PIER TECHNOLOGY LIMITED - Key Persons

Becky Knapp

Job Titles:

HEALTHCARE SPECIALIST TUTOR

Dean Bennett

Job Titles:

Project Manager
Associate - Project Management Trainer
Organisational Development Consultant and Trainer

Dean is an Organisational Development consultant and trainer, with a focus on, education, learning and development, project management and business change, leadership development, business consultancy, personal and organisational performance. He has over 35 years of business experience, working with a range of organisations from global companies, to small businesses, to universities. This has included over 16 years in professional learning and development, over 10 years in higher education, including designing and establishing the new Coventry University College, and 10 years in organisational change management. He has worked in a number of business areas including: strategy, leadership and management, business operations, change management, education, learning and development, project management and delivery, new product development, marketing, and supplier management. This has included running teams across multiple sites, and working with organisations in Europe, the USA, Hong Kong and China. Within organisational development Dean has designed and run programmes to individuals working in roles ranging from manufacturing production to global leaders to healthcare. This has covered the full range of management and leadership development in general and project management and leadership. As well as bespoke organisational specific events, he has designed as delivered CMI and APM programmes. In Higher Education Dean has held senior leadership roles, been an academic head, lecturer, course designer and project manager. He is also experienced in managing work-based degree programmes, provision of professional qualifications, and student recruitment in the UK and internationally. He currently provides learning and development programmes to university staff, including performance management, project management and academic quality. In projects and change management, Dean has been a project manager within major change programmes and has led acceptance teams responsible for the successful implementation of over 200 service changes a year across a major bank. Dean holds an MA in Management Practice form Coventry University, a Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Open University and is currently studying for an MSc. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management. He has published in the area of project management and recently co-presented a workshop at the British Academy of Management annual conference. He is currently completing an MSc in Mindfulness and Compassion.

Debbie Whiston

Job Titles:

Quality Assurance Manager
Pier As the Quality Assurance Manager

A very experienced manager for many years having started her career in retail, retail management and people development, Debbie then moved into the world of work based learning firstly as a qualified assessor looking after her own team of learners and supporting them to achieve their qualifications and working her way to an Internal quality assurance role for a very large apprenticeship training provider and then a lead Internal quality assurance manager for a further training provider. Debbie has a wealth of experience and knowledge of many sectors specialising in leadership & management, quality assurance and recruitment. A very supportive and enthusiastic manager who sets very high standards and expects the same from her team. Debbie joined Pier as the Quality Assurance Manager and effectively leads a team to achieve maximum quality standards, very innovative and intuitive and always abreast of developments to enable her to fully support everything we aim to achieve here at Pier Training. Amongst the many qualifications Debbie has achieved in her career she is a qualified teacher in the lifelong learning sector (QTLS status), qualified at level 5 in leadership & management and also obtained her CertRP level 4 in recruitment practice. In her spare time Debbie loves nothing more than being outdoors in the countryside which includes activities such as camping, cycling and walks with her family & friends.