Our Team

James is an innovative and inspiring leader who has worked in education throughout his professional career in schools across England. He’s driven by his personal values of kindness, loyalty, and endeavour - shaping the way he leads. James is passionate about the transformative power of education and leads our Trust with a singular focus on providing children, young people, and colleagues with an environment in which they can thrive.

He is a former Head Teacher, establishing and leading successful academies with demonstrably high impact on standards for all pupils. As a result, he has first-hand expertise of the relevant administrative, operational and leadership structures that make academies successful. 

In addition to his leadership of our Trust, James works as a systems leader with neighbouring Teaching School Hubs to support school leadership development and school performance. He is a coach for aspiring and new-to-role executive leaders under the National Professional Qualifications programme, and supports and promotes a mastery approach in Maths in his role as Headteacher Advocate for a local Maths Hub.

Marc is an experienced and versatile accountant and leader having worked in the private sector, the public sector and with charitable organisations. He is a Business Studies graduate and fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

In Marc’s more recent role prior to joining TLET, he focused on bringing a more structured approach to strategy development, strategic management and change. He has extensive experience in all areas of Finance, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Budgeting, Forecasting, Payroll and Cost Management.

Having worked in the past in the Further Education sector Marc has a particular affinity to Education. As well as his extensive fiscal knowledge and skills he brings an abundance of enthusiasm to the Trust.

Alice a strong background in strategic estate management, with a particular focus on compliance, large scale building projects, asset management and reactive and preventative maintenance. Alice holds the NEBOSH diploma and has specialist knowledge around health and safety, particularly in the education sector. Alice acts as the Trust Data Protection Officer and is knowledgeable and committed to ensuring Data Protection compliance across our Trust.

Alice is enthusiastic about the role of school buildings as productive learning environments. She is keen to put her experience into practice across the trust and work toward making each building, practical, safe, well presented and well preserved for current and future generations of students.

Sian is a highly experienced leader in the education sector with considerable experience of headship and system leadership. She remains committed, as she was at the very start of her career as a History teacher, to the absolute joy of learning and the transformative power of education.
She has been a secondary head in three very different contexts – 11-16 and 11-18, inner city and suburban town, large and small, LA-maintained and academy and which have covered every Ofsted category. She has specialised in the effective leadership of rapid, transformative yet sustainable school improvement which has resulted in a strong record of improving pupil outcomes and experience
Beyond headship, Sian has been involved in successful school improvement at system leadership level as a Director of Teaching School – with significant experience in Initial Teacher Training and the Early Careers Framework, and improvement projects across the West Midlands and in Gloucestershire, East Sussex, London and Norfolk - and as a Director of Professional Networks across a large trust, driving cross-phase (EYFS to Post-16) school improvement through curriculum, pedagogical and organisational change.
In addition to significant leadership experience in a range of roles, schools and trusts, Sian has also gained skills and experience in other roles and settings. Sian has been Vice-Chair of the UK Department for Education’s Headteacher Reference Group (SHRG) and in this capacity played a part in the Exams and School and College Leader Group which acted as consultant and sounding board for the DfE and Ofqual during the upheaval of the pandemic. Sian has also been the chair of headteachers’ groups in the areas she has served, acted as a director in a trust delivering quality alternative provision for young people and has been a Chair of Governors.
She continues to remain excited and optimistic about education, its transformative role in the lives of young people and the difference she can make.

Philip is a skilled chartered secretary and governance professional with experience working in a number of listed companies and other international private limited companies.

Philip currently works for Acrisure Re (an international insurance company) as their Company Secretary, and his principal responsibilities include meeting preparation, drafting minutes, reviewing legal agreements and advising on governance issues such as Board Effectiveness, Risk Management, and the general regulatory environment. His role involves a high level of impartiality, a broad understanding of multiple business functions, and communicating with various stakeholders including directors, external advisers and internal management/staff.

Philip is an associate member of the Chartered Governance Institute, a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, and in 2017 became a Liverymen of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

Laura is an experienced Chartered Accountant and independent Finance and Strategy Consultant servicing the Education sector. Laura has held the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Bursar of Bilton Grange Preparatory School, prior to which she was the Director of Finance at Epsom College.

Laura has developed a clear insight into the education sector through her employed work, her previous roles as Governor and Trustee of the Beacon School in Surrey and Trustee of the Transforming Lives Educational Trust.

Laura has extensive experience in budget preparation, cost management, budget monitoring and change management. She has significant experience in preparing and presenting reports for many senior stakeholders such as school Governors, bankers and insurers. She has well-developed people management and leadership skills acquired through the various roles that she has undertaken within her career.

