The Trust Board
Professor Symeon Dagkas
Vice-Chancellor, University of Chichester
Member and Trustee, Chair of the Academy Trust Board
Romy Jones
Member
Romy has extensive experience in education, commercial research and business. An experienced secondary school teacher, she has worked in all phases of education from early years to higher education in teaching, management and governance roles. She has worked with and in schools as part of a local authority school improvement team and led an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ adult learning service. She joined the University of Chichester as Strategic Development Manager in early 2008 and has been instrumental in securing external funding for multi-million pound strategic projects and the successful delivery of these and other initiatives, including the establishment of the University of Chichester Academy Trust. Romy has an MA in educational leadership and an internationally recognised project management qualification.
Charles Gregson
Member
Charles Gregson has served on a number of boards in the financial services sector, including St James’s Place plc as non-executive chairman, Provident Financial plc as deputy chairman, MAI plc, International Personal Finance plc, Caledonia Investments plc and, since 1998 until November 2018, non-executive Chairman of NEX Group plc previously ICAP plc. Charles is currently chairman of Non-Standard Finance plc. Charles has also spent periods in the USA in the media services sector and has a keen interest in the arts; he is a founder trustee of ART UK previously known as the Public Catalogue Company. Charles holds a degree in Law from the University of Cambridge and qualified as a solicitor.
Jerry Goddard
Member
Jerry has a wide range of experience of over 40 years in education. This includes working with free schools, local authorities, academies, academy trusts and independent schools – primary, secondary and post-16. Leadership development, quality in teaching and learning and improvement evaluation are his specialisms. He was closely involved in putting the original and subsequently successful application to the DfE for the University to become an Academy Trust. In the past, Jerry has been an Ofsted Schools Inspector, a School improvement Adviser, a Director of Training and Development, a Director of Standards and Effectiveness and a writer for Nuffield Science. He is currently the CEO of a company working with a broad range of clients within the UK education sector. But first and foremost, he is proud to be a teacher.
Jennese Alozie
CEO, University of Chichester Academy Trust
Trustee
Jennese is passionate about the power of education to cause positive ripples across society and empower learners to take an active role in their lives and that of others. She started her career as a secondary school English teacher in the South West and South East of England. She has also worked within a Local Authority with groups of secondary and primary school Headteachers to improve standards and create opportunities for greater cohesion between both phases through national and local government programmes as well as practitioner-led research. Having taken on a range of Senior and Executive leadership roles, Jennese embarked on an MA Inclusive Education to further explore how education affects lives and our society. For several years she has been a Lead Ofsted Inspector and sits on the Board of two Multi Academy Trusts (MAT) and a Teaching School Hub.
Most recently, she has been part of the executive team leading a successful MAT operating across London and East Sussex. She has had the privilege of playing an active role in the Department for Education Trust and School Improvement Review and support programme and has used her extensive sector knowledge to support Trust growth, including leadership development.
Colin James
Trustee
Colin was formerly Director of Strategic Planning and Place for West Sussex County Council, holding responsibility for major capital investment, strategic planning, asset planning and property management. He led for the Council on sustainability and oversaw the launch of Your Energy Sussex, a programme for large-scale investment in energy saving and renewables. Colin began his career as a French and German teacher in a Nottinghamshire community school, before moving into education management and school improvement in Warwickshire and then West Sussex, where he became Deputy Director of Education. Colin was responsible for a number of area-wide school reorganisations as well as the delivery of several million pounds of capital investment in the county’s schools prior to running his own consultancy business.
Chris Shelton
Trustee
Dr Chris Shelton is Co-Director of the Institute of Education and Social Sciences at the University of Chichester, where he has particular responsibility for Education and Teacher Education programmes at the University. A qualified teacher, having taught in primary schools, he has particular expertise in digital technology and computing education and has taught a range of modules related to these topics on BA, PGCE and MA Education programmes. Chris holds a PhD from the Institute of Education, London and has published his research in national and international journals. He is currently Chair of the Technology Pedagogy and Education Association (TPEA) - a charity that aims to inform policy and practice in education technology.
