Andrew Chang
"I work for Kelda Group plc which is the parent company of Yorkshire Water. At Kelda I run the Internal Audit department which reviews the way financial and operational controls are applied within Yorkshire Water and other companies that form the group. I am a qualified accountant and have been in my current job six years.
Interestingly I have two bosses (three if you count my wife) one, the Group Finance Director who tells me how well I'm doing and says how much I should get paid and the other, the Audit Committee who tell me what I should do and when to get it done by. Before joining Kelda I had various audit roles within National Power (which we know today as nPower) and spent a great proportion of that time reviewing construction projects and procurement systems. Over the years my role as auditor has taken me to Pakistan, Ireland and several States in America.
I'm 44 years old and prior to becoming a member of Corporation my other interests included being a governor, for about five years, of a large primary school. I was also Treasurer of the Yorkshire branch of WaterAid and am still an active supporter of WaterAid. I also held the position of Chairman of Yorkshire Fencing (sport fencing). I was born and raised in Jamaica; lived in New York, USA for three years; and came to England in 1979. I read Finance and Accounting at the University of Salford. In my spare time I act as a taxi service ferrying my kids to fencing tournaments around the country and am a part-time fencing referee.
I have been a member of the Corporation for almost 2 years. Having served as a primary school governor for five years I wanted a bigger challenge in the education sector, one where I would be able to continue to contribute to the community but more importantly, for me to grow through personal development. Kelda/Yorkshire Water supports its employees in personal development and believes in being a good neighbour and putting something back into the community so when my desire for a greater community challenge and the company's support for community involvement came together it also coincided with a business governor vacancy at Bradford College. Yorkshire Water passed on my details to the College and after a selection process I was appointed to the Corporation board.
The business of the College is so varied from the sector that I work in that everything I encounter here at the College is of interest. My background as an auditor has made me more curious than I really ought to be and though I don't have the maniac quality of Sylar from Heroes I do share his burning desire to know how things work. That said, I have the great honour to act as Chairman of the College's Audit Committee. This is a fantastic development opportunity for me and I am able to bring experience of my day job of reporting to a Blue Chip Audit Committee to this role. I am also on the Estates Sub-Committee; this I find particularly exciting as I am playing an active part in not only the physical development of the College but also in the regeneration of Bradford. My other involvement is as a director of City Training Services, our subsidiary training company.
Being a member of Corporation at this time in the history of Bradford College is a privilege. There is so much change underway and some driven by the added challenge of recent government policy, nevertheless being a part of the College through the changed branding, the building programme, the strategic positioning within the FE, HE and other sectors and the city centre regeneration strategy is very exciting. My fellow Corporation colleagues and I have a duty to ensure we consider the welfare and interests of staff, students and potential students throughout the programme of change; we have to safeguard the financial standing of the College; and ensure the College delivers a high quality educational experience to its students. I hope my very wide experience of business processes, risk management and governance frameworks will prove helpful to Michele and her team in the development and direction of Bradford College."