2025 highlights

Samira Sadeghi is Director of Trust Governance for CST. Prior to that, she was Head of Governance and Company Secretary at Academies Enterprise Trust, a multi-academy trust with 57 schools, and served as Regional Governance Officer at Ark Schools for four years. Before moving to the UK with her family in 2010, she was a criminal defence attorney and spent 12 years representing clients on California's death row in their post-conviction proceedings.

Katie Carr is a Director in the Education Practice at Public First. She leads the research for the Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes and a range of other high-profile education research and strategy projects, including surfacing the views of parents on education in the Parent Voice Project and understanding the views of parents, pupils and school staff in improving attendance in schools. Prior to this, Katie spent 10 years at the Department for Education, including as Chief of Staff to two Schools Ministers. She helped steer major legislation through Parliament and led national work on teacher recruitment and retention, regional school improvement, and school and trust strategy. Katie is Chair of Governors at a London secondary academy and a trustee of Tutors United.