Kevin Breen
Trustee
Kevin has held a number of CEO, Managing Director and non-executive roles in UK and international companies, ranging from publicly-quoted groups to small venture-capital-backed technology start-ups. He is a Chartered Engineer and has an accounting qualification after initially graduating in Physics and subsequently securing an MBA. He has always had a keen and active interest in education, having been a governor of two schools and having served on the Education Committee of the Scientific Instrument Makers’ livery company in the City.
Elisabeth Whitaker
Trustee
Lissie has always had an interest in education, having had over 30 years’ experience of working in management and leadership roles both in higher and further education. Lissie’s early career was as an HR Director supporting teams in the delivery of employment, training and development programmes both in the private and public sector. Lissie was formerly Chief Human Resources Officer for the University of Chichester, holding executive leadership responsibility for HR strategic planning, organisational change programmes and professional development. She has previously served as a college governor in West Sussex and is delighted to support the Academy Trust as a Trustee.
Jo Cooper
Trustee
Jo has been teaching for over 30 years and during that time was awarded NPQH. In the past 17 years, as Headteacher of an inner city Infant school, Jo has gained a particular interest in the importance of early education and language development within the Early Years, Jo is passionate about the benefits of relational practice to enrich lives. As Chair of the Portsmouth SCITT Executive Committee and as a representative for the Primary Strategic Steering Committee for the University of Chichester, Jo is passionate about supporting and inspiring the journey of newly qualified teachers as they flourish and grow. As elected Academy representative for Portsmouth Schools Forum, Jo works collaboratively with Leaders and Local Authority Officers determining strategic direction on operational decisions. In her role as Trustee, Jo is committed and dedicated to working collaboratively with others to transform life chances for pupils through excellent teaching and learning.
Claire Strathern
Trustee
With over 15 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, both public and private, across the UK and Australia, Claire has a passion for complex digital transformation projects and programmes with a focus on improving systems for staff and, ultimately, a better experience for patients.
Claire has a degree in Science (Psychology) and a Masters in Public Health and has held Director level positions in government institutions as well as private consulting organisations. She has a young family and a keen interest in giving back to the education system that is nurturing our next generation.
Natalyn Ala
Trustee
Natalyn is an experienced executive director and trustee having worked with private, not for profit and government organisations. Her experience is wide-ranging across the infrastructure, energy, transportation, natural resources and land regeneration sectors in the UK and internationally, and in diverse strategic and commercial roles. Her expertise is in team/ organisational change, financial/ risk management and stakeholder engagement. Currently, she is responsible for EDF Energy’s government funding contract and performance in decommissioning the country’s ageing nuclear power stations which are coming to the end of their generating lives.
Roisin Reynolds
Trustee
Roisin has 15 years' experience overseeing large-scale change and social impact programmes, many of which focused on education, employment, and skills. She has worked in 30 countries and her clients have included blue-chip companies, multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and European Commission, and governments. Roisin currently runs her own business, Ivydale Coaching Ltd, and previously spent almost a decade leading an economic development consulting practice within a large professional services firm, BDO LLP. She has also worked for a public sector consultancy with a focus on evaluating education and skills programming in the UK and started out her career as an assistant secondary school teacher in Japan as part of the government-run ‘Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme’ for graduates. She has previously served as a school governor in Southwark.
Jeremy Smith
Co-opted Member of the Curriculum & Standards Committee
Jeremy Smith is the coordinator of the Secondary Post Graduate Certificate in Education programme at the University of Chichester. He is a qualified maths teacher who taught in secondary schools in West Sussex before starting to work with training teachers at the University of Chichester in 2004. He has taught on the university’s undergraduate mathematics programme, subject knowledge enhancement courses for secondary maths trainee teachers, and continues to lead the PGCE secondary maths programme. He is also a professional singer and a governor of a local primary school.