He was born in Northampton, England on 3 February 1953, the eldest of four children. His paternal grandfather was a tied railwayman and his maternal grandparents were travellers and smallholders. He was brought up in Towcester, Northamptonshire, and has described himself as 'that year's kid from the council estate to go to grammar school'.
Early career
He completed a BA degree in Geography at the University of Wales in 1974, joining Liverpool Polytechnic as a Research Assistant on graduating, subsequently holding Lecturer and Research Fellow posts at the same institution, working on Social Science Research Council and Community Relations Council research projects on black and Asian segregation, housing and business development. He has published a range of articles and book chapters on the above, and jointly authored a text on Social Geography with Trevor Jones.
After a brief spell in a policy unit in London, Cater joined Edge Hill University in 1979, where he has remained for thirty-nine years. Initially appointed to a lecturing post in Geography, he became Head of Urban Policy and Race Relations in 1983 and sub-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Environmental and Social Sciences in 1986. He took institution-wide responsibility for Policy, Planning and Development in 1990 and was appointed Director of Resources in 1992. In June 1993 he succeeded Ruth Gee as Director and Chief executive. Shortly after appointment, Cater was appointed a Director of the Higher Education Careers Service, a role he sustained in a variety of guises for almost two decades, and became Chair of the Standing Conference of Principals' Teacher Education Group. This interest was also reflected in his appointment, by Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, to the Board of the Teacher Training Agency and its successor body, the Training and Development Agency for Schools, where he chaired both the Audit and the Accreditation Committees. He was appointed Vice-Chair of the Standing Conference in 1997 and served as Chair from 2001 to 2003, being heavily involved in negotiations around the future status of what became the 'post-2004 universities'. Within his region, he also Chaired Higher Education North West, Liverpool City of Learning and the Greater Merseyside and West Lancashire Lifelong Learning Network. In addition to his role as Vice-Chancellor, his current responsibilities include involvement in social work education and training for Universities UK, having been a past member of the Social Work Reform Board. He currently represents the sector in negotiations on the future funding of nurse education and training and is the Chair of the Universities UK Teacher Education Advisory Group. Cater was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to Higher Education and Teacher Training. He was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire in 2019. Cater's paper 'Whither teacher education and training?' was published by the Higher Education Policy Institute in April 2017.
