Meet our people

WendyDean

Wendy Dean

FED Trustee: A true people person, Wendy enjoyed a career delivering impactful culture change programmes across diverse business for over 20 years. As HR Director for FedEx in 2000, the development of “Delivering Peace of Mind” transformed the business in readiness for acquisition in 2006. This culminated in Wendy becoming

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FionaForbes

Professor Fiona Forbes

FED Trustee: Fiona Forbes is the CEO and founder of ConfigurED – an education transformation consultancy eco-system with a specific focus on school leadership.  Fiona has 30 years of experience and expertise in the leadership of schools from the early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary and special education sectors.  Fiona is

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IanLivingstone

Sir Ian Livingstone

FED Trustee: Ian Livingstone CBE is one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry. He co-founded iconic company Games Workshop in 1975. He is currently Non-executive Chairman of Sumo Group plc. His gamebooks empower readers through choice and are recognised for raising literacy levels in children. He is

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nick

Nick Mackenzie

FED Trustee: Nick is an education lawyer and partner at Browne Jacobson LLP, one of the UK’s pre-eminent education law practices. He is also a member of the firm’s Board. He has significant experience of advising boards in the social housing, corporate and, now for over 10 years, education sectors

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PatrickWall

Patrick Wall

FED Trustee: Patrick Wall is the founder of edpol.net, a research project to support better and more enduring policy change. Patrick set up the first Oxford University access program, Target Schools, in 1982 and first became a school governor in 1988. For the last ten years he has been chair

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CarlWard

Carl Ward

Carl is Chief Executive of the City Learning Trust; a 3 to 19 MAT in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire and Chair of the Foundation for Education Development.  He has regional, national and international experience in leadership development and school to school improvement and has supported national and international projects and

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Mark-Anderson

Mark Anderson

FED Council Member: Mark is a former school leader with more than twenty years of experience in the classroom, leading successful faculty departments, being a local authority lead teacher for my subject and I am responsible for some of the world’s most innovative 1:1 programmes. My mission has always been to

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debannettes

Deborah Annetts

FED Council Member: Deborah trained as an employment lawyer becoming a partner in the City in 1998. In May 2008, she became Chief Executive at the Incorporated Society of Musicians, the UK’s professional body for musicians. Set up in 1882, the ISM has almost 11,000 members covering every aspect of

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Professor Anne Bamford OBE

Professor Anne Bamford OBE

FED Council Member: Professor Anne Bamford OBE is Strategic Director of the Education and Skills for the City of London. Anne has been recognized internationally for her research in creativity, lifelong learning and technology. She instigated the term, ‘fusion skills’ to describe the competencies needed for flourishing now and into

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Meet the Team

Mike Buchanan

FED Council Member: Mike Buchanan is the Executive Director of HMC, the English-speaking world’s oldest association of Head Teachers. From 2005-2018 he was Head of Ashford School, part of United Learning, where he oversaw its transformation from a small girls’ school to a thriving all-age, co-educational day/boarding, independent school of

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Jim Carrick-Birtwell

Jim Carrick-Birtwell

FED Council Member: Jim is the CEO and Founder of Future Talent Group, an e-learning business that delivers immersive digital learning programmed with virtual events, simulations and multimedia content to upskill employees in large organisations around the world with more highly evolved human and interpersonal skills. Future Talent conferences, events

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dameJulia

Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE

FED Council Member: Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for ‘connecting the unconnected’, inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good in the most challenged communities. During her tenure as Chief Executive of Business in the Community

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mick

Sir Mick Davis

FED Council Member: Sir Mick Davis is currently Chairman of MacSteel, a global trading and shipping company, and was Chief Executive of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, but has since stepped down from this position. He stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Xstrata plc in 2013, one

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Kirstie Donnelly

Kirstie Donnelly MBE

FED Council Member: Kirstie Donnelly MBE is Chief Executive at the City & Guilds Group, prior to this role she was the Group Managing Director for City & Guilds, ILM and DigitalMe brands operating globally. Kirstie joined City & Guilds Group in 2011 and has worked at the forefront of

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Jonathan Douglas CBE

Jonathan Douglas CBE

FED Council Member: Jonathan Douglas CBE is Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust. Previously he was Head of Policy Development at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, where he also worked as Head of Learning and Access. Prior to that, he was Professional Adviser for Youth and School Libraries

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Meet the Team

Paul Drechsler CBE

Paul Drechsler CBE Chairman International Chamber of Commerce (U.K.) President SCI, Independent Director Schroders & Co Ltd. Previously; President of the Confederation of British Industry, Chairman BusinessLDN (London First), Chancellor Teesside University, Chairman: Bibby Line Group, Teach First and UK National Skills Funding Agency Advisory Board. He was Chairman &

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Vivienne

Vivienne Durham

FED Council Member: Vivienne began her career in 1983 at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls. Thereafter, she worked at Godolphin and Latymer School for Girls and Guildford High School before becoming Deputy Head of South Hampstead High School GDST in 1997. She served as an accredited ISI Schools Inspector from

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Karen

Dr Karen Edge

FED Council Member: Dr Karen Edge is currently a Reader in Educational Leadership at UCL Institute of Education and recently served as Pro-Vice Provost (International) at University College London, UK. Karen has conducted research in over 30 countries and has recently completed a 6-jurisdiction study of teacher motivation and retention. Karen’s Global City Leaders Project worked with Generation X (under 40-year-old)

