The Trustees of The Mead Educational Trust are responsible for conducting the affairs of the Trust to achieve its objectives, shaping the success of the Trust. The Members are subscribers to the Trust’s memorandum of association. Members ensure that the Trust’s activities are properly directed to achieving its objectives and are responsible for appointing the Board of Trustees.

Trustees

Anthony Glover – Chair of Trustees

Tony now a retired National Leader of Education and Headteacher, graduated from the University of Manchester and subsequently achieved a PGCE from the University of Leeds and MA from the University of Kent. Tony was appointed Headteacher of The Becket School in Nottingham and led the school to its highest Ofsted rating of “Outstanding”.

Tony’s retirement has provided him with the opportunity to indulge his passions for sport and music. This phase of his life is also hugely enriched by the variety of educational projects in which he is engaged in, including support for schools in difficulties and presentational work with regard to leadership and approaches to learning.

Tony has continued working on a variety of educational projects particularly with regard to school improvement and academy conversion, including working as an Educational Consultant with Browne Jacobson, working alongside the DfE and working as a Consultant to the Diocese of Nottingham. He is also a regular presenter to international educators in Ontario, Canada, and has had papers published on approaches to learning and on school collaboration.

Gemma Bhagalia

Gemma is a Leicester based creative producer specialising in culturally diverse community settings. Her work is predominantly based around festivals, education establishments and community settings, with a wealth of experience within participatory and combined arts. Currently working with The Spark Arts for Children and Leicester Belgrave Mela, Gemma regularly identifies possible opportunities, creates partnerships, supports artists, leads on planning, sources funding and manages project delivery. Gemma has a passion for the arts and endeavours to introduce people to the possibilities that the arts offer, while steering new collaborations and embedding quality arts practice.

Kirsty Holt

Kirsty is a self-employed HR/change management consultant who has held senior HR and transformation director roles across several sectors including banking, housing, utilities, travel and higher education.

Kirsty began her consulting career in 2001 having worked for Barclays Bank in a senior HR change role. At the time of the global financial crisis about 10 years ago Kirsty went back into the financial services sector leading large scale change and transformation programmes. She has since undertaken work with a range of organisations focusing on the people side of change and HR transformation including Associated British Ports, TSB and the Open University and is currently the Interim Executive Director for People at Citizens Advice.

Kasar Singh

Kasar has over 25 years of experience: leading strategic transformation initiatives, across a number of countries in FinTech, Financial Services, Mobile Telecommunications and Consulting; advising boards; and driving initiatives from inception through to full execution – to achieve desired results.

A Warwick Business School MBA with a BSc (Hons) in Physics from Durham University, he is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Kasar has also been a Mentor of Warwick Business School MBA students for the past ten years and has a passion for supporting social mobility through education.

Jerry Robinson

Jerry is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and completed his MSc (with distinction) in strategy and leadership at Birmingham City University in 2013. Most recently Jerry has overseen the YHA (England & Wales) response to COVID-19, including leading on repurposing many YHA hostels for the homeless and vulnerable, supporting YHA’s contribution to society.

Jerry has over 20 years senior commercial and charity experience in people centric, multi-location operations where he has successfully delivered organisational outcomes through sustainable financial models and his passion for people and their development.

Passionate about supporting young people, Jerry spent a number years volunteering with the Princes Trust in Leicester and is currently mentoring University Students as part of his ThirdSpace organisation.

Tina Mistry

Tina has over 15 years’ experience in apprenticeships and further education and is currently a Business Development Manager for Leicester College and a key account manager for all their large levy employers.  She was previously at Leicester City Council for 10 years and has recently worked for the Association of Colleges in London where she managed national colleges regarding the new T Level implementation.

Tina currently chairs the governance meetings with University of Hospitals and sub-contractors. She has a keen passion for education and ensuring there is access for all. She has worked closely with Leicester City Council to set up a national woman in construction programme which has been active for over 10 years.

Lynda Valentine

Lynda has recently retired having worked as a Head Teacher since 1992, leading five successful schools during that time. She gained wide headship experience working across the 3-19 age range in inner city schools in Nottingham and Leicester. In 2018, until the school could appoint its substantive Head Teacher, she undertook the role of Head at the Hospital and Home Education Learning Centre in Nottingham, coordinating the work of three sections of provision for some of the most vulnerable children and young people in the city.

Since its formation in 2009, Lynda worked for the Greenwood Academies Trust, a large multi academy trust with over thirty academies across the East Midlands. Lynda held the posts of Executive Principal and Director of Intervention and Support. Lynda has also worked as a School Improvement Partner and a School Improvement Adviser for the Nottingham Schools Trust. She is particularly interested in how academic research can support school improvement.

Sarah Ridley – Chief Executive Officer

Sarah became TMET’s second Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in August 2022, having served as Deputy CEO for several years. She has been involved in TMET since its formation in 2014 and helped to develop its vision and mission, including its values: the 7Cs. She has been an integral part of TMET’s growth and success.

Promoting social justice and levelling up for disadvantaged communities have motivated Sarah throughout her career, and she has been a Headteacher or Executive Head at five inner city schools in Leicester. She has a strong track record of supporting schools as a National Leader of Education, as well as through her various roles at TMET.

Her areas of expertise and interest are in achieving social justice in terms of enrichment, progress and attainment for economically disadvantaged families. She is also passionate about high quality Early Years’ provision, the promotion of high expectations across all phases, behaviour management and developing a book rich, inspirational and memorable curriculum.

