People

Anna Ambrose

Director of the London Progression Collaboration

Anna is the director of the London Progression Collaboration - an initiative to make sure low-paid Londoners can secure better-quality, higher-paying work by supporting employers to increase investment in apprenticeships.

Prior to joining IPPR in June 2019, Anna worked for education charity Ambition Institute. Until 2017 she was Area Director for the West Midlands and South West, supporting schools and multi-academy trusts to develop their workforce through a range of government-funded and traded programmes. Most recently, she was Director of School Partnerships Operations, leading the operational delivery of Ambition's sales and account management function. Anna also led Ambition's staff equality, diversity and inclusion work.

Anna also contributes to IPPR reports and is a commentator on apprenticeships policy, with bylines in has written for FE Week and TES. Anna has spoken extensively on apprenticeships and skills policy, including at conferences, panel events and roundtables.

Alongside professional interests in education and skills, Anna is a primary school governor close to her home in Staffordshire. She has a degree in music and an MPhil in musicology, both from the University of Cambridge where she studied at Girton College.

Ajay Purbhoosing

Account manager, London Progression Collaboration

Ajay is an account manager at the London Progression Collaboration (LPC).

The LPC is an initiative to make sure low-paid Londoners can secure better-quality, higher-paying work by supporting employers to increase investment in apprenticeships.

Prior to joining IPPR in September 2019, Ajay worked for an educational charity the NOCN group. Over the past four years Ajay account managed the London and South East region and worked with colleges, training providers and employers to assist in the development of their curriculum. As the landscape of education went through the apprenticeship reform Ajay has been there leading the way to enable his customers to navigate the world of apprenticeships and education.

Having worked across various sales oriented roles, Ajay has focused his career within the charity sector due to his values and beliefs in helping others.

Suneal Ram Kissun

Senior business development and account manager, London Progression Collaboration

Suneal is a senior business development and account manager at the London Progression Collaboration.

Suneal's role is to foster and cultivate new relationships with large employers based in London and to enable them to redeploy their unspent apprenticeship levy funds to meet demands from SME businesses, creating sustainable workforce development through new apprenticeships opportunities.

Before joining the IPPR, he worked as an independent consultant supporting a large FE College and private providers in the vocational skills space regarding partnership building. Previously he was head of international business development for NOCN Group, a UK based education and skills charity involved in awarding regulated vocational qualifications, compliance assessments.

Since 2016, Suneal has been supporting the BAME Apprenticeships Awards as a brand ambassador and member of the judging panel. More recently he has been collaborating with a London based social enterprise organisation, Generation Success, as a volunteer.

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Rob Singh

Senior account manager, London Progression Collaboration

Rob is a senior account manager at the London Progression Collaboration - an initiative to make sure low-paid Londoners can secure better-quality, higher-paying work by supporting employers to increase investment in apprenticeships.

Rob’s role involves him helping retail, catering, and hospitality employers in London to better understand what apprenticeships mean for their businesses and how to tap into the benefits, in particular the transferring of unused levy from large organisations to SMEs to get out of work and low skilled Londoners onto a pathway of progression through apprenticeship positions.

Prior to joining IPPR in September 2019, Rob worked for education charity Ambition Institute. Rob worked with schools and multi-academy trusts in East London and the east of England to develop their workforce through a range of government-funded and traded programmes to help their teachers and leaders to keep getting better to improve the prospects for their disadvantaged pupils.

Before Rob decided to put his skills to use in tackling inequality through education and skills, Rob had a career in magazine publishing, holding key marketing positions at several leading publishers working predominantly on music and entertainment magazines.

Jack Shaw

Senior account manager and senior research fellow

IPPR North

At IPPR North, Jack is working on an IPPR North and IPPR programme of work to design a blueprint for progressive levelling up. Meanwhile, at the London Progression Collaboration, Jack works across a number of programmes designed to tackle skills shortages and support Londoners progress into better-quality, higher-paying jobs.

Prior to joining IPPR in November 2021, Jack worked as an adviser at Westminster City Council, a senior policy researcher in Parliament, and at the Local Government Association. Jack is a affiliate researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge.

Jack has a master's in early modern history from King’s College London.

Emma McWalter

Programme manager, London Progression Collaboration

Emma is a programme manager at the London Progression Collaboration - an initiative to make sure low-paid Londoners can secure better-quality, higher-paying work by supporting employers to increase investment in apprenticeships.

Emma leads on delivering our support service to SMEs, giving them the knowledge, confidence and practical tools they need to take on new apprentices.

Emma previously worked at Perfect Ward (now known as Tendable), a health-technology company that worked closely with hospitals, mental health, social care and aged care providers, both public and private, to deliver quality improvement software. Emma worked within implementation, new business (including in Australia pre lockdowns) and account management over the course of three years. Emma studied history at the University of Exeter.