Brent education expert Gerry Davis was one of three people honoured with the Leadership Award for Race Equality (2008) awarded by the Network for Black Professionals during the Annual Conference of the Association of Colleges.
Gerry, who was born in St Vincent in the Caribbean but came to Britain as a child, is one of only a small handful of black Chairs of Governors in the country. The other two award winners were from Lambeth and the Forest of Dean.
He has chaired the Corporation of the College of North West London in Brent since 2000, overseeing a governing body of 18 members who include Euro MP Robert Evans, former Brent Council Leader Ann John and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University Professor Margaret House.
He joined the College Corporation in 1993 as one of the first members co-opted to represent the local communities, and went on to become a Training & Enterprise Council member and then a business representative.
As a result of the College’s corporate membership of the Network for Black Professionals, a number of CNWL staff have trained and served as NBP mentors to aspiring black managers in the FE sector.
A former youth leader, father of two Gerry spent his teen years in Craven Park Road, Harlesden. After work as a chemist, he trained as a maths teacher and later became head of Haringey's multicultural curriculum support group, pursuing the theme of his MA in Curriculum Theory and Change (1981) in the primary sector.
Gerry became an education adviser/ inspector and an inspector of secondary schools for the ILEA, later returning to Brent where he became Brent’s deputy director of education in 1988. Four years later he took on the post of Chief Executive of the innovative Harlesden City Challenge employment project, managing five sections including the Social Inclusion Unit.
He later became Director of Community Development for Brent until he relinquished the post in 2002.
Robin Landman, Chief Executive of the Network for Black Professionals, said Gerry was an outstanding example to other black professionals. He had made a significant impact in the FE sector and in wider society, and within the sector, he had supported and encouraged staff to attain the seniority that their experience and attributes merited.
“Gerry has been a long-term supporter of the Network for Black Managers and the associated Black Leadership Initiative, as a board member, mentor and coach. He has contributed to positive action programmes including the 'High Flyers Programme', 'Introduction to Governance' and many others,” added Robin.
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PICTURE SHOWS:
Gerry (left) at the topping out of the College’s new Technology Building at Willesden in February 2008
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