Trustees & Members

Dr. Sarah Louise Hardman Charles

Trustee & Chair of the Board

Dr Sarah Charles is the Head of the Institute of Education at the University of Derby where she continues to teach on a range of UG and PG Initial Teacher Education programmes. She is an experienced Governor and Multi Academy Trust Trustee. Prior to joining the University of Derby, in 2006, Sarah worked, for ten years, in the primary education sector where she taught across the 5-11 age range, in schools in challenging circumstances, and undertook a range of management/leadership roles. She has a commitment to promote inclusive practice and is an active researcher in the field of dyslexia and LGBT+ issues.

Dr Sarah Charles is Chair of  the Education and Standards Committee.

Henry Taylor-Toone

Trustee & Vice Chair of the Board

Henry is Chief Finance Office of the Trafford and Stockport College Group (TSCG), a provider of Further Education, and was previously Deputy Principal at the Chesterfield College Group. Having begun his career at Deloitte, Henry has gained extensive financial experience working across publicly listed companies across various industry sectors. His experience includes financial transformation, financial reporting, compliance, and process improvement.

Prior to joining Further Education Henry served as Group Technical Finance Director of K3 BTG plc (an AIM listed software company) and previously was Head of Management Reporting at SIG plc (a Sheffield based FTSE listed multinational). Henry is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Mark Emly

Trustee

Mark has had a career in education initially as a teacher in special schools in three local authorities and then in senior leadership positions including headship of two special schools. His roles over the next 16 years were with a Local Authority and included being a school improvement adviser, senior adviser and subsequently in a strategic role as Assistant Director for Learning, Access and Inclusion. Mark has a good understanding of the Ofsted inspection framework and how inspections are undertaken. He is currently Chair of Trustees of another multi-academy trust and has been for many years a foundation governor for the school in the village in which he lives. Mark also served as a trustee for over twenty-five years on a national charity which produced resources and delivered training in the field of special educational needs.

Mark is committed to helping young people achieve the best possible outcomes and therefore maximise their life chances. By effectively governing and successfully driving the development of a strong and effective trust, he is confident that we can positively influence the evolving educational landscape and the learning journey of our children and young adults.

Mark Emly is the Safeguarding Trustee and the Trustee for SEND.

(Christopher) Justin Wilson

Trustee

Justin is an educationalist with experience of working across the age range from primary to Further Education. He has also worked in the manufacturing industry as a consultant, as a business unit director for Academy and new school development with two public sector consultancies. Most recently he has run a small company specialising in HR services for schools and multi-academy trusts.

He has experience as a trustee in several academy trusts, as a chair of governors of a Church of England primary school and as a director of the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust.

Justin Wilson is Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee.

Sharron Philpot

Trustee

Sharron has considerable experience in education leadership and school improvement. She is currently CEO of a Multi-Academy Trust of mainstream and SEND schools in the West Midlands, previously having been head teacher, executive head teacher, director of quality assurance and governance, and working as a school improvement partner (a role which she still undertakes in addition to her substantive post).

Sharron has experience across a range of governance roles. Sitting on and chairing a number of local Head Teacher groups during her time as a school leader, chairing a local Management Committee for an Alternative Provision School, and chairing local CEO forums. Currently, Sharron is a member of the Sandwell Priority Education Investment Board, working with the DfE and local stakeholders to improve outcomes across the local authority at both KS2 and KS4, in addition to being system leader as part of the DfE Trust and School Improvement Offer.

John Kelly

Trustee

John is a Chartered Accountant who initially qualified with Coopers & Lybrand. He then moved to live in New Zealand for eight years, working for Air New Zealand in a variety of roles including internal audit, financial and service management, IT and Marketing in the 1990s.  He has since held senior management and executive positions in a number of companies in retail financial services in the last 25 years, including Britannia Building Society, Cooperative Banking Group, as Operations Director at Leek Building Society, and most recently as Head of business transformation at Birmingham Bank.

He has extensive experience in Business Strategy and Planning, delivering transformation and change and managing all aspects of customer operations.

Dr Helen Galbraith

Trustee

Dr Helen Galbraith is Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Chester. She is responsible for strategic oversight of the student experience and for leadership of professional services across the University. Helen joined the University in 2021, initially as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience). Prior to taking up this role, Helen was Academic Registrar and Secretary at Keele University, where her role encompassed oversight of student welfare and support services, planning and registry services, and corporate and academic governance.

Before arriving at Keele in 2016, Helen spent her career in a range of professional roles at the University of Bristol, latterly as Director of Strategic Planning and Projects.

At a national level Helen is a member and Honorary Treasurer of the AHUA Executive Board. She is also an active member of other HE professional organisations including Advance HE and AMOSSHE. Helen has an undergraduate degree in music and a PhD in Russian music.

R Peter Upton CMG

Trustee

Peter is a committed educationalist who has worked extensively in the UK and overseas.

He has been Director of K2P2, an international educational consultancy, since 2016. Clients have included the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Cambridge University Press and Assessment, Oxford Education group, the EU, World Bank and Palladium. His projects have included developing bid proposals for national assessment reform in Kazakhstan to leading the reform of shared services at the ACU, and from advising on the Turing Scheme for Capita to masterclass workshops on education contracting.

Prior to K2P2, Peter was a senior Director for the British Council. He led their global education programmes responsible for school, TVET and Higher Education partnerships. He then undertook a series of Country Director roles in Thailand, Nigeria, South China and Pakistan. This included supporting education reform, arts and cultural dialogues and leading business units on English and exams.  During this time, he also led regional education teams working on girls education.

Before joining the British Council, Peter was Chief Executive of the SSAT, was principal of Tavistock Community College and the Colne Community School. He trained as a History teacher and has attended university in the UK and the USA. Peter is a Governor of Edinburgh Napier University, a Trustee of United World Schools and is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Sue Whyld

Trustee

Sue has spent her entire professional life in education, working as a teacher, senior leader, deputy-headteacher, headteacher, executive headteacher and local governor across a variety of Derbyshire schools.

Sue spent the last twenty one years of her career, as the headteacher of a highly successful Church of England primary school, which was one of the first schools to join DDAT in 2014. Sue’s rigorous leadership, exacting standards and expectations ensured that for the last fifteen years of her career, the school was judged by Ofsted to be Outstanding.

Recently retired, Sue remains passionate about the power of performing arts, in particular music, and the impact it can have on staff and pupil wellbeing and self-esteem.

Sue is appointed as a Lay Canon of the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Derby, in recognition of her service to education, and as such shares a strong link with Derby Diocese.

As a member of the Education and Standards committee, Sue hopes to bring her vast experience to challenge and support the work of the Trust, so all children and young people will ‘experience life in all its fullness.’