Our People

The Trust has over 1,900 staff committed to improving the life chances of young people across the network.

While the Trust provides the framework and foundations, our successes are the collective efforts and achievements of everyone associated with the network.

This is underpinned by the vision of the Trustees, and supported by the expertise of the Trust’s Chief Executive, Directors and Heads of Service and the educationalists who work across the Trust to ensure best practice and innovation is embraced and embedded.

Executive Team

• Stuart Burns
  Chief Executive Officer
  Stuart Burns

  Stuart Burns took up post as Chief Executive of the David Ross Education Trust in July 2020.

  A teacher of 26 years, 15 of which have been spent as a head both in the UK and abroad, Stuart was previously the Founding Principal of Bobby Moore Academy in the David Ross Education Trust on the Olympic Park.

  During this time, Stuart established excellent working relationships with DfE and ESFA, as well as chairing several academy boards and providing executive leadership to help integrate new academies during a period of growth for the Trust.

  Prior to joining the David Ross Education Trust, Stuart was Chief Executive of the International School of Monaco.

  Stuart is a firm believer in combining high academic standards with sport, music and other wider interests to help prepare young people for their next step in life.

• Mark Neild
  Deputy CEO and Director of Secondary Education
  Mark Neild

  Mark joined the Trust in November 2018 as Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Secondary. Mark has considerable senior leadership experience within the education sector and a strong track record in school improvement. Prior to his appointment, Mark was also a Trustee of the David Ross Education Trust.
  
  Mark has overseen the introduction of The DRET Way Secondary, an articulated vision of school improvement across the secondary schools in the Trust.
  
  Prior to joining the David Ross Education Trust, Mark was Deputy CEO and Director of Secondary for Unity Schools Partnership. He has also held senior school-based leadership roles within Inspiration Trust.
  
  Mark has led a Trust-wide school review programme, acted as an educational lead whilst setting up a new school and is a trained Ofsted Inspector. He was also a delegate on the Shanghai Maths exchange programme in September 2014 and was a member of the Commission on Assessment Without Levels at the Department for Education.

• Simon Rose
  Director of Primary Education
  Simon Rose

  Simon is the Trust's executive director of primary education, leading 23 academies (including 1 outstanding special school) under the Trust's primary division. Simon has significant experience of school and systems leadership at director and headteacher level in a career spanning more than two decades, and has an MA with distinction in educational leadership and management from the University of Nottingham. Simon also worked at director level for Buckinghamshire County Council during 2015. In his time as executive director of primary education at the David Ross Education Trust, Simon has been fortunate to work with a talented team of school leaders, teachers and support staff in leading our primary arm from below national performance measures to significantly above, with 69% KS2 combined and above average progress in all subjects (2019). Simon's priority is leading a positive culture where leaders and teachers at all levels drive improvement, and where the power of a knowledge-rich curriculum drives ambitious expectations for all pupils. 96% of our primary schools are judged good or better (including under the new inspection framework), improved from 61% when Simon joined.

• Rachel Ridgill
  Director of HR
  Rachel Ridgill

• Jane Spencer
  Chief Finance Officer
  Jane Spencer

  Jane joined the Trust in March 2018 as Chief Finance Officer.

  As a member of the Trust's executive management team, Jane is responsible for ensuring effective financial management and control across the Trust. Jane also has responsibility, along with the rest of the executive team, for the development and delivery of the Trust's strategy, objectives and business plan.

  Jane is an experienced finance leader with a proven track record of delivering positive change in financial controllership and governance, as well as experience in more commercial finance roles. Jane trained initially as a Chartered Accountant whilst working in audit at Deloitte, before moving to Experian where she spent 11 years across a range of finance roles and ultimately as Financial Controller for Experian UK & Ireland.

  Prior to joining the Trust, Jane was a Trustee and Finance Committee Member of Greenwood Academies Trust.

• Maria Maltby
  Director of Governance
  Maria Maltby

  Maria joined the Trust in August 2018 as Head of Governance and Company Secretary. Maria is responsible for supporting the Trust Board and all academies in ensuring compliance with the appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks. Maria also oversees Trust complaints and has oversight of Trust policy development.

