Plenary Speakers

Chair: Tanya Arkle

Deputy Director, Schools Resource Management

Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)

Tanya joined the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in September 2016, initially being responsible for Academy funding in the Southwest and South East of England, before moving to lead the School Resource Management Division. Prior to joining the ESFA, Tanya held a range of senior roles across Government. She is a strong advocate for improving diversity across Whitehall and has held a number of non-executive director roles including in a Multi Academy Trust.

Baroness Barran MBE

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

(Minister for the School System and Student Finance)

Baroness Barran MBE was re-appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education on 27 October 2022.

Prior to this she was:

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the School and College System) at the Department for Education from 21 September 2022 to 26 October 2022

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the School System) at the Department for Education from 17 September 2021 to 20 September 2022

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Civil Society) at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 26 July 2019 to 17 September 2021

Susan Dawson

Commercial Director

Department for Education

Susan Dawson, Director for Commercial Sector and Commercial Operations joined the Civil Service 32 years ago as an Admin Assistant. Susan has delivered a number of commercial initiatives and has run a number of Government Major Programmes. She enjoys leading transformation and change. She has held a variety of roles in several departments climbing through the ranks to her current position. She has 17 years’ experience in the Department for Education. Susan is also proud to be Head of Place for the Yorkshire and Humber region, having lived and worked there throughout her career.

Tom Goldman

 Director of Education Funding

Department for Education

Tom Goldman leads the Funding Policy Unit. We cover funding for the core day-to-day running costs of schools (5-16), early years providers (up to 4) and support for children and young people with high needs (0-25). This is known as “resource” or “revenue” funding. Prior to joining FPU, I have held a variety of posts dealing in particular with school curriculum, qualifications and standards.

Warren Porter

ex MAT CFO & MAT Product Specialist

IMP Software

Warren Porter is IMP Software’s MAT Product Specialist. Warren gained his chartered accountancy qualification whilst working at a 20+ school primary MAT, before moving on to become CFO at a Special/AP Trust in Derbyshire. In his role at IMP, he analyses sector developments and trends, and works closely with customers to ensures that IMP’s financial management tools continually evolve to support smarter MAT finance.

Steve Rollet

Deputy Chief Executive

The Confederation of School Trusts (CST)

Steve Rollett is Deputy Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England. Before joining CST, he was Curriculum and Inspection Specialist for the Association of School and College Leaders. Steve has sat on a range of advisory bodies, including Ofsted’s curriculum advisory group. Most recently he has supported Oak National Academy and the Department for Education’s remote learning advisory group. Originally trained as a history teacher, Steve was a Vice Principal of one of England’s most improved secondary schools before moving into a career in education policy.

David Withey

Chief Executive

Education and Skills Funding Agency

David Withey joined the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) as CEO in August 2022. David has extensive experience in senior public sector roles in Australia and the UK having started his career in the Northern Ireland Office.

Immediately prior to joining the ESFA David was Chief Operating Officer and Deputy ​Secretary at the New South Wales Department of Education. Before that he worked on public spending in Treasury Departments in the UK and Australia and led the New South Wales COVID Economic taskforce.

Work Session Speakers

Stuart Abraham

Co-Founder

The Wisdom Partnership

Steve Baines

Co-Founder

The Wisdom Partnership

Andy Ball

Co-founder and Schools Mentor

IAM Compliant

Meet Andy Ball, the Schools Mentor and Co-Founder of iAM Compliant. He’s a School Superhero on a mission to vanquish compliance challenges and ensure every school is a safe haven for learning and teaching. With extensive experience in education sector facilities management, Andy is your go-to source for all things compliance and estates management. “Health and safety isn’t to stop you doing stuff, it’s there to allow you to do it…safely!”

Gary Benn

Director, Building and Projects Consultancy

Eddisons

photo coming soon…

Amy Bignell

Academy Operations Manager

The Priory Learning Trust

Tim Brown

Stakeholder Engagement Manager

Schools Commercial Team, DfE

Benedict Coffin

Team Leader – Specialist Provision

Department for Education

In two decades as a civil servant in the Department for Education, Benedict has worked on the Childcare Act 2006, set up a number of Academies as well as leading reforms to assessment and accountability in primary schools. Since 2013 he has focused on special educational needs and disabilities, working closely with the specialist sector and supporting high needs funding reform.

Michael Conlon

Education Transformation Consultant

XMA

Michael has had an extensive career in education over the past 30 years in teaching, school leadership,  local authority quality improvement and a national role with Education Scotland. He has worked on some of the UK’s largest 1:1 iPad programs, including Glasgow’s innovative Connected Learning programme covering over 200 schools and he continues to support education institutions with their strategic ambitions across the UK, bringing XMA’s deep experience in delivering 1:1 projects to school leaders and communities.

Passionate about equity, accessibility, creativity and the importance of professional learning, Michael continues to pursue the opportunity to have an impact for young people in a digitally accelerating world.

photo coming soon…

Louis Deane

Founder

VISR Dynamics

Jonathan Forman

Programme Delivery Manager

Department for Education

Jon is an experienced digital, data, and technology leader with a record of leading high-quality user-centred services at scale, delivering transformational change, and building and leading digital communities of practice in large public and private sector organisations.

At the Department for Education (DfE) Jon is the Service Owner for the School Account Programme and the DfE Connect service and is responsible for ensuring the service meets the needs of users and delivers on the department’s objectives.

Prior to DfE Jon worked at the Government Digital Service, and Accenture Digital.