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Jasonelsom

Jason Elsom

Jason Elsom’s early career centred around internet innovation – leading some of the most progressive early ‘dotcoms’ to launch the UK’s first free internet service and first home broadband. At 32, Jason turned his heart to education, becoming a teacher of ICT, secondary school Head of Faculty, and then senior

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Dr Adam England

Dr Adam England

FED Council Member: Dr Adam England. I have been a headteacher or principal since 2004, serving in the UK and internationally. Originally a languages and sports teacher, I was dragged kicking and screaming into educational leadership and have been doing my best to do justice for the young people of

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CraigFenton

Craig Fenton

FED Council Member: Craig Fenton is a business leader and entrepreneur who has worked in the technology industry for 20 years.  He leads Strategy & Operations for Google in UK and Ireland, is an investor in and mentor of several start ups, and founded his own record label to give

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Sam

Sam Freedman

FED Council Member: Sam is the CEO of Education Partnerships Group (EPG) a charity that works with Government’s around the world to improve education systems. Previously he was Executive Director at Teach First, responsible for the largest teacher training programme in the UK. From 2010-2013 Sam was the senior policy

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DavidGallagher

David Gallagher

FED Council member: David Gallagher is Chief Executive Officer at NCFE, a leading educational charity, with business operations in Awarding, Assessment and Learning Technologies and Resources. David initially joined NCFE in 2018 as Managing Director of NCFE EPA Plus, leading a new team to deliver End-Point Assessment for apprenticeships. NCFE

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Philip Garner

Professor Philip Garner

FED Council Member: Professor Philip Garner works at Brunel University London, UK. He taught in mainstream and specialist schools for nearly 20 years. Subsequently he joined the staff of the West London Institute prior to its incorporation within Brunel University. Philip has previously held Chairs in Education at Nottingham Trent

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nigelGenders

Nigel Genders CBE

FED Council Member: Nigel is the Church of England’s Chief Education Officer and leads the work of the Church of England Education Office, which serves the church’s ministry with children and young people in churches, schools, colleges and universities. The Church of England provides 4,700 schools educating over a million

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ClareGerade

Professor Dame Clare Gerada

FED Council Member: Dr Clare Gerada MBE  has more than 35 years experience practising medicine, and has been a driving force behind efforts to provide more wellbeing support for NHS staff. She is the first female Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in 50 years. She has

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Hughs

Hugh Greenway

FED Council Member: Hugh Greenway is CEO of the Elliot Foundation which, over the last nine years, he has grown from concept to one of the more successful primary trusts in the country with over 11,000 children and 2,000 staff in 28 schools. Over the same period, he has helped

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DavidGregson

David Gregson

FED Council Member: David Gregson is Chairman of The Gregson Family Foundation; an Executive Committee Member of The Institute for Fiscal Studies; a Trustee of Pro Bono Economics and The Windsor Leadership Trust; an advisor to both the Sutton Trust, which seeks to improve social mobility through education, and the

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FED Members

David Harkin

FED Council Member: David is an entrepreneur and the CEO of the award-winning education company 8billionideas which exists to give every student the skills and belief to change the world. Since its formation, 8billionideas has worked with over 100,000 students around the world in 500 schools. 8billionideas has strategic partnerships in every

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Claudia-Harris

Claudia Harris OBE

FED Council Member: Claudia Harris OBE is the CEO of Makers, an innovative coding provider that helps mid-careers switchers to retrain as software engineers in 16 weeks. Prior roles include setting up The Careers & Enterprise Company as its founding Chief Executive, working for the management consultancy firm McKinsey &

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zamzam

Zamzam Ibrahim

FED Council Member: Zamzam is the President of the National Union of Students (NUS) where she is elected to represent the views of learners across the UK. Along with student leaders in Students’ Unions across the country Zamzam works every day to campaign toward a free and funded education system. Prior to

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David Jaffa

David Jaffa

FED Council Member: David Jaffa founded SAM Learning, an online learning tool for GCSE and KS3 used in hundreds of secondary schools in the UK, and founded Penda Learning, an online Science and Math tool for US schools that was sold in 2019. David Jaffa currently works as CEO/Founder of

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JoysyJohn

Joysy John

FED Council Member: Joysy John is the CEO of 01 Founders, tuition-free coding centres with a job-guarantee to improve diversity in tech. She is also an entrepreneur, Edtech advisor and global speaker. She is the former Director of Education at Nesta, an innovation foundation in the UK, where she was responsible

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Al 1

Al Kingsley

FED Council Member: Al Kingsley has over 30 years’ experience in the technology sector predominantly with his work on educational technology and digital safeguarding. For the last 25 years Al has been the Group Managing Director of NetSupport, an international software company developing market-leading software solutions used by over 18

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EmmaKnights

Emma Knights OBE

FED Council Member: Chief Executive of the National Governance Association (NGA) – the leading charity for guidance, research, advice and training for school governors and trustees. Prior to her appointment in 2010 she was joint CEO of the Daycare Trust. Before that, she worked in a number of roles in the

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Adrian Lyons Web

Adrian Lyons FRSA

Following a career in school teaching and teacher training, Adrian Lyons FRSA was one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education for over 16 years, one of the most experienced HMI in Ofsted. He regularly led the inspections of secondary schools, primary schools and initial teacher training providers. He led major

