SNE Event

Steve Cram

Former World & European Champion

Former World and European Champion Steve Cram is one of the most respected voices in athletics and sports broadcasting. A dominant force in middle-distance running throughout the 1980s, Cram established himself alongside fellow British greats Lord Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, building an impressive career that saw him win silver in the 1500m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Following his retirement from athletics in 1994, Steve has continued to make a significant impact on the world of sport. He still holds the British records for the mile and 2,000 metres and is now widely recognised for his long-standing career as a BBC sports commentator and pundit.

A familiar voice across some of the world’s biggest sporting events, Steve has regularly covered the London Marathon and played a prominent role in the BBC’s coverage of London 2012. He has since continued to bring his expertise and insight to major international competitions, most recently as part of the BBC commentary team for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Lord Sewell of Sanderstead CBE

Born in Brixton, south London,  Lord Tony Sewell CBE PhD  is an internationally-respected author, educator, and statesman. His path-breaking charity ‘Generating Genius’ has helped hundreds of young Britons to forge careers in STEM. In July 2020, he was appointed Chair of the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities: the Sewell Report made him the target of a cancellation effort by his critics, but his recommendations now is the key source for our current discussions on race and social mobility.

He was a former lecturer at the University of Leeds and writes regularly for the Telegraph, Times and Spectator.  Former journalist at the Voice newspaper, he attributes all his knowledge to a serious grounding in theology at Sunday school in Penge, South London. An education consultant, Lord Sewell has contributed to the Sociology of Education through his various articles and key Book, Black masculinities and schooling.

Lord Sewell was elevated to the House of Lords in 2022. His new book, Black Success: The Surprising Truth is published by Forum in 2025.

Sir Jim Mackey

Chief Executive Officer, NHS England

Sir Jim Mackey took up the post of Chief Executive Officer at NHS England on 1 April 2025. 

From September 2021 to March 2025, Jim was National Director of Elective Recovery at NHS England. From January 2024 to March 2025, he was Chief Executive of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was also Chair of the NHS Customer Board for Procurement and Supply but stood down on taking up this post at NHS England. 

From 2003 to 2023, Jim was Chief Executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, during which time (2015 to 2017) he was Chief Executive of NHS Improvement, on secondment. 

He was knighted in 2019 for services to healthcare.

INVITED: Lucy Powell MP

Secretary of State for Education

Lucy is the Labour Member of Parliament for Manchester Central. She was first elected to the seat at the Manchester Central by-election on 15 November 2012, and was mostly recently re-elected at the 2024 General Election. She is also the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Secretary of State for Education.

Hannah Kitchen

Project Lead, Transitions in Upper Secondary Education and Career Readiness, Directorate for Educations and Skills, OECD

Hannah leads the Secondary Transitions and Careers project at the OECD. Her work focuses on how secondary education can support young people to develop their skills, knowledge and aspirations to craft pathways towards fulfilling working lives. The project focuses on assessment and certification, especially high stakes assessments at the end of school; pathways through secondary education, focusing on how different structures can best meet varied student and economic needs; and career education to build young people’s career readiness for life after school. Hannah has worked with many countries around the world, providing policy advice to strengthen their secondary systems such as Croatia, England, Ireland, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Ukraine and Wales. Hannah started her career in the UK Treasury working on public sector reform. She holds degrees from Sciences Po, Paris and the University of Oxford.

Henri Murison MBE

Chief Executive, Northern Powerhouse Partnership

Since his appointment in 2017 he has established the partnership as the business led organisation which convenes the North together. From having made the case consistently for Northern Powerhouse Rail, to challenging for a better deal for the most disadvantaged from the education system, his team are focused on how government, business and partners can drive the North’s ambitions. Before joining the Partnership, he worked in senior research and policy roles in policing and financial services, and as a former senior local government figure in Newcastle upon Tyne remains a commentator on regional and wider industrial policy.

He is a member of the Royal Society Science, Industry and Translation Committee, the Court of Newcastle University and in the New Year’s honours list was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Charlotte O'Regan

Schools Engagement Lead, The Sutton Trust

Charlotte O’Regan is the Schools Engagement Lead at The Sutton Trust, where she drives the Trust’s cross-sector strategy to promote social mobility and fairer school admissions. A former Vice Principal with over 15 years of experience in the education sector, Charlotte holds a Masters in Educational Leadership and the NPQH. She is a specialist in the intersectionality of disadvantage, particularly the complex relationship between socio-economic background and SEND. By bridging the gap between frontline school leadership and national advocacy, Charlotte ensures that policy recommendations, such as the Fair School Admissions Pledge, are both ambitious and grounded in the realities of school implementation.

