Education Advisory Board

The Education Advisory Board seeks to harness the creative and commercial expertise of Ingenious and our advisers and apply it to innovation in education. Key educationalists and practitioners ensure the Board’s effectiveness. 

Board member, Mark McKenna, founded Mindful Education, an award-winning pioneer in the provision of media rich, professional courses and apprenticeships. It’s a role model of the kind of passionate, inventive start-ups that we seek to support. 

Patrick Loughrey | Chairman

Pat has been Chair of the Education Board since 2019 and brings a wealth of experience in broadcasting and higher education leadership.  He was Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London (equivalent to the more familiar Vice-Chancellor), from 2010 to 2019.  Goldsmiths is one of the world’s leading universities in creative arts and the social sciences.

Before Goldsmiths, Pat’s previous post was as Director of BBC Nations and Regions. He was a member of the Corporation’s Executive Committee and had overall responsibility for the BBC’s television, radio and online programmes and services in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the 12 English regions. He led more than 6,500 staff based in more than 50 centres across the UK.

Originally from County Donegal, Ireland, he studied at the University of Ulster (BA Hons Contemporary History), Queen’s University, Belfast (MA History) and Trent University, Ontario (Doctoral Research Fellowship). He received the University of Ulster’s Distinguished Graduate Award in 1997 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2009.

Pat is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths Company and of the City of London. He is a Fellow of the Radio Academy and a member of BAFTA.

Mark McKenna | Managing Director, Mindful Education

Mark is the Founder and Managing Director of Mindful Education, a multi award-winning EdTech company specialising in the creation of professional courses and apprenticeships.

Mindful Education partners with more than 55 colleges and training providers around the UK, delivering flexible blended courses and apprenticeships to over 10,000 learners. In 2021, Mindful Education was named EdTech Company of the Year at the Global Business Technology Awards.

Prior to setting-up Mindful, Mark trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte LLP, going on to become a Senior Manager at the firm. After seven years of advising and working with clients in London, Mark studied for a full-time MBA with Melbourne Business School, where he graduated with a distinction.

Patrick McKenna | Founder, Ingenious

Prior to forming Ingenious in 1998, Patrick was Chairman & Chief Executive of The Really Useful Group and, prior to that, was a Partner at Deloitte, where he ran the media group.

Patrick is Chairman of a number of companies in the media sector, including the National Film and Television School (NFTS) and award-winning television company Hat Trick Productions and until recently was chair of the Young Vic Theatre Company. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) at Goldsmiths at the University of London and a member of the Creative Industries Council (CIC).

Patrick was previously a Board Trustee of NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts), where he chaired its Creative Economy Committee, and a Trustee of the British Council. He is a Fellow of the RSA and a member of BAFTA.

Neil Forster | CEO, Ingenious

Neil has overall responsibility for the company’s fund raising, investment and operating activities across its target sectors of media, infrastructure, real estate and education. Neil was previously Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Ingenious.

Prior to joining Ingenious, Neil was Group Finance Director at one of the UK’s leading producers of comedy, entertainment and drama programming, Hat Trick Productions, where he remains a Non-Executive Director. He has also held various senior finance roles at Walt Disney in its television division, including Head of Finance for its EMEA sales business.

Neil qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG.  He has previously held non-executive roles as a committee member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Entertainment and Media Special Interest Group, as a Governor of the National Film and Television School and as a Member of the National Film and Television School’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Neil has been a non-executive director of the multi-award winning EdTech company, Mindful Education since 2017.

Duncan Reid | Director, Ingenious

Duncan sits on our Media, Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment Committees and is responsible for overseeing Ingenious’ infrastructure investments.

He also sits on the steering committee for Ingenious’ blended learning initiative via our investment in the award winning company, Mindful Education, and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Duncan started his career in the music business before obtaining an engineering degree at Imperial College and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Touche Ross (later Deloitte).

Duncan was then Business Development Manager for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and Finance Director of The Really Useful Theatre Company prior to becoming Financial Director of Nottingham Forest Plc during its flotation. Duncan has been with Ingenious since its first day of operations.

The information on this page is correct as at the time of writing, but may be subject to change.

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