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Dr Rania Marandos

Dr Rania Marandos

FED Executive Team: Dr Rania Marandos is an independent consultant in the non-profit sector, National Director for the Foundation of Education Development, Trustee and Group Board member of United Learning Trust and Trustee of London Bubble Theatre Company. Rania believes in the power of young people and collaboration to achieve

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Richard Merriman

Richard Merriman

FED Council Member: Richard Merriman began his career in 1981 at Geoffrey Chaucer School, Canterbury, a State, Bi-Lateral senior school, before transferring into the Independent Sector, at Clayesmore School. A further move to Kimbolton School as Director of Sport culminated in 1997 when he took on the first of his

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estelle

Estelle Morris

FED Council Member: Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, is the Chair of the Birmingham Education Partnership. Estelle started her career in education as a teacher in an inner city multiracial comprehensive school where she taught for 18 years. In 1992, she entered Parliament, becoming the Secretary of State for

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Meet the Team

Dr Steve Munby

FED Council Member: Professor Steve Munby is a consultant and speaker on leadership and system reform in education. Between 2005 and 2012, Steve was Chief Executive of the National College for School Leadership in England. From 2012 to 2017, he was Chief Executive of the Education Development Trust, an international

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Rajay Naik

Rajay Naik

FED Council Member: Rajay Naik is Chief Executive Officer of Skilled Education, the enabler of online courses and degrees for the world’s most prestigious Universities and largest companies. Skilled also delivers marketing, recruitment and other support to Universities seeking to grow enrolments, increase revenue and enhance quality. In 2014 Naik

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Wayne Norrie

Wayne Norrie

FED Council Member. Wayne Norrie is a qualified teacher with 20 years of senior management experience in the education sector holding roles such as Headship, LA Advisory Work, DfE consultant and Senior HMI for Ofsted. Wayne was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Greenwood Academies Trust (GAT) in

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LamideOdanye

Lamide Odanye

FED Council Member: Lamide Odanye is the co-founder of LIVE (Learn, Inspire, Visualise, Elevate), a mentoring programme for students in Years 8-13 from low socioeconomic backgrounds. LIVE focuses on teaching young people soft transferable skills required for the professional environment and has the long term aim of reducing the rate

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Meet the team

Ndidi Okezie OBE

FED Council Member: Ndidi Okezie is the CEO of UK Youth; a leading charity with a movement of over 5,500 youth organisations, reaching 1.6M young people. Prior to this, she worked as a teacher and school leader for ten years, spent six years as the Executive Director of Teach First,

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Roger Outwin-Flinders

Roger Outwin-Flinders

FED Council Member: Roger Outwin-Flinders began his teaching career in 1981 at St. Martin’s Preparatory School, Northwood in London and after 12 years, at the age of 34 years old, he became Headmaster of Wycliffe College Junior School in Gloucestershire. During the next 27 years, he became Headmaster of 3

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Kerry-Jane Packman

Kerry-Jane Packman

Kerry-Jane Packman is the new CEO of Learning on Screen, a leading charity and membership organisation that specialises in audiovisual material in education and research. She has more than 20 years’ experience working for charity-based organisations, healthcare services and education organisations, managing the operations, marketing and finances of humanitarian campaigns,

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Claire Paul

Claire Paul MBE

FED Council Member: Claire Paul MBE has thirty years’ experience working in the media. Most recently as the BBC’s Director of Leadership and Career Development, she started her career as a presenter and journalist, moving into management when she took on the editorship of two BBC Radio stations and then

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Raksha Pattni

Raksha Pattni

FED Council Member: Raksha Pattni is the National Partnerships Director at national education charity, Ambition Institute.  Ambition Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children in disadvantaged areas, by improving the standard of leadership and teaching across the UK school system. Previously to this, Raksha worked for a national

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AlisonPeacock

Professor Dame Alison Peacock

FED Council Member: Professor Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, a new Professional Body that seeks to raise our status through celebrating, supporting and connecting teachers to provide expert teaching and leadership. Prior to joining the Chartered College, Dame Alison was Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire.

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Vivienne Porritt

Vivienne Porritt OBE

FED Council Member: Vivienne Porritt OBE is a speaker and a leadership consultant supporting school and trust leaders with vision, strategy, professional learning and development, and impact evaluation. Vivienne is currently one of the Co-founders and Strategic Leaders of WomenEd, a global not-for-profit community that supports and empowers aspiring and

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LauraJane

Laura-Jane Rawlings

FED Council Member: Laura-Jane Rawlings is CEO of Youth Employment. She is a passionate campaigner for youth employment and the rights for all young people to access employment and have their voices heard on the issues that affect them. Laura-Jane believes that it is for all of us to create

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Jonathan

Jonathan Slater

FED Council Member: Jonathan Slater was the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education from 2016-2020, serving Nicky Morgan, Justine Greening, Damian Hinds and Gavin Williamson. His career started in operational research, before Jonathan moved into local government, first at Newham and then 10 years in Islington, where he ended

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Annika-Small

Annika Small OBE

FED Council Member: Annika Small is a social entrepreneur committed to the imaginative use of digital technologies to address big social challenges. As co-founder of CAST, Annika has supported hundreds of charities and social enterprises to embed digital in their strategy, services and culture. Prior to CAST, Annika was founding

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Torri

Torri Stewart

Torri leads on strategy and impact at the City of London Corporation’s Education Strategy Unit. Following a lengthy career in the creative industry, Torri shifted his focus to concentrate on work that positively impacts young people. He is particularly interested in using his creative skillset to enrich youth strategy development.

