Speakers

Alan Warboys is the founding Chief Executive of Place Partnership, a newly formed school trust based across West and South Yorkshire arising from the merger of Accord Multi Academy Trust and Maltby Learning Trust from 1 September 2026. Starting in the summer of 2024, Accord Multi Academy Trust began work on a voluntary merger with Maltby Learning Trust (MLT), a South Yorkshire based school trust with a shared ethos and a strong track record of its own. Following DfE approval in October 2025, the two trusts announced the creation of a new organisation, Place Partnership, bringing their collective strengths together to broaden their impact with the approach taken best described as a ‘merger of equals’. Prior to establishing Accord Multi Academy Trust and Place Partnership, Alan held a range of senior and executive leadership positions and was designated as a National Leader of Education (NLE) in 2013.

Amy Braier is Director of Pears Foundation, where she has worked since 2007, overseeing the Foundation's grant-making and operations. Pears Foundation is one of the UK's largest family foundations, awarding more than £25 million in grants annually.

The Foundation is widely recognised for its support of education, including funding research and teacher development through initiatives such as the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, the National Institute of Teaching's Centre for Digital Information Literacy in Schools, the Centre for Research in Autism and Education, and research on the teaching of empire and migration. Amy played a leading role in establishing the Foundation's Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools and currently serves as a Commissioner. Her work centres on building strategic partnerships that strengthen education, promote social cohesion and address complex social challenges.

She is currently Chair of Miscarriage UK, the UK's leading charity supporting people affected by pregnancy loss.

Amy Marsh is the Head of Nurseries and Preschools at The Priory Learning Trust and Castle Education Schools Trust where she oversees the strategic direction, quality of education, and operational excellence of the trust’s early years provisions. With over 20 years of dedicated experience in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) leadership, Amy Marsh is passionate about creating nurturing, stimulating, and high-quality learning environments that give every child the best possible start in life.

Amy supports her school based nurseries to focus on bridging the gap between early years and primary education to ensure seamless transitions for young learners. She believes that strong early intervention and a play-based, language-rich curriculum are fundamental to narrowing the disadvantage gap and unlocking long-term academic and social success.

Andrew Thraves is Chair of Big Education Trust, Chair of Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Partnership, and a Non-Executive Director of CST Professional Development Ltd.

He has spent nearly 40 years supporting schools, trusts and other education organisations through the development and provision of curriculum and assessment resources, strategic advice and guidance, and the creation of services that strengthen leadership, governance and organisational effectiveness.

Andrew has worked extensively across the commercial services to education sector, including roles as Director of Education Services at GL Education Group, and Managing Director of Optimus Education Ltd.

Andy Hinchliff is the Chief Operating Officer for The Circle Trust. The Circle Trust is a group of 11 school in based in Wokingham, Bracknell, Oxfordshire and Hampshire. Andy plays a key role in driving the trust's strategic approach to centralisation and digitalisation. His work focuses on developing efficient systems, strengthening organisational capacity, and using technology to streamline processes to improve services for schools, staff, and pupils. As the trust continues to grow, effectiveness and efficiency become more important than ever.

Beck Crowhurst is the Director of Education at the Centre for the Children's Workforce - a new national initiative dedicated to building the workforce children deserves. She oversees the curriculum sitting behind a new foundation degree targeted at the hidden children's workforce, and works to build programmes that connects different sectors to learn and collaborate.

Prior to working with CCW, she was part of the founding team at Reach Academy Feltham in 2012, and was co-headteacher for seven years from 2018 - 2025.

Branwen Jeffreys is the Education Editor for BBC News - reporting for national news on every aspect of learning from early years to young adults. Her brief ranges from the policy and politics of education to the lived experience of children and young people including mental wellbeing and the transition to work. She has made documentaries for Radio 4 and Panorama. As a journalist and broadcaster she has taken a particular interest over three decades in how policy translates into delivery and user experience in public services.

Branwen is also an executive coach within the BBC as part of a network working with leaders to support resilience in a high stress industry. She in the lengthy training to become a transactional analyst in the organizational field as another framework to bring systemic thinking to working with leaders.

Carol has been Chief Executive Officer of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust since April 2014 overseeing the trust's growth from a three schools to a trust of 21 schools, educating more than 10,600 pupils. During her time at the trust, she has sat on several DfE advisory groups and supported a number of national education commissions, including the current commission on current affairs teaching being led by the Economist Education Foundation. Carol is a Trustee for the Bradford Culture Company driven by her ambition to ensure that young people have a voice in shaping the Bradford City of Culture enrichment offer available across the City. In 2020, Carol was awarded an OBE for her services to education. In 2025 Carol was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for West Yorkshire and she will also take up the position of High Sherriff for West Yorkshire for 12 months from April 2028.

