Past Event

Jonathan Peach

Motivational Speaker, The Art of Brilliance

Jonathan did that usual thing of spending decades working in leadership and consultancy roles where everything was just fine.  Until one day it dawned on him that ‘fine’ probably wasn’t anywhere near good enough? So he set about raising his personal bar to ‘brilliant’ and the rest, as they say, is history.

He changed direction. Jonathan’s calling was always to support people in achieving their true potential. He has a passion to help people achieve their dreams and believes that the only person stopping them from doing this is themselves.

He now spends most of his time partnering individuals, teams, teenagers, teachers, sportsmen and women, using a mix of coaching, training, NLP and facilitation. In short, he rids people of limiting beliefs and helps people get out of their own way!  Jonathan co-wrote ‘Leadership the Multiplier Effect’ with Andy Cope and Mike Martin.

Jonathan is a learning junkie with an office full of books. His collection continues to grow because he keeps getting introduced to new ones that he must read. He was about to extend his office to accommodate the new books when the kids bought him a Kindle. Genius!

Jonathan has two kids. One of his daughters thinks his voice changes when he coaches her and is often heard saying, “Dad, you’re using that coaching voice again. Stop it immediately!”

Andy Collishaw

COO, New College Durham Academies Trust

Andy is a CIPFA qualified accountant, in his past he was Head of Finance for Children Services, Education and Schools at Darlington Borough Council.  For the last 13 years Andy  has been working as Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer within two Multi Academy Trust’s,  within the North East.  Andy has over 20 years of experience working within schools/finance/operations predominantly working at a strategic level.

Claire Druery

Chief People Officer of Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Claire is the Chief People Officer of Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, a 30-school Multi Academy Trust located in the North East. With an extensive background in HR, spanning both private and public sectors, Claire moved into the education sector in 2010. Equipped with over 20 years of experience as a strategic HR leader, Claire is deeply passionate about empowering individuals to reach their full potential. Throughout her career, Claire has partnered with strategic leaders, directors, and governors, guiding them through complex cases while consistently driving positive change and delivering impactful results. 

Louise Levy

COO, The Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Academy Trust & Education Mutual Director

Louise is Chief Operating Officer at a large and growing Multi Academy Trust in the North East. She has been at Cardinal Hume for the last 11 years and overseen the growth from a single school to a Multi Academy Trust of 17. Louise is also a director of Education Mutual.  Louise is also on the Schools North East SBM Council.

Julie Liddell

Managing Director, Still Human

Julie has over 25 years experience of teaching Psychology, along with an enthusiasm for sharing simple, effective ways to improve wellbeing.
Having worked in the post 16 sector both as a teacher and a Senior Manager, Julie has a genuine understanding of the current challenges facing education.

Julie founded Still Human as she believes that when staff health and wellbeing is nurtured, it positively impacts both the individual and the whole school community. Still Human is part of the educational support services organisation, The Edwin Group and delivers workshops on a wide range of topics including Stress Management, Mindfulness, the Menopause and Rest, as well as delivering Wellbeing Champion training.

Jill Donabie

Partner, Muckle LLP

Recognised as a ‘Recommended Lawyer’ by Legal 500 UK, Jill Donabie is a Partner at Muckle LLP, Legal 500 Tier 1 Firm for Education. As part of the firm’s Sports, Education and Charities team, Jill advises on a wide range of people related issues in the education sector.

Jill has around 20 years’ of specialist education/employment knowledge and experience in advising on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious issues, including:
• employment documentation and day to day employment related issues;
• employment tribunals;
• projects (such as TUPE transfers, redundancies and restructuring);
• collective issues; and
• student and parental issues, including parental complaints, safeguarding, discrimination claims from pupils and special educational needs including SEND tribunals. 

Jill regularly delivers training on a wide range of topics and chairs a networking group of HR professionals in schools. Jill is also chair of governors at a local primary school.

Mick Little

Chief Operating Officer, Ascent Academies Trust

Mick is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 27 years’ experience working in public sector finance, including local authority, education and corporate services. With 11 years’ experience in a MAT as Chief Operating Officer, Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer, Mick has vast experience leading all central functions and operations.

Pam Mee

Director of HR, Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Academy Trust

Pam is currently Director of Human Resources at Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust. She has a BA honours degree in Human Resource Management and Fellow within the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Pam has worked in Human Resources for over 24 years in both the public and private sector before starting her current role at BWCET.

Bryan McCourt

Energy Solutions and Net Zero Consultant, Zenergi

Bryan is an Energy Solutions and Net Zero Consultant for Zenergi and works specifically with the Education sector helping Multi Academy Trusts, Independent Schools, College’s, Maintained Junior & Primary Academy’s & Secondary schools achieve better budgets through smarter energy purchasing. Bryan has also helped schools and trusts secure hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of grant funding for Net Zero projects in the education estate.  Bryan is also a trustee for a Multi Academy Trust based in the North East.

Claire Mitchell

Leadership & Governance Partner, Berry Education

Claire is a Governance and Academy Improvement Professional who is passionate about supporting Trustees, Directors & Governors in their volunteer roles. 

She is a Chair of Governors at her local Church of England Primary School and has a wealth of experience working in academy and mainstream settings with a specialism in MAT governance.  

Claire has over a decade of experience within education and skills teaching in the 14-19 sector supporting children to regain their education pathway and develop a lifelong love for learning.   Claire has held a number of senior leadership roles within education, including managing ESFA funded learning provision in excess of £10 million for 150+ education and skills providers.  Claire also has experience as a Designated Safeguarding Lead. 

