Board of Trustees & Governance Framework

Mandy Coalter

Mandy is the Founder of ‘Talent Architects’ with a simple mission; helping schools become great places to work. Talent Architects providers consultancy and advisory support to school groups, coaching and mentoring, training and events. Mandy is also the Co-Founder of ‘Trust Inclusion’ – developing inclusive leaders in school Trusts.

From 2012 to 2019 Mandy was Director of People at United Learning, one of the largest school groups in the UK, running circa 80 schools across State and Independent sectors employing over 8000 staff. Mandy has previously worked in senior roles in the NHS, Local Government, the Charity sector and with schools.

HR Magazine listed Mandy in the top 10 ‘HR Most Influential’ in both 2018 and 2019 - where she was ranked the 7th most influential HR Director in the UK.

Mr Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith is the Diocesan Director of Education for the Diocese of York. He is a qualified teacher with over 25 years’ experience in primary education and, prior to this role, was the Headteacher of a voluntary aided church school for over ten years, securing good and outstanding judgements in both Ofsted and SIAMS inspections. Andrew has also worked successfully in a number of collaborative partnerships, including within Teaching School Alliances and with schools overseas, particularly focusing on developing effective school leadership and shared curriculum development.

Andrew currently represents the Diocese of York Educational Trust (DYET) as a corporate Member on Multi Academy Trusts and is a director of DBE Services, a consortia of several Church of England dioceses in the north of England. He is also a Trustee of the National Society which oversees the work of Church School education in England.

Professor Samantha Twiselton

Professor Samantha Twiselton, OBE is Emeritus Professor at Sheffield Hallam University and was its founding Director of Sheffield Institute of Education. She is also a visiting professor at University of Sunderland and an independent education consultant and advisor for the government and many other organisations.

With highly regarded expertise in teacher and school leader development, recruitment and retention and curriculum, Sam has been heavily involved in shaping and advising Government policy on teacher education. She sits on many government advisory groups and chaired the DfE Core Content in ITT group. Sam is a Founding Fellow and former Vice President (external) of the Chartered College of Teaching. She is trustee for Shine, Teach First, several multi academy trusts, a teaching school hub and Now Teach. In June 2018 she was named in the Queen's Birthday honours as a recipient of an OBE for services to Higher Education.

Mr Jeremy Buckley

Lead Member

Jeremy is a qualified Chartered Accountant and qualified Chartered Tax Adviser and is also a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Jeremy trained with PricewaterhouseCoopers one of the largest international accountancy firms and has a wealth of accountancy, taxation and business experience. He is a Director of his own accountancy practice looking after a number of successful local businesses advising them on strategic financial business and taxation matters. Jeremy brings this wealth of experience to the Trust as a Member.

Mrs Karen Dow

Chair of the Board

Now retired, Karen was formerly a teacher of Science and Chemistry and senior leader in two East Riding Schools and ultimately served as Deputy Headteacher and Affiliate Headteacher at a high performing secondary school. She was involved in curriculum development work nationally, in school to school support and in setting up a Free School. Since retirement she has served as a school governor chairing two Local Governing Bodies and is presently the Chair of the LGB at Driffield School and Sixth Form.

Mr Sam Whitaker

Sam has 25 years’ experience of working in the construction industry in a variety of roles but most notably as Chief Executive of the Esteem Consortium that was responsible for delivering Hull’s Building School’s for the Future programme. Sam blends a passion for education with his strategic leadership and operational management skills in order to maximise the impact that projects and opportunities can have on an organisation.

Mrs Becky Miller

Mrs Becky Miller LLB Hons Barrister at Law FRSA. Becky is a practising Barrister specialising in children and family law. She practices in the local area undertaking both private and public law cases. She brings a wealth of knowledge of legal process, safeguarding and skills including mediation and negotiation. She has previous experience of being a trustee in a national organisation which will bring added value to this role.

Krystie Stubbs

Kyrstie is currently a Deputy CEO for Inspire Partnership MAT working across 9 primaries. Kyrstie has experience within the primary sector within both the maintained and academy education sector spanning 20 years with over 10 years in executive and leadership positions. Her experience ranges from successful leadership within industry to successfully leading different schools in challenging circumstances improving them significantly through transformational leadership towards outstanding OFSTED judgements.
She has previously worked as an advisor and school improvement partner in a local authority supporting a range of schools in developing practices and leadership capacity.

Kyrstie is passionate about equity in education and has worked extensively with schools both locally and Nationally to support them in supporting wellbeing and diversity. She works with Edgehill university as a visiting lecturer supporting inclusion , diversity and disadvantage and has been an advisor on the LGBTQ inclusion board at Leeds Beckett University.

She is a trained OFSTED inspector and also supports leaders as an executive coach.

Mr Andrew Bradley

Andrew holds CefA, PCertB qualifications and has 25 years industry experience in financial services and for the last 14 years specialising in business finance in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Mr Graham Wragg

Graham is now retired from a long and varied career. He has been involved in Construction and Civil Engineering both in the UK and the Middle East, Media, Transportation and Haulage, and Distribution.

He has been involved in governance at The Snaith School since 2008 and was one of the founding trustees when the school became a stand alone academy prior to joining the Education Alliance. He currently serves as Chair of Governors.

Mr Jonathan Timmis

Jonathan is Chief Operating Officer to Astrea Academy Trust, supporting its schools across South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire. He has devoted his efforts, both in his current role and throughout his career in the British Army, to nurturing talent through training and education to help realise potential and aspirations. Jonathan is a passionate advocate of inclusive leadership, building teams to excel in support of the Trust.

Mr Russell Heritage

Russell is a recently retired Secondary Headteacher, Executive Headteacher and Local Leader of Education. He worked for 38 years in South Yorkshire schools initially as a teacher of Physical Education before moving into middle and senior leadership. Russell is passionate about the impact education can have on improving the life chances of young people especially disadvantaged students. He brings a wealth of experience in secondary education and understands the challenges and opportunities that schools face. He has experience of working at both Trust Board and Local Governing body level. Russell is an advocate for the school led system and is keen to influence strategic developments which will impact on the lives of future generations.