Cathy Brown has held the post of Director of Governance at The Mead Educational Trust since 2016. In this role she is responsible for the strategic leadership of governance across the trust. As a member of the trust’s executive team, she is involved in discussions and decisions across school improvement, finance, operations and HR.

Cathy brings extensive experience of school and academy trust governance to her role, including: chairing and clerking governance meetings and panels for complaints and exclusions; delivering governance training; conducting reviews of governance; and mentoring other school trust governance professionals.

She works with colleagues across the trust to manage complaints.

Charlotte Mclone is a seasoned procurement professional with over 10 years of experience in the public sector. She has worked extensively across Education and Emergency Services, delivering innovative procurement solutions across diverse categories. Charlotte specialises in aggregating spend across sectors to maximise efficiency and achieve value for money. Her expertise lies in building strategic frameworks that drive compliance, cost savings, and operational excellence, ensuring robust procurement outcomes for complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

With two decades of experience in the UK energy industry working for suppliers, consultancies and representing customers, I'm well versed in the intricacies and peculiarities of this complex market. As Director of Ginger Energy, I'm passionate about working for our public sector clients to secure the best procurement solutions and lived experiences for their energy needs.

Chris Kirk is a strategic adviser, education leader and former PwC Partner with more than 30 years’ experience across education, skills and social impact. His career has spanned senior leadership roles in government, consulting, international education and advisory work across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Chris is the founder of CJK, a specialist advisory practice supporting trusts, charities, foundations, education suppliers, investors and school groups with strategy, organisational development, operating model transformation and growth. He is particularly recognised for his work with school trusts on operating models, shared services, governance, collaboration and organisational effectiveness, and for helping education organisations scale while remaining focused on quality and impact.

Alongside his advisory work, Chris is a regular keynote speaker, facilitator and masterclass leader for sector organisations including Confederation of School Trusts, and has contributed thought leadership on school group strategy, operating models and accountability through work with The Key and other sector bodies.

Across his career, Chris has worked extensively at the intersection of education, public service reform and social impact, with a consistent focus on improving education, skills and opportunity for children, young people and communities.

Claire specialises in data protection, AI, information governance, and freedom of information for education clients at Browne Jacobson LLP. Her extensive experience leading a data protection officer service as well as experience working as a school business manager and as a local academy board governor equips her with a profound understanding of school challenges. Claire received the European Picasso 'Champion' Award for her ability to support and promote a positive information governance culture within schools, and the important work done by school staff to protect children's personal data. Claire is also a co-author of the IRMS Records Management Toolkit for Schools and Academies and is known for her effective public speaking and advocacy for data protection importance in education. Additionally, Claire's expertise extends to AI governance and edtech. This experience and knowledge makes her an invaluable resource for educational institutions.

Claire is the Chief Executive of The Cam Academy Trust and the Chair of the Active Learning Trust. She is also a trustee at The Difference.

Daisy Christodoulou is Director of Education at No More Marking, a provider of online comparative judgement assessments. She works closely with schools in the UK, Australia and USA on developing new approaches to assessment, and on applications of artificial intelligence in the classroom.

Before that, she was Head of Assessment at Ark Schools, a network of academy schools. She has taught English in two London comprehensives and has been part of UK government commissions on the future of teacher training and assessment.

Daisy is the author of three books about education: Seven Myths about Education (2013), Making Good Progress? The future of Assessment for Learning (2017), and Teachers vs Tech (2020).

As Head of Partnerships at Be Ready, Dan is passionate about inclusion focused staff development for education that enables organisations and individuals to flourish. He has led the provision of fully funded professional development programmes for wellbeing and SEND for over 300 school trusts and thousands of schools across the country. Dan continues to champion and demystify how school trusts can access over £4billion of apprenticeship funding available to the education sector as part of staff development and retention strategies in a challenging fiscal environment.

Danielle Lewis-Egonu is the CEO of Cygnus Academies Trust. She has worked in school improvement and leadership development for over 20 years, supporting schools, leaders and local authorities. She is a published author writing about education and leadership and has recently co-authored a chapter in Outstanding School Leadership published by Bloomsbury Education. The book highlights the positive impact of leaders across the UK and globally.

David created Value Match over 10 years ago as a specialist procurement services and consultancy company. Previously, David has held senior positions in the cabinet office, HM treasury and recently as director of procurement, sustainability and social impact at NHS SBS. Through extensive experience in ensuring procurement aligns to an organisations strategy and purpose, David believes that procurement can play a pivotal role in mitigating climate change while delivery positive social vale impact and improving broader organisational outcomes.

