Phil Martlew is a governor at the City of Liverpool College. 

Phil Martlew

“With semi-retirement on the cards, I was thinking about what I could do to keep myself busy using the skills I’d gained in business. I’ve worked in the private sector all my life so I wanted to give something back. Being a governor is about trying to contribute and helping the college run to the best of its ability.

I worked for Lloyds Bank for 28 years and took early retirement. Going from working flat out to full retirement would have been too much of a shock to the system, so I knew I needed to do something to help me adjust to the change in pace.

I’m a trustee of St George’s Hall Charitable Trust in Liverpool and it was through that role that I got into joining boards. Certainly at Board level there are parallels between the way the college is run and the way the bank was run.

Education transformed my life and it’s something we as a society must invest in. It’s our job as governors to make sure the college is able to run efficiently so that young people get the best education possible.”