NFER Senior Management Team

Carole Willis is Chief Executive of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). She joined NFER in December 2013. Widely respected across the education sector and social science community, Carole has extensive experience of leading research and analysis in both the public and private sectors. Her focus is on raising NFER’s profile and increasing our impact, ensuring that our robust research and assessments actively inform education policy and practice. She is passionate about promoting quantitative analysis in education, and making better use of the rich administrative data sets available to understand how to improve education outcomes.

Prior experience and professional background

Before joining NFER, Carole was Director of Research and Analysis at the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser. She had responsibility for leading DfE’s community of analysts, setting direction for the Department’s research activity, and building capability to use analysis and evidence effectively to drive education policy reform.

Her earlier roles included leading analysis of immigration and crime at the Home Office, research into productivity and growth at the Department of Trade and Industry (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), and delivering pension reform at the Department for Work and Pensions. She worked as an Economic Consultant on competition and transport policy at National Economic Research Associates (NERA) and undertook research on poverty, equity and growth at the World Bank.

Carole has a BA (Hons) degree (first class) in Economics from the University of Nottingham and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Lesley joined NFER in January 2015. She leads the research department which designs and delivers research and evaluations, specialist information and reviews, develops assessments and provides expert advice. The department also manages the Foundation’s bid development function.

Prior experience and professional background

Lesley is an experienced and respected researcher, who has led multi-disciplinary teams in the Home Office, the National Policing Improvement Agency, and the Royal College of Nursing, covering a diverse range of social policy issues. Motivated by improving service users’ experience of public services and committed to helping policy, she has designed and tested survey instruments, developed evidence-based national clinical guidance for government agencies, including the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, and delivered programmes of research and analysis to understand and discover effective ways of responding to issues.

Lesley has a BSc in Psychology from Goldsmiths College, an MA in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a PhD in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Phil joined NFER as Interim Chief Financial Officer in December 2023. 

Prior experience and professional background

Phil is a very experienced senior finance professional who has undertaken interim CFO/Finance Director roles across a wide range of not-for-profit and private sector organisations, including overseeing contracts and commercial negotiations.  The combination of his senior financial management expertise and extensive executive leadership has led to Phil’s strong record of achievement.

Phil became a fellow Chartered Management Accountant (FCMA) in 2011 having previously been an associate (ACMA) from 2000.

Alan Read is Chief Digital Officer – IT Department

Maddie is Director of Sales, Marketing and Impact (SMI) at NFER.

Greg Woodcock is Director of Operations