  Maria has experience of working in the private sector, local government and the NHS in project management and corporate governance roles.

• Jonathan French
  Director of Operations
  Jonathan French

  After earning my BSc Honours degree in Computing Studies from Nottingham Trent University, I started my career working for Lincolnshire County Council as an Infrastructure Engineer, building complex ICT networks and email systems. After 7 years, I moved away from ICT into relationship management when Lincolnshire County Council outsourced its support services, in the first ever Public, Private, Partnership. After a further 3 years, in 2008, I joined Redhill Academy Trust and was appointed to the role of Director of Operations in 2015. During this time, I have been fortunate enough to gain extensive knowledge in all education support services. In addition to my primary functions, I have been responsible for project managing 14 academy conversions and the centralisation of Trust support services. I am a firm believer in collaboration over isolation and put a strong emphasis on employee engagement and professional development. I currently live in Nottingham with my wife and two children and when I'm not in work you can normally find me promoting the research of, and raising money for, the Meningitis Research Foundation. A charity very close to my heart.

Primary Education Team

• Simon Rose
  Director of Primary Education
  Simon Rose

  Simon is the Trust's executive director of primary education, leading 23 academies (including 1 outstanding special school) under the Trust's primary division. Simon has significant experience of school and systems leadership at director and headteacher level in a career spanning more than two decades, and has an MA with distinction in educational leadership and management from the University of Nottingham. Simon also worked at director level for Buckinghamshire County Council during 2015. In his time as executive director of primary education at the David Ross Education Trust, Simon has been fortunate to work with a talented team of school leaders, teachers and support staff in leading our primary arm from below national performance measures to significantly above, with 69% KS2 combined and above average progress in all subjects (2019). Simon's priority is leading a positive culture where leaders and teachers at all levels drive improvement, and where the power of a knowledge-rich curriculum drives ambitious expectations for all pupils. 91% of our primary schools are judged good or better (including under the new inspection framework), improved 

• Rod Warsap
  Regional Director and Inspection Readiness Lead
  Rod Warsap

  Rod joined the Trust in January 2019 as the Regional Director for primaries in the south of England.

  Previous to joining DRET, Rod has held two headships in Primary schools before becoming the Executive Headteacher of a small MAT in Cambridgeshire.

  Rod has considerable experience in successful school leadership and school improvement, having supported schools on their journeys to be good schools. Rod has several years' recent experience as an inspector for Ofsted. This is an area in which Rod can add to the core education team's offer, supporting schools in their preparation and readiness for inspection.

  Rod works with schools in Northampton and Corby. One of his key objectives is to foster closer working between the Trust schools to ensure the very best practice is shared. Rod works closely with middle and senior leaders, ensuring leaders are at their most effective in leading on curriculum design and its implementation, so the provision of our schools is the best it can be.

• Wendy Baxter
  Regional Director and Primary Attendance Lead
  Wendy Baxter

  Wendy joined the Trust in September 2018 as the Regional Director for primaries in the north of England.

  Wendy's role involves providing guidance, support and challenge to the principals, governors and senior leadership teams so that all our pupils have access to the very best education and outcomes.  In addition, Wendy is the Trust primary lead for attendance.

  Wendy has worked in a variety of different schools in both the primary and secondary sector.  More recently she has specialised in supporting some of the most challenging schools in the country.  As such she is widely experienced in school 'turnaround' and is passionate about making sure that every pupil has high aspirations for their future. She has also visited and studied some of the very best schools, both in the UK and US, as part of her participation in the Future Leaders programme.

  Prior to a career in education, Wendy spent nearly 20 years in health service leadership as well as running her own successful consultancy business.

  Wendy is keen to support the development of new education leaders and has delivered training on Teaching Leaders, NPQSL and NPQH.  She continues to support new heads through informal mentoring arrangements.  She currently serves as a school governor for four schools.

• Sarah Bates
  Regional Director and CPD Lead
  Sarah Bates

  Sarah joined the Trust in May 2019 as a Regional Director for 6 Primary schools in Daventry and Lincolnshire as well as Eresby Special School. She also has strategic leadership for Professional Development across the Trust.

