Talking Trusts Event

Event Information

Strong trusts, says the DfE, will be those that offer high-quality and inclusive education; have effective school improvement and workforce development and deployment strategies; robust strategic governance; and strong financial management.

But what actually is a Strong Trust, how can schools ensure they form one and that it’s the right one for them?

Eddisons have joined forces with experts and leaders in their field to bring you an informative Q&A education event that will aim to answer many of these questions. Please see our panel of experts below.

About the Speakers

Jeff Marshall, J&G Marshall | Governance and Academy Conversion

Jeff has been a school Governor for 28 years and Chair for 22 at one of the first Primary Schools in the country to become an academy. For over a decade, he has been an Academy Trust Member and Chair of Trustees. He is also a Trust member of a successful Multi Academy trust.

Jeff is MD of J & G Marshall Ltd which, since the company was formed, has supported over 280 school to academy conversions around the country. The company supports many MATs in MAT Growth Audits, MAT MOTs, Trust Mergers and Due Diligence.

He is also MD of Marshall Professional Development Ltd which is a CPD, training and coaching company working across all sectors of education. MPD is a Registered Centre of the Chartered Management Institute for delivering Level 5 and Level 7 Coaching qualifications.

Jeff was a National Leader of Governance and Reviewer of Governing Bodies for 8 years and has personally undertaken over 100 External Reviews of Governance on Maintained schools and Academy Trusts. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Chris Whitmore, CEO – The Schools People | HR and Employment Law

Chris is CEO at The Schools People, a highly successful sectoral Consultancy to Schools, Academies and Multi-Academy Trusts, as well as HR Director in the Schools Advisory Service Group of companies, the largest private sector provider of absence insurance, staff and pupil wellbeing services to the education sector.

Chris is an employment lawyer and HR practitioner, an ILM level 7 qualified Executive and Leadership Coach and a GDPR expert, with a lifelong love of all things industrial relations. He acts as Employer Secretary to several MAT JCNCs with unions, and is a skilled negotiator and mediator.

Chris holds an MA in Industrial Relations and Employment Law (Keele). He is reading for a Ph.D. in the same research area at the Keele Business School where he contributes to the postgraduate HRM and employment law courses. He is currently undertaking doctoral fieldwork within the teacher unions.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management (awarded through experience), and a Fellow of the RSA, holding memberships in the Chartered College of Teaching and Association for Coaching.

Lisa Howfield, School Business Leadership Services | Finance and Business Management Support

Lisa is the founder and CEO of School Business Leadership Services (SBLS). As a former School Business Manager and CFO, she understands the challenges facing schools and provides support in the strategic and operational management of finances, HR, procurement, estates, line management and the professional development of support staff.

Lisa is an SRMA (School Resource Management Advisor) and accredited SRMA lead, deployed by the ESFA to ensure the most efficient use of available resources to deliver the best outcomes for pupils.

Over the last 15 years, she has worked with over 80 maintained schools and academies at every education stage, also providing financial due diligence, internal scrutiny and growth audits.

Gary Benn, Eddisions Director of Estates Optimisation | Estates, Decarbonisation and Sustainability

Gary is an experienced construction professional having worked in the industry for over 30 years and having spent the majority of the past 20 years working within the Education sector, advising schools and estates managers, securing funding and delivering projects at a great many schools. In recent years he has become increasingly involved in the drive for decarbonisation, assisting an ever-growing number of schools to establish what can be done to improve buildings, across estates, for the benefit of the wider environment.

With that experience as a backdrop, in 2012 Gary became a Governor for the Primary School his kids attended and is still in that role alongside, in 2013, becoming a Director of the multi-academy trust that oversees that school. His skills in his ‘day-job’, combined with his voluntary roles for school and trust, allow him to understand the challenges schools face and to use that knowledge to provide empathic guidance in the overall aims of good estate management for schools.