Driving an Efficient and Sustainable Trust - Manchester - Speakers

Nick MacKenzie, Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP (Chair)

Nick is an education lawyer, executive coach and a member of the firm’s board. Recognised as a leading expert in education by The Legal 500 and Chambers for over ten years, Nick specialises in corporate and governance advice in the education sector.

Anita Bath, Chief Executive, Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust

Originally from London, Anita moved to the Northeast in 1988 where she began her career as an English teacher. She was appointed headteacher of Sacred Heart High School for girls in Newcastle which became a sponsor academy in 2017 and a Trust of 3 schools. In October 2019 the MAT began to expand rapidly. By July of 2022, Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust was a community of 39 schools. Anita is a fellow of the RSA. She chairs NETSP and currently sits on the Advisory Board for the region.

Owen Carter, Co-Founder and Managing Director, ImpactEd

Owen is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of ImpactEd, a social enterprise partnering with schools and trusts to support them in evaluating the impact of their programmes and interventions. Prior to running ImpactEd, he led a number of research and evaluation projects at education charity The Brilliant Club. Owen is a winner of the Teach First Innovation Award, the Fair Education Alliance's Scaling Award and has been named one of PwC’s ‘Tomorrow’s Business Leaders’.

Mark Cole, CEO, Rise Multi Academy Trust

Mark is the lead officer in the Trust and has been teaching, leading and inspecting in education for 25 years. He is a qualified teacher, holds the National Professional Qualification for Headship and a Master’s Degree in Leadership. He has been a Headteacher, Executive Leader, Local Authority Advisor and was one of Her Majesty’s Lead Inspectors.

Dave Douglass, Chief Operations Officer, Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust

Dave is an experienced senior leader in the secondary sector. Prior to his role as Chief Operating Officer at Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, he held senior team posts in two large Secondary schools. Dave has worked nationally on raising achievement programmes, leading both the 'Leading Edge' programme and ‘Gaining Ground’ programme (Coasting schools). Dave is passionate about social mobility and in particular is interested in all areas of research concerning the raising of literacy and comprehension skills of students. In addition to his role as COO, Dave is the Director of a SCITT, training approximately 60 teachers each year.

Eleanor Drabble, HR consultant, Browne Jacobson LLP

Eleanor is a HR consultant working in Browne Jacobson’s national education HR service providing high quality and pragmatic HR advice and guidance to schools, academies and trusts, on a variety of HR issues, including TUPE, employee investigations, delivering training, and advising on terms and conditions of employment. She is experienced in advising trust clients on strategic and operational matters ensuring a one employer approach is maintained, minimising risk. Eleanor has significant human resource experience, working at a senior level in both strategic and operational roles in several large and complex unionised organisations.

Paul Edmond, Chief Finance Officer, HEART Academies Trust

Paul is the CFO at HEART Academies Trust, Bedford and a trustee for the Diamond Learning Partnership Trust. At HEART, he is also the climate and sustainability lead, a role that developed during 2021/22 in tandem with a fundamental review of the trust’s core priorities. In 2022 he accepted the role of co-chair of the new UK School Sustainability Network Operations group, a growing national network of schools and trusts working to help support staff navigate a way to a more sustainable future.

Dave Ellison-Lee, Director of Education, Rise Multi Academy Trust

Dave is the Director of Education and the Trust Safeguarding Lead. He has strategic oversight of school improvement across the trust, and is responsible for ensuring a high quality of education for all pupils, in line with the Rise vision. Dave has previously worked as an Executive Headteacher, Headteacher and school improvement partner for a large multi academy trust. He has successfully led both schools in crisis and those moving from good to great. Dave has led a variety of schools, ranging from growing free schools with small pupil numbers, to large inner-city schools with over 700 pupils. He has also worked for the DfE and Standards and Testing Agency on primary assessment and chaired a review of assessment practices for the National Association of Head Teachers.

