Personnel: Executive Team

Name	Biography
Richard Bassett Regional Director of Education	Richard has had a substantial amount of senior leadership experience over the past fifteen years. Before joining AET as Managing Director of Academies and Schools in 2009, he worked for over five years as a Senior Education Adviser at the DfE, within the Academies Programme, and was involved with over sixty academy projects across the country; working successfully with a variety of Sponsors, Local Authority representatives, Principals and Senior Leadership Teams. Previously, Richard was appointed as the Principal of Greig City Academy as part of a very successful intervention team initiated by the DCSF, that led the Academy to a successful Ofsted judgement during very difficult circumstances. Richard has also been an Executive Principal and strategically led a partnership between two sister AET Academies in Witham. He has worked as both a School Improvement Partner (SIP) and National Challenge Advisor (NCA) for over 15 different Academies and Local Authority Schools. He is currently a member of the prestigious SSAT Academy Principals Steering Group, which steers the work of the academies team at SSAT and who engage in discussion and debate about policy, practice and the academies movement in general.
Karen Batchelor Executive Assistant to David Triggs	Karen has a wealth of experience as a PA in executive administration both in merchant banking and education at a senior level. Having previously acted as PA to the chair of a merchant bank, who also held a number of other directorships and trusteeships, Karen brings a wealth of experience in managing an extremely busy environment to a high standard for the CEO of the AET. Having been part of the team which opened four academies in Essex, Karen monitors and co-ordinates the administration of all projects on behalf of the CEO.
Stephen Chamberlain Regional Director of Education	Stephen is Executive Principal of the Clacton Coastal Academy and, more recently, the Executive Principal of the new academy in Felixstowe, which opened in September 2011. Clacton Coastal Academy was one of the top fifteen most improved academies nationally in 2010 and in the top three in the Eastern Region. Ofsted commented: ‘The Executive Principal has wasted no time in delivering immediate improvements by sharing his vision for the academy and raising the expectations of students and staff about what young people in Clacton can achieve.’ Ofsted: October 2010 Stephen is currently leading a project to establish a studio school in Clacton for September 2012 and is overseeing one of two extended field trials nationally with the DfE and the Studio Schools Trust. In 2010, Stephen led a project to open a Skills, Enterprise and Apprenticeship Centre in Clacton with a range of business, education and skills sector partners. There are currently over 150 apprenticeships operating from within the centre. He is currently Chair of the Executive Board. Prior to joining AET, Stephen was a Headteacher of a large comprehensive school in West Essex and Chair of an Education Improvement Partnership of 45 primary and secondary schools. As Chair, he was responsible for leading the development of a Children’s Centre Network in West Essex, the establishment of sixth form provision in 11-16 schools and the opening of the Essex Jiangsu Centre to promote Chinese language and culture across Essex. During this time he was also a tutor on the NCSL Associate Headteacher Programme and currently delivers a number of sessions on PGCE and GTP programmes for the Coastal SCITT Programme. Stephen is an experienced Ofsted Inspector and trained Lead Inspector and has extensive experience of the inspection framework and the processes of school improvement. He has worked as an Accredited Consultant for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust for over ten years working in the areas of re-designation, schools in challenging circumstances and the arts nationally. Stephen is also an experienced Associate Adviser working for Essex Local Authority on leadership, information and communications technology and music technology, working with a wide range of schools in Essex. Outside of education, Stephen trained as a cellist as well as a choral and orchestral conductor at Brunel University and a major London conservatoire and has conducted a wide range of orchestras and musical productions in the UK and abroad.
Ian Deans Director of Finance	Ian Deans joins the AET with a wealth of commercial and financial experience with a track-record of success in health care, hospitality and fast moving consumer goods organisations. He also has experience in strategic business building.
Ian Foster Acting Chief Operating Officer	Ian Foster worked in the motor industry for thirty-seven years attaining senior positions in Manufacturing, Supply and Logistics in the UK, Europe and the USA. For thirty years he has been a committed volunteer and fundraiser in the local community, and this has included serving as Chair of Hawkwell Parish Council, fundraising for the Royal British Legion and the Hockley and Hawkwell Day Centre for the elderly. He has played a lead role as chair of the PTA, Governor and Chair of the Westerings Primary School in Hawkwell. Ian led the Greensward College as Governor and subsequently Chair for several years through a period of continuous and sustained improvement. When the DCSF invited Greensward, through its charitable trust, to become an academy sponsor he resigned from Greensward to take up the position as Director and Chair of the sponsor’s operating arm the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET).
