Mark Dale has been Principal & Chief Executive Officer of Portland College since 2006. Mark led Portland College to become one of the UK’s leading specialist colleges for adults with disabilities and a recognised centre of excellence for provision for autistic people and innovation in assistive technology. In his long tenure at Portland Charity, Mark has successfully navigated fundamental shifts in Government funding and local authority commissioning to retain and grow core services, whilst creating multiple award-winning innovations in outdoor education, community adult education for people with mental health issues and assistive technologies. He was previously Associate Professor of Education Studies and Deputy Head of the Education Faculty at the University of Nottingham. Mark led several significant curriculum developments during his time at Nottingham, including founding the University’s study support service in 1998 and also supervising a number of senior leaders in the FE sector to successfully complete doctoral and masters theses. In the wider FE Sector, Mark has been Deputy Chair of Natspec, the membership body for specialist colleges, and a non-executive director of Skills & Education Group and ABC Awards. Mark specialised in promoting and studying access and inclusion to education, leading several projects following the landmark 1995 Disability Discrimination Act: including for Sport England, the Higher Education Funding Council, the European Union, the Department for Education, Employment and Training (now DWP) and Royal National Institute for the Blind. He was also a consultant and trainer for the National College of School Leadership.