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The Governance Team

The Trust believes in the importance of governance and has a robust governance structure that supports the Executive Team at every level to turn potential into performance.

Members

David Davison, Member

A retired Senior NCO in the RAF and currently Youth Pastor at a local church. Has strong links in the community with exceptional experience of community relations. Works with the borough localities team and with local primary schools and youth groups. Works across Swindon area delivering relationship education programmes to young people and provides strong leadership to the governing body

Toni Gillespie, Member

A retired senior RAF Officer with a strong personnel background; now working as a Regional HR Manager for a global manufacturing company. Possesses a range of skills acquired over a diverse career path but with a strong people focus.

Philip Harland, Member

A local businessman with extensive experience of project management and service delivery. Nearly 20 years experience of school governance, most as board chair, including academy conversion and multi-academy collaboration.

Louise Bouteiller

A local businessperson specialising in event planning and logistics. Also has experience in quality assurance and customer relations. Has been involved in school governance for fifteen years, first as a parent governor at Lydiard Park Academy and then as a Trustee at the Park Academies Trust.  

Trustees and Directors

Matthew Dixon, Chair of Trustees

A Chartered Global Management Accountant by profession. Matt is an experienced finance professional and is currently Head of Finance for a large Telecommunications organisation.  He has experience across a number of industries and has a passion for developing high performing teams. He is looking forward to putting these skills and experience to good use, to help enable young people to reach their potential.

Antony Purser, Trustee (Vice Chair of Trustees and Chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee)

Commissioned Army Officer. Extensive experience in Leadership, Management and Strategic planning. Two years’ experience as a Governor. Understanding of the conversion process to an Academy as a Governor. Breadth of skills and experience within Risk Management and Resource Planning.

Mark Edwards, Trustee

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Mark is now Head of Packaging for a large corporation, with extensive knowledge of procurement and technical development globally. He has over 18 years’ experience of school governance at both primary and secondary level. A former councillor within Swindon, he has many links with the community including scouts and several other charitable organisations.

Catherine Dampney, Trustee (Chair of Education Performance and Standards Committee)

Catherine has over 20 years' experience in data and technology in both the Financial sector and NHS.  Over her career she has been involved in the development of regional and national data and digital transformation programmes for the NHS as a CIO and Director of IT.  Catherine is also a founding member of the National Digital Health CIO Network, and current Member of the National CIO Advisory Panel and sits on the Health Data Research workstream of The Elizabeth Blackwell Institute at the University of Bristol.  Catherine started her career as a Primary School Teacher with an interest in using technology in the classroom and her current role focuses on reducing health inequalities.

Caroline Henham, Trustee

Caroline is a retired Headteacher, with a range of experience in education spanning almost four decades.  Her twelve years’ experience as Headteacher, has provided her with a strong understanding of strategic leadership and management. She was responsible for establishing a brand-new primary school within a new community in Swindon, focusing on the strategic vision and direction of the school, whilst successfully securing high standards for pupils through its strong ethos.  Her knowledge of, and experience in education, enables her to support the future development of The Park Academies Trust and its pupils.

Rebecca Fish, Trustee

Rebecca’s career background is within Public Sector Procurement on behalf of various Central Government bodies, this has mainly been in the Facilities and Construction sector however, in recent years branching out into the Energy, Climate and Carbon Net Zero space including several years' experience working on high profile and complex requirements.  In her role as Head of Procurement, Rebecca oversees a team of people taking on a large amount of responsibility and associated risks when it comes to managing public money. A large part of Rebecca’s role involves reviewing and inputting into documentation of both Strategic and Commercial importance which is a transferable skill she will bring to the Park Academies Trust in terms of being able to assess, understand and challenge the wider picture and pressing questions to add value and promote continuous improvements.

 

Trustee meeting attendance 2021-2022 (132KB)

Attendance by Trustees at Full Trust Board meetings for the 2021-2022 Academic year

Trustee Declarations of Pecuniary Interest (157KB)

Declarations of Pecuniary Interest 2022-23

TPAT Structure January 2023 (152KB)

Trust Governance Structure effective January 2023