  Previous to joining DRET Sarah has held Headship and Executive Headship roles as well as School Improvement Lead for a Diocesan MAT in the Midlands area.

  Sarah has considerable leadership experience leading two schools from special measures to outstanding and good with outstanding leadership. In her role as school improvement lead she led a group of schools to improve outcomes for all pupils, developing professional development programmes to improve teaching and learning.

  As well as leading professional development at DRET, Sarah also leads NQT and RQT development. She believes this crucial role will ensure the Trust have high quality teachers for the future.

  Sarah is passionate about making a difference to the lives of children by ensuring that every child in a DRET school has an outstanding education.

• Sandra Appleby
  Regional Director and Pupil Premium Lead
  Sandra Appleby

  Sandra joined the Trust in 2015 and is currently one of four primary Regional Directors, as well as Principal of Greenfields Primary School and Nursery in Kettering. In January 2020, Greenfields was judged to be an Outstanding school by Ofsted. Having been recognised for offering and exceptional curriculum and all round education to its pupils. It is a high academically performing school and in 2017, was ranked in the top 3% of schools in England for progress in reading, writing and mathematics and was also rated as one of the top five performing schools in Northamptonshire. The school was also crowned East Midlands Primary Champion at the prestigious TES Pupil Premium Awards, held at the House of Commons.

  As a System Leader, Sandra's Regional Director role involves providing training, support and challenge to the Headteachers, senior leadership teams, staff and governors across her designated region in order to ensure the best quality of education for all children. She is also responsible for Trust-wide leadership of our strategy to support our most disadvantaged pupils, something the Trust shares a deep passion for. In addition to this Sandra enables school leaders to strategize in moving their schools from Ofsted 'Good' to 'Outstanding'.

• Kim Duff
  Core Knowledge Curriculum Lead
  Kim Duff

  Kim joined the Trust in 2014 and is the Principal of Kings Heath Primary Academy and the Trust's lead for developing and implementing the Core Knowledge Curriculum within all primary academies. Kim has lead Kings Heath Primary Academy to being ranked in the top 1% for Reading and top 2% for writing progress measures in the county of Northamptonshire as well as being a systems leader for the implementation of the innovative schools singing programme.Kim has over 19 years teaching experience within a broad range of settings including: primary schools, secondary schools and University. She has also visited and studied some of the very best schools, both in the UK and US. Kim is resilient, dedicated to securing sustainable school improvement and able to motivate colleagues to strive for excellence through strong leadership and communication skills so every pupil has high aspirations for their future.

  Kim's focus areas include:

  • Securing effective teaching and learning in the classroom.
  • Implementation of new curriculums to meet the needs of pupils
  • Use of assessment innovatively
  • Implementation of new leadership teams
  • Tailor making CPD to match individual staff needs to secure staff retention

• Kim Lawton
  Executive Principal
  Kim Lawton

  Kimberley has worked in the Trust for over 7 years and worked in 4 of our schools: Thomas Hinderwell, Quay Academy, Malcolm Arnold Academy and Endike Academy.  Kimberley has been fortunate to have led schools in both the primary and secondary sector within DRET due the CPD and secondment opportunities available within the Trust and is now Executive Headteacher across both sectors. 

  Kimberley has successful experience in school improvement where she ensures schools continue on their journey of development and become high performing schools ensuring children have the best possible outcomes academically and pastorally for the schools they serve.  

• Jane Cooksley
  Primary English Lead
  Jane Cooksley

  Janey joined the Trust in 2012. She is a passionate and innovative leader with a strong vision, relentless drive, in the pursuit of excellence in education. She has been in education for fifteen years, most of which have been at senior leadership level.

  Janey is responsible for driving the Trust's English school improvement strategy across its primary schools, working closely with the Principals and leadership teams.

  Janey is also Principal at Briar Hill Primary School, part of the David Ross Education Trust. She  led the school to achieve well above national average for attainment and progress in all measures of the SATS results in 2017, which placed the school in the 2^nd percentile on student progress nationally, and in 2018 was also above national for SATS results again and top school in the county for attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

  Janey has a deep understanding of strategic leadership and school improvement. Her specialist areas are; specialism is English, curriculum innovation, wellbeing, teaching and learning and the use of data, assessment and the curriculum in school improvement strategies.

