Stephen Morales

CEO, ISBL

Stephen has a 20 year career history in operations and finance, working at a senior level in the public and private sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Stephen presided over the development and implementation of nationally recognised school business leadership professional standards and led the transition from the National Association of School Business Management to the Institute of School Business Leadership. Stephen works closely with the Department for Education in areas of policy reform, and his commitment to research to aid our self-improving system includes ongoing engagement with international jurisdictions including Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

Building digital capability and capacity

1 Workshop series three

Evaluating what matters: Improving your digital capability in practice

Situated within the wider operational excellence context, this session explores how trusts are using the AI, Digital and Data Standards to assess and strengthen organisational digital capability. The framework defines what strong digital maturity looks like across governance, systems, data and culture. Trust leaders will share how they are applying it to benchmark capability, sharpen priorities and embed improvement in practice. Speakers to be confirmed.

Hall 10a

1 Series four

Leading through change: Unlocking operational efficiencies with the power of data

In recent research led by IRIS Education, over four fifths of education leaders cited budget constraints as a core challenge. This session will provide practical strategies and real-world insights into how to operate more efficiently, gain greater financial visibility, and help future-proof your trust’s success. Aimed at small to mid-size trusts, and those with ambition to grow – trust leaders will walk away with actionable takeaways to drive capacity, improve efficiency, and create the conditions where schools, and their pupils, can flourish.