Jo Gilman

Director of Resources

Olive Academies Trust

Jo has over 30 years’ experience in finance and accounting, holding senior roles in both the public and private sector. Specialising in growth and change management, business partnering and company financial management, Jo enables our senior leaders to make well-informed decisions, contributing significantly to the stability and sustainability of the trust.
Jo is passionate about people. Through effective resource management, Jo ensures that pupils benefit from the most consistent and enriching experience, while providing colleagues with interesting and rewarding opportunities for development, building teams and connecting people through common aims.
“What gets me up in the morning is contributing to improving the lives of the children and young people in our care, ensuring we can provide the best opportunities. My part in that is managing resources to ensure that our work is fully focused on our pupils.”

Jen Halmshaw

Head of Digital Services Strategy for Schools

Department for Education

Lindsay Harris

Deputy Director, Education Estates Directorate

Department for Education

Lindsay has been with the Department for Education since 2016, having previously worked in other Government departments, including Defra and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.  He is one of the Deputy Directors in Capital Directorate, responsible among other things for the Condition on Data Collection (CDC) Programme, the Capital Advisers Programme and the department’s Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS) and Managing Asbestos guidance.

Lee Herridge

Head of Professional Development

Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL)

Lee has been with the Institute for over a year and a half and has led the revision of the Professional Standards.

Prior to joining ISBL, Lee worked for 13 years in education, teaching and leading Business and Economics in the secondary and FE sectors.

Lee holds a level 4 Diploma in School Business Management and is currently studying a level 7 Apprenticeship in Senior People Professional Learning & Development

Harley Jones-Ryley

Head of School Resource Management Portfolio & Engagement

Education Skills & Funding Agency

Harley leads the teams responsible for the governance of the School Resource Management Portfolio of tools, guidance and hands-on support, as our engagement activity, including today’s Summit. Harley joined the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) from the private sector in 2016, working in a number of different roles with a focus on supporting schools and academy trusts across the country to develop strong financial management and governance practices.

Lara le Court de Billot

Policy Advisor, Schools Technology Services

Department for Education

Stephen has a 20-year career history in operations and finance, working at a senior level in the public and private sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Stephen presided over the development and implementation of nationally recognised school business leadership professional standards and led the transition from the National Association of School Business Management to the Institute of School Business Leadership.

Stephen works closely with the Department for Education in areas of policy reform, and his commitment to research to aid our self-improving system includes ongoing engagement with international jurisdictions including Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

Stephen Morales

Chief Executive

Institute of School Business Leadership

Stephen has a 20-year career history in operations and finance, working at a senior level in the public and private sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Stephen presided over the development and implementation of nationally recognised school business leadership professional standards and led the transition from the National Association of School Business Management to the Institute of School Business Leadership.

Stephen works closely with the Department for Education in areas of policy reform, and his commitment to research to aid our self-improving system includes ongoing engagement with international jurisdictions including Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

James Murphy

Associate Director and Account Leader for Education

Arcadis

James Murphy, Associate Director and Account Leader for Education at Arcadis – James leads the education property, estates, and facilities management service at Arcadis. James is a strategic adviser to trusts and responsible bodies around estates management and has led the DfE capital advisers programme over the last 3 years.

Mark O’Brien

School Resource Management Advisor

As well as working part-time as a self-employed Business Consultant for my SRMA work I am also Chief Operating Officer at one of the country’s largest maintained SEND schools, based in West London. I project managed the building of a new £32m school building and am currently responsible for all non-teaching elements of the school’s business. I have led the scaling of our school, which has more than doubled in size in the last four years. In no small part, this included organisational development, change management, financial remodelling and the embedding of a new, positive and inclusive organisational culture. Currently I am a Governor at two schools and have previously been Chair of Governors. Prior to my current role, I was Head of Business Development for a £120m UK charity where I was responsible for the organisations business development activity including tendering work, leading on improving business processes and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of existing contracts. Prior to this I worked for a national educational charity focused on supporting vulnerable learners and their families. Initially, as Assistant Director of School Services, where I was responsible for contract management and latterly as Director of Development leading on developing national partnerships and delivering projects and tendering work. In my spare time I enjoy volunteering. I have volunteered and held governance roles for one particular disability charity for the past 25 years.

Nathan Odom

Estates Director

Discovery Trust

Nathan is a school estate leader with over 15 years’ experience in the education sector. He began his journey in Local Government playing a key role in the academy programme and education sufficiency in Leicestershire. Now, as part of the Discovery Schools, Nathan oversees a diverse portfolio of responsibilities including strategic estates management, place planning and sustainability improvements.

Arati Patel-Mistry

Schools Engagement Manager

Department for Education

Lawrence Tijjani

CEO

Happy2Host Education (Google for Education professional development partner)

Lawrence has been involved in Education for over 18 years, he began as a Computing teacher, progressed to Strategic IT Lead and later Head of Faculty. He introduced and developed a successful Computing curriculum at KS3 through to A-level, co-ordinated the implementation of IT within a new build.

Lawrence left classroom teaching to take up an exciting IT consultancy role supporting schools using and developing Google Workspace for Education, e-safety and general Edtech.

Lawrence founded Happy2Host Education and now supports Schools and Colleges around the UK and Ireland with all digital needs.

Peter Tomkins

School Resource Management Adviser

Peter is the SRMA Team Leader for North East London and the East Of England and one of the directors of TSO Education, a company providing schools, academies and local authorities with financial support and finance software, including the ICFP.school app. Peter has worked in education for thirty-five years, including six years as a secondary headteacher, and has been CFO in a number of trusts. Peter is a tutor and coach on the NPQEL course developing the next generation of system leaders.

Mark Vickers

CEO

Olive Academies Trust

photo coming soon…

more speaker details coming soon…

Speakers, agenda and times may be subject to change