following their studies.
Outside of work, Tom plays the drums in a functions band, enjoys going to gigs and festivals and is lead entertainer at home for three children.
Jen Durrant
Executive Director: People
Jen is CIPD qualified with over 20 years’ experience in HR and joined the College in 2011. Her current role is responsible for building and delivering a people strategy that focuses on the development of staff and provides our leadership to the HR function.Â
Following the completion of her degree in Health, Welfare and Social Policy, Jen returned to Boston and began her career, working in HR for a local private sector company in food manufacturing. After studying for the Certificate in Personnel Practice, she moved to United Lincolnshire NHS Trust as a development opportunity arose. This was a generalist HR position that involved recruitment of senior clinicians. After seven years’ and completing her Masters in Human Resource Management, she left to join the College as a Recruitment and Employee Relations Manager and has always been fully committed to the people strategy at the College.
Jen is married and outside of work is kept very busy with her three children and their social calendars!Â