She brings energy, a spirit of professional generosity and commitment to her roles, always looking to build on collaborative practice. She is an experienced governor, having sat on several governing bodies, and is a trustee at Scholars Trust in Leicestershire.

She takes her civic responsibility as a trust leader seriously and is keen to engage with others to make decisions for the wider good.

Dave Riddick

Dave is a self-employed operations management consultant with over 15 years’ experience in the education sector, having led and managed all support functions including Finance, HR, Payroll, IT, Academic Data, Administration, Examinations, Estates, Premises, Catering, Cleaning and Commercial Activities.

Dave graduated with a BSc (Hons) and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Loughborough and is a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leaders.

Currently, Dave is supporting a range of schools across the country, under the Department for Education School Resource Management Advisory Programme, to build a stronger system.  He has a passion to ensure that the best educational outcomes are enacted for every learner within the resources available.

Members

Azam Mamujee

Azam has over 25 years of experience as a strategic adviser. He is a chartered accountant with a MA (Hons) in economics from Cambridge University and a fellow of the ICAEW. As one of the leaders at M Cubed Chartered Accountants, his focus is on mobilising teams to get step changes in results for clients including: building strategies for step improvements in profitability, advanced tax planning and robust compliance and cashflow enhancement techniques. Azam specialises in delivering measured results, empathy and finding the common ground, corporate finance, accountancy, cash flow & business planning, advanced tax planning and HMRC investigations.

Azam is also a Member of the Board of Phoenix Arts in Leicester, chairing its Finance Committee and a Member of the Board at the University of Leicester and chaired its audit committee . He has also been a member of the Board of the Curve theatre and Chair of its Finance and Strategy committee. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of OFCOM which regulates Media and Communications in the United Kingdom.

Azam has passion for education and the arts. His other personal interests, besides spending time with his family, include authentic travelling, advanced scuba diving and mountain trekking.

Kishor Tailor

Kishor is the Chief Executive of the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership with over 20 years’ experience of developing, leading and implementing strategies for business and economic growth.

Kishor’s role is to provide strategic leadership to the Board and drive forward the growth of the Humber economy for the benefits of the communities in the four local authority areas of Hull, East Riding, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

Kishor’s career has spanned the public sector and he was the chief executive of two regeneration partnerships involving public and private sectors. Prior to moving to the Humber LEP, Kishor was the Economic Development Director at Partnership for Urban South Hampshire. Between 2002 and 2009, Kishor was the Chief Executive of Leicestershire Economic Partnership, a sub-regional partnership of public and private sector that led and delivered economic growth for Leicester and Leicestershire.

One of the areas of Kishor’s specialities is in the area of Employment and Skills and in the Humber has been leading on developing strategies for improvement of skills, involving private and education sectors. He has been involved in a number of new pilot initiatives including developing gold standard for Careers advice. He works with Head teachers in Education, Principals of Colleges and Vice Chancellors of University. Kishor sits on a national steering group guiding government on future funding strategies for Adult Education. Kishor is interested in education and is keen to see the standards improved to support future skills needs of the economy.

Kishor has served a number of voluntary organisations and is a Trustee of a community organisation. Kishor is also a freelance broadcaster in Leicester.

Prof. Chris Wilkins

Professor Chris Wilkins is currently Director of Teacher Education at the University, responsible for the strategic leadership of Initial Teacher Education and postgraduate professional development programmes. Prior to joining the University, he worked in both London and Leicester as a Primary school teacher, as well as the validation and quality assurance of School-Centred Initial Teacher Training programmes (Grand Union Training Partnership and Leicester Teaching School Alliance).

Professor Wilkins has an international reputation for research in Initial Teacher Education, teacher development and educational policy, and has advised on a series of European Union programmes supporting teacher education reforms in Eastern Europe, Turkey and countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He has also gained widespread recognition for his work in citizenship education and social justice issues in education, serving on bodies such as the EU Comenius Network Steering Group on Global Education, DfE Racial Equality and Education Strategy Group and Diversity and Anti-Racism Project Steering Group and was the UK education representative for the European Union Civil Society Dialogue Project.

Anthony Glover – Chair of Trustees

Tony now a retired National Leader of Education and Headteacher, graduated from the University of Manchester and subsequently achieved a PGCE from the University of Leeds and MA from the University of Kent. Tony was appointed Headteacher of The Becket School in Nottingham and led the school to its highest Ofsted rating of “Outstanding”.

Tony’s retirement has provided him with the opportunity to indulge his passions for sport and music. This phase of his life is also hugely enriched by the variety of educational projects in which he is engaged in, including support for schools in difficulties and presentational work with regard to leadership and approaches to learning.

Tony has continued working on a variety of educational projects particularly with regard to school improvement and academy conversion, including working as an Educational Consultant with Browne Jacobson, working alongside the DfE and working as a Consultant to the Diocese of Nottingham. He is also a regular presenter to international educators in Ontario, Canada, and has had papers published on approaches to learning and on school collaboration.

Sally Cox

 Sally brings a wealth of experience from the chalk face and, as Chair of the Academy Council at Rushey Mead Academy, she utilises the skills and qualities gained from 39 years teaching. Sally is also a member of the Symphony Learning Trust in Leicestershire.