Our people

Christopher is a businessman, educationalist and environmentalist. He is best known as the CEO of the British fashion house David Nieper Ltd., founded by his late father. Christopher also established and currently chairs both the Christopher Nieper Education Trust, which helps boost young people’s employability skills, and the Christopher Nieper Foundation, which aims to rejuvenate deprived and left-behind towns across Britain.

Under Christopher’s vision and guidance, in 2020, the David Nieper family business received the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development. It also won awards for British Manufacturer of the Year and Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year from Make UK, a platform for celebrating and championing business research and development in the UK. 

Christopher is dedicated to investing in Alfreton and its residents. Through the Foundation, he hopes to create a blueprint for making real, lasting change in towns like these — and breathe new life into left-behind communities.

“What we are doing is providing leadership and guidance, and I’ve been very fortunate to recruit an excellent team of trustees who are bringing in really, really good educational standards. This is what it needs: energy, enthusiasm and good people.”

Andy is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), an independent organisation that gives poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged communities the support they need to break free from poverty and create more opportunities. He is also an advisor to several senior philanthropists, and acts as a Trustee of Dallaglio Rugby Works, a charity that helps young people facing school exclusion to unlock their potential through sport and employability training.

Andy has a background in the voluntary sector and has previously co-founded and led an award-winning charity working with disadvantaged and excluded young people across the Midlands. Throughout his career, he has championed the overlooked people, places such as Alfreton that need the most support and opportunities to thrive.

One of the Foundation’s Trustees, Paul is also a National Independent Director of Times Newspapers, comprising The Times and The Sunday Times.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Paul served as Non-Executive Director of Channel 4 between 2012 and 2018 and successfully campaigned to establish new broadcasting centres away from London. It now has bases in Leeds and Bristol, employing half the workforce and levelling up creative industry opportunities.

Paul also worked as Editor in Chief and Chief Executive of the Press Association (now PA Media) from 1995 to 2010, a service which aimed to collate accurate and reliable reporting from around the UK. During his time, he established an operations centre in the forgotten market town of Howden, East Yorkshire, ringfencing public funding to create 600 jobs and build a blossoming community driven by a transformed local economy.

Paul holds a Trustee role at the Foundation, as well as being a Non-Executive Director of David Nieper Ltd. and a Founding Trustee of Christopher Nieper Education Trust. He is a professional engineer with a global career spanning companies including Westland’s, Unigate, Alfa Laval and JCB, and industries as varied as horticulture, food manufacture, heavy industry and construction. 

 Before joining the Foundation, Paul held a number of senior posts in both engineering and human resources across the UK, Italy and Holland, most notably at JCB. It was while working here as Head of Worldwide Learning and Development Operations that Paul created the JCB Academy – the first 14-19 University Technical College in the UK. He acted as the JCB Academy’s Chair before becoming its Vice Chair of Governors, before retiring in 2015. In 2014, Paul was also ordained as a priest, and now acts as an Associate Minister in his local parish.

Rob set up his independent television production company Robin Hood Media after 20 years with the BBC. As a business correspondent, he appeared regularly on Breakfast News, the BBC’s News Channel and the 6 O’Clock News. Before that he worked in newspapers and on radio, all at local and national level.

Rob also teaches television production and news skills to graduates on the Nottingham Trent University’s broadcast journalism course, and offers fantastic support to the Spirit of Alfreton’s budding journalism students.

Kathryn is CEO, Christopher Nieper Education Trust. Originally from Derbyshire, Kathryn was educated at Matthew Holland Comprehensive in Selston. Before becoming head teacher at the David Nieper Academy, she was the senior deputy head at The Royal Alexandra and Albert School in Reigate, Surrey.

Previously, she worked as head of curriculum research at United Learning, operating across 27 schools all over England with responsibilities for school improvement and staff development. Kathryn has a joint honours degree in Music and Sociology from Keele University gained alongside her teacher training qualifications and a Psychology Degree from The Open University and a Doctorate in Education 
at Sheffield University.