Dominic Broad is Deputy CEO at Thrive Education Partnership, a specialist SEND school trust. He is a former director of education and headteacher. Previously strategic lead for curriculum reform in Wales, Dominic led large-scale curriculum change alongside pioneer schools, regional consortia, and Welsh Government. He has led successful school improvement across multiple academies and now oversees trust-wide strategy, leadership development, and central services. Dominic also sits on the Pearson Digital Transformation Advisory Panel, hosts The Olympic Mindset Podcast and was recently appointed as a pedagogical expert on the AI Tutoring Tools Pioneer Programme on behalf of the Department for Education.

Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith an independent consultant researcher who works closely with schools to support a deeper understanding of pedagogy and practice in a contemporary landscape.
She is a PhD supervisor and examiner, and co-author of the best selling book From EdTech to PedTech: Changing the way we think about digital technology. Fiona is Co-founder of the National PedTech Partnership and The Open School UK, and sits on a number of advisory and charitable boards. In 2024, Fiona was granted Freedom of the City of London, and Fiona was named EduFuturist of the Year 2025.

Ed is the Managing Director of the Reach Foundation. He was the Founding Headteacher of Reach Academy Feltham and developed a Cradle to Career model around the school in Feltham. Now, the Reach Foundation supports more than 70 clusters of schools around the country to take a Cradle to Career approach.

The Reach Foundation developed a model of support in the first 1,001 days and were commissioned by Hounslow Borough to deliver the Start for Life offer for the Family Hub service and have also developed a Foundation Degree in Early Years to support the local workforce.

Elin de Zoete is Group Director and Co-Founder of ImpactEd Group and brings 20 years of experience in education policy, government relations and impact communications. At ImpactEd, she has led high-profile, cross sector convening projects on inclusion, oracy, school improvement, AI, critical thinking and resilience. Prior to ImpactEd, Elin was Managing Director of PLMR, an award-winning education public affairs and communications agency. She also served as Government Relations Director at Bite Back (Jamie Oliver's campaigning charity).

Outside of work Elin sits on the Board of Inspiration Trust and is the lead trustee for SEND and inclusion and AI. She is also the Vice Chair of intergenerational charity, The Together Project.

Emily Verow is CEO of Three Spires Trust. Emily is a creative, well-qualified and experienced educationalist. Emily graduated with a first class honours degree, before completing a Masters degree in Educational Leadership. Emily was a teacher for all her professional life prior to joining the trust in 2021; her six years as an Executive Head leading both primary and secondary schools served as the perfect preparation for her present role as trust CEO. Emily is passionate about high quality educational experiences for young people and an active contributor to proposals to completely re-imagine the educational provision for the students of today and tomorrow.

Emma Slater helps schools see the bigger picture: how smarter systems, clearer budgets and aligned practice create capacity for people to do their best work. With over a decade as a Lead Practitioner and Head of English across LEA and trust schools, Emma understands the operational pressures schools face. As former Director of Education at GCSEPod and now Director of Product for Access Education, she connects curriculum ambition with backroom strategy. Emma brings practical insight into how reducing admin burden strengthens wellbeing, builds trust-wide cohesion and enables more strategic, sustainable growth.

Freddie Whittaker is the editor of national education newspaper Schools Week.

He was previously its deputy and political editor, covering politics and policy issues for the newspaper as well as a number of other areas including industrial relations, school funding and children's rights.

Freddie trained as a journalist on the Gloucester Citizen where he spent four years writing about local government, environment and education issues. He then served as the Oxford Mail's political reporter before joining FE Week in 2014.

Following Schools Week's launch later that year, Freddie began writing for both publications. He moved to the Schools Week team full time in August 2015, and became the paper’s political reporter in January 2016, its chief reporter in 2017 and its deputy editor in 2022.

Helen is a chartered architect, fellow of RIBA, and Director of Practice for Scott Brownrigg, an international design practice specialising in architecture, masterplanning, urbanism and interior design. She is responsible for knowledge management across the practice. Helen’s commitment to sustainability, diversity and inclusive design, supports the implementation of new initiatives to assist the practice in achieving its quality management, sustainability and corporate social and environmental responsibility objectives. Specialising in education design for many years, including the nature-based Island School in Cyprus, shortlisted in World Architecture Festival (WAF) awards, she has authored books for RIBA on Urban Schools: Designing for High Density, awarded the AJ100 Collaboration of the Year award and Community Schools: Designing for Sustainability, Wellbeing and Inclusion. Helen is passionate about cross industry collaboration, engagement and research. She played a significant role in the establishment of Modern Apprenticeships in Architecture and is an external examiner and lecturer.