• Karen Smith
  Primary Maths Lead
  Karen Smith

Secondary Education Team

• Mark Neild
  Deputy CEO and Director of Secondary Education
  Mark Neild

  Mark joined the Trust in November 2018 as Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Secondary. Mark has considerable senior leadership experience within the education sector and a strong track record in school improvement. Prior to his appointment, Mark was also a Trustee of the David Ross Education Trust.

  Mark has overseen the introduction of The DRET Way Secondary, an articulated vision of school improvement across the secondary schools in the Trust.

  Prior to joining the David Ross Education Trust, Mark was Deputy CEO and Director of Secondary for Unity Schools Partnership. He has also held senior school-based leadership roles within Inspiration Trust.

  Mark has led a Trust-wide school review programme, acted as an educational lead whilst setting up a new school and is a trained Ofsted Inspector. He was also a delegate on the Shanghai Maths exchange programme in September 2014 and was a member of the Commission on Assessment Without Levels at the Department for Education.

• Helena Brothwell
  Director of School Improvement
  Helena Brothwell

• Juliet Jaggs
  Director of Quality Assurance
  Juliet Jaggs

• Grace Healy
  Education Director
  Grace Healy

  Grace is Education Director (Secondary) at David Ross Education Trust. In this role, Grace leads a curriculum team of Trust-wide subject leaders in Trust-wide curriculum and teacher development and works closely with Principals to sustain a model for continuously renewing all aspects of curriculum intent, to build capacity in senior curriculum leadership, and to ensure a culture of subject-sensitivity and disciplinary rigour pervades all work on teacher development. Grace was the founding Director of DRET Teaching School Hub (TSH), serving in that role until April 2022; Grace now how holds strategic oversight of DRET TSH for the Trust, as Chair of the TSH's Strategic Board.

   

  She has previously led the geography subject community across a multi-academy trust of 13 primary and secondary schools and contributed to the leadership of a SCITT. She has held academic and pastoral leadership roles, served as a primary and secondary school governor, and holds a Masters of Education from the University of Cambridge. Grace is currently undertaking a PhD at the UCL Institute of Education. Grace chairs the Teacher Education Phase Committee of the Geographical Association and has been elected on to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) as Honorary Secretary (Education). She is Treasurer for GEReCo and the RGS's Geography and Education Research Group. She also serves on British Educational Research Association's (BERA) Publication Committee and on the editorial boards of The Curriculum Journal and the London Review of Education. 

• David Gibson
  Trust Wide Lead - Maths
  David Gibson

• Emma Swift
  Trust Wide Lead - Science
  Emma Swift

  Emma Swift joined as the Trust Wide subject lead for Science in 2019. She started her teaching career in the East Midlands in 2002, before moving to London holding a variety of roles in senior leadership, before returning to the East Midlands in 2019. Emma leads the physics programme at National Maths and Physics SCITT Hubs in the East Midlands and Lincolnshire and Humberside and was previously the subject lead for physics for the University of Buckinghamshire PGCE. She speaks at a number of different events about science, curriculum and diversity, alongside supporting schools to raise outcomes and build capacity through staff development and curriculum design.  Emma was awarded The Lloyds Register Educational Trust award for the UK's best STEM teacher in 2012.

• Jacob Bailey
  Trust Wide Lead - Geography
  Jacob Bailey

  Jake joined the trust in September 2018 as Trust-Wide Subject Lead for Geography.

  Prior to his appointment, Jake led a successful Geography Department in a large, outstanding school in North East Derbyshire. Jake has experience in PGCE and PGDE mentoring and was awarded the 'Inspirational Mentor Award' at the Sheffield Institute of Education in July 2018. He is also an experienced examiner, having marked on both GCSE and A level papers.

