Past Event

Sarah Monk

Chief Strategy Officer, The Edwin Group

Sarah has over 30 years’ experience in the education sector. Her roles have included Head of Education Finance in a Local Authority, Vice Principal across a group of schools (primary, secondary and SEND) and National School Business Management Advocate for the National College of School Leadership.

Throughout her career, Sarah has advised hundreds of school and MAT CEOs, Head Teachers and senior leaders on a range of issues including MAT growth, and complex strategic leadership issues, including finance, HR and governance. As well as her role as Chief Strategy Officer at The Edwin Group, Sarah is Chair of Finance for a 35-school MAT, and a member at an all-through MAT both based in the north east.  Sarah’s areas of special interest include addressing the challenges of recruitment and retention and new ideas for tackling the crisis in SEND.

Kevin Wilson

Director of Populus Consulting Ltd

Kevin has 35 years of industry experience of working in large scale, multi-site manufacturing organisations. He initially spent his career working in Manufacturing and Engineering before moving into HR. He has spent the last 15 years in Senior level HR roles in publicly listed companies partnering CEO’s and boards.

Kevin has operated both nationally and internationally in countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Malaysia, China and the USA and has experience of engaging with Trade Unions, Works Councils and StaƯ Councils across these geographies to enable the successful completion of organisational change, restructuring as well as employee engagement activities. Kevin has led HR activities and projects in acquisitions, integration, restructuring, leadership development and cultural change. Kevin also has experience of coaching senior directors and managers and has mentored
HR professionals. He is also a member of the International Coaching Federation Kevin has been a board member for an educational organisation and has volunteered for several years with the Cranfield Trust, helping charitable organisations on key projects. Kevin has now set up Populus Consulting Limited, bringing his industry experience and HR expertise to support clients with consulting and coaching services.

Hannah Armstrong

Head of People and Culture, Laidlaw School Trust

Hannah is the Head of People and Culture at Laidlaw Schools Trust, bringing over 17 years of experience in the HR field, including the last five in senior HR roles. Her diverse background spans the health and social care sector, Amazon, the railway industry, and the NHS, providing her with a deep understanding of these sectors.

Hannah is dedicated to supporting organisations throughout the entire employee lifecycle, focusing on strategic initiatives, workforce policy, recruitment, retention, employee relations, organisational design, wellbeing initiatives, talent management and development.

Lyndsay Greathead

HR Director, Edwin People

Lyndsay has worked in HR for over 20 years and has 10 years’ experience working within education HR at a senior level supporting and delivering strategic HR support to Director's, CEO's and Senior Leaders within schools and MATs.  Lyndsay has previously led, developed and managed a team of HR professionals within an education services business and since joining The Edwin Group in September 2023 has led on the development and delivery of HR support across their newly launched Strategic Leadership and HR Service, Edwin People.