Hilary is the CEO of Ambition Institute, and has previously held senior roles in education policy, professional development, and equalities. As a charity, Ambition Institute’s focus is on tackling educational inequality. Since March 2019, Ambition has worked with over 100,000 teachers, and with more than half of all schools in the country. The organisation supports teachers and leaders across their careers with high quality, evidence-based professional development, from initial teacher training to trust leadership. As well as a wide range of professional development programmes, Ambition delivers innovative pilot initiatives, a portfolio of robust research, and wider sector engagement to support equality. SEND and inclusion are long-standing priorities for Ambition, and the team is pleased to have worked with CST on publications like Five principles for inclusion, and convening the Inclusion in Practice hub.

Iona runs the insights team at Edurio, responsible for the creation of new surveys and analysis of the national datasets on staff, pupil and parent experience. Since joining Edurio in 2021, Iona has worked on national reports focused on topics such as equality, diversity and inclusion and staff retention. Iona brings over 10 years of research experience, previously working in fields from technology, to food waste, to finance.

James Rant is Chief Financial Officer for Red Kite Learning Trust which comprises 16 schools based in Leeds and Harrogate. Having worked in the education sector now for seven years, James is keen to collaborate with others across the sector to get the best for young people that they serve.

Prior to working in education, James worked for several years in external audit as well as a financial controller for a travel health company.

James Townsend is an Executive Director at the Reach Foundation, where he leads the Cradle to Career Partnership and Reach's leadership programmes for aspiring head teachers and and trust CEOs. James has previously held leadership roles at Teach First and STiR Education, where he helped found and grow the organisation to reach over 200,000 teachers globally. He started his career as a history teacher in east London.

James is the CEO and co-founder of Arbor Education, the UK's most popular cloud-based management information system used by the majority of schools and trusts.

Jamie’s key focus is acting for schools and academies in the North and is based in our Leeds Office. Jamie has vast experience acting for providers across the education sector, and is recognised as a Rising Star in the Legal 500.

Jamie advises schools, academies, nurseries, further education and sixth form colleges and local authorities on sophisticated corporate governance issues, including the establishment of trading companies, collaborative groupings and federations on collaboration agreements. He has also managed over 800 conversions projects and his experience includes providing cutting edge strategic advice to a number of high profile school trusts on academy to academy transfers.

Jamie is a trustee of a secondary school and also sits on the audit committee of a large, high profile school trust.

Jennese Alozie is the CEO of University of Chichester Academy Trust because she is passionate about what education and learning must mean for generations of children, young people, and adults. She began her career as a secondary school English teacher and has held a range of senior and executive leadership roles within schools, local authorities and school trusts. Currently, Jennese is an experienced board member and believes that as system leaders and architects, collectively we have the expertise and innovation required to reshape our society and how we see ourselves within it.

Jo previously worked for Rochdale Borough Council for 17 years where she undertook a variety of roles and responsibilities, including raising of the participation age agenda and careers education, information, advice & guidance. Jo then became the Inclusion Lead Officer within school improvement, responsible for several teams, working with primary and secondary heads on a myriad of inclusion projects. She also led the work to develop Alternative Provision across the Borough. Now with Altus Education Partnership as their Partnership Development Manager, Jo leads and manages Children’s University, REACH (Rochdale Enrichment Activity Hub) platform and Altus Community Food Hub. Jo is proactive and attends a number of Boroughwide networks and forums, working with a wide range of partners. Jo is a Trustee at Rochdale AFC Community Trust, Dale Futures and Rochdale Training. She also loves the theatre and is part of an amateur dramatics society.

Jo Twiby is Principal Director for ImpactEd Group's evaluation practice - supporting schools, trusts, government and education organisations to evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies, programmes and interventions for the benefit of children. Prior to this, she worked as Executive Director at Delta Academies Trust for nine years, supporting their mission to improve educational outcomes for children in the North of England. She founded The Exchange Partnership as a vehicle for school improvement through evidence-informed professional learning and collaboration, engaging over 900 schools in Yorkshire and the Humber. Her trust-wide leadership of English at Delta and Outwood Grange Academies Trust led to significant gains in achievement for all students, exceeding national averages in academies predominantly serving communities characterised by disadvantage.

Jo is a member of the EEF's Disadvantage Expert Advisory Group. She has 24 years of experience in teaching and leading in schools and trusts in the North of England.

Joe Bradley is Head of Enrichment at Ormiston Academies Trust where he leads the trust's ambition to guarantee every pupil access to 80 hours of enrichment every year. As a 2015 Teach First Ambassador, he began his career as a secondary maths teacher in East London and has since developed extensive experience designing inclusive programmes for school trusts that support pupil engagement, aspiration, and achievement.