• Ben Walsh
  Trust Wide Lead - History
  Ben Walsh

  Ben Walsh has been involved in History education for over 30 years as a teacher, subject leader, trainer, examiner and author. He has worked with many school, Local Authorities and Trusts in England and the UK, and delivered training in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. He is well known to History teachers as the author of many textbooks and has also written many online resources for organisations including The British Library and the UK National Archives. Ben is also a senior examiner for GCSE History. He has a particular interest in helping students to develop the same ways of thinking which professional historians use. He believes in the importance of authentic historical investigations using a wide range of source material including documents and other sources from the period being studied. Ben also has a strong interest in helping students to see how History can be, and has been, interpreted differently by different writers at different times and it is this driving passion for real History which underpins his work with History teachers in DRET academies.

• Cristo Rodriquez-Casado
  Trust Wide Lead - RE
  Cristo Rodriquez-Casado

  Cristo has been working to support the RE community since 2020 and joined as Trust-Wide Subject Lead in RE Curriculum in September 2021. Cristo has experience of teaching RE in various contexts from KS2 to KS5 and is MD of a Christian Education Charity. Cristo holds an MA from the University of Sheffield, writing his thesis on Bible Translation Theory combining his background in languages with theology and interpretation. Cristo is interested in the ways of knowing in knowledge rich RE and the national conversations around the subject of RE. Cristo is a member of the British Sociological Association Society of Religion and participated in the Chairs' Response Day on Teaching Religion 2021. He is currently developing a project with Culham St Gabriel's on disciplinary knowledge in our trust-wide RE curriculum. 

• Virginie Barre
  Trust Wide Lead - MFL
  Virginie Barre

  For over 20 years, Virginie has taught Modern Languages in large community schools and sixth form colleges in London, leading teams and developing curriculum materials. Before relocating and joining the David Ross Education Trust, she was Deputy Headteacher in a large suburban 11-18 school for ten years. There, she played a role in the school being awarded two Outstanding ratings by Ofsted, and Teaching School status. She has a MA in Comparative Literature from Sorbonne University, Paris, an MFL PGCE from Brunel University, and an NPQH from UCL Institute of Education.

Heads of Service

• Richard Widdison
  Head of HR
  Richard Widdison

• Karen Linnett
  Financial Controller
  Karen Linnett

• Ellis Jacklin
  Head of IT & Data
  Ellis Jacklin

  Ellis joined the Trust in January 2011.
  
  He leads the IT Team on all issues related to service quality and management, working with all areas to improve systems across our IT architecture.
  
  Ellis has extensive experience in IT in Education, particularly major transformation projects across all systems, telephony and network services are drivers to ensure the Trusts IT architecture is world class.
  Ellis is Chair of Governors for a Trust Primary Academy which secured a 'Good' Ofsted rating in 2017.

• Shane Ward
  Head of Sports Enrichment
  Shane Ward

  Shane joined the David Ross Education Trust in 2013, to develop the Trust's Sports Enrichment programme.

  As part of his role, Shane supports academies to shape and deliver their annual sports enrichment plans. Shane is also responsible for delivering the Trust's talent programme and offer CPD to develop our workforce.

  During Shane's time at the Trust, he has enjoyed seeing our programmes develop. Every one of our academies now embraces the importance of sport in a child's development. Seeing students, who only started taking part and competing in sport through the support of their academies, going on to win national titles is incredible.

  Shane has a Sports Development and Coaching degree and fifteen years experience in education and sports coaching.

  He has been working with the Trust for several years, meeting many people and offering some fantastic sporting experiences for students within our academies.

  Shane's previous experience includes County Sports Partnerships and National Governing bodies, including sports development, event management, and funding and club development.

• Simon Toyne
  Executive Director of Music
  Simon Toyne

Members

• David Ross
  Chair of Trustees
  David Ross

  David Ross is a UK based entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for co-founding The Carphone Warehouse Group plc in 1991.

  David's philanthropic work is carried out through the Ross Foundation which he founded. The Foundation makes charitable donations to a range of educational, community and cultural initiatives, including the David Ross Education Trust, the University of Nottingham, Nevill Holt Opera Festival and projects in Lincoln with the Historic Lincoln Trust and Lincoln Cathedral.

  In 2007, David founded the David Ross Education Trust. The first school to join the Trust in 2007 was Havelock Academy, a secondary school based in David's hometown of Grimsby. Recognised as one of 11 system leaders nationwide, the Trust has 34 primary and secondary schools in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and London. David is also Chair of New Schools Network.

