Our Team

National Leader of Education

Diana is a Trustee and Chief Executive of the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust. Diana established the Trust in 2011 and has grown the organisation to 27 schools based in the Midlands, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Previously, Diana was a headteacher for 14 years and, during this time, she successfully led a school from ‘Special Measures’ through to two consecutive ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted judgements.

Diana has a wealth of experience having worked in a number of different schools. She has been an executive headteacher and has supported other schools as a National Leader of Education, a Primary Strategy Consultant Leader, coach and mentor. Through this work she has supported school leadership teams nationally and has met with ministers on a number of occasions to help steer government agendas.

Diana has been involved in a number of national leadership groups and research projects and has delivered presentations to audiences nationally and internationally. Diana has also lived and worked in San Francisco and Hong Kong.

In June 2015, Diana was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to education.

School Improvement & Quality Assurance Strategies

National Leader of Education

Neil became the Deputy Chief Executive of the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust in September 2020. He is responsible for leading on school improvement and quality assurance strategies across the academies. He plays an integral role within the Trust, and leads the delivery – both strategically and operationally – of the support, advice and guidance that enables our academies to succeed. Neil is also responsible for ensuring the consistent delivery of the Trust’s principles and values.

Prior to this, Neil worked in Lincolnshire schools, gaining significant experience through a range of leadership roles, including over 11 years of headship in two contrasting schools. During his first headship at Spitalgate Primary School, the school was recognised for its rapid improvement and was judged to be one of the 100 most improved schools in the country. Neil’s second headship involved establishing a new school, Witham St. Hughs Academy. This academy was judged ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted across all aspects of its work. The academy also received accreditation as a National Support School and National Teaching School under Neil’s leadership.

Using a range of coaching and mentoring strategies, Neil has led school-to-school support since 2007, working with colleagues in many varied settings and contexts. He became a National Leader of Education in 2013, primarily working with leadership teams of schools judged as ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requiring Improvement’. Neil has also undertaken the Additional Inspector role during Ofsted inspections.

Strategic Financial Management, Systems & Operations

Bobby became the Deputy Chief Executive of the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust in February 2016. He originally joined L.E.A.D. as Business Director in January 2013 and is responsible for the strategic financial management, systems and operations of the organisation.

Bobby is a qualified chartered accountant and has previously worked within a large secondary school, free schools and the Children and Young People’s Department of a local authority.

Bobby has provided consultancy services for schools covering finance, ICT, catering, project management, premises design and development. He has also previously held senior finance roles with employers ranging from the Audit Commission to the Derbyshire Police Authority.

Professor Toby Salt has worked as a teacher, headteacher, senior civil servant, deputy CEO of the National College for School Leadership, CEO of one of the biggest multi academy trusts and as CEO of AQA the largest exam board.

He has worked with government ministers as well as some of the most challenging pupils in our system.

His book ‘The Juggling Act’ explores the dilemmas of juggling complex leadership with family life and the unexpected.

Anne was a senior civil servant until 2020. Her civil service career included working in regional Government Offices and running a college for Fire Service personnel. She held a range of posts at the Department for Education, many of which involved support for disadvantaged pupils; she was also the department’s lead for further education. Her most recent role was that of housing director at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Before joining the civil service, Anne was an officer in the Royal Air Force, for which she was stationed in both the UK and Hong Kong.

Anne is currently the Chair of Trustees for a Multi Academy Trust in Melton Mowbray. She is also a Trustee of NACRO, a national social justice charity, for which she sits on both the strategy and education committees.

Deryn joined the Learning Partnership as a non-executive director in August 2009. From 2002 to 2009 as director of the Innovation Unit, Deryn supported hundreds of schools, colleges and local authorities in their quest for solutions to the biggest challenges facing the system. In her former position of senior civil servant at the DfES, she and the Innovation Unit team had direct access to ministers and policymakers, helping to bridge the gap between practitioners and policy formulation.

Formerly, Deryn was the Headteacher of Willow Tree Primary School in the London Borough of Ealing. One of the largest primary schools in England, Willow Tree was the result of an amalgamation of three schools undertaken by Deryn in 1993. She has had 17 years of headship experience.

During her time as a management consultant with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Deryn worked with a variety of government departments, including the then Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Currently, Deryn is leading on the National College New Models of Leadership Programme, where she and her team are ‘out there’ with practitioners, finding out what is happening on the ground and, in turn, advising practitioners, local authorities and policymakers on possible ways forward and implications for leadership.

Author, speaker, former headteacher and director at National College, Andy is now the CEO of Leadership Matters, creator of the BASIC coaching model and founder of Cadogan Press and The StARTed Foundation.

A geography teacher by trade, Andy went on to become a headteacher for thirteen years at two schools in East London. During his second headship, his school was judged ‘Outstanding’ and he was designated a National Leader of Education. In 2009, he was appointed as a director at the National College for School Leadership and, in 2012, he was made managing director at one of the largest academy groups in the UK. Andy subsequently founded Leadership Matters, which aims to improve educational outcomes for pupils by supporting great leadership development. He has written seven books on leadership and coaching, including the best-selling ‘Leadership Matters’. In 2018, Andy was invited to become a Founding Fellow of the College of Teaching and, in 2019, established The StARTed Foundation, which aims to support young talent in the performing arts. More recently, he has set up a small independent publishing company called Cadogan Press.