John is a highly experienced former CEO who has grown and developed one of England’s leading school trusts and is now dedicating the next stage of his career as an Education Leadership Mentor, Advisor and Public speaker. As one of the founding CEOs of the National Institute of Teaching, John has contributed to the architecture of the school trust sector. John has become the Programme Architect for the BeReady Becoming the CEO programme and is currently enabling, equipping and sustaining 150 aspiring and current CEOs. Now John continues to use his skills and experience to support other leaders to succeed as a CEO mentor, leadership trainer and chair of national conferences that nurture the next generation of school trust CEOs.

Jon Severs has been editor of Tes magazine since 2021 and has been a journalist at Tes magazine since 2012. He previously wrote for national newspapers and magazines.

Jonny brings powerful commercial insight to the education sector, working closely with schools, academies and trusts to help them think more strategically about growth and improve operations. With over 15 years’ experience leading global technology and SaaS organisations, he has transformed teams, modernised strategies and delivered significant growth in complex environments. Over the past year, Jonny has applied this expertise directly to education, helping leaders optimise processes and free up resources so funding can be reinvested where it matters most, supporting teaching, learning and student success. As panel host, he guides discussion with clarity and purpose.

Katherine Walsh is the Director of Inclusion for River Learning Trust. She is an experienced teacher and school leader and has led SEND provision in primary and secondary schools in England and America. Over the past ten years, Katherine has developed particular expertise in working with leadership teams to develop school-wide systems, establishing shared and inclusive visions for the education of children and young people with SEND. Katherine was a lead author on the Department for Education commissioned Whole School SEND Teacher Handbook: SEND.

Lewis Newbury is a Membership Advocate at Education Mutual, working as part of the New Memberships team to support prospective schools and trusts with their staff absence protection needs. Lewis works closely with regions including Lancashire and South Yorkshire, where he acts as a trusted representative for staff absence protection. Through building strong relationships with schools and trusts, he provides consistent, dedicated guidance tailored to each setting’s requirements. In addition, Lewis is the Education Mutual representative for the Schools North East partnership, strengthening collaboration across the region and supporting more organisations to access the protection they need.

Louis Musgrove is a dedicated Membership Advocate at Education Mutual, where he has played a key role within the New Memberships Team for several years. With a strong commitment to supporting schools and trusts, Louis helps education leaders navigate the growing challenges surrounding staff absenteeism, a rising issue across the sector. Working closely with schools, he provides clear guidance, practical support, and tailored solutions to ensure they feel confident and well-equipped when managing workforce wellbeing and staff absence protection. Louis serves as the primary advocate for several key regions across the UK, including Hackney, Kent, Lancashire and West Sussex. Passionate about improving wellbeing within the education workforce, Louis takes a proactive interest in initiatives that prevent and reduce absenteeism, working alongside school leaders to promote sustainable approaches to wellbeing.

As Chief Finance and Operations Officer at the Greater Manchester Education Trust, Louise is responsible for each of the core areas of business, premises, finance, IT and administrative support functions. Louise is an accredited Schools Resource Management Advisor (SRMA) and CFO Mentor.

Louise held the role of Education Finance Officer with Trafford Local Authority for five years before becoming Finance Director and Business Manager in a school trust, establishing a business management partnership providing services to schools across the local authority. Louise has worked closely with the National College for Teaching & Leadership as regional business manager advocate and partnership adviser, promoting school business management collaborations across the North West. Louise holds an advanced diploma in Education Business Management and a postgraduate qualification in Educational Leadership. From 2014-2018 she was Strategic Director of Finance and Corporate Services at Manchester Health Academy, overseeing a £14 million expansion project and providing support, in her role as SLE, to numerous organisations experiencing financial pressures.

Mark McCourt became CEO of Academy Transformation Trust (ATT) in April 2025. A nationally renowned educationalist and business leader, Mark has dedicated his career to raising standards across all phases of education. With a background in mathematics education, curriculum design, and system leadership, Mark brings a wealth of experience from working with schools, trusts, governments, and international organisations. He is passionate about ensuring every child – regardless of background – has access to a first-class education and is committed to supporting ATT’s 22 academies and their communities to thrive.

Matthew Purves took up his post as National Director of the Ofsted Academy on 2 September 2024. Previously he was Regional Director, South East from January 2022. Matthew was Director for Education Services at a large national school trust in 2020 and 2021, where his responsibilities included curriculum, safeguarding, wellbeing and teacher and leader development throughout the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in his career, Matthew was Deputy Director for Schools at Ofsted. He has also worked at the Home Office and the Department for Education.

Mike Pettifer has been the CEO of Woodard Academies Trust, for four years. Woodard Academies Trust is school trust with six academies across the country covering early years, primary, secondary and post 16. Prior to this, Mike spent 12 years working in the Department for Education serving as Director of the Covid Response Unit and previously the Director of Academies and Maintained Schools. He was responsible for academy funding, financial health, and governance with a budget of around £45 billion. He started as an English teacher in a further education college and became more involved in strategy, planning and funding whilst working for the Learning & Skills Council on all types of post 16 provision.

