Senior Management Team
Peter Cross OBE - Chief Executive, Skill Force Development
Peter Cross was commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers after graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1975. He undertook a number of tours in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands and Cyprus before being deployed to the first Gulf War on Operation Granby for which he received the Joint Commander's Commendation. From 1997 - 1999 he developed the idea of using military instructors to remotivate young people and ran the pilot scheme from the Ministry of Defence from 1999 - 2004 during which time he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for this work. He retired from the Armed Forces in May 2004 to become the Chief Executive of Skill Force Development.
Tracy Pepper - Chief Operating Officer
With over 20 years experience in Corporate organisations including BT, Yorkshire Water (Kelda) Ventura and South Staffordshire Group, Tracy has operated at board level both as Managing Director and as Operations Director for over 10 years. Her background encompasses a strong skills mix of commercial thinking, people management, operational improvement, communications management and change management.
Tracy, who has an MBA, qualified as a business coach in 2003 with Derby University increasing her people skills. With over 6 years coaching experience she has coached chief executives, board members and members of the senior management team both individually and in groups. She works as a Non Executive Director of the NHS working with her Primary Care Trust championing Equality and Diversity as well as a member of Audit and Strategic investment committees. Tracy is also a qualified Parent coach and carries out mentoring/coaching work with underperforming pupils to improve their academic results.
In her spare time, Tracy likes to walk in the peaks and runs an E learning program “walking Coach”, encouraging people to take their personal development outdoors. She also plays golf (badly)!
Jill Nadolski - Marketing & Fundraising Director
Following a career in the private sector in the US and completing an MBA at Binghamton University (USA), Jill has gained a solid reputation in the UK with over 20 years experience developing successful marketing and fundraising strategies for a wide variety of non-profits and charities, including the Natural History Museum, Help the Aged, and Retail Trust. Jill is a long standing member of the Institute of Fundraising and has run fundraising workshops at national and regional conferences in Birmingham and London, as well as master classes to international audiences in Amsterdam, Budapest, New Delhi, Bangkok and Colombo.
David Huxley - Finance Director
After qualifying as a Chartered Management Account, David has spent over 30 years successfully working within the commercial sector, notably within the Food and Materials Handling industries. David has an open and hands-on management style which has served him well during his time as a Managing and Finance director.
In his younger days David was a keen sportsman playing both rugby and cricket. Walking is now his main leisure time activity. David also takes an active part in his local community being both a Parish Councillor and Trustee of a Children’s Educational Trust.