Meet our MAT Board Members
Tim Edwards
Tim is an experienced senior manager, who has held a number of positions in public and private sector organisations, his current employment is in further education and regeneration. Born in North Staffordshire he has a strong commitment to the area and its economic growth and in particular education and training. Tim lives in Newcastle and is married with two children.
Sharon George
I have been Lecturer in Green Technology and Environmental Sustainability since 2010 and am Course Director for the MSc in Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology.
I am also funded as an Ogden Science Officer and I joined the MAT as a member in 2016.”
Wendy Whelan
I have a passion for ensuring that through education everyone can have access to equality of opportunity. Since 2015 I have also been a Pupil Premium Champion qualified in undertaking Ofsted directed Pupil Premium reviews. I have also chaired a number of Education-Business partnership groups in past roles and think it is important for our academies to make solid links with non-education institutions – to this end we are growing our number of partners working as part of our Trust.
I am very proud to be Chief Executive Officer of United Endeavour Trust. We are proud of our achievements, of our staff and students and we are ambitious for continual improvement which progresses us towards achieving high academic and pastoral standards. We have a strong commitment to developing the whole child and to working in wider partnerships to allow our students to experience active citizenship and a good preparation for employability and a life based on developing well-being. We have only been a Multi-Academy Trust since October 2015 but we have developed clear structures for the successful governance and management of the MAT which are being used as good practice examples with a number of developing MATs.”
Lynne Bennett
In my present school we are faced daily with challenging circumstances there are many factors which would make it easy for our children to fail, but this is not the case. Over the last few years the school has made rapid progress and our results year on year are well above national expectations and progress throughout the school is excellent.
As a school we are driven in the pursuit of excellence and this is at the core of everything we do, there is a genuine desire and passion to constantly improve learning. Our last Ofsted in 2012 judged the school to be outstanding in all areas of provision.
I have experience of mentoring and coaching a number of head teachers and other senior members of staff and I am at present supporting a new head teacher. The prospect of working alongside leaders is a very rewarding opportunity and to support them on this continual learning journey that we are all part of is such a worthwhile part of anyone’s job.”
Jenny Johnston
In 2007 I led the setting up of an internal apprentice training facility which is EAL accredited, in which we have trained over 80 apprentices over the last 10 years. I am PGCE qualified and the West Midlands Apprentice Ambassador for the ESFA. I am proud to say that KMF have won awards for apprenticeship delivery and are one of the top 100 apprentice employers.
I am delighted to be a part of the United Endeavour Trust Board, as I work very hard to engage with schools and young people in Stoke on Trent to raise aspirations in STEM related subjects.”
Paul Drew
After working in digital marketing and education for over 20 years I set my business up, to answer one simple question – how can UK businesses harness digital talent to improve. It’s a simple concept that takes the very best digital marketing training & harnesses them with innovative training techniques & technologies to meet business growth needs. It’s not just about knowledge transfer it is about the application & impact on a business and a person’s future career.
I feel am honoured and privileged to serve as a board member of United Endeavour Trust Board
Peter O’Hagan
Peter is Owner of Care @ Scale and ICT4Change (Consultancies). He works in Technology and Change Management Consultancy in the Education and Healthcare sector, both within the UK and Internationally.
Peter has served on a number of boards and committees in his professional career:
Serco Learning – Director
Defence, Science, Justice – NED
Angel Solutions (Software) – NED
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust – Vice Chair
Tech Mahindra – Healthcare Senior Adviser
St Mary’s RC Primary School Governor – Chair
CareMesh (GPs across Staffs and Salop) – Chair
Cross Government and Industry data interoperability panel – Chair
Bishop Cleary Multi Academy Company – Director
SIFA UK – elected board member
BSF – Adviser to Local Authorities, Construction Companies, Banks and IT Service providers
CyberFirst (CyberGirlsFirst) – GCHQ and NCSA
Technology policy adviser to Governments (Infrastructure, Security, Content and Data)
United States “Technology in Learning 2020” Visionary Panel
Plus many more in preceding years at local, regional, national and international level.
Peter has also won a BAFTA and RTS for the development of interactive multimedia content management and creation, with Channel4 television and the global IT company Oracle. He has been a UK Representative at NATO science/technology events. He is a founder member of European School Net. He is member of Miranda Fellow Institute of Education, London and with Cambridge University helped create the National Curriculum for Malaysia
Peter has experiences, not only as a Company Director across a range of sectors, but also in leadership and delivery experiences across a range of educational settings in both the public and private sector.
In addition to having skills in strategic planning and policy development he is also keen to contribute his experiences in ensuring that, through effective governance, the Board and its agencies are held to account for their performance in delivering the aims and objectives of the Trust. His experience in managing, through change and ensuring strategic delivery through inclusive and delegated leadership and ownership, will be of value as the Trust moves forwards through its next stages of both growth and consolidation .
Alex Hansen