  David is Chair of the National Portrait Gallery and Chair of The University of Nottingham's Development Committee. David is a board member of the British Olympic Association and Commonwealth Games England.

  David was educated at Uppingham School and Nottingham University. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co, working with the firm from 1988 to 1991.

• The Ross Foundation
  represented by Joanne Hoareau
  The Ross Foundation

  Joanne Hoareau runs the Ross Foundation which is the sponsor of The David Ross Education Trust. She is a Governor at Bobby Moore Academy and was previously a Governor at Newnham Primary. Joanne joined the Trust and help extend the vision to give all children the best opportunities through education, sport and cultural experiences. She studied Economics & Politics at Loughborough University and previously worked at Carphone Warehouse and also in private equity at Oxford Technology.

• The Diocese of Peterborough
  represented by Peter Cantley
  The Diocese of Peterborough

  Peter is Director of Education for The Diocese of Peterborough, which has 103 Church of England schools. He is the principal adviser to the Diocesan Board of Education and leads the DBE Education Department. He holds a number of board member positions across the Diocese (with Peterborough Diocese Education Trust, Peterborough Diocese Church Schools, Nene Education Trust, Pathfinder Schools, Guilsborough Multi-Academy Trust, Innovate Multi-Academy Trust, Evolve Church Academy Trust, Learning for Life Education Trust, The Rutland Learning Trust, William Law CE Primary School, Hartwell Primary School & St Mary's Church of England Primary Academy). He also represents the Diocese of Peterborough on the Rutland County Council Education Performance Board Member and the Peterborough City Council Children & Education Scrutiny Committee.

  Peter has 22 years teaching experience in both primary and secondary schools, and has extensive senior leadership experience in good and outstanding secondary schools. He has contributed to major regional and national education programmes Excellence in Cities, Greater Manchester City Challenge and National Challenge. He has significant project leadership experience of complex, change management projects, from new school launches to school restructuring and school mergers. He is an ASCL NPQEL professional mentor. He has also undertaken national educational consultancy work with BBC Schools Television, QCA, CARE, Damaris Trust and the Culham College Institute.

  Peter was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School, Manchester Grammar School, Warwick University and Manchester Metropolitan University. He qualified as a teacher with a BA Hons QTS in 1989 and as a Church of England school inspector in 1999, before being awarded the NPQH in 2003 and completing postgraduate research for his MSc in Educational Leadership and Management in 2013.

• David Overton
  David Overton

  David was invited by David Ross to join the founding governing team for DRET in 2007 at the time of the re-constitution of Havelock Academy, and was for many years a Trustee and Vice-Chairman of the Trust Board.

  His own early education included a choristership at Westminster Abbey Choir School and he was one of the youngest members of the choir for the Queens Coronation in 1953. Although he subsequently chose a professional career as a solicitor, he continued pursuing his interests in music as conductor and composer, working alongside many pre-eminent musicians such as Sir James Galway.

  He believes passionately that all pupils should have access to the benefits that the performing arts offer in education, and was pleased to be able to play a part in the design of the new Havelock Academy to achieve this.

• Christopher Houlding
  Christopher Houlding

  Christopher was educated at Trinity School Croydon before embarking on a career in financial services, initially joining stockbroker W Greenwell & Co. Christopher built his early career as a fixed income specialist and held senior positions at several leading investment banks. From 2003 to 2019 he was employed by UBS AG where he was a Managing Director in the Wealth Management division, before retiring from banking to run his own consulting business. Christopher is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. He is currently Chairman of the Court of Governors of the John Whitgift Foundation in Croydon, which operates three leading independent schools and provides care for the elderly in the borough, a position he has held since 2015.

Trustees

• David Ross
  David Ross

  David Ross is a UK based entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for co-founding The Carphone Warehouse Group plc in 1991.

  David's philanthropic work is carried out through the David Ross Foundation which he founded. The Foundation makes charitable donations to a range of educational, community and cultural initiatives, including the David Ross Education Trust, the University of Nottingham, Nevill Holt Opera Festival and projects in Lincoln with the Historic Lincoln Trust and Lincoln Cathedral.