Nathan Waites has been in post as Chief Financial & Operating Officer at The De Curci Trust in Portsmouth for over eight years. In addition to his main role, he is also an accredited School Resource Management Advisor (SRMA); a Chief Financial Officer Mentor; Chair of the Institute of School Business Leadership’s Advisory Panel; Chair of Portsmouth Schools' Forum and Co-Chair of Governors at Admiral Lord Nelson School, Portsmouth.

Following an early career in general management within the retail and hospitality sectors, Nathan began his 18-year education career as school business manager (SBM) in a maintained primary school and then  SBM in an all-through independent school. He completed an MBA in 2016 with his dissertation focussing on the development of the role of School Business Managers, and is passionate about all aspects of school business leadership.

Ned Younger is the Managing Director of the Centre for the Children's Workforce, a national initiative dedicated to building more connected and coherent approaches to working with babies, children, and young people in England.

His background is in workforce development and social innovation. He has built programmes and partnerships across social impact sectors in the UK and internationally over the last decade, and was previously Managing Director at Koreo, a leading learning consultancy and incubator.

He is a trustee of the Virgin Money Foundation, and a founding Director of the campaigning charity Inside Track.

Paul Charman has 20 years’ experience working in educational technology, assessment and data. He joined FFT as a Director in 2012 and was appointed Managing Director in 2014. Before joining FFT, Paul worked for 14 years in senior roles at RM where he led the team which designed and developed education data platforms and services for schools for DfE and Ofsted. Paul has been Chair of Governors at Dyson Perrins CE Academy in Malvern since 2011.

Phil brings over 20 years of dedicated experience in supporting the education sector. He currently leads our national education proposition, overseeing a team of 14 specialist education relationship managers who work with eight out of 10 school trusts across the UK. Phil is committed to delivering value to our clients through cutting-edge digital innovations—driving efficiency, reducing risk, enhancing oversight, and strengthening financial control.

Pip is the Head of the Centre for Digital Information Literacy in Schools, which aims to embed critical thinking, psychological insight and media literacy across teacher development - to equip educators with the knowledge, confidence, and tools to teach and lead effectively in an age of misinformation.

An experienced education leader, Pip has held senior roles including head of department, assistant head, vice principal, and teaching school director. With a background in English teaching and a decade in advertising, Pip is passionate about evidence-informed practice and professional development.

Pip has contributed to national and international education initiatives, led the Star SCITT provision, and actively supports career changers entering the teaching profession.

Rebecca Boomer Clark is the Chief Executive Officer of Academies Enterprise Trust. An experienced school leader, she was Director of Secondary at Ark Schools from 2017 to 2021. Prior to that, she worked for the DfE as Regional Schools Commissioner for South-West England. Rebecca also worked at Oasis Community Learning for eight years in a variety of roles, initially as a vice principal and principal in Bristol, before becoming a Regional Director and then National Education Director at the school trust. Rebecca is also a Trustee at Ambition Institute and Jamie's Farm.

As well as being CEO of Compass Eko Trust, Rebekah provides high quality school improvement work to a range of schools and trusts.

Previously, Rebekah has been a headteacher, co-headteacher, deputy headteacher, and an advisor for science, early years and English as an additional language in two local authorities before becoming a senior advisor for continuing professional development (CPD). This role included specific responsibility for developing leadership capacity across primary, secondary and special schools. She has also taught in schools in Britain and Namibia.

Richard is the CEO of Altus Education Partnership and former Principal of Rochdale Sixth Form College, a beacon of excellent practice in education. As an Ofsted outstanding provider, the college has been ranked as one of the most consistent colleges in terms of A level progress in the country, has an excellent track record for supporting disadvantaged pupils and has been instrumental in improving the life chances of young people in the borough.
As CEO he has a high profile in the local community and works closely with a wide variety of stakeholders to deliver on the trust's commitment to support all children in an Altus academy to lead happy and fulfilling lives, and make a positive difference to their communities and society.

Robert is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Partner at Barker heading up their education sector. He works with academies, trusts and colleges to deliver capital projects and surveying services including condition surveying and estate planning. He also assists education clients in applying for capital funding and advises on energy efficiency strategies.

Ross Taylor is a senior banking leader at Lloyds Banking Group, currently serving as Head of Payment and Liquidity Sales within Commercial Banking Coverage. He brings deep expertise across merchant services, commercial cards, cash management, and liquidity solutions, with a strong track record of driving sales performance, leading high-performing teams, and shaping strategic initiatives.

Ross is known for his practical, results-focused approach, combining commercial insight with disciplined execution. He works closely with senior stakeholders to drive standards, deliver growth, improve customer outcomes, and navigate regulatory and operational complexity.