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smatwiselton

Professor Samantha Twiselton OBE

FED Council Member: Professor Samantha Twiselton OBE is the Director of Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University.  She uses her research and practice in the progression of teacher expertise, and curriculum design to improve school embedded approaches to teacher development. Sam has been heavily involved in influencing Government

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Dr Leila Khouja Walker

FED Council Member: Dr Leila Khouja Walker has worked across the education sector for the past 30 years. From her early days of working as a science teacher and senior leader in schools across Bristol and London before moving on to set up high profile global programs – Generation Global

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Carole Willis

Carole Willis

FED Council Member: Carole Willis is Chief Executive of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).  NFER is an independent not for profit organisation dedicated to providing research and analysis to help improve outcomes for children and young people.    Carole was formerly Chief Analyst and Chief Scientific Adviser at the

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Bukky

Bukky Yusuf

FED Council Member: Bukky Yusuf is a Thought Leader with over twenty years teaching experience. She has undertaken several leadership roles within mainstream and special school settings, centring around professional development programmes, quality first teaching and learning and effective implementations of Educational Technology. Bukky has also been a successful Secondary

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Eugene Dapper

Eugene Dapper

FED Executive Team:  Eugene Dapper consults with organisations domestically on strategy, leadership and teacher recruitment and retention. Alongside his work at the FED, Eugene is currently the Independent Chair for the Norfolk Commissioning Hub, a strategic partnership, co-ordinating groups of stakeholders across Norfolk to support school improvement. Eugene recently served

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Meet the Team

Alastair Falk

FED Senior Coordinator: Alastair Falk’s career has encompassed three Headships, work on education strategy at a local and national level and the setting up of new education organisations. His first Headship was a single form entry primary, after which he moved to become the founding Head of a new secondary

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Sorha

Sorcha Grant

Sorcha Grant has been Associate Consultant at the Foundation for Education Development since April 2022. She attended two State Comprehensive schools in Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham. In 2017 she gained a place to study History at the University of Oxford and in 2020, she went on to study a

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Kerri Hall

Executive Member: Kerri Hall is an independent consultant specialising in the education and youth sectors. She trained as a teacher and has worked in graduate recruitment, and held senior positions at regional and national charities, including the #iwill campaign. She’s passionate about bringing diverse voices and experiences together around issues

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Jo Malone

Jo Malone

Jo is passionate about the transformative power of education. Following 15 years in the classroom as a secondary teacher, AST, curriculum and pastoral leader, Jo worked as Senior Education Adviser and Senior Project Manager at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change for ten years. She was privileged to build

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Dr Rania Marandos

Dr Rania Marandos

FED Executive Team: Dr Rania Marandos is an independent consultant in the non-profit sector, National Director for the Foundation of Education Development, Trustee and Group Board member of United Learning Trust and Trustee of London Bubble Theatre Company. Rania believes in the power of young people and collaboration to achieve

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Jonathan Slater

Jonathan Slater – FED Strategy Consultant.

Jonathan Slater has been a high-ranking British civil servant. From May 2016, he was Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education until his departure in August 2020.  Jonathan also brings previous experience from his roles in leading major delivery programmes at both the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence, as

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Jason

Jason Arthur

Jason is Chief Executive of Mission 44, a new charitable foundation launched by Sir Lewis Hamilton to boost social mobility in the UK. After starting his career as a teacher in east London, Jason has spent the last decade working in leadership roles in the nonprofit sector, including at Teach First, Youth

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Farrah Barber

Farrah is the former co-founder and CEO of Primordial (a deep biotechfounded via Entrepreneur First), Uniformed, a national UK charity that hasraised significant funding and operates with an umbrella of ~50 partnerschools and organisations, and is currently building another start-up. Priorto founding Primordial, Farrah was a management consultant at McKinsey

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Mohammed Alam Begi

Mohammed Alam Begi

Mohammed is an Associate Researcher and Co-Chairs the Learners Council at The Foundation for Education Development. He also works for the Education Strategy Unit at the City of London Corporation and has been supporting the resettlement of Afghan refugees. Mohammed has developed a strong passion for education due to his

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Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE

Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE

FED Ambassador: WorldSkills UK is a skills quality improvement partnership between employers, education and governments. Neil joined WorldSkills UK as CEO in 2015 and under his tenure, the organisation has grown and developed to focus on how international benchmarking from the global WorldSkills network in over 80 countries can be

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Karan-Bilimoria

Lord Karan Bilimoria

Karan Bilimoria, Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea CBE DL, is the founder of Cobra Beer, Chairman of the Cobra Beer Partnership Limited, a Joint Venture with Molson Coors, and Chairman of Molson Coors Cobra India. In the Monde Selection, one of the most prestigious quality awards in the world for beer,

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John-Bird

Lord John Bird MBE

John, The Lord Bird MBE was born into poverty and brought up in care. His life journey has included spells as a prisoner, artist and printer. Now an activist, publisher and Crossbench member of the House of Lords, Lord Bird is the driving force behind The Big Issue Group, which

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Justin

Justin Blake

Justin is the HundrED UK Lead and Founder and Director of Conscious Learning Ltd, connecting people with opportunities and unlocking potential. He leads the HundrED UK Community identifying innovation in education. HundrED has over 800 Ambassadors in more than 100 countries and is working on every continent. Justin helps leaders