As an NGA Consultant Claire also delivers training, carries out external reviews of governance, and facilitates the NGA Leading Governance development programmes.

Stephen Morales

Chief Executive, Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL)

Stephen has a 20-year career history in operations and finance, working at a senior level in the public and private sectors. He has managed significant change management and quality assurance programmes for local government and international commercial banking organisations. Stephen has held the position of Finance Director in the UK education system and enjoyed a spell performing a similar role internationally. Stephen returned to the UK in 2007 and has since worked closely with the Department for Education in areas of policy reform.

Between 2014 and 2015, Stephen presided over the development and implementation of nationally recognised school business management professional standards and in 2017 led the change of status from the National Association of School Business Management to the Institute of School Business Leadership.

Dan Newton

Regional Manager, Langley, Chairman, Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber STEM Ambassador

Dan has had the privilege of contributing to the construction sector for over 15 years, starting his journey in 2005. Currently, Dan serves as the Regional Manager for Langley, a position that has allowed him to cultivate his expertise in asset management and sustainable roofing practices.

Beyond his role at Langley, Dan is honoured to be entrusted with the position of Chairman at Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber, where he promotes and instils best practices in the construction industry.  In addition to Dan’s professional endeavours, he is a dedicated STEM ambassador. Dan’s commitment extends to supporting and mentoring young individuals in schools, helping them prepare for the transition into the world beyond education. Empowering the next generation with knowledge and skills is a cause close to his heart.

Polly O’Malley

Partner, Browne Jacobson

Polly has recently joined Browne Jacobson as Head of Education Employment. She offers specialist expertise advising the education sector on a wide variety of strategic, contentious and regulatory matters and has a wealth of experience in staff issues including national terms and conditions, industrial action, trade union liaison, TUPE, restructure and equality issues. Polly is particularly skilled in assisting clients with crisis management situations, including safeguarding allegations against staff, and provides hands-on advice to help her clients navigate the most high-profile cases.  

Debbie Pettiford

Data Protection Officer, The DP Advice Service

Debbie is a qualified solicitor and worked for 10 years in private practice before moving into lecturing in Higher Education and setting up her own business offering a Data Protection Officer service to schools and MATs. Debbie offers legal advice regarding data protection tailored to schools and training written specifically for schools’ staff.

Debbie is passionate about ensuring that schools and MATs understand their obligations when it comes to data protection but without this being costly or onerous. To this end, her business has launched DPOCOMS to assist schools with managing the day to day data protection compliance.

Harry Rashid MCIPD

Head of HR (Commercial), NYES

After graduating with a 2:1 in Human Resources and obtaining an MSc in Management, Harry pursued HR Adviser and Senior HR Adviser roles with the NHS and South Tyneside Council before joining BT as an HR Business Partner. Following this, he held consultancy roles at Cummins Engineering and James Cook Hospital prior to joining NYC initially as a Senior HR Adviser, and then a Principal Adviser.

Harry has also owned a number of successful trading companies and currently owns a successful property development company. Harry support’s on commercial strategy across the NYES portfolio, alongside being the chair of trustees at the Legacy Learning Trust a growing Multi Academy Trust in Middlesbrough.

David Shields

Director of Bishop Wilkinson Commercial Services Ltd

David works at a senior executive level across public, private, and civil society.  David has proven ability to deliver stretching targets while managing significant cultural change, as demonstrated when Managing Director of the UK ‘s Government Procurement Service, which is now known as Crown Commercial Services. 

David is focused on procurement being one of the key drivers for change across all sectors in tackling inequality and climate change.  David believes all organisations can be part of the solution by designing how they operate to ensure they tackle social and economic inequality and positively impact our environment at a local, regional, national and global level. 

Through his work as Non-Executive Director of Social Value UK, David created the Contract for Change programme to share best practice procurement approaches from across the public and private sector, then combine, develop and share these to create a suite of strategic and operational approaches, tools, templates and guidance that will benefit all stakeholder groups.

David is also Board Level Director of Education Commercial Services and has been instrumental in creating the procurement offer to support the education sector in meeting their specific needs.

Graham Vials

Head of Education Law, Ward Hadaway

Graham specialises in providing commercial advice to predominantly employer clients, advising on a full range of contentious and non-contentious employment matters to a variety of private and public sector clients, ranging from owner-managed businesses to large national companies, schools and academies and government departments and local authorities.

Graham provides pragmatic and strategic advice in respect of all day to day HR and employment related matters and has expertise in all aspects of employment law.

Jane Warburton

Senior HR Manager, BWCET

Jane is a Senior HR Manager at BWCET, is MCIPD and has worked in HR in the public sector for 20+ years including over 15 years in Education HR.

Chris Zarraga

Director, Schools North East

Chris has been part of the Schools North East team since its inception in 2007 and in 2019 he was appointed Director.

Chris works with other leaders across the North East, the education sector and charity sector to represent the voice of North East schools, and lobby policy makers to ensure that the North East is not left behind when it comes to education policy. Chris has overseen the launch of the Ednorth evidence-based excellence programme, as well as the partnership with SHINE bringing over £500,000 worth of funding to North East schools.

Under Chris, Schools North East has moved to a greater focus on lobbying around education policy, with the launch of the Manifesto for North East Education in December 2019. As well as being a trustee of a local MAT, Chris sits on various boards including the board for Opportunity North East. Prior to joining Schools North East, Chris worked with over 165 schools in the North East and various education organisations including local authorities, Excellence Partnerships, 14-19 Groups, the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust, and School Improvement Officers. He led a large scale culture change project in education across the North East and was the development consultant for the LEGI funded Wansbeck Enterprise Education Network.