SNE Event

Leora Cruddas

Chief Executive, Confederation of School Trusts (CST)

Leora Cruddas CBE is the founding Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts – the national organisation and sector body for academy trusts in England.  She is a teacher and has spent many years working at director level in local government. She is Visiting Professor at UCL Institute of Education. Leora was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours, 2022.

Katherine Cowell

Regional Schools Director for the North East, Department for Education

Katherine Cowell started in her role as Regional Director for the North East in July 2022 as part of a change programme within the Department of Education to bring improvement and intervention in SEND and CSC together with the stewardship of the schools system.

Prior to this Katherine was Regional Schools Commissioner for North in May 2020, following an interim position since July 2019.

Katherine is an experienced civil servant with a broad range of experience including:

 an area director within the Cities and Local Growth Unit
 FE and skills policy
 an education advisor in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit

Dr Jill Berry

Leadership Development Consultant, Author & Education Commentator

Jill taught for thirty years across six different schools in the UK, state and independent, and she taught adults to GCSE and A level in the evenings for several years.  She was a head for the last ten years of her time in schools.  Since 2010 she has completed a doctorate, researching the transition to headship, written a book about it: 'Making the Leap - Moving from Deputy to Head' (Crown House, 2016) https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/publications/making-the-leap, and carried out an extensive range of leadership development work. 

She has given a TEDx presentation, ‘Take a Second Look: Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Others’: https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_berry_take_a_second_look_bring_out_the_best_in_yourself_and_others and she has published four novels: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B01JSM9UXI

Jill is an advocate for the opportunities presented by social media for networking and professional development, on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jillberry102, on Bluesky: @jillberry102.bsky.social, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jill-berry-a5a55a21/ and blogging about education at https://jillberry102.blog/

Nick Blackburn MBE FRSA

CEO, Lingfield Education Trust

Prior to his move into school leadership positions in London, Nick was a Local Authority Lead Teacher for Numeracy, Literacy & Inclusion and provided exemplar/modelling of best practice for the National Strategies.  He also sat on the DfE National Strategies Steering Group as a teacher representative.

Following two deputy headships, one in Kings Cross, London, then in Darlington, he became a substantive Headteacher in 2007. In 2012 he became Executive Headteacher of two primary schools and subsequently led on the formation of Lingfield Education Trust.

He has successfully coached and developed leaders at all levels in schools and has a strength and a great track record in supporting leadership in schools that are in challenging circumstances.

He brings a very strong set of personal values coupled with very strong sector experience. Nick is very outward facing in leadership and has undertaken a wide range of roles across the sector from Peer Support to Quality Assurance of National Leadership Programmes and NPQEL Programme Delivery & Development. He has led & facilitated a number of TSIO projects in the sector set and has undertaken a wide range of mentoring activities for new CEOs and school leaders.

Nick is Founding Trustee of North East Wellbeing, a charity dedicated to building emotionally healthy school communities thorough high quality services. He is also a member of HMP Independent Monitoring Board and volunteers as an advocate for local refugee families.

Phil Latham

CEO, Endeavour Academies Trust

Phil is the Chief Executive of Endeavour Academies. He has worked in education for 27 years and was Principal of Macmillan Academy for 10 years. He holds a National Professional Qualification for both headship (NPQH) and executive leadership (NPQEL). He has worked as a National Leader of Education (NLE) and currently sits the advisory board for Schools North East, Campus School Teaching Alliance (CSTA) and is a governor of XP Gateshead.

Gareth Edmunds

Chief Operating & Financial Officer and Trust Secretary, Northern Education Trust

Gareth has worked for over twenty years within the public, commercial and voluntary sectors.  Experienced in successfully leading corporate services and governance structures he has recently had the opportunity to act as a seconded CEO/Accounting Officer in a mixed-phased trust. He is CIMA, CIPA, Prince2 and CIPD qualified.  Gareth joined Northern Education Trust in 2013 as a Director and progressed in 2019 to lead a wider range of corporate services and governance responsibilities as the Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Trust Secretary.

Gareth has held several Non-Executive Director posts and in 2016 co-founded the North of England Schools and Academies Forum (NESAF).  In 2018 Gareth was recognised at the North East Accountancy Awards as Director of Finance of the Year.

Dr Kimberley Hardcastle

Assistant Professor, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University

Kimberley is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at Newcastle Business School (AACSB), Northumbria University, leading one of the largest Business & Marketing degree programmes in the North of England. Prior to entering academia, she has worked in various marketing and business management roles in the F & B service sector. She has a PhD in Marketing and is a researcher, writer, speaker & advisor in branding, sustainable consumer behaviour, AI, algorithms & platforms.

In particular, she is keen to understand how brands can use successfully proven influential buyer strategies to help consumers create good sustainable habits, her research also extends to examining the societal implications of emerging technologies. Her work has been published at several international conferences and in peer reviewed journals. Whilst working at the Newcastle Business School (AACSB), Kimberley has directly supported and trained many SMEs through European Regional Development Funding. As part of her leadership roles, Kimberley is Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Business and Marketing and leads on the Branding module on the MSc Marketing Programme & the Digital Campaign Management & Media module on the MSc Digital Marketing.

Kimberley is an external examiner at Bournemouth University for Programmes MSc Marketing Management & MSc Marketing and User Experience. She is also a reviewer for the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Marketing Management and the Academy of Marketing Science. Kimberley has been awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and has been a nominated finalist for the Student Led Teaching Awards numerous times. Kimberley is on the judging panel for the prestigious Effie Awards UK, The Prolific North Marketing Awards & The North East Marketing Awards. Her current projects include The Responsible Development of AI and the societal implications of this in the North East.

Kimberley is working with North East partners to understand how we can adopt a citizen well-being approach to safeguarding and upskilling the region to ensure the NE is not left behind with emerging technology. Kimberley initiated such discussions after organising and delivering the first 'The North East AI Safety Summit' October 2023, which aimed to articulate a regional voice on the opportunities & threats of AI, & the responsible development of AI for NE industries, businesses & individuals with the intention of informing policy and the first Global Summit. Kimberley's business and marketing expertise resonate beyond academia as she is also a contributor at the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC).

Tracey Field

Estates Manager, Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Tracey is currently employed as the Estates Manager for Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, overseeing a portfolio of 30 schools, ensuring they remain safe, operational and fit for purpose to serve their young people and the communities they serve. She has over 20 years of experience in the UK and overseas, holding leadership roles in organisations such as LADOL in Nigeria, Interserve Defence in The Falkland Islands, The Royal Household, The Bedford Estates and other local authority sectors where she successfully led and executed complex projects, managed teams, optimised operational efficiency and implemented innovative solutions and strategic initiatives.

Tracey has a degree in Construction Management, a Chartered Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB), achieved the IEMA Foundation Certificate in environmental management and the NEBOSH General Certificate in health and safety. She is passionate about fostering collaborative relationships, appreciating that there is always something to learn that supports improvements.

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.