  In 2007, David founded the David Ross Education Trust. The first school to join the Trust in 2007 was Havelock Academy, a secondary school based in David's hometown of Grimsby. Recognised as one of 11 system leaders nationwide, the Trust has 34 primary and secondary schools in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and London. David is also Chair of New Schools Network.

  David is Chair of the National Portrait Gallery and Chair of The University of Nottingham's Development Committee. David is a board member of the British Olympic Association and Commonwealth Games England.

  David was educated at Uppingham School and Nottingham University. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co, working with the firm from 1988 to 1991.

• Christine Counsell
  Trustee
  Christine Counsell

  Christine Counsell taught history in state schools, in Gloucestershire and Bristol, for 10 years, holding positions as head of department, head of faculty and deputy headteacher and as local authority adviser for primary and secondary schools. After leading one of the first school-centred initial teacher training programmes (secondary history) for Gloucestershire's headteachers, she was appointed Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge in 1997. There she built a history PGCE course which became renowned for a community of school-based subject mentors who, unusually, shared responsibility for the scholarly content of the course and engaged in extensive reading of research with their trainees, applying it in the school context. While at Cambridge, Christine was awarded the Pilkington Prize for outstanding teaching (2006) and the Cambridge University Students Union student-led award for outstanding lecturing (2015).

  Christine has carried out wide-ranging national and international work on curriculum policy and teacher education, working with teachers, scholars and policy-makers in America, Australia, Singapore, Europe and the Middle East.

  Editor of the journal Teaching History, since 1998, Christine has also published widely, including academic works, practical guides and classroom resources. In 2015, she served on the DfE's Workload Challenge group for Planning and Resources. In 2016, Christine was appointed Director of Education at a Norfolk-based Multi-Academy Trust, where she launched a Trust-wide knowledge-rich curriculum for primary schools, secured DfE funding to establish the long-term impact of a broad curriculum in boosting reading standards for disadvantaged pupils, implemented processes for Trust-wide collaborative curriculum design in secondary subjects and founded a large SCITT, distinctive for its subject-specificity. Christine is now an independent education consultant specialising in curriculum and teacher development, working nationally and internationally. She is also a member of Ofsted's Curriculum Advisory Panel advising on the 2019 Ofsted framework.

• Joanne Hoareau
  Trustee
  Joanne Hoareau

  Joanne Hoareau runs the David Ross Foundation which is the sponsor of The David Ross Education Trust. She is a Governor at Bobby Moore Academy and was previously a Governor at Newnham Primary. Joanne joined the Trust and help extend the vision to give all children the best opportunities through education, sport and cultural experiences. She studied Economics & Politics at Loughborough University and previously worked at Carphone Warehouse and also in private equity at Oxford Technology.

• Tracey Maloney
  Trustee
  Tracey Maloney

  Tracey is an Education Consultant, advising schools on improving academic performance across a range of sectors. She began her career teaching English, moving to becoming a Leading Teacher with a brief to exemplify excellent practice, followed by other roles as Head of English and Assistant Headteacher.

  Tracey has a keen interest in education research and policy, completing an MA in English in Education at King's College and working as a Senior Lecturer in Education at Canterbury Christ Church University. She also works on the development of curriculum resources for the London Grid for Learning; creating curriculum resources in conjunction with authors, theatres and museums. In addition to writing and delivering grammar courses for teachers across all key stages.

  Tracey is part of an eQualitas team, carrying out whole school reviews for leading multi academy trusts and is a tutor at Buckingham University, providing mentoring for graduate teachers following the GTP route into teaching

• David Hall
  Trustee
  David Hall

  David is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years experience working as an external auditor. David retired from Deloitte in February 2017 after serving for 15 years as an audit partner based in the Midlands. After graduating from the University of Birmingham in 1985 David trained with Arthur Andersen rising to the position of audit partner, and joined Deloitte in 2002.

  Over the last 10 years, David has worked extensively with clients in the Education sector, primarily in Higher Education. He served as audit partner for several Universities and led the Deloitte responses to technical accounting and other issues arising in the sector. He was the Deloitte representative working with sector bodies such as the British Universities Finance Directors Group and the Financial Reporting Group.