Nigel Snook was the former Chief Executive of Education Development International which was formed by the merger in December 2002 of GOAL plc and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Examinations Board. Acquired by Pearson in 2011, EDI was among the top Awarding Organisations of vocational education in the UK and high stakes international exams.

Working closely with the Board of Directors Nigel was responsible for all aspects of EDI’s business strategy including that of compliance with its obligations as a public company.

Previously Nigel was Chief Executive of Lantra Trust which operates the Sector Skills Council for environmental and land-based industries. Whilst at Lantra Nigel Chaired Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership working with the local Connexions Services and Next Step contract for the West Midlands.

Nigel began his career with the Department of Employment and subsequently worked for the Manpower Services Commission for 12 years in a range of local, regional and national roles involved with vocational education and training. For two years he was Private Secretary to Sir Bryan Nicholson, the MSC Chairman and headed up the MSC’s largest area office operation covering Birmingham and Solihull.

Nigel is an MBA and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, the Chartered Management Institute and the Royal Society of Arts and brings a wealth of experience in the management of publicly funded institutions and relationship with the Regulators.

Guy has extensive experience as a leader in strategy development and change delivery, especially in mergers and recovery situations across the financial services sector. Having worked at Executive and Director roles, he has developed skills including strategy development, investment appraisal, programme delivery, assessing business performance and marketing. He also has extensive experience of the design and management of governance, control and management systems, as well as operational improvement and organisation design.

He has recently retired from Coventry Building Society, and before that he was the Strategy Director at an insurance mutual, responsible for strategy, brand, communications and the society’s social impact foundation. Guy started his career at Barclays, ending his time there running global lending operations for the Wealth division. After two years at Northern Rock as part of the turnaround team, Guy undertook a range of consultant and interim roles supporting High Street banks including the Co-operative Bank and RBS.

Guy is passionate about the value of education, is married to a teacher and has three grown-up children, two of whom have become secondary school teachers, one in Coventry and one in London. Guy is also a Local Advisory Board member and Chair at Venture Academy in Henley-in-Arden. He has lived in the Rugby area for 30 years and is Chair of his parish council where he is working with others to encourage greater community participation.

Stewart is a founding member of Transforming Lives Educational Trust. An experienced company director, having worked in and across a variety of learning and skills focused organisations developing and implementing business strategy and policy, and in the development and quality assurance of new learning programmes.

Stewart’s responsibilities have included:
• Business P&L and full budgetary management
• Setting and driving financial and operational KPIs
• Management and oversight of business HR and QA compliance
• Delivering multi-million pound transnational skills development projects
• Managing/negotiating government funded contracts (UK-wide)
• Direct management and delivery of technology infrastructure and innovative online learning provision and assessment platforms.

His most recent employment as Director of Operations for Pearson Education extended to the development, implementation and quality assurance of regulated franchised international qualifications.
Stewart is currently a self-employed Education Management Consultant majoring on quality assurance and business process improvement through business preparedness and implementation of the business, environmental, and occupational health and safety management standards of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001.

Sue was a Primary teacher for 20 years teaching across Key Stage 1 and 2. The latter part of her professional career was as an Associate Tutor, Teaching Fellow and Senior Teaching Fellow at WIE/CPE University of Warwick. She has extensive experience of Initial Teacher Education, including undergraduate, Teach First, School Direct and PGCE Core programmes.

Sue has detailed knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the current primary and early years teaching and learning landscape, including current research in teaching and learning and the Ofsted framework.

In addition to her professional role, Sue has been Chair of Board of Trustees of charity based in Rugby for the last two years, following five years participation in governance of the charity via the Board.

Sue is the Safeguarding Trustee.

Ruth has worked in education for over 25 years and has developed in-depth knowledge of the sector.  She joined Peterborough Diocese Education Trust (PDET) in the role of Headteacher before being seconded to the PDET Executive as Head of Learning and Achievement.  Shortly afterwards, she was permanently appointed to the Director of Learning and Achievement role and later became Deputy CEO.  Following a rigorous national recruitment process, Ruth was appointed to the role of CEO and presently leads thirty-three schools across Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Rutland.

Ruth has gained extensive strategic leadership experience; the effectiveness of which has been well documented by a range of personnel.  She is able to lead at scale and is skilled in shaping the strategic direction of complex organisations with focussed pursuit of strategic priorities.  She is passionate about ‘making a difference’ - to advance education for the public benefit and ensure all children and young people flourish.