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Charlotte Bosworth

Charlotte Bosworth

Charlotte Bosworth is Managing Director of Innovate Awarding. Charlotte’s career within Education commenced in 1996 with RSA Examinations Board and she has vast experience in curriculum, assessment and qualification design. Charlotte has spent much of her career working in partnership with thought leaders in education to influence curriculum delivery and

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Rod-Bristow

Rod Bristow

Rod Bristow has led Pearson’s growth in online learning and also leads Pearson UK. He has worked in education for 40 years in qualifications, publishing and learning technologies across schools and higher education and corporate learning in the UK and internationally. Rod is a trustee for the Education and Employers

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Sarah Caton

Sarah Caton

Sarah is Chief Executive of Inspiration for All, a not for profit social enterprise that harnesses the capabilities of business to work with education to advance social mobility together. Originally a maths teacher, Sarah moved into educational publishing, creating market leading content, assessment and digital solutions. More recently Sarah led

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Ben

Ben Caulfield

Ben Caulfield is CEO and co-founder of Eedi, an educational technology company that identifies and resolves over 90% of students’ misconceptions using best-in-class pedagogy and fully-qualified tutors. Eedi’s team of teachers, engineers and researchers are helping educators to close the attainment gap once for all by using the principles of

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Sameena

Sameena Choudry

Sameena Choudry is the founder of Equitable Education Ltd, an educationalconsultancy specialising in closing the attainment gap. She is also co-founderof #WomenEd, a grassroots movement for connecting existing and aspiring womenleaders in education. She has worked as a teacher, lecturer, ITE tutor,examiner, senior leader, adviser and has had senior officer

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Tom-Clark

Tom Clark

FED Ambassador: Tom Clark CBE was formerly Chief Executive of George Spencer Foundation School and Technology College in Nottingham during which time the school received consecutive ‘outstanding’ Ofsted reports. For 3 years he was Associate Director of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) leading on workforce-remodelling and helping to

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Rosie Clayton

Rosie Clayton

Rosie Clayton is an education specialist working on leading projects and initiatives spanning education, skills, technology and lifelong learning. Her work bridges policy and practice, systems thinking and social change. She is currently a Research Fellow with the World Innovation Summit for Education, coordinating the Rethinking Assessment movement, and working on the Fusion

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Dr Michelle Clement

Dr Michelle Clement

Dr Michelle Clement is Lecturer and Researcher on reform and delivery in government at The Strand Group, King’s College London. She is also Researcher in Residence at No.10 Downing Street. The purpose of her work is to understand how government really works in practice.  Her teaching and research focuses on

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Julia-Cleverdon

Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE – Ambassador

Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for ‘connecting the unconnected’, inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good in the most challenged communities. During her tenure as Chief Executive of Business in the Community from 1991 to

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Andrew Copson

Andrew Copson

FED Ambassador: Andrew Copson was appointed Chief Executive of Humanists UK in 2009 and elected President of Humanists International in 2015. He is a former director of the Religious Education Council, the Values Education Council, and the National Council for Faiths and Beliefs in Further Education. His books include the

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Bellcox

Bella Cox

Bella Cox is an internationally-acclaimed poet and multi-disciplinary artist now based in London, UK. She has worked for over 6 years as a poet, workshop facilitator, MC, and event producer in Kenya, South Africa and the UK. She is a Barbican Young Poets alumna, a twice-nominated young people’s laureate for

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Mark

Mark Dawe

Mark Dawe was appointed last year as the Chief Executive of The Skills Network after 4.5 years as CEO of AELP. He is on the Board of WorldSkills UK and AELP as well as a range of government advisory boards. Previously, Mark Dawe was the Chief Executive of OCR, the exam board,

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Phil Denton

Phil Denton

After many years in school leadership including positions as Headteacher, Deputy Head, Assistant Head and Head of History, I am now a leader for education companies based in Manchester and London. I speak widely to education, public sector and corporate audiences working with teams to create impactful plans that realise

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Christian Foley

Christian Foley

Christian Foley makes it up as he goes along. His freestyles have taken him from the school classroom, to Oprah’s Television Networks and PMQ’s at Westminster, from the festival circuit to TED talks and the Premier League. Christian’s improvised performances lauded by stars like 50 Cent and creator of Hamilton, Lin

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Trish Franey

Trish Franey

FED Ambassador: Trish Franey has been actively involved in the development of leadership and school improvement initiatives at local, regional, and international levels for over twenty years. Under her leadership, a failing urban Primary Community school was transformed and awarded Beacon school status within 3 years. The school was also

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Vivi

Vivi Friedgut

Vivi Friedgut is a fintech entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Blackbullion, the financial wellbeing platform for students which is available to over 1.2 million young people across dozens of universities and colleges in the UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland and South Africa. Vivi is former wealth manager, an author

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Rupert Gather

Rupert Gather

FED Ambassador: Rupert graduated in Law and, following operational service in the British Army, has built a distinguished career in venture capital and has a far-reaching insight into investment into innovative, viable and scalable early-stage companies. In 2013 Rupert founded InvestUK Group, a Foreign Direct Investment platform helping international entrepreneurs

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Richard Gerver

Richard Gerver

FED Ambassador: Richard Gerver has been described as one of the most inspirational leaders of his generation. He is an award-winning speaker, bestselling author and world-renowned thinker. Richard began his career in education, most notably as headmaster of the failing Grange Primary School. In just two years, he famously transformed the school into