  David is experienced in financial reporting and governance in Education as well as in risk management and internal control. He has also benefited from exposure to a wide range of organisations in the corporate sector as well as charities and government bodies.

• Nigel Langstaff
  Trustee
  Nigel Langstaff

  Nigel spent 18 years with Carphone Warehouse Group until its merger with Dixons Retail in 2014. He held a number of senior finance roles within the group, including UK FD and Group FD, before becoming CFO in 2010. He was also on the board of Virgin Mobile France.

  Prior to this, he qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen. He has an MA in modern history from Oxford University. 

  Between 2017 and 2021 he was a Non-Executive Director at TalkTalk Telecom PLC. Nigel is a trustee for a number of other charities, including BookTrust, Renaissance Foundation and La Difference.

• Martyn Oliver
  Trustee
  Martyn Oliver

  Martyn Oliver is the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT). Martyn joined OGAT in 2009 and was appointed as Chief Executive in 2016.

  Martyn leads one of the country's oldest and highest performing multi-academy trusts which currently has 33 academies  23 secondaries and 10 primaries  in the Tees Valley, Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire regions. OGAT is a System Trust and has spent the last decade supporting the wider school system. The Outwood Institute of Education (OIE) is a large multi-hub teaching school alliance within OGAT where annually, hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers and educational professionals are trained.

  Martyn is a board member of the Department for Education's Opportunity North East and trustee of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST).

  Martyn's vision is to raise standards and transform lives through education, putting the needs of children first in all that he does.

  ,

  Richard is a Managing Partner at the global leadership advisory and executive search firm Korn Ferry, the largest executive search firm and the world's leading talent and leadership consulting organisation.

  He heads the Board and CEO services practice for the firm across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Richard has spent the last 18 years in the search and leadership consulting sector.

  Prior to that, Richard was a partner at Arthur Andersen,where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In his last role, he led a large consulting practice across Europe.

  Richard studied Law at Oxford University, where he gained a rowing Blue, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

• Peter Cantley
  Trustee
  Peter Cantley

  Peter is Director of Education for The Diocese of Peterborough, which has 103 Church of England schools. He is the principal adviser to the Diocesan Board of Education and leads the DBE Education Department. He holds a number of board member positions across the Diocese (with Peterborough Diocese Education Trust, Peterborough Diocese Church Schools, Nene Education Trust, Pathfinder Schools, Guilsborough Multi-Academy Trust, Innovate Multi-Academy Trust, Evolve Church Academy Trust, Learning for Life Education Trust, The Rutland Learning Trust, William Law CE Primary School, Hartwell Primary School & St Mary's Church of England Primary Academy). He also represents the Diocese of Peterborough on the Rutland County Council Education Performance Board Member and the Peterborough City Council Children & Education Scrutiny Committee.

  Peter has 22 years teaching experience in both primary and secondary schools, and has extensive senior leadership experience in good and outstanding secondary schools. He has contributed to major regional and national education programmes Excellence In Cities, Greater Manchester City Challenge and National Challenge. He has significant project leadership experience of complex, change management projects, from new school launches to school restructuring and school mergers. He is an ASCL NPQEL professional mentor. He has also undertaken national educational consultancy work with BBC Schools Television, QCA, CARE, Damaris Trust and the Culham College Institute.

  Peter was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School, Manchester Grammar School, Warwick University and Manchester Metropolitan University. He qualified as a teacher with a BA Hons QTS in 1989 and as a Church of England school inspector in 1999, before being awarded the NPQH in 2003 and completing postgraduate research for his MSc in Educational Leadership and Management in 2013.

• Richard Emerton
  Trustee
  Richard Emerton

  Richard is a Managing Partner at the global leadership advisory and executive search firm Korn Ferry, the largest executive search firm and the world's leading talent and leadership consulting organisation.

  He heads the Board and CEO services practice for the firm across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Richard has spent the last 18 years in the search and leadership consulting sector.

  Prior to that, Richard was a partner at Arthur Andersen,where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In his last role, he led a large consulting practice across Europe.

  Richard studied Law at Oxford University, where he gained a rowing Blue, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.