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Jane Whitehart OBE [Rexworthy] - UK Skills Partnership Chair

UKSP Chair is recognised in King’s honours

Chair of the UK Skills Partnership, Jane Whitehart [Rexworthy] has been awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours 2025 for her outstanding contribution to international trade.

Jane, Chair of the UK Skills Partnership, with more than two decades of experience in technical and vocational education, both in the UK and internationally, and a strong background in blue-chip companies, Jane is widely regarded as a leading expert in the field. A Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and the Institute for Leadership, Jane has been instrumental in shaping the future of workforce development.

Over the past five years, Jane has led the delivery of more than 80 education projects, working with global, regional, and local training providers to create over 200 training programmes. Her work has provided skills development for 750 trainers and impacted hundreds of thousands of workers worldwide, further solidifying her reputation as a thought leader in technical vocational education.

One of Jane’s significant achievements includes her pivotal role in developing and implementing the business plan for the new Instituto Técnico Superior Especializado (ITSE) in Panama. Collaborating with over 15 UK organisations and 70 professionals, Jane helped design 17 curriculum areas for the college, which now enrols 3,000 students.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jane developed an online learning programme to support the safe return to work for the hospitality and tourism industries. This initiative reached over 12,000 individuals in the UK and Jordan, further exemplifying her commitment to driving meaningful change through education.

Jane voluntarily supports education businesses of all sizes and grows exports as a Department for Business and Trade Export Champion. Jane has dedicates her personal time to supporting small education sector enterprises on their journeys toward international expansion.

Jane represents the UK skills and training sector on the Department for Business and Trade and Department for Education’s Education Sector Advisory Group [ESAG]. During 2024 Jane led on the creation and publishing of a whole-education sector export offer brochure for use globally.

In April 2025, Jane was a key sector representative of the UK skills and training delegation to the Human Capital Initiative and EdgeEx in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. During the HCI conference, key partnership activities on talent development were agreed that will pave the way for significant skills and training trade for a diverse range of UK skills providers to engage in.

Jane’s passion for inclusion, she has been shaping thought leadership around inclusive practices through her new enterprise Skills for Inclusion. In this space Jane is promoting micro and sole traders who are experts in this field to international opportunities.

In her voluntary capacity, Jane regularly presents invaluable expertise of the UK skills and training offer at Education World Forum and other key events to international governments, key stakeholders, officials and employers, increasing the opportunity for UK soft power and commercial activity.

Since 2023, Jane has voluntarily mentored the next generation of over 30 leaders through the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Jane Whitehart OBE [Rexworthy] - UK Skills Partnership Chair
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