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David-Goodheart

David Goodhart

FED Ambassador: David Goodhart is a British journalist, commentator and author. He is the founder and a former editor of Prospect magazine. He was a correspondent for the Financial Times for 12 years; for part of the period he was stationed in Germany. He founded Prospect, a British current affairs

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Sir Paul Grant

FED Ambassador: Sir Paul Grant is the most senior education advisor to the Liverpool City Region Mayor. He is a native of Liverpool from a very large working class family. He was the Headteacher of Robert Clack School for over twenty years and the school was featured in’ twelve outstanding

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Neil Hawkes

Dr. Neil Hawkes D. Phil (Oxford), MEd, BA, FRSA

Dr. Neil Hawkes D. Phil (Oxford), MEd, BA, FRSA is internationally well known as an inspirational speaker, educator, broadcaster, author and social commentator.  He is a popular TEDx presenter.  Neil’s thinking is having a profound influence on education and more widely in society. Neil first gained international recognition when he

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Michelle Haywood

FED Ambassador Michelle Haywood is the CEO and founding Director of Ordinary Classrooms Educational Consultancy Ltd. Michelle is a qualified teacher and skilled System leader, with particular expertise within Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), Inclusion & Safeguarding. As well as having school sector-wide experience, from Early Years (EY) to

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Stephen Henry

Stephen Henry

Stephen has over 25 years’ experience in education including senior roles across several schools in the North West of England most recently that of principal. He has worked in maintained schools and academies that serve diverse populations including some of the most deprived areas of the country. Stephen has more

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Jon Hering

Jon Hering

Jon is the Scholarships Lead for Blackbullion, a leading financial technology company dedicated to supporting young people with financial literacy and wellness. In his role, Jon is creating new ways for the private sector and the education sector to be connected. By partnering with businesses to fund scholarships for underrepresented

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Jane

Jane Hickie

Jane Hickie is Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP). She is responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the organisation, ensuring that AELP achieves its mission and objectives. Jane joined AELP in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer, before becoming Managing Director in July

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Chloe Hine

My name is Chloe Hine, I am 24 years old from the South Coast of England and challenging the stigma around mental health is a passion of mine. I am an advocate for youth social action and love nothing more than to see the positive impact young people are having

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Madeleine Holt

Madeleine Holt

Madeleine Holt is a filmmaker, entrepreneur and campaigner in education. Formerly culture correspondent on BBC Newsnight, she makes films about innovative, community-minded comprehensive schools and has made the first in-depth film about XP school in Doncaster through her enterprise, Schools on Screen.  She runs the pioneering Meet the Parents project in

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David-Hopkins

Professor David Hopkins

Professor David Hopkins is currently Chair of Educational Leadership at the University of Bolton, as well as being Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University College London and the University of Nottingham. David is passionately committed to improving the quality of education for all and has worked at the

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Jasonhorne

Jason Horne

Jason Horne is a Partner at GSV Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in the most dynamic entrepreneurs and companies across digital education and workforce skills. GSV’s portfolio includes ClassDojo, Class Technologies, Coursera, Course Hero, Degreed, Guild Education, Masterclass, and Photomath amongst others. He is also deeply involved in the

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Matt Hyde OBE

Matt Hyde OBE

Matt Hyde is Chief Executive of the Scouts, the UK’s largest youth movement. Formerly Chief Executive of the National Union of Students (NUS), he has undertaken a number of leadership roles in the charity sector and as Chief Executive of the Scouts has contributed to a period of record membership

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ALiyah

Aliyah Irabor-York

Aliyah is a fierce change maker and the founder of Pupil Power, a national student-ledmovement challenging the reimagination of the future of education. Her advocacy strives tocentre youth voices; whilst bridging the gap between young people and educational leadersand policy makers. Aliyah’s critical work has been recognised through her nominations

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Howard-1

Howard Jackson

Howard is CEO of Hub4Leaders & Evaluate-Ed Ltd. He has been involved with the education sector for over 35 years and founded the successful education finance software company HCSS Education, now part of The Access Group. Prior to setting up his own education finance consultancy business in 1993, Howard’s roles

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David-Jaffa

David Jaffa

David Jaffa – David Jaffa founded SAM Learning, an online learning tool for GCSE and KS3 used in hundreds of secondary schools in the UK, and founded Penda Learning, an online Science and Math tool for US schools that was sold in 2019. David Jaffa currently works as CEO/Founder of

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Sue-John

Dame Sue John

Dame Sue John was the headteacher of Lampton Academy from 1997 to 2015. During the London Challenge she was the secondary director of the leadership strategy and as a National Leader of Education worked with some of London’s most challenging schools. Sue has been awarded an honorary fellowship and an

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James K

James Kempton

James has spent a lifetime fighting to improve the education opportunities and life chances for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. He is passionate about the role communities and local leadership play in this and in 2021/22 he co-chaired the FED’s work on place-based approaches to levelling up educational opportunities (Workstream

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Microsoftteams Image 234

Larissa Kennedy

Fed Ambassador: Larissa Kennedy (23) is the President of the National Union of Students (NUS) which represents seven million students across further and higher education in the UK. Throughout her 2-year term in office, NUS seeks to grasp at the root of a broken system to de-marketise, democratise and decolonise

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Jim-Knight

Baron Jim Knight of Weymouth

Jim Knight, The Rt Hon Lord Knight of Weymouth works in education, digital technology and as a legislator. He is a director of Suklaa Ltd, providing advice services to UK and international clients working in technology for education and learning, international schooling, and teacher engagement.  Jim also regularly speaks and

