Colin Hughes (CEO)

Chief Executive Officer

Joined: June 2020

Before joining AQA, Colin was Managing Director of Collins Learning (the education and reference division of HarperCollins) for eight years, where he also launched Collins India. He chaired the Education Publishers Council from 2014 to 2018.

Before this, he founded Learnthings Ltd (the Guardian’s digital learning business) in 2000 and was appointed Managing Director of Guardian Professional in 2006. Earlier, Colin worked as a journalist for the Press Association and The Times, before moving to the Independent, where he held roles including Policy Editor and Education Editor and finally Managing and Deputy Editor.

Separately he chaired Middlesex University for eight years and is currently Chair of Staffordshire University. He's a former trustee and lifelong Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and a Fellow of the RSA, as well as a member of the advisory board of the Norwich-based poetry magazine, The Rialto.