Lisa Fathers, Director of Development, Partnerships and Teaching School Hubs, Bright Futures Educational Trust

Lisa has over 25 years’ experience in education, as a teacher, leader and now executive MAT leader and NLE.  Aside from her school improvement work and professional development work, Lisa has a passion for helping people to improve their health and emotional wellbeing. Lisa has a wealth of experience delivering training to a wide range of clients from a diverse range of sectors. Lisa is a mental health first aid instructor and led the first ever Greater Manchester Mentally Healthy School programme which won a national award, Lisa puts this knowledge and expertise to good use across Bright Futures.

Robert Gould FRICS, Partner, Barker

Robert is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a partner heading up Barker’s education sector. He works with schools, trusts, universities 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.

Ryan Green, CEO and Founder, Eduprise

In 2005 Ryan launched one of the pioneering systems and training programs for school income generation. In 2016 the Department for Education commissioned Ryan to research and propose innovative ways to support school business leaders. Ever the entrepreneur, in 2018 Ryan launched his next successful venture, Eduprise, a digital marketing and communications agency for schools and multi-academy trusts. Through Eduprise Ryan’s gone on to advise some of England’s leading CEO’s and COO’s with their strategic communications and public relations. ISBL recently recognised Ryan’s expertise and honoured with the role of Subject Matter Expert in marketing and communications..

Dr Sladana Krstic, Head of Research, ACER UK

Sladana leads the psychometrics and research team, providing leadership on research design, methodology, implementation activities, coordinating data analysis, and robust reporting. She has 20 years’ experience in the UK education sector, including undertaking assessment and curriculum research at Ofqual and the Qualifications and Curriculum Agency (QCA) prior to joining ACER. Sladana has worked on a variety of projects, such as for the GPE’s Education Out Loud project; the Scottish National Standardised Assessments; the British Council’s English Impact project; the International Baccalaureate programmes; the Royal Society of Chemistry evaluation programme; and many others.

Michele Marr, CEO, Castle Phoenix Trust

Michele is CEO and founder of the Castle Phoenix Trust comprising 6 schools in Coventry and Warwickshire. As an NLE, and previously a system leader for pupil premium and a maths and IT inspector. She is passionate about school improvement through explicit development and training of leaders and focusing on learning and teaching. For 3 years, Michele was a school improvement advisor employed by Coventry Local Authority and had a portfolio of 15 schools which included primary, secondary and special schools. She currently chairs one of the three secondary school improvement collaboratives in Coventry and is senior partner for the newly formed Coventry and Warwickshire Hub aligned to Challenge Partners.

Tim McCarthy, Expert Consultant in School Improvement and Leadership

Tim has more than twenty years' experience as an executive leader and coach. He has been the headteacher of three schools and has also led a cluster of 15 schools in the Middle-East. Tim was one of the country's longest-serving CEOs leading a MAT with schools in four different local authority areas. He co-founded and chaired a CEO network in West Sussex which forged positive partnerships with DFE, RSC and LAs. Tim is a skilled executive coach/mentor and facilitator of CPD programmes.

Garry Ratcliffe, CEO, The Golden Thread Alliance

Garry is the Chief Executive of The Golden Thread Alliance, consisting of nine primary academies clustered in North Kent serving just under 5000 young people. Believing that every single person who works in education must be child centred, his philosophy about education is underpinned by the values that he holds at his core, which are - respect, responsibility and equality. These are the foundation stones that are actively promoted and practised across the whole trust, an invitation to a way of life. 

Shonagh Reid, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant

Shonagh is a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant working primarily in the fields of education at the arts. Shonagh has an extensive background in leadership in education, specialising in performing arts and pastoral senior leadership and has worked as a DEI leader in the East Midlands, UK for six years. She is currently working with The National Theatre, London and many education organisations across the UK, supporting with strategic inclusion planning, creation of and embedding of robust and effective DEI networks, mentoring, and training.

More speakers to be announced soon!