David Fuller Regional Director of Education	David has extensive experience in the leadership of schools, school improvement, intervention in schools facing challenging circumstances and the development of educational leadership teams. The experience has been developed through the substantive headship of seven schools from 1990 both in the independent and maintained sector. This includes headship of mainstream and special needs schools as well as significant senior leadership responsibility in four City Academies. David is presently the Executive Headteacher of Hasmonean High School in North London. Hasmonean is recognised by OFSTED as having outstanding Leadership and Management, Achievement and Standards and Personal Development and Well-Being and has High Performing School status. It is consistently in the top 2% of schools nationally for the progress of its students between KS2 and KS4 and was recently classed by the Financial Times as the best non-selective comprehensive state school in England for its performance at ‘A’ Level out of the top 1000 schools. A National Leader of Education through the National College of School Leadership, David is also Executive Headteacher of George Dixon International School in Birmingham – a National Challenge School. David has been fully involved in successfully leading five schools in seriously challenging circumstances or in special measures to become good schools. As a trained OFSTED inspector David has extensive experience of the inspection framework and the processes of school improvement. David has worked with Dr Allen Mendler from New York on a Discipline with Dignity programme which puts effective behaviour management processes into challenging schools. He is also a trainer for Stephen Covey’s work on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Sam Gallacher National Director of Teaching Schools	Before joining AET Sam was Regional Adviser for the East of England Training and Development Agency. Prior to this Sam was Head of three Schools, two outstanding Schools in Essex and the other based in Southampton.
Zoe Goodwin Director of Leadership and Professional Development	Zoe has been working in education for over twenty years. As Director of Leadership and Professional Development she is responsible for the AET Leadership Academy and its associated programmes, resources and audit tools. Together with her team she also leads on staff development across the AET, establishing a learning-centred culture with the entire school workforce, including the CEO, AET officers, teachers, governors and educational support staff. Through her team's work she focuses on the design, co-ordination and monitoring of coherent and effective development activities and training programmes that address the challenges and barriers facing both the AET and each academy, embedding development and training as the central component of workforce development and school improvement. High quality leadership and development opportunities are, therefore, provided for all staff through the design and delivery of a blend of in-house programmes and external courses aligned to both individual career needs as well as the needs of the AET and each Academy, underpinned by an ongoing culture of coaching and mentoring. Success, impact and value for money are evaluated on an ongoing basis to sustain improvement and maintain capacity for growth. Zoe has her roots firmly placed in leadership, initial teacher training and ongoing professional development. In addition to her work within the AET she is also trained as an Ofsted inspector in ITE and has worked as both an external assessor for local graduate teacher programme providers as well as an Open University Associate Lecturer and Subject Tutor for the flexible PGCE distance learning course. She has also worked with Essex University to write and deliver a Masters module on Mentoring and Coaching for our teachers and leaders across the AET. Prior to this position she had been Vice Principal at Greensward College in Hockley, Essex, responsible for Training and Development.
Paul Harrison Executive Director of Primary Academies Enterprise Trust	Paul started his career in education as a Reception class teacher in Cumbria. He became Executive Director of Primary Academies Enterprise Trust when seconded from his role as Head of Targeted Intervention at Gloucestershire County Council (GCC). Paul has worked as a consultant in PSHE and Drugs Education. He has been Head teacher and Executive Head teacher of a number of schools that have been removed from Special Measures, including Primary and Middle Schools. Paul has taken schools to outstanding. He has worked as a Link Adviser, as a School Improvement Partner and as a consultant to the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). As Head of Service with GCC he was responsible for championing the cause of the most vulnerable and for intervention into settings and schools of most concern. This involved the commissioning of bespoke packages of support that included National and Local Leaders in Education, Interim Executive Boards and the commissioning of transformational change. Paul is currently studying for an MSc in Social Care.
Howard Lay Regional Director of Education	Howard has over thirty years experience of working in education and has been Principal of Samuel Ward academy in Suffolk for over twelve years. He successfully led the school to outstanding gaining Training School and leading Edge status along with three other specialisms before it became one of the first converted academies in the country. He became a National leader of Education in 2008. Howard was seconded by a Local Authority for one year to lead on their vision for learning in the context of Building Schools for the Future before becoming extensively involved in supporting other schools through interventions. He became Executive Principal for a school in challenging circumstances in Norfolk and has also been involved in extensively supporting secondary schools throughout the Eastern Counties. He has also worked as a School Improvement Partner (SIP) and National Advanced Skills Teacher Assessor and has been heavily involved in the work of the national AST research and development group. His focus is on helping schools gain the teaching and learning capacity to become effective and sustainable and believes that this will only happen if interventions are embedded into the ethos and culture of schools.