Nigel is an accountant and insolvency specialist spending over 30 years helping underperforming companies to restructure and return to profitability. Latterly he specialised in the automotive sector and was a regular visitor to Detroit during the financial crisis. He was also chairman of a major UK accounting firm employing ca. 4,000 people with a revenue of about £450m. From 2010 to 2015 he was a member of the International Leadership Board of Grant Thornton International where he was responsible for developing their global advisory business as well as helping develop the member firms in Asia Pacific and Middle East. He spent a lot of time in China. During 2015/6 he was chairman of an accounting firm in Singapore which was going through a period of change. Now retired, Nigel is a trustee of SERV, a charity dedicated to helping the NHS by delivering blood, samples and platelets, by motorcycle, out of hours.
journalist, commentator and former political advisor
Jo Phillips is an award winning journalist, a former political advisor and a regular political commentator on national and international TV and radio.
She has worked across the public and private sectors in communications, strategy and crisis management, is an independent member of the Windrush Day Grants Advisory Panel, co-author of Why Vote and Why Join a Trade Union and a contributor to events, seminars and publications particularly relevant to local democracy, community engagement and media.
Vince is the leader of the opposition group on Medway Council having been first elected as councillor for Chatham Central ward at the age of 29 in 2007 – he was the youngest Labour group leader in the country when he became opposition group leader in 2012.
Before focusing on local government service, Vince was a senior officer for the GMB Trade Union and also served in both the Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions.
Vince also represents the English Local Government Association on the European Local Government Association.
Vince has been at the forefront of national campaigns which have bought about change including tackling payday lenders such as Wonga and most recently Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.
Away from politics, Vince recently became a dad for the first time in July and when time allows he can be found watching Arsenal or attempting to sing at karaoke nights!
Lynn Revell is a reader in religion and education at Canterbury Christ Church University where she has worked on the PGCE for Religious Education and Citizenship, and now leads the Doctorate in Education. She has worked in secondary schools as a teacher of Religious Education and for the Commission for Racial Equality. Lynn is currently involved in research on looking at the significance of extremism in education and free speech in schools and FE. She has published work on the representation of Islam in RE, and the impact of the requirement to promote ‘fundamental British values’ in schools and colleges.
Jim is the author or three books and numerous papers and articles on tourism and culture, most recently ‘Volunteer Tourism: The Lifestyle Politics of International Development’ (Routledge, 2015) with Pete Smith. He has written for THES, spiked and has appeared on TV and radio commenting on the tourism industry and its critics. Jim is a defender of mass tourism and a critic of the inflated claims made for eco-alternatives. He is a member of the American Association of Geographers and the Royal Geographical Society. In his spare time, Jim follows the mighty Derby County and occasionally blogs.
Emma is currently a lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent, as well as an ESRC PhD Candidate in sociology within the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. She is conducting a qualitative research project that investigates the changing occupational terrain of the legal aid lawyer in times of precariousness. As a lecturer at the University of Kent, Emma has taught on a variety of modules ranging from drugs, culture and control to criminal justice in modern Britain. Outside of her academic work, Emma is also a University and Schools ambassador for the University of Kent, an ESRC South East DTC student representative and she teaches Zumba in her spare time.
Catherine is a retired solicitor/senior lecturer, having been employed by the University of Kent in the Kent Law Clinic for over 20 years to supervise and teach undergraduate law students. The Kent Law Clinic is a free legal and advice service for the public in which law students work on cases under supervision. Catherine undertook a wide range of work but primarily employment and in latter years, asylum and immigration. Since her retirement she has been looking after grandchildren and volunteering for Kent Refugee Help, a small local charity. She visits foreign national prisoners facing deportation and helps them access legal advice.
Verity is an ESRC PhD candidate in Social Policy with the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. Verity is conducting a qualitative research project that investigates the workings of risk consciousness in the provision and use of the Emergency Contraceptive Pill in the UK. As an assistant lecturer at the University of Kent, Verity has taught seminars and given lecturers to undergraduates on modules from social policy to reproductive health. Outside of her PhD work, Verity has been a Trustee for the sexual health charity the FPA, sits on the board of public advisors for SXT and lobbies for women’s sexual and reproductive health rights in the UK.
Tobias studied politics and international relations at the University of Kent in Canterbury and subsequently worked for Conservative Campaign Headquarters. He also interned at the Academy of Ideas in 2017. He is a keen amateur footballer, playing in goal for Fairfield FC in his hometown of Burgess Hill and a long term Liverpool FC supporter.
Alan was elected to Medway Council in 1997. He has been a member of Medway Cabinet since 2001. Alan was deputy leader from 2001 to 2015 and has been the leader from 2015 to the present day.
His portfolio responsibilities are strategic leadership of the council, finance and communications.
Alan is interested in country sports and Tottenham Hotspur FC.
He is a business consultant and author of 11 books on country sports and the countryside, together with over 1,200 published articles in the national sporting press.
