Trust Members

Trustees and Members

Members

As charitable companies limited by guarantee, the Members have a range of powers, including to sign and amend the articles, appoint and remove Trustees, and receive the annual accounts.
The Trust currently has 3 Members although we plan to move to five as the Trust grows to cover for any absence.
This will enable decision making without unanimity with the majority of Members independent of the Board of Trustees to enable them to exercise their powers objectively.
This provides for a diverse range of perspectives, robust decision making and reduces the risks of concentrating power. It also ensures that Members can take decisions via special resolution without requiring unanimity.
Ensuring a significant degree of distinction between the Members and Trustees provides for a robust oversight of the Board.
Employees of the Trust cannot be Members of the Trust and there will be no more than 19.9% of the Members associated with the local authority. The majority will be UK based with highly relevant UK educational expertise including experience of school improvement.

Trustees

The Trust Board consists of 7 trustees, including the CEO as ex-officio trustee.
There is a 20% limit on local authority influenced Board members. The Trust currently has 0 trustees (of nine) that is employed by a local authority.
The Board meets 6 times per academic year.
There are 3 committees constituted with terms of reference for finance, risk and audit, and, curriculum, pupil welfare and performance.
The finance, risk and audit committees meet concurrently six times per year, with 3 trustees on the committee, which is also attended by the CEO (accounting officer), the operations director (chief financial officer) and, school business managers.
The curriculum, pupil welfare and performance committee meets 6 times per year, with 3 trustees on the committee, which is also attended by the CEO, the Director of Education and the school senior leaders.

Trustees and Members

Appointing to the Board

Vacancies for both Board members and trustees are advertised through the Academy Ambassadors Programme, which provides a matching service by identifying candidates to join a multi-academy trust as a pro bono non-executive director. In addition, the Inspiring Governance service also advertises vacancies that connects trusts in England with skilled volunteers who are interested in becoming a school governor or trustee.

Further details about the governance of the Trust is available to view on https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/

Trustees and members are also listed as officers with Companies House: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12028640

Members

Tracy Cowan

Tracy is the former chair of the Trust and a National Leader of Governance. She has over 20 years’ experience in the Education Sector including two Local Authorities and was the Assistant Director for Student Experience for the University of Bedfordshire in Luton. Prior to that Tracy was in the Corporate Sector. She also was appointed to an Interim Education Board in West London by the then Secretary of State for Education.

Robert Jordan

Robert is a former teacher and has a long experience in the commercial sector within the Insurance industry. Robert is an economics graduate and brings to the trust a high level of business acumen together with a good understanding of education and the pervading issues faced by schools and academies. Robert was appointed as a Member in September 2018.

Duncan Mills

Duncan is a retired CEO of a large diocesan MAT, the Peterborough Diocese Education Trust. As CEO and accounting officer he very successfully delivered legal compliance at all levels by closely supervising financial and management controls. He is adept in applying extensive board-level experience gained as a managing director within the local authority and multi-academy trust environment. Duncan is accustomed to driving businesses through change and financial management, governance reviews and restructures, capital projects, compliance, and business infrastructures. Duncan was appointed as a member in February 2022.

Trustees

Hilary Power

Hilary is the Chief Executive Officer and accounting officer of the Trust and executive head teacher of Tennyson Road Primary School, which is located on 2 sites in south Luton. She is a national leader of education (NLE) and led the school through its first outstanding Ofsted inspection, having previously had senior leadership experience in Hertfordshire. She supports the local authority with school to school support and leadership development and is a governor of a Buckinghamshire primary school. The most recent Ofsted judged Tennyson Road as Outstanding (May 2013). In 2014 the local authority agreed an expansion programme with the school and the opening of the second site. Hilary has managed the growth of the school from 210 to 630 pupils maintaining outstanding pupil outcomes and operating at capacity throughout. Hilary is an ex-officio trustee.

Hilary Fine

Hilary is an experienced product manager in education with particular interest in how outcomes can be improved for learners, teachers and schools through effective use of assessment and the interpretation of the results. She currently works for GL Assessment, one of the leading providers of formative assessments to UK schools. Hilary has developed standardised assessments for schools in use around the world presenting data that helps to drive and inform school improvement. Hilary has also managed the development and standardisation of termly assessments for grammar, punctuation and spelling in key stage 2 and mathematics and reading in key stage 3, as well as developing analysis and reporting tools to support the assessments. Hilary is a co-opted governor in a primary school. Hilary was appointed as a trustee in September 2018 and is a member of the Finance, Risk and Audit and the Curriculum committees.

Cathy Stormonth

Cathy is an education consultant working with schools and early years settings. She is the chair of governors for a Catholic schools federation and is a current Ofsted inspector with 26 years’ experience. Cathy worked for Buckinghamshire education authority from 2005 to 2016 with responsibility for traded services including: CPD, School Improvement Consultancy Services - both nationally and internationally, and marketing the Services for Schools programme. Cathy is a member of the Finance, Risk and Audit and the Curriculum committees and was appointed as a trustee in September 2018. She serves as the Trust's safeguarding governor and fulfils this role for Tennyson Road Primary School as a trust appointed local governor. Cathy chairs the local governing body at Hawthorn Park Community Primary School.

Edward Beaber

Edward was appointed as a trustee in December 2020 and he is a member of the Trust's finance, audit and risk committee. He is a highly motivated and experienced professional with over 35 years spent in managerial and main board positions in financial services. Edward has formal accountancy training, which led to his appointment as Financial Director of a PLC, a position he held from 1978 to 1989. Subsequently, Edward formed his own management consultancy company. Currently he is development consultant to a wealth management company based in London. Edward is also committed to supporting a London charity for the homeless as a trustee and director, including returning to work advice and mentoring. To date, the charity has helped over 700 disadvantaged young people find employment.

Simon Speirs

Simon was appointed as a trustee in February 2021 and brings a range of financial and strategic skills to the Board. He is a CIMA qualified accountant and has had a broad experience across a range of companies providing Business Process services including Finance and Accounting. He has helped to grow businesses and assisted with turnaround situations and is now providing consultancy services through his own business. Simon also serves as a Trustee linked to a charity at his local GP surgery in Hertfordshire . He was attracted to the role as he wishes to support young people in education through sharing his skills with the Trust Board and its executive leaders. Simon is a member of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee.

Charchita Misra

Charchita was appointed to the Board as a trustee in February 2021. Charchita is Chartered Engineer and MBA with strong experience in engineering, operations and commercial facilities management. She is a Prince2 certified project manager with experience of delivering projects across different industries. Charchita has a strong expertise of corporate finance and regulatory requirements for infrastructure and engineering systems. She provides a strong STEM curriculum interest to complement her commercial experience. Charchita tutors for GCSE and A level STEM subjects and is a STEM ambassador and is a member of the Curriculum Committee.

Company Secretary

The Company Secretary is Jon Briggs.