Jonny Uttley

CEO, The Education Alliance

Jonny Uttley has spent nearly 30 years working in education, including 20 years in senior leadership roles. He has been a Headteacher, Director of Sixth Form and, most recently, spent eight successful years as CEO of a multi-academy trust in Yorkshire.

Throughout his career, Jonny has been driven by a clear and consistent purpose: to make the lives of young people, staff and communities better. As CEO, he built a thriving trust around a simple but powerful philosophy – a great teacher in every classroom, and adults who are supported to be brilliant at their jobs without having to sacrifice their family lives.

Jonny is a prominent national voice on inclusive education and leadership culture. He is regularly sought out by policymakers, charities and think tanks, and previously sat on the DfE’s National CEO Advisory Group. He is a trustee of SHINE, the educational charity committed to reducing disadvantage in northern schools, and a Visiting Fellow at The Centre for Young Lives, founded by former Children’s Commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield, where he leads work on how schools and trusts can sit at the heart of truly inclusive communities.

In 2020, Jonny co-authored Putting Staff First: A Blueprint for Revitalising Our Schools with John Tomsett, and he continues to write and comment widely for TES and Schools Week.

Jonny recently founded Jonny Uttley Education, a consultancy with a difference. He does not do mocksteds or context-free “best practice”. Instead, Jonny offers a thought‑partnership and narrative‑based approach, working alongside schools, trusts and organisations to strengthen leadership, culture and inclusion. His work is deliberately humane and capacity‑building, aiming to leave organisations more coherent, confident and self‑sustaining – places where both adults and young people truly thrive.

Beccy Earnshaw

Education Charity Advisor

Beccy is an education social entrepreneur & charity chief executive. As its founding CEO, Beccy grew Voice 21 (the UK’s national oracy education charity) from a project in one school in East London to a national charity supporting over 1000 schools across the UK .

Before Voice 21, Beccy was the founding Chief Executive of Schools NorthEast – a unique network of schools leading to increased collaboration, investment and innovative responses to the North East region’s educational challenges.

Having previously led campaigns, educational outreach and public engagement for The Electoral Commission, Children’s Commissioner for England, and The Hansard Society, Beccy was delighted to be appointed as a Trustee of Young Citizens in 2023 to continue her longstanding commitment to empowering the voices of children and young people and improving citizenship education.

She is a trained Journalist with a Masters in Political Communication and started her career as a researcher for BBC Parliament.

Chris Zarraga

Director, Schools North East

Chris is the Director of School North East.  He has been part of the Schools North East team since its operational inception in 2008 and in 2019 he was appointed Director.  Chris works with senior leaders across the North East and nationally in the education and charity sectors, to represent the voice of North East schools.  A central part of his work is to lobby politicians,  policy makers, and the media to put a strong ‘regional accent’ on the education debate, so that North East schools are not left behind when it comes to education policy.

Under Chris, Schools North East launched the ‘Manifesto for North East Education’.  The manifesto sets out the perennial challenges that impact educational opportunities in the North East and the principles needed to inform any educational policy wanting to address them.

Chris works with hundreds of schools across the North East and various organisations including Ofsted, the DfE, the North East’s universities, Local Authorities and various regional/ national businesses. Prior to joining Schools North East, he led a £1.4 million culture change project in education across the North East for the Treasury and DfE and was responsible for setting up a multi-million pound Enterprise Education Network. 

Chris sits on various advisory boards including the NHS Integrated Care Boards, various Combined Authority advisory boards, and was a member of the DfE’s Opportunity North East strategic board. He has also sat on various boards for North East Universities. As well as being a Director of two North East multi academy trusts, Chris has been Chair of a 3 school Trust, Vice Chair of a large maintained secondary school and Vice Chair of a primary foundation school. 

In a variety of roles from Regional Manager to Chief Executive to Board member, Chris has led large scale change management projects in education and has over 20 years’ experience of strategic management, consultancy, and client development experience at a ‘Big Four’ firm and various financial institutions.

Chris holds an MBA with distinction from Durham University Business School.