Alongside his professional focus, he is passionate about developing people, improving sales capability, and applying data-driven insights to decision-making. Outside work, Ross is actively involved in youth sport, supporting the development of young rugby players.

Sam Crome is a school leader, currently a Headteacher and Director of Education for Xavier Catholic Education Trust in Surrey. He has lead in primary and secondary schools, across a range of roles in middle and senior leadership. For the last few years, Sam has studied high-performing teams, trying to better understand how teams can become more than the sum of their parts. He regularly blogs, speaks, and works with schools regarding their teams, helping educators to maximise their effectiveness, and is author of The Power of Teams: How to create and lead thriving school teams. He remains convinced that this is an area that needs more attention and exploration.

Sam Finch is the Chief Finance & Operating Officer at Education Learning Trust, a school trust based in Stockport, Cheshire. Sam has been dedicated to driving financial excellence, operational efficiency, and strategic growth since 2010. Sam has recently completed her operational excellence training at strategic lead level and has also undertaken the Level 5 Diploma in School Business Management and AAT. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with CEO's, executive leaders, trustees and other stakeholders to strengthen financial sustainability while ensuring high-quality educational outcomes.

Sam's expertise spans financial strategy, budgeting, compliance, risk management, business operations, procurement, estates, human resources, IT, and organisational transformation. She has successfully led complex change initiatives, implemented robust financial controls, and developed long-term strategies that support teaching and learning.

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.

Sarah is an experienced school and system leader. As Head of System Leadership at IFtL, she leads the Learning and Development (CPD) offer, designing system leadership approaches to build sustainable capacity and expertise. Sarah champions evidence-led, research based, professional learning and creates opportunities for colleagues to collaborate and inspire each other to think creatively. Sarah is highly respected for the thoughtful way in which she combines her extensive educational expertise with positive challenge and a nurturing style. Her work leading Digital Learning at IFtL has taken a pathfinding approach, placing the interaction of pedagogy and digital at its heart and vitally, pivoting around the needs and aspirations of children and young people.

Sarah Lay has worked in governance roles for more than 15 years, holding professional positions in educational institutions and independent professional bodies. She is the Head of Governance and Company Secretary at the Co-op Academies Trust, a large multi academy trust in the North of England, where she leads a team of governance professionals facilitating effective decision making and stakeholder engagement across 38 diverse communities.

Sarah is passionate about promoting the profile of academy governance professionals across the wider sector, and in identifying opportunities for cross-sector learning, development and collaboration. She is a trustee of a charity in central Manchester, and the winner of the National Governance Association's Outstanding Lead Governance Professional Award 2025.

Shane Ierston was a successful academy principal for nine years before taking up his post as CEO at the Great Schools Trust. In 2012, he became the founding Principal of King’s Leadership Academy Warrington, which was later judged outstanding under his leadership. King’s Warrington was the first academy in the trust and performs in the top four percent of state schools nationally for progress. Shane’s career spans 26 years across a range of settings, his portfolio includes school transformation and cross trust improvement work for the DfE. Shane is a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and served as an Inspector at Ofsted for six years.

Simon Leach has been Principal of Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy since January 2023. Since his appointment, he has led the academy through significant transformation, securing its first ever good judgement after more than 20 years of satisfactory, requires improvement and inadequate inspection outcomes.

Simon is passionate about overcoming educational disadvantage and creating the culture and climate for young people to achieve social, emotional and academic success. Under his leadership, Ormiston Ilkeston has developed a distinctive approach to enrichment, embedding it into the core school week alongside academic subjects.

Serving a highly disadvantaged community, Simon has championed an entitlement model that ensures 100 percent of students access meaningful and regular enrichment, recognising its vital role in broadening horizons, building confidence and improving life chances.

Stuart is an experienced school principal who has led a range of schools to very strong improvements and very high standards. As chief executive since 2017, he leads the strategy and direction of the trust.

His wide understanding of the role of school trusts enables him to shape the trust's work to deliver the vision of exceptional education and pupil outcomes.

Stuart is also one of the DFE’s national behaviour advisors.

Stuart has been on working and advisory groups with the department of education on recruitment and retention, workload, the early career framework, national professional qualifications, the role of national leaders of education, and the national headteacher standards. He was also on the group that developed and wrote the MAT CEO development programme. Stuart is the editor of the researchEd Guide to Leadership.

Sufian Sadiq is the Director of Talent and Teaching School at Chiltern Learning Trust, with responsibility for overseeing two regional hub areas in the south east of England and four regional SCITT provisions. Chiltern Teaching School are one of the largest providers of CPD to the sector nationally. He is a passionate activist within the educational landscape around race, equity and inclusion. He is a Fellow and Board Member of the Chartered College of Teaching and now the President-Elect, as well as a Fellow for the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. He plays an active role in numerous charitable organisations as a Trustee and also holds key governance roles within educational organisations. He is a serving Ofsted inspector and richly contributes to the education landscape.

