
Abigail Smith
Abi was appointed as a governor of City of Wolverhampton College in December 2024. She brings over 19 years of senior leadership experience in further education, with expertise in curriculum development, quality improvement, safeguarding and student services across all provision types, ages and levels of study.
Abi has held senior roles at colleges throughout the UK, including colleges in the London region, Manchester, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and the Black Country, most recently serving as Executive Director for Learning Services at Hull College, where she played a key role in achieving ‘Outstanding’ for ‘personal development’. Her consultancy work has been instrumental in transforming educational organisations, often supporting colleges to improve from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.
Abi also has extensive national and international experience as the UK Principal Standards Verifier and Quality Management Reviewer between 2010 and 2023 with Pearson, having quality-assured hundreds of centres in 20 countries – as well as holding responsibility for managing quality standards of Art and Design assessment for Pearson qualifications across the UK.
Alongside her professional educational leadership work, Abi is a printmaker and textiles designer. Originally from the Midlands, she has a personal connection to Wolverhampton through her great-grandfather, Albert Fletcher, who was chief trainer for Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux until his retirement in 1920.
Abi, who has two adult children, now lives in Shropshire and is proud to bring her skills and expertise to support the college and its students.