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priya

Priya Lakhani

FED Trustee: Priya Lakhani OBE is the Founder CEO of CENTURY, the award-winning AI education technology company. CENTURY’s team of teachers, neuroscientists and technologists develop world-leading artificial intelligence tools for schools, colleges and learning and development environments. In 2008, Priya left her career as a barrister to launch a successful

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Sarah Biog

Sarah Ledger

Sarah is a passionate educator, business leader and champion of enabling life progress through literacy. CEO of Middlesbrough-based Lexonik, Sarah qualified as an English and Drama teacher in 2003, and spent almost 2  decades teaching youngsters in the Teesside region across KS3 to KS5. After working her way up to

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Trevorlee

Dr Trevor Lee

Dr Trevor Lee is former principal at Merchant Taylors Prep School, Northwood that has been recognised as excellent in all aspects by the Schools’ Inspectorate. Trevor successfully compiled and presented two proposals to the Department for Education for the creation of two new academies in an economically underprivileged area of

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Ann-Limb

Dame Ann Limb CBE DL FRSA

A Mancunian by birth, and a Milton Keynesian by adoption, Ann Limb describes herself these days as a philanthropist, mover and Quaker. Ann’s first career was in the public sector – in education and the civil service. She spent 25 years in adult and further education serving for ten years

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Anne Longfield CBE

Chair of The Commission on Young Lives, Former Children’s Commissioner for England, and vulnerable children and Independent Chair, NHS Children and Young People Learning Disability and Autism Board.    Anne has spent the last three decades working to improve the life chances of children, particularly the most vulnerable. From March

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Anthony Mackay

Anthony Mackay

Anthony is immediate past CEO and current Co-Chair of the Washington DC-based National Center on Education and the Economy. He was Inaugural Chair, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL); Inaugural Deputy Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA); immediate past Chair Australian Council for Educational

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Dr Geoff Mackey

Dr Geoff Mackey

Geoff is a Fellow of the Inst of Directors, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Environmental Management & Accounting. He is also a member of the UK Trade and Business Commission; and a Trustee of Lantra and the Association for Science Education. His passion is to close

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Joy Madeiros

Joy Madeiros

As Founding Director of Oasis UK, Joy established Oasis as a group of organisations delivering education, housing, health, anti human trafficking and a wide range of local community projects.  When Oasis became a MAT, she took on the role of CEO of Oasis Community Learning, now responsible for 52 academies.

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Javid Mahdavi

Javid Mahdavi serves as the Managing Director of Nexus Associates (ICT) and Colwyn Technologies Limited, both dedicated to providing premium ICT services, with a specific emphasis on the Education Sector within the Public Sector. Javid’s journey in education began in 2006 as an ICT Technician in schools, where his engagement

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Shane Mann

Shane Mann

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

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Gordon Marsden

Gordon Marsden

FED Ambassador: Gordon Marsden is a politician, historian , writer and commentator and was MP for Blackpool South from 1997 to 2019. Before entering Parliament Gordon was an Open University Lecturer and tutor for 20 years , helped launch and later advised  English Heritage , and was both Publisher and

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Rob May

Rob is the CEO at ABE, a non-profit organisation which is dedicated to nurturing young entrepreneurs and business leaders by providing access to education across a range of settings. Before joining ABE, Rob held senior roles at education companies such as City & Guilds, Cambridge Assessment, YMCA, and the Federation

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Stella Mbubaegbu Cbe

Stella Mbubaegbu CBE

In a career spanning over 40 years dedicated to raising aspirations and transforming lives through education and training, Stella worked in Further Education (FE) for 30 years starting as a part time hourly paid lecturer and rising through the ranks to be appointed, in 2001, the first black and ethnic

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Martin Mckay

Martin McKay

Martin McKay, Texthelp’s CEO, award-winning entrepreneur and innovator, is an EdTech trailblazer with lofty ambitions for the world of literacy. Martin founded Texthelp when he was in his early twenties to help people with communication difficulties back in 1996. What started as a company focused on people with profound Speech

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Benjamin N Gonga

Benjamin N’gonga

FED Ambassador and Learners Council Representative: Benjamin N’gonga is the Lead Marketing and PR for an independent music record label founded by Craig Fenton, Big Community Records. An artist-first social enterprise on a mission to surface and celebrate new talent from lower socio-economic areas and give them the stage to

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Olly Newton

Olly Newton

Olly Newton spent 12 years in the Department for Education working on policies including 14-19 diplomas, raising the participation age and finally as Head of Apprenticeship Strategy. Olly is now Executive Director of the Edge Foundation, where he oversees a programme of primary research, is lead author on the charity’s

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Paulnoon

Paul Noon

Paul leads Coventry University’s enterprise and innovation work following a successful career spanning over a quarter of a century with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), representing and promoting the best of British industry and technology across the globe. His aim in his role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Innovation

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Dr Vanessa Ogden

Dr Vanessa Ogden

Dr Vanessa Ogden is CEO of the Mulberry Schools Trust (MST). Vanessa is an NLE and has undertaken a range of school turnaround work. She is an Honorary Academic at the UCL, Institute of Education and has a doctorate specialising in education policy and school improvement. Vanessa is the Chair

