Our Staff
Mark Waters
Head of Research and Programme Delivery
Mark has spent over 30 years working across a range of education sectors. His work includes a range of regional and national programmes with both Local Authorities and Government on programmes such as the 14 to 19 Diploma Programme and the Foundation Learning Programme. Throughout his career, he has always had a keen interest in how the development of collaborative partnerships between employers and young people can support their successful progression into their future lives and careers.
Mark undertook research at the Institute of Education University of London, in which he evaluated an apprentice cohort’s educational experiences and compared the contrasting learning styles and outcomes of formal education vs vocational training in a workplace setting. This invaluable piece of work led to Mark setting up an extremely successful and enduring collaborative partnership, The Crewe Pledge Partnership, with Trevor Langston. The aim of The Pledge was to give young people the opportunity to explore career opportunities across all sectors through authentic engagement with employers and enlisted sustainable support from local employers, young people, Crewe Town and Cheshire East councils, schools, colleges and universities. Under Mark and Trevor’s direction, the Pledge’s impact was palpable and has since been expanded to cover Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Warrington.
Julie Langston
Administration Manager
Julie has worked as a dental hygienist and more recently as a teaching assistant in a primary school.
She has extensive organisational skills, having been the chair of the Parent Teacher Association at her daughters’ primary school for 6 years. In this role she has helped co-ordinate over 60 events, raising around £50,000 to enhance the experience of all of the children in the school.
She is now looking forward to her new role as administrator for 4wardFutures, helping young people meet inspirational people and understand the potential careers that they can pursue.
Jason Podmore
Head of 3D Visualisation, Virtual and Augmented Reality
Jason started his working life as an auto-electrical apprentice at Bentley Motors. He then worked across the world designing control systems for companies such as Honda in Japan and Jaguar Landrover in the UK.
Alongside his work in the automotive sector, Jason embraced a passion for exploring and exploiting the opportunities that digital technologies brought with them and which enabled him to develop his interest in 3D design and visualisation.
He now leads on 3D visualization at 4wardFutures, which includes Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. You can explore some of Jason’s portfolio on his Instagram pages here:
https://www.instagram.com/jasonpodmoreart/
Dr Alexander Hill
Head of Operations and Strategy
Alex is a scientist working in Physics on a range of projects. He attained his PhD in astrophysics with Liverpool John Moores University in 2022, and now is conducting research at the University of Liverpool in areas including medical physics, data science, and accelerator physics.
Alex has a passion for sharing his enthusiasm about science, and believes strongly in making sure that everyone has the knowledge and support needed to reach their aspirations.
After initially working with 4wardFutures as a volunteer, Alex now has taken a formal role within the charity helping to design projects and identify funding opportunities.
Pete Roch
Photographer, Videographer, Story Teller
Pete is one half of award winning production company Squeaky Pedal who specialise in creating films and audio visual media that tell stories through high-impact documentaries, animations and creative content. With clients ranging from national museums to governmental bodies and major broadcasters to a variety of established businesses including Historic England, National Army Museum, Imperial War Museum, History Channel and Network Rail.
https://www.squeakypedal.co.uk/
Dan Lusby
Motion, Design, Direction
Dan has 14 years of experience working as a motion designer and creative director for award-winning museums and visitor attractions around the world. Often taking complex stories and presenting them in new and exciting ways.
Working collaboratively with the client team from concept to installation, Dan is hands-on during every aspect of production. Creating style frames and storyboards to leading a creative team, working in post production and creating the final motion graphics.
Dan has been working in close collaboration with 4wardFutures for the last year in which he has produced a range of new visual identities, illustrations, short films and animated motion graphics. His work can also be seen at Bletchley Park, Mail Rail at the Postal Museum, S.S. Great Britain, The Olympic Museum, The Tower of London and St Paul's Cathedral.