Governance

Will joined the Trust in 2018 as a Member, having succeeded the original founder of the Trust, Sir Harry Djanogly.  Will strongly supports the ethos of the Trust to focus on children and ensure they realise their full potential irrespective of their background or personal challenges.  Will was knighted in 2021 for his services to philanthropy through The Stoneygate Trust, a multipurpose foundation with a particular focus on medical research and helping to support equal educational opportunities and social causes.  Will has spent his career in Dunelm which was started by his parents in 1979.  His current role is Deputy Chairman.

Christine is an experienced Governor and Trustee and is currently Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the HR and Remuneration Committee.  She gained a huge amount of experience as firstly a Governor, then Vice Chair, and subsequently was appointed Chair of a former large FE college in Nottingham.

Christine has held a number of Leadership and Executive roles in the NHS, her first career. This was followed by appointment as Chair of The Nottinghamshire Probation Trust, and she was also a Magistrate on the Nottinghamshire Bench for 10 years. These roles, have all had education as a core value and gave Christine significant insight into the challenges faced by families.

Christine gained an MBA (Health) at Nottingham University and has held various Managerial & Leadership roles in major teaching hospitals and is currently an Independent Member of the Police and Crime Panel. She is also a Trustee and Chair of Burnside Memorial Hall.

Christine was awarded an OBE for ‘Services to Probation and Criminal Justice‘ in the New Year’s Honours 2014 and was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in 2014.

Ron is a former Chair of Trustees and has been involved with the Trust since its inception. Now retired, Ron is a former Chief Executive of Courtaulds Textiles and non- executive Director of the Nottingham Building Society. He is also Vice President of the Abbeyfield UK Society which provides accommodation for some 8,000 elderly people in the UK.

Liz is an experienced education leader and is CEO of the Trust.

Liz has over 25 years’ experience of education, working largely in urban schools with high levels of deprivation in the East Midlands.  She was headteacher at one of the two founding academies of Djanogly Learning Trust, taking advantage of the academy movement as an early adopter.

Liz has experience of leading schools from failure to success and in acknowledgement is a DfE National Leader of Education.  She has used her expertise to lead significant improvement in sponsored academies within the Trust and also in supporting wider system improvement within other schools and trusts.

Liz also serves as a Trustee for Inspiring Leaders, a non-for-profit organisation that is committed to improving standards of education through school to school support and strengthening education leadership at all levels.  Before entering education Liz spent 10 years working in industry, an experience that allows her to take a wider view of education matters and adapt successful business strategies to further improve effectiveness and efficiency in the Trust.

Paul is a partner in the Nottingham office of Geldards LLP specialising in company law. He has three boys (aged 15,13 and 8) and his perspective as a parent of school age children is a valuable asset to the Board. Paul is also a qualified football coach and manages his youngest son’s football team as well has helping out with the cricket team.

Paul sits on two Board committees, Audit, Risk & Finance and HR & Remuneration.

Ken Maxwell is former Deputy Head and Associate Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham. He is also a former member of the national panel of subject specialise reviewers for the teaching of Physics in UK universities.

Ken has been involved with the Trust since its inception including as a governor and former Chair at Djanogly City Academy.

Kris is an experienced school Governor, as well as being a Trustee he is also a Governor at Djanogly Strelley Academy. Kris is also a Member of several trusts in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Kris is Nottingham based, a management professional with over 30 years’ experience in business and general management. He has worked for various Global (UK, US and China) organisations managing diverse business operations, including business start-up, M&A, business turn-round and new product/market development. Having worked in various business environment and cultures Kris has gained extensive experience in change management, operational strategy, corporate risk management and governance.

In addition to his voluntary roles, Kris is also involved in management consultancy advising global clients in business processes and management development.

Sadé Thomas’ background is heavily focused on delivering Equality Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in both the private and public sectors.

Sadé’s passion is driven by ensuring that every pupil and staff member has the opportunity to succeed by building an inclusive and supportive culture where everyone belongs.

Sadé also volunteers some of her time to write for ‘The Voice Newspaper’, Britain’s only Black national newspaper sharing and raising awareness of the black community and their stories. In her spare time Sadé sings and has released music which is available in all digital platforms as well as being a committed member of Nottingham’s Hope Community Gospel Choir.

Sadé is a member of the HR & Remuneration Committee.

Duncan is a Chartered Accountant and experienced CFO with 35 years working in various Finance, Audit and Risk roles within both small and large businesses. He spent most of his career in Financial Services and most recently was CFO in a private equity backed technology company. He is now semi-retired and has his own consultancy business, currently providing advice, as well as coaching and mentoring a Head of Finance, to a waste to energy finance company. Duncan has been a Trustee of DLT for 6 years and has chaired the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee for the last 2 years.