Committees
Performance & Standards – Chair

Maggie has worked in London and Birmingham in senior leadership positions for schools and local authorities. She was the director for leadership development, research and succession planning at the National College for School Leadership in England, and an interim chief executive.

Maggie has been instrumental in the development of a school-led self-improvement system in England and has led the design and development of leadership programmes that support the growth of system leadership and the development of cluster-based approaches to school improvement. She is also currently working with over 1,700 schools on a national model of peer review and school collaborative self-improvement in England with the Education Development Trust. She is currently supporting the development of the National Academy of Educational Leadership in Wales, with particular reference to their wellbeing strategy.

Maggie has worked with over 700 leaders and teachers on supporting their own wellbeing and that of others. This has included fostering practices that reduce stress, anxiety and overwhelm, and increase effectiveness, wellbeing and resilience.

She was awarded the CBE for services to education in 2014.

Committees
L.E.A.D. Services Board – Vice Chair
Finance & Resources – Chair

Paul became a non-executive director with the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust in 2018.

He is a chartered management accountant who has spent 28 years working for Rolls-Royce in a number of finance and commercial roles, culminating in his current role as director of commercial and strategy.

Paul has served as a primary and secondary school governor for many years and holds an Institute of Directors Diploma in Company Direction.

National Leader of Education

Diana is a Trustee and Chief Executive of the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust. Diana established the Trust in 2011 and has grown the organisation to 27 schools based in the Midlands, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Previously, Diana was a headteacher for 14 years and, during this time, she successfully led a school from ‘Special Measures’ through to two consecutive ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted judgements.

Diana has a wealth of experience having worked in a number of different schools. She has been an executive headteacher and has supported other schools as a National Leader of Education, a Primary Strategy Consultant Leader, coach and mentor. Through this work she has supported school leadership teams nationally and has met with ministers on a number of occasions to help steer government agendas.

Diana has been involved in a number of national leadership groups and research projects and has delivered presentations to audiences nationally and internationally. Diana has also lived and worked in San Francisco and Hong Kong.

In June 2015, Diana was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to education.

Committees
Pay – Chair
Finance & Resources – Vice Chair

Helen became a non-executive director with the L.E.A.D. Academy Trust in December 2019. Helen started her career as an HR professional within the construction industry, including global roles with AMEC and Davis Langdon PLC, before moving into the public sector. For the last 11 years, Helen has worked for the Care Quality Commission, the regulator of health and social care, and currently leads CQC’s organisational development.

Helen’s role, which was created in 2010, has developed alongside our organisation, and she has played a core role in leading the continuous development of our values and behaviours. More specifically, she leads programmes for leadership and management development, wellbeing, performance management, inclusion, reward and recognition. As a keen HR professional, Helen is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

Committees
Audit & Risk – Chair
Teaching School Hub – Chair

Mark is a partner and head of the education team at Browne Jacobson, a leading national education law firm. He has almost twenty years’ experience as an education lawyer and over ten years as a governor across the maintained school, academy and further education sectors. He is a National Leader of Governance (NLG) and has been recommended as a leader in the field of education in the Chambers UK & Legal 500 legal professional directories for over ten years, the former of which has described him as ‘an industry leader’.

Mark has chaired L.E.A.D. throughout its journey from a primary school to a stand-alone academy and onto the large Multi Academy Trust that it is today. He previously served as a member of the Regional Council of the Learning and Skills Council and as a Director of the National Governors’ Association.

Mark regularly speaks at conferences, including those of the Association of School & College Leaders, National Association of Head Teachers, National Association of School Business Management and National Governors’ Association, and he has been interviewed by BBC Panorama, BBC Radio Four and Sky News. He has contributed over 100 papers, articles and book chapters to education literature on a variety of aspects of education law, and has given oral evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee. He is also a long-standing Teach First mentor. Mark is married with twin daughters.

Committees
Teaching School Hub – Vice Chair
Performance & Standards – Vice Chair

David began his professional career as a secondary school teacher before commissioning into the Royal Air Force in 1984. After 22 years’ military service in a variety of operational, command and diplomatic roles, he joined Ofsted with whom he enjoyed both regional and national responsibilities.

In 2014, he moved into higher education and spent three years as a senior lecturer with the University of Lincoln.

He now works with local agencies and organisations focusing primarily on promoting opportunities for young people.

David is a qualified teacher, has a masters degree in the Management of Human Resources, and is a Fellow of both the Higher Education Academy and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Committees
Audit & Risk – Vice Chair

Nick has been chair of the local governing body at L.E.A.D.’s Glapton Academy since it gained academy status in October 2013. He is a chartered accountant by profession, having trained with Ernst and Young, and has worked in various financial roles across the Boots Company for the past 23 years, culminating in his current role as senior financial manager for Boots Opticians.

Chris is a chartered management accountant and currently heads the finance function for one of the UK’s largest offshore windfarms. He has extensive experience in the energy sector both in the UK and internationally.

Prior to his current role, he held a number of senior finance positions across National Grid and has previously worked for one of Europe’s leading energy exchanges.