On 1 February Gareth Dent joined the OCA as Chief Executive.
Gareth has spent his career in adult learning. Immediately prior to joining the OCA he led the development of the Learndirect advice service from scratch to an organisation which handles over 10m enquiries annually. Before this he worked in the Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Department of Education and Employment. He also has a lifelong passion for photography and has had work published in publications in the UK, Italy, Germany, France and the US.
Gareth commented:
"I am delighted to be taking up post at the OCA. If I believe one thing it is that learning opens doors. It enables us to become the people we have the potential to be. Many people love learning, but for others it can be a challenge. sometimes these challenges are created not by the difficulty of learning a new skill, but by inflexible modes of delivery, timing and transport issues and cost. What the OCA offers is a unique opportunity to access high quality arts courses from home. I look forward to developing the range of courses we can offer and creating a vibrant community of students around the OCA."
