Trustees

Steve was previously CEO of Education Development Trust.

Before that, Steve was chief executive of the National College of School Leadership and director of education in Knowsley, Merseyside, and was awarded Commander of the British Empire for his services to leadership in schools and children’s services.

Steve is now a consultant/speaker on leadership and system reform, and chair of the Teaching Awards Trust.

Geoff studied English and Linguistics at the University of Lancaster, then trained to teach at Leicester University. From 2002 to 2017 he was headteacher of King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds, a comprehensive school of 1650 students.

He is a Founding Fellow of the English Association and writes for a range of newspapers and journals. He has worked with various organisations, including the Department for Education, on leadership and literacy.

Geoff was a longstanding member of ASCL Council, former chair of its Pedagogy Committee, is Patron of the English and Media Centre, and a ‘Leading Thinker’ for the National Education Trust. He became General Secretary of Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) in April 2017.

Dr Tesca Bennett is an Executive Principal and School Improvement Partner for the Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South and leads Haberdashers’ Knights Academy a large 11-18 school in London.

She is a Trustee of Astrea Academy Trust, chairing the Education and Inclusion Committee and sitting on the Finance and Budget Committee.  She is a Local Leader of Education, coach and facilitator for various leadership development and educational improvement programmes.

Tesca is a member of the steering committee of Reconnect London, mentor  for the charity ‘The Difference’  and a judge for the Fair Education Alliance Innovation Awards.

Tesca joined the profession through the NCSL Fast Track Teaching programme, teaching the sciences in inner London schools.  She has a strong interest in organisational culture, leadership development and is committed to social regeneration through education, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Sir David Carter became National Schools Commissioner on 1 February 2016, having previously worked for as Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West. He is the former CEO of the Cabot Learning Federation, a post he held from 2007 to 2014.

Sir David is a music graduate of the University of London and has taught music in comprehensive schools across the country since he started teaching in 1983.

In 1997, he became headteacher of Cirencester Deer Park School in Gloucestershire. In 2003 Sir David joined the Department for Education to spearhead the National Remodelling Team, supporting primary, special and secondary schools to introduce the workforce remodelling programme.

In 2004, he was appointed Principal of John Cabot City Technology College in Bristol and led the formation of the Cabot Learning Federation, now made up of 12 schools. He became one of the first National Leaders of Education and, in the summer of 2011, the Cabot Learning Federation successfully applied to become one of the first Teaching Schools in the country.

Sir David received a knighthood for his services to education in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2013.

Mandy Coalter is the author of the successful book ‘Talent Architects; how to make your school a great place to work’, published in 2018. Previously, she was Director of People at United Learning, one of the largest school groups in the UK. Before that, Mandy worked in senior HR roles in local government, the NHS, the voluntary sector and schools and is a very experienced board director and advisor on aspects of corporate governance.

HR magazine listed Mandy in the top 40 HR Most Influential Practitioners in 2017 and she was shortlisted for the HR Excellence Awards ‘HR Director of the Year’ in 2018.

Shane is the managing director of Lsect, an education publishing and events company operating across the UK. He is the publisher of the leading education news outlets Schools Week & FE Week.

He joined the organisation to launch FE Week in 2011. A dedicated newspaper for the further education and skills system in England. In 2014 he launched Schools Week, covering the education system from early years through to secondary education.

Shane is also the director of the prestigious Festival of Education at Wellington College. He became a trustee of the Teaching Awards Trust in 2020.

An entrepreneur and educator at heart, Jon is passionate about building ‘bigger’ people and organisations.

Having spent much of the last 30 years in professional services, he has built his career around helping both blue-chips (Merrill Lynch & Credit Suisse) and start-ups (Redington) grow and develop their businesses around engagement, alignment and relationship development.

Today, as Co-CEO and Co-Founder of 4 Habits Consulting, Jon helps leaders and teams build ‘Relational Intelligence’ to improve wellbeing and productivity, and develop heathier, happier, more inclusive cultures.  As part of his give back, Jon co-founded Soulmates Academy Foundation to help people in schools, colleges and communities develop the skills to do relationships well, on purpose.

Together with his wife Andrea, Jon talks about the importance of proactively developing ‘The 4 Habits of ALL Successful Relationships’ in their TEDx talk and book of the same title.

David Weston is the founder and Chief Executive of the Teacher Development Trust, the national charity for effective professional development. He Chaired the Department for Education’s Teachers’ Professional Development Expert Group and advises the Department on Early Career Teachers and school leadership. David taught maths and physics for ten years in two schools in London and the South East. He is a Council Member and Fellow for Chartered College of Teaching. David speaks and writes frequently for the education sector and national media and has had a number of radio and TV appearances around teaching, teacher development and LGBT issues.

Chief Executive of Summit Learning Trust in Birmingham from 2017-2022. The Trust comprises 8 academies in south and north Birmingham; 4 primary, 3 secondary and a 6^th Form College, serving around 8000 disadvantaged, urban and beautifully diverse learners. The academies saw transformational improvements in leadership, outcomes, overall standards and Ofsted judgments during this time.

Prior to this role, Cathy was a senior HMI in London and HMI in the South-East for 4 years, and previously led a large secondary school in Hampshire for 8 years.

A particular success for Summit Learning Trust was our intensive programme of work to challenge discrimination and promote diversity, equality and inclusion across all our academies over the last 18 months.

Corrienne Peasgood is President of the Association of Colleges, the national voice for England’s colleges. Corrienne took up the role in October 2022 after more than 25 years in Further Education.
Corrienne trained as a plumber after leaving school at 16 and by the age of 21, she had completed an apprenticeship and joined her family business in plumbing and heating. In 1996, the opportunity came to join City College Norwich as a sessional plumbing lecturer and over the next 15 years Corrienne moved on to become a full-time lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Director, Vice Principal, and Deputy Principal. Thus, gaining insights into the many different departments at the college. Corrienne then served as CEO and Principal at City College Norwich for a decade, before retiring in July 2022.
Corrienne was appointed an OBE in 2020 and was Vice Chair of Norfolk’s Children and Young People’s Strategic Alliance and FE Board member of the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP). Corrienne is Chair of the NALEP Agri-Food Industry Council.