As PLMR’s Head of Education, Tiffany provides expert strategic advice and support in reputation management and crisis communications, PR and media relations, public affairs and wider communications disciplines to school trusts and maintained schools; early years, further and higher education institutions; charities; sector bodies; edtech companies and organisations across the education sphere. She is also Chair of Trustees at Maritime Academy Trust, where she has obtained in-depth understanding of issues and challenges facing schools and trusts around the country. She was made an OBE for services to education in the King’s New Year Honours List 2024.

Tom Preston is a Director of Thrive, the UK’s leading provider of social, emotional and mental health training and resources for schools, boosting attendance and behaviour, reducing exclusions, and improving staff and pupil wellbeing. Thrive is part of Supporting Education Group, which supports over 95% of all the school trusts in England through their SEND, qualifications and training, recruitment and professional services businesses. Prior to Thrive, Tom was a Director of Partnerships at Teach First. He is passionate about social impact, leadership, and strategy, a published author and based in Nottingham, UK.

Tom is chief executive of Ormiston Academies Trust, one of England’s most established school trusts which serves over 35,000 children in 45 schools across the country, including special, alternative provision, primary and secondary. He has 30 years of experience working in education as a teacher, headteacher and in executive roles, previously at Ambition Institute where he was responsible for the delivery of professional development to over 50,000 teachers and school leaders.

Tom has worked in different advisory roles to government, including as chair of the Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion. He is current co-chair of DfE’s Expert Panel for National Inclusion Standards and Specialist Provision Packages.

In 2006, Tom was the founding chair of Ups ‘n’ Downs – a charity supporting families affected by Down’s syndrome.

Vicky is a partner and has been practising education law since 2010. Her areas of expertise include academy projects, governance and student related matters. Vicky is ranked as a ‘Rising Star’ in Legal 500 for 2021.

Vicky supports schools and trusts on the corporate and governance aspects of all types of academy projects, including academy conversions, academy mergers and transfers and significant change applications. She also advises trusts on changes to their governance arrangements, including putting in place new Articles of Association and schemes of delegation. She has particular experience in supporting Church of England schools and trusts with diocesan requirements, having undertaken in-house secondments with two dioceses in the South West.

Vicky advises on a range of student related matters, especially those which are, or are likely to become, contentious including admissions, exclusions, special educational needs, discrimination claims, complaints and other parent issues. She also advises on issues arising from regulatory intervention from Ofsted, local authorities, the ESFA and the Department for Education.

Vicky takes an active interest in education, having held several volunteer governorship roles in maintained and academy schools and in higher education. She is currently a Trustee of Askel Veur, the Diocese of Truro Umbrella Trust Company, and a member of a special school trust.

Vicky is also a co-opted member of the Audit Committee at Plymouth Marjon University, working with internal and external auditors to review financial and risk management controls and ensuring compliance with OFS and other regulatory body requirements on behalf of the University’s Board of Governors.

Warren Carratt was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Nexus Multi-Academy Trust in April 2016 and was brought in to establish the trust and develop its strategy and operating model. Since its founding in June 2016, the trust has grown under Warren’s leadership as a civic structure across South Yorkshire and the East midlands, and reached the finals of the National Governance Association Outstanding Governance Awards twice, winning the "outstanding vision and strategy” category in 2017.

Warren gained his chartered accountancy qualification whilst working at a primary multi academy trust with over 20 schools, before moving on to become CFO at a special/AP trust in Derbyshire.

In his role at IMP, he analyses sector developments and trends, and works closely with customers to ensures that IMP’s financial management tools continually evolve to support smarter trust finance.

Wasim is a member of the executive leadership team at Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT), a family of 45 schools across England. As National Director, he oversees a cluster of special and alternative provision academies and leads OAT’s national strategy for inclusion. Wasim’s career spans mainstream, special, and alternative settings, including serving as a headteacher and executive headteacher in inner London before joining OAT in 2021. His work focuses on supporting schools to build inclusive cultures through strong leadership, high-quality teaching and effective support for pupils with additional needs. He was also a member of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Inclusion Taskforce, contributing practitioner insight to the national report Breaking the Cycle: A Blueprint for SEND Reform (2025).

Will Jordan FCCA has worked with academies and multi academy trusts since the first ‘phase two’ academies opened in September 2010. As a qualified accountant and financial technology specialist, Will now works with established multi academy trusts to strengthen their financial planning and reporting processes by replacing legacy software with multi academy trust-specific, agile tools.