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Diana Osagie

Diana Osagie

FED Ambassador: Diana has 21 years’ experience leading secondary education, including six years as a successful head teacher in a London secondary school; Diana works at the cutting edge of leadership development. She is known as a resilient school leader, skilled in urban leadership under challenging circumstances. Diana has substantial

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Vikas Pota

Vikas Pota

Vikas Pota: is the Founder of T4 Education, a digital platform he established as a response to the challenges posed by the pandemic on education, globally. T4 seeks to strengthen the cause of teachers and schools by providing them with opportunities to learn and share with each other, and is

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Lorenzo Raffio

Lorenzo is the Digital and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Lead at the Tony Blair Institute. He specialises in leading the development of large-scale digital learning platforms and in evaluating the impact of educational activities designed for young people. He is interested in research concerning experiences involving innovative technological tools

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Justyn Randall

Justyn Randall

Justyn Randall has over 20 years’ experience building and scaling global businesses in recruitment, digital technology, HR consultancy, healthcare and education. Prior to Opogo, Justyn scaled Global Group internationally to £120m. Core to Justyn’s ventures is innovation; for the past three years, he has been working with schools, universities, the

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Lord-Ranger

Lord Rami Ranger CBE

Lord Rami Ranger CBE, FRSA, is a British Peer and a successful businessman honoured by Her Majesty the Queen on Eight occasions. Six times for Business and twice personally for community services and was made a Member of the British Empire in 2005 and Commander of the British Empire in

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Tom Ravenscroft

Tom Ravenscroft

Founder & CEO, Skills Builder Partnership Tom founded the Skills Builder Partnership in 2009, whilst a secondary school teacher in Hackney. The Skills Builder Partnership brings together a global group of more than 800 partners around a common language and approach to building essential skills like teamwork, communication, and self-management.

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Nathan Richardson

Richardson’s passion for blending his technology background with education stems from his time as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal (1993-1995) and as Country Director of The International Rescue Committee in Liberia (2006-2007.)  . He has been on the Brookings Institute’s Center for Universal Education Leadership Council since its

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Catherine Roche

Catherine Roche is the Chief Executive of Place2Be. She began her career in teaching before completing an MBA and joining KPMG. Her pro bono support for Place2Be from 1996 inspired her to join the charity as Chief Operating Officer in 2003 and then Deputy CEO. In 2014 she became Chief

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Anthony-Seldon

Sir Anthony Seldon MA, PhD, FRSA, MBA, FRHisS

Sir Anthony Seldon is one of Britain’s leading contemporary historians, educationalists, commentators and political authors. Artificial intelligence and well-being in education are two of his specialist areas. He was a transformative head for 20 years, first of Brighton College and then Wellington College before becoming Vice-Chancellor of The University of

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Robert Swannell

Robert Swannell

Robert is Chairman of Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation, an educational charity providing boarding bursaries and other educational opportunities to children from some of the most deprived communities in the UK, many in care. He is also Chairman of the LP Advisory Committee of Ahren, an investment company based on

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Alastair-Stewart

Alastair Stewart OBE

Alastair Stewartis a presenter on GB News and will host a news and current affairs programme on Saturdays and Sundays. Before that, he presented a range of news and current affairs programmes on the ITV network and was one of the longest serving newscaster-journalists on British television. Over many years,

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David Tarsh

David Tarsh

David has over 35 years’ business experience, of which 25 years has been at board-level. He has deep expertise in PR, communications, strategy, sales and negotiation, from working at a very senior level with many SMEs, global trade bodies and blue-chip multinationals in numerous industrial sectors, as well as five

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Les-Walton

Les Walton

Les Walton has a unique record of being a successful leader and innovator within most education sectors. As Headteacher, his school was identified by HMI as ‘one of the most successful urban schools in the country’. In his time as Director of Education the Council achieved Beacon Status for ‘tackling

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Dawn Ward

Dawn Ward CBE

Dawn is Chair of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics and is the Chief Executive of Burton and South Derbyshire College in the UK.  She is also Deputy Chair of the Chartered Institution for Further Education.  She has a wealth of experience across professional technical vocational education and is

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Greg Watson

Greg Watson

Greg is the Chief Executive of GL Education, a leading provider of diagnostic and formative assessment for UK and international schools, multi-academy trusts and international school groups. GL’s rigorously standardised assessments are used to profile student ability, track learning progress, screen for SEN and measure student engagement Before joining GL,

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Steve West

Steve West

Professor Steve West CBE, DL is Vice-Chancellor, President and CEO of the University of the West of England, Bristol. Professor West is the President of Universities UK (UUK) and Chair of the UUK Mental Health in Higher Education Working Group. He is Chair of the West of England Academic Health

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Sue Williamson

Sue Williamson is Chief Executive of SSAT. She joined SSAT in 2002 and focused on leadership and innovation.  Sue worked with Professor David Hargreaves on the personalising learning agenda and developed SSAT’s suite of leadership programmes.  She was Headteacher of Monks’ Dyke Technology College for eight years.  She is trustee

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Rebecca-Winthrop

Rebecca Winthrop

Rebecca Winthrop is a senior fellow and co-director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on education globally, with special attention to the skills young people need to thrive in work, life, and as constructive citizens. Dr. Winthrop works to promote quality and relevant

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Fwoodrow

Floyd Woodrow

Floyd is a former Special Forces Soldier who delivered unparalleled success over a full career with 22 Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). He was awarded a DCM, the second highest gallantry award, for work in Iraq, and an MBE for work in Afghanistan. He was graded in the top 1%

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