2025 highlights

Sinéad Mc Brearty is CEO at Education Support, the mental health and wellbeing charity for the education workforce across the UK. She advocates for a systemic approach to wellbeing for the education workforce, attending to the individual, the workplace and the wider policy environment.

Sinéad began her career at KPMG before moving to leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector. She has worked as an organisational development consultant and a lecturer and has been a trustee at a number of charities including Kaleidoscope Trust and Groundswell. She is a currently a governor of a south London primary school.

Sal Naseem is the former Regional Director for London at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, where he spent the best part of a decade working in the police accountability framework in England and Wales. Sal is currently Assistant Director of Insight, Policy & Strategy at Birmingham City Council, and an independent panel member at the National Fire Chiefs Council, supporting its work on culture and inclusion. Sal has worked on some of the most high profile misconduct cases featuring the Metropolitan Police Service in recent years.

As the strategic lead on discrimination, his work focused on stop and search, racism, misogyny, and police culture. Sal sat on the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Police Race Action Plan Board, and the NPCC National Diversity Equality and Inclusion Board as an independent member. Sal has a law degree from the University of Glasgow and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is the winner of the national Equality Diversity and Inclusion Award from the FDA Union in 2023 and was named as one of the top 50 UK changemakers in the Diversity PowerList in 2024.

Rebecca has over 20 years’ experience in education, spanning roles as a children’s centre teacher, primary teacher and headteacher. She brings a deep understanding of how to build positive cultures where people feel valued, supported and empowered to make a difference for their pupils.

Rebecca joined Ambition Institute in 2021 to help shape professional development for teachers and school leaders. Rebecca has designed professional development programmes, guided the Early Career Teacher programme design team as an Associate Dean, and now is the Director of the Research and Insights teams. She works closely with teachers and school leaders to develop evidence-informed approaches that put people first and foster supportive environments. Rebecca’s work supports schools and trusts to create cultures where educators keep getting better and achieve the best outcomes for their pupils.

Laura leads partnerships at Educators Thriving. She also serves as a coach and consultant to values-aligned leaders and organizations alongside Dan Mulhern and Mariana De Carvalho. Prior to consulting, Laura supported districts implementing new coaching technology and grew partnerships as Education Manager at the Mission Promise Neighborhood. She started her career as a Spanish immersion kindergarten teacher in San Francisco and cannot believe those students now drive. On the weekends, you can find Laura hiking in the Bay Area with her spouse and children.