A FORMER teacher has landed one of the top jobs at the North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC).

Karen Brown has been appointed head of the chamber's workforce development arm, NECC Training Limited.

The newly-appointed director of training and development is responsible for a £9m turnover company, employing 200 staff who train 2,500 apprentices each year and deliver a range of workforce development courses.

NECC is one of the region's largest skills development organisations, with centres at ten locations - Darlington, Durham, Hexham, two in Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northallerton, Redcar, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Ms Brown, who is from County Durham, studied French and German at Durham University before honing her business education at Sunderland University.

She worked as a translator for various companies before teaching in Singapore and Malaysia, then worked as a lecturer before becoming a Government inspector for both Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate.

Before joining NECC, she worked as a director of the country's largest private sector training company, Protocol.

She now combines her new role at NECC with running her own consultancy, as well as another firm in partnership with fellow County Durham entrepreneur Janet Maitland. The company, Maitland and Brown, has just won a contract from L'Oreal Professional to devise a new quality system for the hairdressing sector.

She said: "Research has shown that firms that invest in the skills of their staff are rewarded by an increase in profitability. We need to get that message across to businesses in the North-East."