Christine is an experienced Governor and Trustee and is currently Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the HR and Remuneration Committee.  She gained a huge amount of experience as firstly a Governor, then Vice Chair, and subsequently was appointed Chair of a former large FE college in Nottingham.

Christine has held a number of Leadership and Executive roles in the NHS, her first career. This was followed by appointment as Chair of The Nottinghamshire Probation Trust, and she was also a Magistrate on the Nottinghamshire Bench for 10 years. These roles, have all had education as a core value and gave Christine significant insight into the challenges faced by families.

Christine gained an MBA (Health) at Nottingham University and has held various Managerial & Leadership roles in major teaching hospitals and is currently an Independent Member of the Police and Crime Panel. She is also a Trustee and Chair of Burnside Memorial Hall.

Christine was awarded an OBE for ‘Services to Probation and Criminal Justice‘ in the New Year’s Honours 2014 and was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in 2014.

Syed has been involved in strategic leadership and management in the Further and Higher Education sectors with a keen interest across Civil Engineering; Construction Management and associated Built Environment areas. Syed has contributed significantly towards a range of new initiatives focusing on quality assurance and pedagogic approaches in Higher Education across vocational, degree apprenticeships and post graduate qualifications. During his time as an academic leader and manager, Syed has chaired various Board of Examiners, Committees and Appeals Panels.

Syed has extensive experience of institutional and qualifications approvals both within the UK as well as in Europe, Middle East and South East Asia. Syed has international experience of developing occupational standards, vocational qualifications and associated curricula across all levels including post-secondary and post-graduate. Syed has also been responsible for managing partner institutions within UK and overseas following various franchised and validated models. Syed is actively involved with a number of Quality Assurance agencies and Awarding Organisations, the work which primarily focuses on provider approvals, monitoring and intervention as well as standardisation of quality assurance policies and procedures.

Syed currently works as Head of Civil Engineering Department at Nottingham Trent University. Syed is part of the university’s Shadow Executive Team where he shadows the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Development and Performance). He has provided significant contribution towards university’s quality assurance processes including Equality, Diversity and inclusion.

Syed has significant experience of being an External Examiner not only in the UK but also for countries such as Jordan, Greece, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Myanmar, Bahrain and Oman. This experience spans across twenty years or so. Syed is responsible to standardise the quality assurance processes for Pearson’s Levels 4

– 7 Work Based Learning programmes across the UK.

Raphael Richards is a Trustee and Chair of Governors at Djanogly Strelley Academy. He is also a Local Leader of Governance. Raphael is passionate about education and believes that for children to achieve the best they can, parents and educators must work together and that professionals should use their skills/powers to engage, empower and enable.

Before retiring in 2015, Raphael managed a team of specialist education professionals working across Sheffield’s primary and secondary schools supporting New Arrivals, promoting inclusion, equality and community cohesion. Prior to joining the Sheffield City Children Services, he worked in local communities in Nottingham, Sheffield and Derby, creating and delivering targeted mentoring programmes in schools, colleges and universities.

Raphael was a founder member of BUILD mentoring (Nottingham), Black PALM (Sheffield) and published ‘Empower’ a magazine covering education, careers and local issues targeted at BAME communities across the East Midlands.

Christopher Day is a former schoolteacher and Local Authority Adviser. He is Professor of Education in the School of Education, University of Nottingham. Christopher is also Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Sydney and Beijing Normal University, Beijing, and leads research and development projects in each of these countries. Until recently he has also been Trustee and Vice Chair ‘Educational Support’, a national charity for teachers.

Christopher is passionate about teacher quality, wellbeing, and the learning and achievement of every student, and is currently Chair of the Trust’s Achievement, Standards and Wellbeing Committee.

Sir Dan Moynihan is the CEO of the Harris Federation, a large group of primary and secondary academies educating over 40,000 young people in and around London and employing 5,000 staff.

He has led the Harris Federation since 2004, starting with one school where he was headteacher to 51 Academies today. Harris has been regularly noted by the Education Policy Institute and other educational research organisations as one of the most highly performing multi academy trusts in England. From previously failing, the majority of the academies are Outstanding.

He has co-authored various Economics and Business Studies text books for Oxford University Press.

Tim is Chair of the Board of Trustees. Following 40 years’ experience in the commercial world, primarily the retail sector, where he held a variety of senior positions at Boots PLC & Dunelm PLC, Tim now works part-time as a consultant.

Tim’s effective people and financial management experience provides crucial support to the CEO & Executive team within the Trust.

Tim is driven by a passion to tackle any form of disadvantage and to ensure the Trust strives to fully realise the potential of all pupils in our care. He is determined the Trust will continue on its journey of measured growth and continuous improvement, a vision that is shared by everyone.

Away from the Trust Tim is also a Trustee of the Stoneygate Charitable Trust which supports medical research & social causes.